August 1st, 2012Top StoryUnleash the Power of Android with These Automated AppsBy Alan Henry If you've ever thought "I wish my Android phone would do [X] whenever [Y] happened"—for example, text your significant other whenever you leave work; silence your phone when you walk into a movie; or turn on your ringer when you wake up in the morning—Tasker makes it possible. We've shown you the ins and outs of Tasker before, but in this post, we'll hand you the tools (and the apps) to make your phone more powerful with considerably more ease than we have in the past. Whether you're a Tasker beginner or an automation pro, the apps in this post will make your phone easier to use, smarter, and even more battery efficient. You don't have to know the ins and outs of Tasker to install the apps here, but if you do and want to tweak the workflows yourself, we'll give you the tools to do it. Let's get started. What Is Tasker?Tasker is an automation tool for Android. Tasker can watch for certain conditions (from phone orientation and location to y and z), and when those conditions are met, it can do anything from open applications, toggle system settings, send SMS messages, and even speak alerts aloud if you ask it to. Virtually anything your Android device can do can be automated with Tasker, and when you combine Tasker's automation tools with conditions that you set, for example, "Arrived at work" or "Out of range of my Wi-Fi network," based on your GPS location, you can see how much potential the tool really has. Tasker App Factory is an add-on utility for Tasker that allows you to take the workflows you create and export them as standalone Android apps (APK files) that you can send to friends so they can use them, share on the web as your own work, or even post to Google Play as standalone apps. In fact, the combination of Tasker and App Factory makes building a certain type of app for Android much simpler than developing them from scratch. With App Factory, anyone can install your action as a normal Android app and use it. What Can I Do With Tasker?Click to view We hinted at how powerful Tasker is above, but the sky's the limit when it comes to its real potential. Most users use Tasker to automate things they do on a regular basis that they wish they didn't have to—like turn on Wi-Fi at home and turn it off again when you leave the house. Even if you're new to Tasker, you can churn out some great profiles. We've shown you some great ones in the past, but this time we're going to give you the app to get the job done, and the code if you want to get your hands dirty. Before You Get StartedBefore you proceed, you'll need to be comfortable installing apps from sources other than Google Play. The first thing you'll need to do is tell your Android phone to allow you to install apps from places other than Google Play.
Additionally, I'll be walking you through installing the apps below in one of two ways: The easy way : This just involves downloading the provided APK for each app and installing it on your phone. You'll need to download the APK directly to your phone, or use a service like Dropbox to get them onto your phone. Once the APK is on your phone, just launch it to install the app. The hard way : Download the provided Tasker XML to your phone and import it to Tasker. You can either download the XML directly to your phone or use Dropbox as an intermediary, but once you have the XML on your phone, you can import it to Tasker one of two ways:
My Favorite Tasker Apps, Bundled Up for Easy InstallationIf you like what each of these apps does, you can just install it and walk away. Don't worry if it doesn't seem to do anything at first, it's running in the background and will respond when you need it. Automatically Dim Your Screen at NightWhat It Does: This task dims your screen completely during the late night hours when you're normally sleeping, so your device doesn't turn on with an incoming message and drain your battery. By default, the app here dims the screen at midnight, and then turns the brightness back up at 6am. How to Install It: You can install this the easy way. Download and install this APK. If you want to customize this recipe, import this XML file to Tasker (aka, the hard way), or click here for step-by-step instructions to set it up from scratch.
Open a List of Installed Music Apps Automatically When Headphones are Plugged InWhat It Does: We've covered this workflow before, but a Tasker has changed a lot since then. Run this app, and watch: the next time you plug in your headphones, you'll see a menu of all of your pre-installed music players. This way you don't have to plug in and then go looking for your favorite music app. The app below lets you choose between Google Play Music, DoubleTwist, and Pandora. How to Install It: You can install this the easy way. Download and install this APK. If you have different music apps installed that you want in the menu, grab this XML file and import it into Tasker (aka, the hard way)—it's a snap to change the applications in the menu. If you want to set it up from scratch, click here for step by step instructions.
Automatically Enable GPS When You Open Google Maps NavigationWhat It Does: If you've ever fired up Navigation, selected your destination, and hit "Navigate" only to find out that your phone sits at "Waiting for GPS" for a few minutes before it finally kicks in and plots your route, you've suffered a very common Android GPS malady. Unfortunately, Navigation is just too fast for many devices' built in GPS, and the radio just hasn't managed to fully activate and connect before you're already looking for directions. We've discussed other ways to fix this problem, but this app will take care of it in a single tap. How to Install It: You can install this the easy way. Download and install this APK. Want to look under the hood? A pair of Tasker workflows power this app, you can import this XML file to Tasker (aka, the hard way) to customize it. If you'd rather set them up from scratch, click here for step-by-step instructions.
