Thanks for visiting Palm Discovery

A BIG THANKS again to Sammy of Palm Addicts for the front page mention!

Yes, it’s time again for another program that I personally consider as an essential Treo app. This is one of those extremely helpful and essential programs that all Treo smartphone owners and users should get because it is such a time saver! This time, it’a a button launcher application from Standalone called, TypeRight.

I am surprised and dumbfounded that this program doesn’t get much press or talked about in the forums or blog and hopefully with this review, maybe people will take notice of this program and gain some traction in the Treo world.

Standalone’s TypeRight program is a button launcher type of program that allows Treo smartphone users to launch various programs simply by pressing and holding any one of the many QWERTY keys on the Treo keypad/board. Considering that there were so many different button launching programs available for the standalone PDAs via the hardware buttons that I found quite surprising that no one (that I’m aware of) besides Standalone has provided a button launcher program for all those extra QWERTY keys we have available. When I first got my Treo, I was perplexed to not find such an app (and I was looking). Finally, when word got out quite a while ago that I totally jumped on it and bought it shortly after it came out. I still love it and it’s used so many times over the course of my day.

The program is quite straightforward and easy to figure out how to use. You run the program and then start setting up the QWERTY or even hardware buttons to launch or perform specific tasks upon a press and hold. You can set up programs that are stored in RAM or on the SD card to launch (provided that the program is on the card when you launch it), or assign a button to turn on or off the Treo radio (phone), turn off the Treo (screen), initiate a hotsync session, re-run the last program, bring up a list of recently run apps, launch the voicemail, open the Quick Bar, bring up the menu, bring up the command bar, and many more.

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

Aside from launching a program, you can also bring up a list of programs in a pop up window and then choose amongst the programs you wish to launch. This happens if there is more than one program assigned to a specific button or key. Or, you can bring up their Quick Bar, which is a pop up window listing that you can scroll through to get to a specific app, or Contact, or web url.

Rather than trying to explain with words, it’s probably much easier to do with a video so that you have a better idea.

Video of TypeRight

Video at YouTube

Here are my observations: This is a great program that I loved when it first came out and I still love and use many times during the day. It’s such a time saver to be able to press and hold any one of the many QWERTY keys and launch a program that I tend to use a lot. Aside from running a program, there are many “extensions” that you can perform. If you have a task or shortcut in the regular Palm launcher, you can assign TypeRight to launch that shortcut. So imagine how much more you can do. For example, if I want to launch my Kinoma player, I press and hold a key and it launches. Or, if I want to bring up the command bar (to use NetConnectDA) while I’m in Kinoma so that I can disconnect and re-connect without exiting, I press and hold a key. So, you can understand how valuable this program can be. Having a shortcut way or doing a task or launching a program really enhances the Treo experience.

At one point, I was noticing that the excluded apps didn’t work but I believe it has been fixed. Originally, in Datebk5/6, I would be caught pressing a button for a little longer than I should be and rather than typing in an entry in Datebk5/6, I end up launching a program that I wasn’t expecting. This is very important for those of us who will likely be using a text based program that may need to use KeyCaps600 so that they can toggle between a letter and a symbol. So, being able to disable TypeRight for text inputting programs like Memos, Calendar and the like would be extremely important. And yes, as I’ve said, you can disable Typeright from being run or launched in specific programs.

As for the overall program, it works great for me. I don’t have much complaints about it. Support has been very good via the Standalone’s forums and they were great at providing updates and bug fixes. The only complaint I have is that they tend to get a few spams in the forums but normally, they get picked up and deleted. From time to time, I do notify the administrator if I find them but it can be an annoyance.

Here are some suggestions that hopefully, Standalone may want to consider for future updates or enhancements to the program.

With regards to the Quick Bar, if I wanted to go to the left, there is no way I can go left. For example, if I’m in the Names and I want to go back to Apps, I can’t. I need to keep pressing the Shift key to go right to Web, then again to go to All and then once more to reach Apps. This isn’t a big deal but it would be nice to be able to toggle left if I wanted to rather than pressing the Shift key a few more times.

I think that the TypeRight program could be even more functional (is that even possible?) if it can allow more programs to be launched. If, for example, we can set different program launches with two successive presses of a key (ie. double pressing of “r” within a certain period so that rather than launching RescoBackup we would be launching RingoPro or something else). Or, we can launch a different set of program by pressing a key in combination with the Option button and/or Alt button. So, pressing “r” will launch RescoBackup but pressing “r” with Options key will launch ResetDoctor, and “r” with Alt button will launch RealPlayer. I know that we already can launch a lot of applications already, but if the capability could be there, why not? I’m sure that a lot of us (myself included) would love to extend the number of programs we can launch on our Treos.

Review Summary

Standalone’s TypeRight program adds so much more to the one handed button launch capabilities of the Treo that it’s almost a “no-brainer” to get it. Once assigned, you simply press and hold any of the assigned QWERTY keys in your Treo’s keyboard/pad and your personally assigned program or task will launch and run. How easy is that?

It supports programs installed in RAM (on the device) as well as on the SD card. And it’s not just limited to programs but also contacts in your Addressbook or web links and all those handy extension that we may use many times during the day. So, press and hold a key and it will launch whatever is assigned to it. At an unbelievably decent price of $8.95 (how many apps do you know that cost less than $10?), I consider it a steal; a gem at a bargain price. Shhh! Keep it down! I don’t want Standalone to increase the price but it is a bargain, in my view.

Hopefully, this review has given you an idea of how essential this program can be for any Treo user since it offers us quick direct access to frequently used programs. Being a very satisfied user, I can’t stress how helpful it has been to me as a Treo user. Considering that most of us are more than willing to pay for other button launcher programs can only extend the few hardware buttons available, TypeRight can do that PLUS allow us to use all those QWERTY buttons as well, do I need to say anything more?

My request and it’s a HUGE request is if Standalone would develop a similar program to TypeRight for the Windows Mobile/Pocket PC platform since I can’t seem to find any QWERTY button launcher program for the Windows Mobile platform. Wishful thinking, I know.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Handango. Proceeds of purchases made with the affiliate links to TypeRight provided in this review will go towards keeping this website running as well pay for giveaway contests provided from time to time. At the end of each year, thanks to your generosity, I will donate a portion of the proceeds to charity like Plan Canada International (ex Foster Parents Plan Canada). Thanks for your past and continued support of Palm Discovery and making a difference to the lives of the less fortunate in other parts of the world!

Thanks for visiting and supporting Palm Discovery. If you are not reading this article from Palmdiscovery.com or Palmdiscovery.net, the website you are reading it from is copying and posting my content without consent. Please visit Palm Discovery for the original source of the material.

Fall Accessory Sale at Palm!

Fall Sale - Palm® Universal Wireless Keyboard now only $58 when you buy direct from palm

Del.icio.us categories: archives categories palm essentialapp essentialtreoapp standalone typeright launcher buttonlauncher buttonlauncherapp

Popularity: 72% [?]