YiShow 6.1 by Piao Yi Bing

YiShow made its debut to great fanfare in the Sony Clié world a couple of years ago. It pioneered hi res 320x480 Sony screen support with background images, built-in file manager, and very flexible display control. Even more amazing, Yi Bing remains the sole developer and supporter, yet keeps up with the latest changes in Sony and now PalmOne hardware.

On initial install, YiShow reads the system categories along with their app assignments, simplifying the setup immensely. It can also reload the system setup later from a menu selection. Only apps on the card must be categorized after initial install.

The tools across the top of the screen provide menu access, date/time, access to system preferences, battery charge, free RAM, and category selector, though these can be changed in the preferences.

The bottom tool bars consist of one fixed-function tool bar and another configurable one. When tabs are set to the bottom, they act like a third tool bar. These bars cycle when tapping the lower left screen corner. The optional fixed tool bar, or QuickLaunch Bar, contains commonly-used built-in Palm apps like Date Book, To Do, Hotsync, Preferences, Security, etc., as well as up to eight recently used apps if desired. The configurable bar offers up common file and program functions like a favorites list, beaming, slide show, swap to display card files, trash can, and display configurations.

Display flexibility characterizes YiShow. Icons can be positioned to emphasize the background image. The tabs can be placed on any side of the screen, and labeled with text or icons, the latter saving space. Select RAM or the card from the menu or a tool, or tap the copy tool, and the launcher display essentially becomes the file manager. On executing a copy or move, a directory tree displays for the user to select a target location. Tapping a file manipulation tool places little checkboxes by each app or file allowing multiple selections. I could not find a way, however, to display anything other than the file name and size in the file manager, which does limit its utility for complex file management tasks. The launcher and file manager functions tie so tightly together that the distinction becomes confusing at times to a newbie. Tapping and holding a category tab will bring up the preferences for that tab.

Tapping and holding on an app icon in the launcher brings up a rich list of possible functions to perform. You could even make an image file a background image from this popup. Speaking of images, YiShow includes image viewer and slide show functions as well, although the .jpg images come up very slowly on my T3. The slide show view configures for speed and whether to display the file name with the image. The same holds true for the built-in doc viewer. The new version will also display larger doc files than previously. The image viewer has limited zoom capabilities, and will even display gif files.

YiShow supports skinning. Skins change icons, colors, etc. Many YiShow skin and background image combinations have “faded” areas to make the app icon labels easier to read, although you can change the text foreground and background colors. I couldn't find a way to make the text background transparent, though. With a background image active, the top and bottom tool bar backgrounds can be made transparent on most skins, making a very attractive display. YiShow uses a dedicated directory under /Palm/Programs/ and provides a built-in management tool to store and manage its skins and backgrounds.

Similar to LauncherX and ZLauncher, YiShow has a function that will allow an app and its data to reside together on the card. When executed, both the app and its data will be copied to RAM. YiShow can be set to delete just the app or the app and its data from RAM on exit. However, unlike LX and ZLauncher, it will not detect changes to the data files and any modifications will be lost if deleted on exit.

Version 6.1 features enhanced security options. If you have a system password set, you must use it to exit YiShow now, and also to display hidden tabs. It can be set to automatically lock your device when powering down.

YiShow's Sony Clié heritage pops up every now and then. Clié skins don't work on the T3. The term Memory Stick occurs several times in dialogs. I didn't encounter any stability problems on the T3, though, and its 320x480 display worked fine.

YiShow occupies 425K RAM with another 489K used for the skin, background image, and data files as I configured it. The total 914K RAM hit packs a lot of power, replacing an independent file manager, image viewer, and doc reader.

At $14.95, YiShow represents the second-best value in this review. It packs tremendous power, but also carries a bit of a learning curve to master. I found some of the configuration layouts less than intuitive and some of the features like its PowerRun-like feature and the file manager seemed unfinished. Even so, those who chose to master its power will be rewarded.

Pros:
Highly configurable
File manager
Image viewer
Doc/text reader
Skinnable
Supports background images
All install/delete bundling of card apps and data on execution
Enhanced security for the overall launcher

Cons:
File manager not as comprehensive as full-featured external apps
All install/delete bundling doesn't detect data file changes
Complexity carries a learning curve for new users