Okay, that's half the battle! What we've done is tell your device to fire up GPS before loading the Navigation app, so while Navigation is loading and you're putting in your destination, GPS should be warming up, getting your position, and connecting to its network. That would be all you need to do, but we also have to make sure GPS is properly turned off after you close navigation as well, so we need a profile for that:
There we go: with this profile in place, whenever Tasker notices that we've exited the Navigation app, it'll wait 1ms and then turn off GPS to save our battery—and to keep Navigation from waiting too long to do it. This is an updated version of this GPS fix from the Tasker Wiki, only with up-to-date steps, as that version was written for a much older version of Tasker. The only thing we have to do now is create a home screen shortcut to our original "Navigation" task. You'll want to use this shortcut in place of a shortcut directly to the Navigation app from now on—after all, our Tasker task turns on GPS in advance so we avoid that "Waiting for GPS" problem, right? You're probably familiar with this process, but here's how, just in case:
You only need the shortcut if you're not using the app. If you are using the app, the launch task has been set to be when you launch the Navigation app. The Best Reader-Submitted TasksWe can come up with plenty of uses for Tasker, but the ones that really shine are the uses that you submit to us. When we covered Tasker and App Factory's update last week and then asked you what you automated with Tasker, you came up with some impressive uses. Here are a few of the ones we really liked. Use Tasker As An Always-On Tool to Find a Lost PhoneWhat It Does: Reader Helixthe2nd uses Tasker to monitor his incoming SMS messages for a "911" code sent by someone who absolutely needs to get a hold of him, even if he has the phone set to vibrate or sounds turned off:
Specifically useful for those of us who mute our phones while we sleep but don't want to miss an important middle of the night call or message, or if we're in a meeting and have our phones muted or set to vibrate but are worried we'll miss an important or urgent message. How to Install It: You can install this one the easy way. Just download and run this APK. If you'd prefer to tinker with the workflow in Tasker (aka, the hard way), we've also supplied the XML file so you can import it using the steps above. Use Tasker to Enable "Night Mode," Which Disables Sync and Adjusts Notification/Ringer/Media VolumesWhat It Does: Reader Justin Novack responded to the call via email, and we commiserated on how awful an idea it was for Android to merge notification volumes together—that is, email/SMS/alert notifications are the same volume as the ringer, which is the same volume as media playback. To get some sleep at night without worrying he'll miss an important call, he came up with this profile, which disabled sync so his phone won't sound in the dark for every email, SMS, or other notification he gets in the middle of the night, but the volume is still up so if someone calls, he'll hear it. How to Install It: This workflow requires some work—you'll have to install this one the hard way by importing this XML file into Tasker first. Use Tasker to SMS Ahead on the Trip Home from Work to Let Others Know You're Coming HomeWhat It Does: This is another one from Justin, who described it like this:
How to Install It: This one's a little tricky, and will definitely require some customization before you run it. You can import this XML file into Tasker and change the variables there, or you can download the XML to your computer and open it in a text editor modify it so it'll work on your phone. First of all, you'll have to set the %Home variable, change the phone number (in the script it's "800-867-5309!") to the number you want to text, and you'll have to set the GPS location that you want to be the trigger for the SMS. This one's a little advanced, but with a little testing, you can get it work no problem. A few others that have their own web tutorials that are worth looking over:
More Advanced Tasker ApplicationsThese Tasker applications are great to get started with. Once you're familiar with Tasker though, you may want to take on some more challenging projects. For example, reader Bob Igo uses Tasker in conjunction with his home automation system to do everything from open the garage door when he gets home to announce when he's leaving the house. You can see some of the Tasker profiles he's developed and what they're used for at his Github page. Similarly, make sure to check out the Advanced section in the Tasker Wiki for some ideas on more involved applications for Tasker that will test your skill with the app. For example, instead of just building a Tasker profile that gives you an icon to tap to set your phone to "Movie Mode," like we mentioned above, why not build one that tells Tasker to mute your phone automatically when you're at the GPS location of your favorite movie theater? Or instead build a Tasker profile that, when you arrive at work each day, joins your office wireless, changes your phone wallpaper, and sets the phone to vibrate, but as soon as you're out of range of the office wireless, it turns the ringer back on, changes the wallpaper, and turns off Wi-Fi until you get home (where it can join your home network?) The possibilities are endless, and only limited by the amount of time you want to put into automating your device. Go Forth and Tweak!The learning curve for Tasker and App Factory can be a little steep, but it's important to be patient, keep trying things, and see what works. As you build profiles and tasks that work for you, test them out and see if they work. Make sure your syntax is correct, and you'll be set in no time. Also, don't hesitate to check out resources like the Tasker Wiki and the Tasker User Guide if you run into trouble. If you want to export your profiles as apps, App Factory makes it easy, and the App Creation Guide makes it even easier. |
|
No matter how carefully you plan your goals they will never be more that pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto. --- W. Clement Stone
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Unleash the Power of Android with These Automated Apps
Business Today: Wall Street slips after Fed, trading glitch
| |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)