Your phone is essentially your personal assistant — and like any aide, it needs the right set of tools to do its job effectively.
The good news? As an enlightened Android phone owner, you’ve got no shortage of efficiency-enhancing options. Unlike (ahem) certain other mobile platforms, Android grants you the opportunity to customize and control the core user interface so it’s perfectly tailored to your needs and the way you like to get things done. And while the more advanced UI-adjusting tools tend to be targeted at the power-user crowd, you don’t have to be a card-carrying geek to take advantage of what they offer.
Behold: seven advanced apps that’ll empower your favorite high-tech helper and allow it to reach its full productivity potential.
All of the apps listed here have sensible and responsible privacy policies, as provided by their developers. They don’t require any permissions beyond what’s appropriate for their purposes or engage in any manner of eyebrow-raising data practices.
- Niagara Launcher
- Easy Drawer
One of Android’s most effective efficiency advantages is the flexibility it gives you with your phone’s home screen setup. Plain and simple, you don’t have to stick with a static grid of bland icons for every app imaginable.
Instead, you can find a custom Android launcher that’s perfectly suited to your style and optimized for the way you work.
And an app called Niagara Launcher is a perfect example of the power that affords you.
Niagara Launcher is a decidedly different take on the standard smartphone home screen setup. Instead of showing you a jumbled mess of icons and widgets, Niagara cuts the clutter and encourages you to create a single small list of the apps you actually access most often. Everything else gets tucked away into an alphabetically scrolling menu that’s out of your hair yet easy to access when you need it — by swiping your finger up or down on either side of your screen.
Basics aside, Niagara has some incredibly thoughtful features for ergonomic efficiency. You can set up any of your main app icons to include on-demand and interactive access to related notifications, shortcuts, and even widgets, all accessible with a sideways swipe. And speaking of widgets, you can also now stack multiple Android widgets within the launcher’s top-of-screen area for fast at-a-glance views of important info.
JR Raphael/IDG
Niagara Launcher’s features — such as the stacked widget, shown above — are designed to enhance your efficiency without creating clutter.
Niagara Launcher is free with an optional $10-a-year or $30 lifetime upgrade for ongoing access to its more advanced options.
No matter what launcher you might be using, a crafty little app called Easy Drawer will help make it as speedy as can be to find and open any app on your phone.
The way Easy Drawer works is simple: Once you place its widget on your home screen, you’ll see a special keyboard that remains visible and ready for…
2023-06-03 05:30:03
Link from www.computerworld.com rnrn