Category: OS functionality
Price: Free
Gotta-have-it factor: 7
I am so happy that I found the Bar Control Android application. I have always been frustrated by the difficulty of switching between my most often used applications in Android, especially when you already have one app up on the screen. Bar Control attempts to solve this problem, and does a decent job.
One of the disadvantages of Bar Control is that it clutters up the Notifications bar at the top of the screen with the icons of the app shortcuts. I’ve never liked virtual clutter, so it frustrates me when there are so many icons in my Notification bar that I can’t tell if I have unread e-mails or text messages.
Another usability issue that I have with Bar Control is that it is not as easy as it should be to change the links that one selects for the Notification drop-down. If you decide that you want a different link to show up in the drop-down, you have to clear all of the Bar Control links and reselect each one that you want to show up, even if you only want to change a single link. Hopefully this will be something that the application developer remedies in the future.
And my final nag about the program is that the program is unable to display the application’s icon as the link in the Notification drop-down. So the user is required to choose one of a few preselected icons from Bar Control’s menu for each application you want placed in the Notification drop down. I understand that this is an Android limitation and not the Bar Control developer’s fault, but I thought I should put that information in this review anyway.
All those complaints aside, I still think Bar Control is a great solution for making it easier to switch between my most used apps. It is especially nice to be able to access my Profile application (review of Profile coming soon) to change my sound or Wifi settings on the fly. So, for solving approximately 15.6% of my complaints with the Android OS, I highly recommend the Bar Control Android application.
Price: Free
Gotta-have-it factor: 7
I am so happy that I found the Bar Control Android application. I have always been frustrated by the difficulty of switching between my most often used applications in Android, especially when you already have one app up on the screen. Bar Control attempts to solve this problem, and does a decent job.
One of the disadvantages of Bar Control is that it clutters up the Notifications bar at the top of the screen with the icons of the app shortcuts. I’ve never liked virtual clutter, so it frustrates me when there are so many icons in my Notification bar that I can’t tell if I have unread e-mails or text messages.
Another usability issue that I have with Bar Control is that it is not as easy as it should be to change the links that one selects for the Notification drop-down. If you decide that you want a different link to show up in the drop-down, you have to clear all of the Bar Control links and reselect each one that you want to show up, even if you only want to change a single link. Hopefully this will be something that the application developer remedies in the future.
And my final nag about the program is that the program is unable to display the application’s icon as the link in the Notification drop-down. So the user is required to choose one of a few preselected icons from Bar Control’s menu for each application you want placed in the Notification drop down. I understand that this is an Android limitation and not the Bar Control developer’s fault, but I thought I should put that information in this review anyway.
All those complaints aside, I still think Bar Control is a great solution for making it easier to switch between my most used apps. It is especially nice to be able to access my Profile application (review of Profile coming soon) to change my sound or Wifi settings on the fly. So, for solving approximately 15.6% of my complaints with the Android OS, I highly recommend the Bar Control Android application.
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