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

Jun

Crafty Apps Launches Tasker App Factory (Beta), Allowing Users To Export (And Distribute) Tasks As Standalone Apps

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Tasker is a versatile app to say the least. In allowing users to create and schedule sophisticated automated tasks, it has made a name for itself as one of the most useful apps available for Android. The developer behind Tasker, Crafty Apps, is now expanding on that functionality, working on Tasker App Factory, an extension of the original app which allows users to export certain actions as individual apps.

The app (which will only work for Tasker beta users) has the capability to create standalone apps which have no reliance on the main Tasker app to run. According to App Factory's instructional document, app creation takes mere seconds, meaning users can capture Tasker's awesome functionality in a zippy, (relatively) easy process.

Mar

2Do Is A Gorgeous To-Do List App With Premium Features, Comes At A Premium Price Of $7

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Android has had some powerful to-do lists dating all the way back to Cupcake, but few are quite as nice-looking as 2Do, a recent entry (although Astrid's new design might be a solid contender). The $7 to-do list (yes, you read that right) does it's best to make itself worth the money. Tabbed calendars, the ability to attach photos, starred tasks, and a selection of themes make it one of the nicer to-do lists we've used. It even has support for the Galaxy Note's S Pen.

The app strikes a nice balance between its obvious iOS-heritage and implementing ICS style guidelines.

Nov

[New App] Any.DO From The Creators Of Taskos Is The Cleanest Task List App For Android Yet, With Emphasis On Sharing And Simplicity

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News, Videos

How many task managers that keep track of To-Do items can we need on Android? The creators of Taskos, which in itself is a task list manager, thought we were in such dire need for one more that they had to one-up even themselves and create Any.DO.

Any.DO has a completely new interface that is so slick that you will find yourself wondering whether you're running an Android app at all. In fact, it's kind of reminiscent of a style Windows Phone 7 uses, but don't freak out - that's actually a good thing. Fresh, fluid, and extremely clean - it is a breath of fresh air from the second you start using it.

Mar

[Review] ZDbox Delivers All Of Those Android Tools You Ordered

Posted by Brad Ganley in App Reviews, Applications, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

In the world of Android and, specifically, Android power-users, there are a lot of things you can do and a myriad of tools you can do these things with. One of my favorite things in the world is getting several tools I use regularly consolidated into a single package. If you use your device with any kind of regularity, you know that there are several things you like to know, modify, kill, lock, or enable. Enter ZDbox, a Swiss-army knife of sorts for Android.

ZDbox started its journey in an XDA thread and, over time, developed into a very powerful, polished power-app with a ton of tools and options.

Mar

[Review] AutomateIt Allows Your Phone To Take Care Of Itself

Posted by Brad Ganley in App Reviews, Applications, Apps/Games, News, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

If your Android device relies on your interaction with it in order to do things, you're seriously missing out. There are several options that allow you to cut the cord, so to speak. The popular options have long been Locale and Tasker but, as you can see from their market pages, you have to be fiscally dedicated to the tasks they perform. In addition to that, these applications (Tasker especially) can be somewhat (read extremely) intimidating in the level of control they give you and the sheer volume of options at your disposal. If you're looking for something a bit simpler but still really powerful as well as significantly more free, AutomateIt might be just the tool you need.

Jan

Task Identifier Tells You Your Apps' Secrets

Posted by Brad Ganley in App Reviews, Applications, Apps/Games, News, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

XDA user x2kjosh got curious about what exactly his phone was doing at any given time, as I'm sure we all have at some point. Your GPS icon randomly showing up in the task bar is a perfect example: What the hell is it doing there? What app is getting my location? Obviously tired of all the questions, Josh wrote a handy little app called Task Identifier.

The idea of it is simple: Notify the user whenever an app is loaded into memory. It's a pretty straightforward concept, but it is actually really interesting to use. It's hard to explain, so I'll just put the description for the thread and some pictures here:

This is not another Auto Task Killer, no.

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.