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Tune Pop for Android lets you easily see what song is playing
Tune Pop isn't a fix for all of Android's notification problems, but it does make listening to music a whole lot easier. Tune Pop shows a toast box in the middle of your screen, whether you are currently in your music player app or not. Obviously, this doesn't help if you are actively using your phone as a music player -- but if you've started some music, then switched to the Web browser or GPS navigation, Tune Pop's notifications are pretty damn handy! Don't worry if you miss the first notification, either: just shake your phone and the toast window will pop back up.
Tune Pop is free [AppBrain], and works with most Android media players, including the built-in apps, Grooveshark, Winamp, MixZing, and more. If you want to customize the notification windows, you'll need to pick up the Pro version for 99 cents. There's a QR code for the free version after the break.
Comments
12
Subscribe to commentsskitch966Dec 31st 2010 11:20AM
Ummmm.. you kidding me? notifications are actually what android gets right. Better than the other 2 major platforms.
skumtomtenDec 31st 2010 11:51AM
dude... android notifications is WONDERFUL. what are you talking about?
Sebastian AnthonyDec 31st 2010 11:58AM
@skumtomten & @skitch966 -- I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one...!
Words can't begin to describe how much I hate slide-out bars -- especially when I have to reach to the top of the screen to get to it; guh!
Also, the notification itself is useless unless you're actually looking at the bar!
iuqiddisDec 31st 2010 7:17PM
@Sebastian Anthony
"especially when I have to reach to the top of the screen to get to it; guh!"
Although I like the unobtrusive notifications in android, maybe two things that could slightly alleviate your complaints are the following:
1. This program ( I haven't tried it) gives SMS a pop-up like iOS. http://lifehacker.com/5596492/chompsms-is-a-handy-replacement-for-androids-sms-app
2. The reaching to the top problem is a bit trickier to solve: You need to have ADW launcher. Then you go to ADW Settings > General Behavior > Swipe down actions > select 'open/close notifications'.
This will allow you to swipe down anywhere in the home screen to pull down the notification bar.
PsyDec 31st 2010 1:01PM
Registered just to write this.
Clearly this author is an iPhone user who can't see why unobtrusive notifications are a god send.
"it's completely out of the way, and it garbles anything longer than a few words."
That's what a notification is SUPPOSE to do. Notify you that you have messages, not display them all to you. That's what going into the app is for. It is suppose to be completely out of the way. I don't see new e-mails on the desktop popping up and taking your entire screen when they come on Outlook.
"let's see if I have any messages.. -- which isn't really the point of notifications"
I believe the point of notifications is to notify you. Notifications are suppose to tell you when you have notifications so you can check them.
Sebastian AnthonyDec 31st 2010 1:04PM
@Psy Hey! Thanks for stopping by.
I don't own any Apple products -- I own an Android phone, but my main phone is a boring Sony-Ericsson 'dumb' phone.
As you say, the point of a notifications panel is to notify you. For me, the Android notification bar is about as effective as an icon that changes colour on your Windows system tray -- if you look for it you can spot the difference, but if you're looking elsewhere on the screen, you're likely to miss it -- and then if you do spot it, you have to slide the bar open to actually interact with it.
I would much rather have in-your-face notifications -- or at least a system that can be _configured_ to be in-your-face.
annoyingposter4Dec 31st 2010 4:08PM
sebastian anthony is an wanna be journalist with no intelligence. stop trying to advertise your crappy site with these useless bloatware apps and then try to attract people to post with flamebait like saying the android notification system is awful. pathetic, you could never think of a better solution in your entire life so dont criticize without useful feedback, clownboy.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 1st 2011 1:56PM
@annoyingposter4 no u
Sebastian AnthonyJan 1st 2011 1:57PM
@annoyingposter4 Also, thank you for putting us back in your RSS feed reader thing -- last I heard you removed us...
Sebastian AnthonyJan 1st 2011 1:56PM
@iuqiddis The swipe-anywhere thing sounds fantastic -- I'll have to give it a go!
Thanks for the tips.
Rupert Madden-AbbottJan 1st 2011 5:41PM
Looks cool!
DamienJan 8th 2011 5:41AM
I don't know what you mean when you say that Android notifications UI is bad. I prefer it to any notification UI that I've seen other than maybe Growl, and thats a full on desktop OS notification UI.
The icons are easily recognizable. Gmail, eBuddy, gTalk and gVoice all display just fine, and I can make out exactly what they are. Handcent (my SMS app) as well as Facebook both not only give an icon but a missed message count, all in a space a few millimeters wide.
I don't see how this notifications system could be improved. As another poster said, all I want out of that bar is a notification. I don't want it displaying the full text of a message - that's what Handcent, the app, is for. I don't want to read an entire email in that bad or even see who it's from - that's what GMail, the app, is for. Also, the pulldown method works pretty well for me. It could be because I do use ADW Launcher and have the "anywhere pulldown" bit enabled, but I like that my notifications slide up and out of the way, and on at least one device (my Galaxy Tab) the notifications pulldown actually has some useful features hard-wired in like GPS on/off, brightness, and orientation locking. Having that stuff at my fingertips now, I can't see how I got by without it before.
If you can come up with alternatives, then by all means, share. However, I think Google did an amazing job with the notifications.