HotButton Plus by BurrOak Software (23/07/2004)
Friday, 23 July 2004 19:16

Looking for an alternative to cluttering your Smartphone's homescreen up with loads of shortcuts and information? Looking for an easier way to quickly select one of your favorite apps then using the homescreen MRU? Then HotButton Plus from BurrOak Software could be just what you're looking for...

HotButton Plus is a great little app that follows on from where PTJogger left off. It allows you to do the following three things:

-Quickly switch between 'built in' functions such as Network Status, System Status, IP Information, Mute Toggle and more.
-Dial your most used numbers. For example, I use it to dial 901 (O2 voicemail) and *#10# (O2 Balance info).
-Launch any application with a shortcut in your Start Menu and assign a command line to it to allow it to, for example, open a file on startup.

The first thing you have to do when you start HotButton Plus is setup the tasks that will be available for you to scroll through when you activate the program. This is a very simple operation requiring you to merely select the type of task and the task. If you want you can also rename the task and, in the case of programs, you can write the command line you wish the program to use when opening. At present very few applications support the command line interface and the developers of HotButton Plus see it's inclusion as a 'just in case' measure rather than a useable feature at this time. Even though it doesn't do much, it's still nice to see developers trying to 'future proof' their products. Another nice little touch is the ability to add a sound clip to each task. Useful if you're in the car and need to dial a number without taking your eyes off the road. Once the tasks have been setup, to activate HotButton Plus all you do is press the home key twice and the first task on your list pops up. Pressing the joystick up or down allows you to scroll through the tasks and then select them with the action key.

This is the type of application I love. It's a simple idea, very well executed. It does exactly what it says on the tin. If you want to be able to flick between tasks quickly and easily, then this is for you. The only downside I could find is that it takes you to the home screen every time you activate it. This might be annoying if you were in the middle of doing something and just wanted to see how much battery you had left. Apart from that it's great. I can't find fault with it.

An unlimited 14 day trial version is available from HERE, as is information on how to buy.

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