Quick Settings Review

Damien McFerran

We review Quick Settings, an all-in-one system toggle app which aims to make all others redundant

Rating:

Verdict: Quick Settings has pretty much every toggle feature you could ever need for your Android device and is a must-have download.

Platform: Android

Pros: Packed with options, incredible customisation features and it looks slick and professional to boot

Cons: Google's own Power Management app steals a little bit of Quick Settings' thunder, but not much

Version: 1.8.8

Publisher: Sergey Shafarenka

Price: Free

More Info: Developer's Twitter feed

With a veritable multitude of different “toggle” apps available on the Android Market it’s something of a challenge deciding which one is best. There are countless programs which do nothing more than serve as a handy switch to turn off your WiFi, ringer or data synchronisation; they’re unquestionably useful but they clog up your home screen space – something that is very much at a premium if you’re still saddled with a pre-2.0 version of the Android operating system.

Thankfully, Quick Settings is here to remove all your toggle-based worries. It essentially wraps all of those different functions into one friendly application that can be pinned to your notification bar in order to free up valuable home screen real estate.

In terms of capability all of the usual suspects are covered; you can toggle features such as your Bluetooth, WiFi, data and ringer sound. It’s even possible to override your screen timeout duration to ensure that it doesn’t switch off when you’re reading a webpage.

However, Quick Settings goes beyond the call of duty when it comes to options; you’re also able to control every aspect of your phone’s volume settings (ringer, alarm, notifications, system, etc), turn automatic screen rotation off and even disable your display unlock pattern, should you have one set up.

You don’t have to have all of these choices available; you can customise the Quick Settings menu layout and hide those features you don’t think you’ll use on a regular basis. In fact it’s possible to make the app as streamlined – or as comprehensive – as you like.

What’s more, Quick Settings also includes a battery monitor, memory status display and even a flashlight – again, these are all elements that are commonly available on the Android Market as individual apps, so it’s great to have them all under one roof here.

While you could argue that recent iterations of Android have made applications such as Quick Settings irrelevant due to the fact they include the “Power Management” home screen widget, such a line of debate ignores the fact that Quick Settings has far more functionality under the bonnet and the fact that it can be pinned to your notification bar and launched as a cool-looking dialogue box adds to its appeal even further.

In fact it’s near-impossible to find fault with this piece of software; it’s an essential download which every right-minded Android user should have on their handset.