This contest is now over. We have selected the winners - see if you are one of them towards the bottom of the page.
ExtendedControls - Power Control On Steroids
Do you like Android’s native Power Control widget? Are you unable to go through the day without using it more times than you can count? Do you wish it had a few more buttons (for things like Airplane Mode, or a flashlight) and that they could all fit in one row? Then you’ll probably be very interested in ExtendedControls—an app which takes the wonderful idea that is the Power Control widget, and turns it into a supercharged multi-tool.
Details
To say ExtendedControls improves on the Power Control widget is sort of like saying the light bulb “improved” on candles: justice is simply not done by the statement. If there’s a feature you want to toggle on your Android device, chances are, ExtendedControls has you covered. I’ll break it down into a list for easy consumption:
- Toggle 2G/3G
- Toggle 4G/WiMax (currently in beta)
- Toggle mobile data (APN)
- Toggle WiFi
- Toggle Bluetooth
- Toggle GPS
- Toggle autosync
- Change brightness level/behavior
- Toggle screen autorotate
- Toggle airplane mode
- Force Media Scanner to update pictures, videos, music (in Gallery/Music apps)
- Switch from normal volume to silent/vibrate
- Force screen to stay awake during charging
- Alter the screen timeout value
- Torch - activate your LED flash as a flashlight OR turn your screen white as a flashlight
- Toggle automatic screen lock
- Toggle lock pattern on/off (those with EVO 4G and other phones with recessed power buttons should check it out)
- Switch from normal volume to full silence
- Force screen to stay awake all the time
- Toggle USB mass storage mode
- Battery life display
- Toggle screen always on
-
Reboot to OS, bootloader, or recovery. (doesn’t work on my N1
Needless to say, this list is pretty extensive. One thing I would like to see ExtendedControls add is individual “Mute” buttons for different volume levels (ie Ringer, Media, Alerts, Alarm, etc). I suppose you can’t have everything, though.
ExtendedControls’ appearance can be customized to blend in with overlays like Sense, or appear like the vanilla Power Control widget.
Note from Artem: I've been working closely with the ExtendedControls team and helped them diagnose a few EVO 4G specific bugs (4G switch, LED flash). While these got fixed in the latest beta, there is still an outstanding APN switch bug (mobile data on/off). I filed it here, and they're working on it as we speak.
Video
Not convinced yet? The ExtendedControls team has made a video showing off the app in action:
Buy/Download
For a paltry €0.79 (about $1USD) ExtendedControls is yours. You’d have to be a bit of a tightwad to pass this app up (even if only to try it out). I can honestly say ExtendedControls is the best dollar I’ve spent in quite a while. Here’s the QR code for the Market download page (scan it with Barcode Scanner or just click if you're on your phone):
[qr]market://search?q=pname:com.extendedcontrols[/qr]
So, have ExtendedControls, or used it? Love it? Hate it? Have suggestions? Let ‘em rip, we’d love to send comments on to the developer for you guys!
Oh, and here's their site: HonoluluTeam.net where you can find an overview and a changelog.
Giveaway
Today we are giving away 50 free licenses to ExtendedControls, worth about $1 each, sponsored by the folks behind ExtendedControls.
How To Win
If your name is listed below, please email giveaways@androidpolice.com to claim your prize (mention your name or twitter handle in the email). All claims will be verified.
Thanks for playing!
Note: Since Facebook will not allow us to send this many individual messages without banning us first (no thanks), we have no other means of posting the winners other than by making a comment on Facebook in hopes that they will notice it. And because a comment length is limited to 420 characters, we can't even post the list of names there.
And the winners are:
- Kenneth W Hansen
- Viktor Math
- David Huchteman
- Joel Bergmark
- Taylor Bruns
- Todd Henseler
- Josh England
- Kevin Jackson
- Ben Page
- Mason Wu
- Erwin F Lopez-Martinez
- Matus Nemcik
- Clint Haynes
- David Chkhartishvili
- Jason Heminger
- Eric Ansbach
- Kevin Welsh
- David Hehn
- Mikael Hätinen
- Ken Hoelle
- Saša Čavlović
- Lloyd Sloan
- Kalpik Nigam
- Ryan Law
- Bob Liddell
- godsfilth
- HumanRacehorses
- xcom923
- troymwolf
- neillund
- DDustyDust
- leew4jc
- BrienHall
- huchteman
- donkeykonga
- ankit_ruia
- DerKlops
- Ask4Prayer
- fabler85
- shawn_alty
- bigviolaman
- chetanprasad
- TTBeNnI
- carlwis
- Android_Jedi
- dBOMB_90
- michaelshank1
- LayneM
- SpencerAR
- Bulletproofheeb
Entering the contest is really simple. There are 2 ways to play:
- complete either one of them to be eligible or
- both, to double your chances of winning.
Method 1. Follow @AndroidPolice and @HonoluluTeam on twitter, then RT the following message:
Checking out the #Android App Of The Week by @AndroidPolice: ExtendedControls + 50 Free Licenses Giveaway http://bit.ly/ap-ec #ecap
Method 2. Like/fan the AndroidPolice and HonoluluTeam Facebook fan pages, then Like the entry for this article.
Terms
The contest starts immediately and runs until Monday, August 2nd, 11:59PM PST.
Winners will be announced here and notified by twitter, Facebook, or email.
Good luck everyone, and feel free to share your thoughts on how long you've been dreaming about an app like ExtendedControls over in the comments.