There have been a few concept videos going round recently on how the iPhone’s springboard might be changed and improved in future, to incorporate concepts like multitasking via coverflow and use of a Mac OS X style Expose-like treatment.
One new concept that’s already alive and kicking in the Cydia store is PogoPlank, and I’ve been getting to know it a little this afternoon.
Here’s a little Intro to PogoPlank courtesy of the BigBoss site:
PogoPlank ($1.99 in CydiaStore) replaces the traditional iPhone “Pages of Icons” with a “Wheel of Categories”. Each category has a user defined name and list of applications contained within using the PPSettings app. Once all categories are configured, a user can then scroll through the wheel to the category they like, tap the folder and see a list of applications in that category which they can choose to launch.
One of the best features of PogoPlank is it’s completely themeable, both within itself as well as using winterboard wallpapers, icons, etc. With the PogoPlank themes, users can customize the theme to their liking all the way down to the opacity of each image. This makes it great if you have a background you want to be able to see while having your folders on top of it.
When I initially saw PogoPlank I thought it looked quite interesting but a little clumsy / awkward as well – but I’ve remained curious about it and this afternoon my curiosity got the better of me, and I bought it for $1.99 and installed it.
So here are some quick first impressions on it:
Appearance
It feels much cleaner to me than I expected. Super clean. All of a sudden you’ve only got one home screen, and only the left-most 1/3 of it is occupied at all. The rest is free to display just your dock items and wallpaper. I like this a lot.
The built-in themes are pretty naff and not up to much, IMO. There is a pretty drab default one that many of you have likely seen in video demos, and a couple alternatives like ‘Alien’ for instance …
The good news though is that PogoPlank is themeable, and there are already some much nicer choices around than the defaults (at least for my taste). The one shown in the screencap at the top of this post is the Leopard theme and its lovely and subtle and clean.
You can also mess around and customize the themes further within the PPSettings app – setting things like opacity for the wheel, folders, and lists of apps. I haven’t got to tinkering with that yet.
Its themes do suffer from one flaw that general themes have – there are not custom icons for all my apps, so I get some that stand out and break up the smooth look of things a bit.
User Interface & Usage
I’m really finding PogoPlank a pleasure to use thus far. It’s as simple to navigate as it looks. You just flick along the wheel to get to the folder for the category you want to grab an app from, tap once on the folder to center it as your selecting point, and then tap to expand its contents out to the right so that you can browse through and launch an app from its group …
Everything about PogoPlank is smooth and responsive so far – no jerkiness when moving up or down within the wheel to find a folder, no need to tap more than once when selecting folders and apps.
Using PogoPlank is not interfering in any way so far with using my favorite jailbreak apps that interact with the springboard. SBSettings, mQuickDo, and Kirikae are all working just fine.
If you have a lot of apps, as I do, it’s going to take quite a fair while to get your setup going with PogoPlank – as it only comes ‘out of the box’ with a small handful of categories and apps within them. I found I needed to create a fair number of new categories, and of course populate all of the categories. This is relatively easy to do via the PPSettings app, but it is time-consuming.
Here are a few more folders I’ve setup so far (I’m sure I’m not anywhere near done with this process). Family ..
Social …
Reference …
Stores (and store helpers) …
And Utilities …
Some Issues & Downsides
Using PogoPlank seems to make the ‘home screen to the left’ – where Spotlight lives – disappear. And Spotlight is not listed as an app, so you can’t put it into a folder within PogoPlank. So, for now using PogoPlank means losing Spotlight – a potential dealbreaker for some I imagine, and something the devs will fix soon I hope – especially since the Cydia store doesn’t entail such an arduous reviews / updates process.
Every time you even go into the PPSettings app, even if you nose around, change nothing and exit, it forces a respring – which as you all know takes a fair little while and is a PITA. Hopefully this can also be resolved in a future update.
Currently, you cannot re-order apps within the category folders – they just show in the order they were added to the folder. The list you get to browse apps when adding them is alphabetical, so it’s natural to tick them off to select them in alphabetical order – but this will leave you with a list that probably won’t match your actual order of most used / favorites. Normally, in nearly all iPhone apps, you’d just hit edit and tap, hold, drag items in the list to move them up and down. This capability is missing from PogoPlank right now. That definitely needs fixing.
One further wish-list item for me is for apps to be able to slot into more than one folder. This would be super handy for apps that may be a very natural fit for more than one category that you create.
Overall
The above are obviously some very quick and very initial impressions of PogoPlank. It will take some time to get to know it better and see whether it’s a viable option for me as a springboard replacement. For now though, I like enough about it to want to give it a try and get to know it further.
It feels very clean and sleek, at the expense of some major home comforts like a trusty first home screen and Spotlight search – but to compensate I’ve still got mQuickDo with my five most-used apps and Kirikae with its list of actively running apps and favorites – so there are safety nets for me.
How about you guys / gals? Have any of you given PogoPlank a look as yet? If so, what are your reactions?
*** This app was independently purchased by the post author in the Cydia Store. For further information regarding our site’s review policies, please see the “About” page.
