Clever android app | Hacker News Reader

Clever android app

fastcompany.com

42 pointsandrewtbham20 comments

I have been wishing for features like this for years. The just make so much sense! I was hoping the iPhone would have had it by now but no :( This is enough to make to switch to Android when my contract is up, shame that isn't until next June :(

I think the real credit goes to Locale, the original context-sensitive settings application. It won the original Android Developer Challenge, and has been a staple on my Android phones since the evening I bought my old G1.

http://www.twofortyfouram.com/

tasker is better than plugin/money hungry locale

Yes, it's an improvement on Locale, but the article makes Tasker sound like it's the first thing of its kind, yet I've been doing most of that for two years now.

I use tasker to emulate a feature that Apple devices have: separate volume levels for speaker and headphones (not sure why Android doesn't already have that).

Set a task that runs when headphones are plugged to set the media volume to x, and an exit task to set it back to y when they're unplugged. Simple.

"not sure why Android doesn't already have that"

Patents?

I've been using this app for a few months now. It is fantastic.

it's got some cool features:... http://tasker.dinglisch.net

-setup a birthday SMS to be sent months before it happens so you don't forget

-launch a music application when headphones are connected

makes me want to ditch the iphone.

My favorite is the ability to mute the ringer by placing it face down instead of face up on a table. Great use of proximity sensor.

I wonder if they have a library of pre-made tasks somewhere? It seems like the main limitation would be one's own imagination.

http://tasker.wikidot.com/profile-index

http://lifehacker.com/5599116/how-to-turn-your-android-phone...

http://lifehacker.com/5611003/build-a-find-my-iphone-clone-f...

http://lifehacker.com/5601133/push-your-automated-android-to...

Note: Profiles in Tasker are XML files, so someone could write a generator that creates profiles in an easier way than entering it on the phone.

www.reddit.com/r/tasker

Sounds delightful for some folks, but also a potential source of immense frustration. Suppose I usually go to bed at 2300 on weeknights, and have my phone set to go completely silent. But tonight I'm out at 23:30 and wondering why the hell my friend hasn't called me yet, oh right, my phone is on silent even though the vibrate/noise switch is set to noise.

So you make the rule "after 2300, and phone is face up, or phone is face down, and isn't moving, at all."

Except that night you go to bed with your phone at a 30 degree angle inside your pants pocket on the floor, and it wakes you up at 3am when some guy 8 timezones away calls.

So you... wait, how exactly do you make a task that deals with that? "Time is after 2300, on a weeknight, and the phone hasn't moved at all for at least 30 minutes?"

Of course the tasks can't be made to deal with every eventuality, but then you can't be certain that the expected task executed, so you end up manually checking. Which defeats the point, no? Or in real average usageI suppose it just works fantastically. Which is rare today.

I had the issue of not being home by my "sleep" time, but it was easy to fix - add a location check so it only goes silent (or turns on airplane mode) when you are at home.

I have a few rules that I now depend on, and don't have to check up on either. It takes a few days to tweak the rules, but ends up working very well.

I just got into Tasker and I set up a late night silence behavior but it only is silenced when I let the screen go dark.

Another feature I'm missing is the possibility to program a limited duration for silent mode. When I'm in a meeting or at a film I often forget to disable silent mode when it is finished. Putting the phone face down is not always an option.

You can set Tasker to trigger silent mode based on specific calendar events if you go to State -> Calendar Entry.

There are a number of ways you can trigger it:

  1. You can have it be silent if your calendar indicates you're busy.
  2. You can create another calendar called "silent" and have it be silent for all events in that calendar.
  3. You can set the location of the calendar entry to "Silent" or have it trigger for specific locations.
  4. You can have it trigger for entries with the title "Meeting" or "Movies"

Then, you can add an exit task that sets it back to your default settings when the event is over.

A slightly more advanced/complicated approach, but closer to what I think you want, is to write a script using the Android Scripting Environment that shows a dialog where you can enter how many minutes you want silent mode to be enabled. Then have it wait until x minutes have passed and then disable silent mode. You can then set Tasker to run that script for a specific condition, such as long pressing the search button.

I wonder why Trapini didn't mention Locale.

  > When I'm in a meeting or at a film I often forget to
  > disable silent mode when it is finished.

Locale can do this with its "Defaults" mode. When a specified situation (such as a meeting) has passed, settings you specify as "Defaults" go back into effect.

I do this myself. My phone goes silent while I'm in work-related meetings. I also have a sound that plays when Locale returns to its defaults, which effectively notifies me that the meeting is scheduled to end.

The necessary components for this are Locale and the Locale Calendar Plug-in from DroidMunkey.

I think the features are cool!

Now if they will only make some way for 3rd party apps to easily embed their functions...that would be perfect!

Here is my thought... this thing looks geeky and hard to use. could you take a few of these features and make a single use app?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com