Customizing the behavior of buttons

[dylane]

I'm planning on getting a GN2 when it comes out on Verizon, but one of the things that concerns me is that it doesn't have a dedicated app switching button. I understand that a long press of the home button will bring up the list of recently used apps, but that is too slow for something I'll be doing all the time.

Ideally I'd like to have a short press of the home button bring up all running apps, including a selection for the home screen (which is just an app like any other, right?). If this isn't possible, then can I just reverse the behavior, so long press for home screen, and short press for apps?

 

[ScandaLeX]

I'm planning on getting a GN2 when it comes out on Verizon, but one of the things that concerns me is that it doesn't have a dedicated app switching button. I understand that a long press of the home button will bring up the list of recently used apps, but that is too slow for something I'll be doing all the time.

Ideally I'd like to have a short press of the home button bring up all running apps, including a selection for the home screen (which is just an app like any other, right?). If this isn't possible, then can I just reverse the behavior, so long press for home screen, and short press for apps?

The only thing I've come across that may be in line with what you'd like to do is an app called Task Switcher. I've not tried it myself but if you do, let us know what you think about it once you get your Note 2.

If there's another way to accomplish your goal, I'm sure someone will chime in.

 

[dylane]

Thanks. This seems to be exactly what I want, although it isn't completely clear from the description how everything works in practice. It seems that a single button launches the recent apps, and a double tap takes you to the home screen?

 

[Dieben]

The ClutchPad app can float a small button at the side of the screen on top of everything that enables you to instantly jump back and forth between two apps with a single click. But ClutchPad tends to close and reopen itself occasionally.

The Smart Taskbar app also can float a small button at the side of the screen on top of everything that enables you to quickly jump back and forth between multiple recent apps with two clicks.

 

[dylane]

The ClutchPad app can float a small button at the side of the screen on top of everything that enables you to instantly jump back and forth between two apps with a single click. But ClutchPad tends to close and reopen itself occasionally.

The Smart Taskbar app also can float a small button at the side of the screen on top of everything that enables you to quickly jump back and forth between multiple recent apps with two clicks.

Thanks. Without using them, I think my preference would be to not have something constantly hovering on top of the windows, but I might be wrong about that in practice, and good to know there are other options.

While trying to do more research I also found some threads of people saying good things about QuickDesk and SwipePad, which also seem like they might do what I want.

 

[girolez]

Yes, there are lots of options to do this. Swipepad is a good one. If you are new to android, I think you will be amazed at quite how many ways there are to do this type of thing.

 

[almath]

Try an app called Wave Launcher.

 

[dylane]

Yes, there are lots of options to do this. Swipepad is a good one. If you are new to android, I think you will be amazed at quite how many ways there are to do this type of thing.

I'm not completely new to Android. My wife has had a Galaxy for about 2 years that I've used quite a bit, and I've bought a Droid 2 and Droid 4, but returned both in the 2 week return period partly because of what seemed like hardware issues, but also when it became clear that "multitasking" on Android wasn't developed yet to a point that I would be happy with.

Because of this I haven't really had the opportunity to really explore UI modifications. I've installed some apps on my wife's phone, but nothing that would change the overall functionality of the phone, which is really the kind of thing I'm most interested in.