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Saw the video of it earlier this week and thought it looked interesting enough. I really like how u were able to "ghost" out the wheel entirely, leaving your choice background showing through, and a somewhat magical wheel of folders that spin freely! At least that's how it looks like it would be. Sound right? Lol
I was turned off when I saw the video earlier and it appeared that the wheel had a bit of jerkiness to it, but glad to here this is not the case. It sounds like it is worth the $1.99 then, at least to just have as another option. I'd peronally like to know how u feel about this theme and it's functionality after a few days of use. Thanks for being a guinea pig and checking it out!
and what is Kirikae? I've never heard of it?
Yup, you were the first one who got me curious about this. Kept kinda taking a peek and leaving it, until this afternoon.
You're right on how the themes work – they seem to theme *only* the wheel itself and its folders – in the case of this Leopard theme with a nice little gradated apple shape on the folders. So it lets your background shine. I'll definitely report back after a few days or however long I last with it.
Kirikae is another app-switching app in Cydia. Lets you access all running apps (so the built-in ones that are allowed to run in background, or ones you've applied Backgrounder to) plus a list of favorites at a double-tap of the home button.
I learned a new word today!
naff: lacking taste or style
btw losing Spotlight is a no go but are the leaf levels scrollable?
Naff = yup, a blast from times past in the UK I guess.
By leaf levels, you're meaning the list of apps within each folder? If so, they are scrollable when that folder is selected, not while you are moving round the wheel itself. Hope that answers the question.
I didn't see naff in my dictionary!!??
But I learned a new word too!
Jaunty: being up to date in style
That's what I would call Kirikae! Thanks Patrick. I think that has replaced my mquickdo. I like it even better. Maybe a quick tidbit on that one day might be good for the people?
I found a few different definitions for naff – including this one: naff 1 (nāf)
adj. Chiefly British Slang
Unstylish, clichéd, or outmoded.
Jaunty is a good one.
I think I may post on Kirikae at some point. Still not sure what I think of it. Like it, but not as much as mQuickDo – although I am still using them both right now.
the one thing i dislike about something like that, is how much it reminds me of windows, notably a windows mobile phone. With the iphone its one thing. Simple.
everything thats on your phone is right there. No folders, no files. Just icons. Want to call someone? tap on the phone. Want to play a game? Tap on that game.
There is no tapping a start button, and going to accessories or games, then over to that game, My top apps are on my first 2 pages. The other stuff i use is so rare, that it doesnt matter if i have to scroll through 3 pages.
now im not saying that this is a difficult change anything. Its a great concept and something a lot of people will use. I for one, will end up sticking w/ my original black, blah looking homescreen
Hmmm – I honestly find it reminding me more of the Mac's Dock for right now, not of Windows at all. I think things can stay fairly clean and simple if you have up to 3-4 home screens, but beyond that Apple just hasn't given any elegant answers yet. For me, with usually between 8-11 screens of apps, this represents less messing round swiping through screens. I'm finding it nicer to just spin through a short wheel with labels for my folders as quick helpful reminders, and very few movements and taps to launch the app I want. Plus, during much of an evening I may get by just using favorite apps accessible via mQuickDo or Kirikae quick app-switchers, and never need to even see the clutter of all the home screens.
Somewhat OT here. Considering jailbreaking for the first time and was hoping for some thoughts as to whether to use Blackra1n or Pwnage Tool. iPhone 3GS, Mac, don't care about ever unlocking. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Generally I'd say both are very good. I've always had good experiences with the Dev Team's Pwnage Tools; but I've also hd super-easy and good experiences with GeoHot's purplera1n and blackra1n. I've heard some folks who've had issues with both also – and I could be wrong, but my impression is the majority of issues with blackra1n have been while trying to run it, very few issues after doing the jailbreak; whereas I've heard of a number of carrier / signal issues with the latest Pwnage Tool.
Again, either is good – but I might lean a little towards blackra1n for a first-timer. Good luck if you go for it.
Somewhat OT here. Considering jailbreaking for the first time and was hoping for some thoughts as to whether to use Blackra1n or Pwnage Tool. iPhone 3GS on 3.1.2, Mac, don't care about ever unlocking. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Thanks for the thoughts, Patrick. I'm leaning towards blackra1n as a first-timer too. Might try it later today (if I don't chicken out that is). Fingers crossed!
And toes (in spirit anyway). Let us know how it goes.
I didn't chicken out. I used blackra1n and had no problems. I was jailbroken in less than a minute. Installed Cydia, some apps, and voila: http://www.flickr.com/photos/plumcrazy/4023725618... Jailbreak! So far, so good. It will take a little getting used to, as it seems to run a little more slowly than stock. But I think the additional functionality (Backgrounder, mQuickDo, app categorization via PogoPlank) will more than make up for the little extra time it takes for me to unlock to the home screen.
Hurrah for not chickening out! Lovely background image there too. So glad it went well for you. I'm enjoying the growing number of theme choices for PogoPlank as well. Hope jailbreak treats you well Lesley.
Let us not forget a little credit for Vlad's beautiful blue wallpaper. He's got tons of them for the iPhone … for free.
Good call. I've mentioned this wallpaper pack before – Mac Wallpapers – and in Cydia the author is listed as Thrush. Who is Vlad?
I'm using Pogoplank and lovin' it!
Glad to hear it – and me too
Is there a way to rename the icon labels, because when using pogoplank all labels change to some kind of default, example clock is displayed as Timer.
I don't think so, in this version – it may well be do-able in Version 2.0 when it comes out. I think those defaults are likely just based on the actual .app name for each program.
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