switcher - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

Switcher Provides An Incredible Gesture-Based App Switching Tool

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Vito Cassisi, the developer behind a piece of software that could potentially revolutionize the way Android users switch between apps, updated Switcher today.

Working on the principle that swiping gestures are naturally more satisfying (from a UX standpoint) than press-and-wait actions (a la Android's multitasking button), Switcher's functionality is entirely based on the utilization of universal swipe gestures to switch between running apps (or all apps).

According to the developer, the concept was first imagined when studying on the train, desperately wishing for a way to switch between notes and web that was faster than using home or back buttons.

Those concerned that the vertical "add" and "remove" gestures can rest assured that Switcher's pre-defined swipe zones (which rest fairly high on the screen) will almost never interfere with normal in-app scrolling.

Oct

[Updated] Itching Thumb: An Amazing, Free Task Switcher - You Want This. Now.

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Apps/Games, Development, News

Update: Thanks to commenter Xcom923 (below), I rebooted my phone and have it working! It's freakin' awesome!

Meet Itching Thumb, an absolutely amazing task switcher that's very similar to the one found on WebOS. There's not much I can say that rivals what's shown in the video:

For those who are unable to watch the video or who are unfamiliar with WebOS, it's basically a "card" system - similar to CoverFlow (but with a customizable style). These screencaps illustrate what I'm talking about fairly well:

_{Left: the cards are flat as you scroll; you can drag an app to the top of the screen to close it (shown).}

Oct

QuickDesk 0.4 Now In The Market, Brings QuickPanel Task Switcher, UI Redesign; PRO Version Coming

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

There are a couple of Android programs that are so brilliant and well done that you can't imagine your life without them. For me, these programs are Launcher Pro, Titanium Backup, and QuickDesk. QuickDesk is ingenious and always makes those who see it for the first time beg me to tell them what it is. Minutes ago, Faruq, the QuickDesk developer, published a completely redesigned and long awaited version 0.4 to the Market, and it is good. Damn good.

To give you a brief background on the app, with QuickDesk, you double tap on the Home button and a quick overlay pops up on top of the current app without taking over and destroying whatever is going on on the screen.

Aug

Android Gets App-Switching Eye Candy: Visual Task Switcher Now Available On The Market

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Applications, News

One of the most vaunted features of webOS was its decidedly pretty multitasking interface. Users could invoke an overlay of thumbnail “cards” of their running applications and switch to or close them.

Fresh onto the Android Marketplace is Visual Task Switcher. Continuing on from some progress made earlier this year (although probably not using the same method), this application grants you thumbnail application switching. While not as polished as Palm’s version, this is an encouraging step towards that alluring goal.