Good bye, Power Button: notifications directly on your lock screen
With features like double tap on the LG G2 coming to be more and more popular, it seems like the power button will soon be abolished almost completely from smartphone. Now, manufacturers are working on new ways to turn on the display of your device and show notifications without having to press a button. We’ll show you three apps that you can use right now to help you get the most information from your lock screen without having to press a single button.
AcDisplay
This app will briefly turn on the display when you have an incoming notification and will show you the important information along with the time and date. The type of notification is displayed by a small icon which can then be swiped upwards to get more of a preview along with options on how to respond to the notification, by replying to a text for example. In addition, you also have the ability to control the app a little but more by setting inactive hours, or a Do not Disturb time frame, for AcDisplay so that your device isn’t lighting up in the middle of the night.
AcDisplay also offers the ability to use the motion sensors of your smartphone to turn on the display automatically when you pick up the device in your hand, similar to the Active Display on the Moto X, which is labeled as active mode. AcDisplay can replace the default lock screen, so that it appears automatically on your device when or if you do decide to use that power button.
Right now, AcDisplay is in version 2.0 but there are still some features that are still in “beta” form: for example, the active mode didn’t work perfectly in our test but it may have just been the device we were testing it on. If you want to get in on the latest beta versions of AcDisplay, you can log in as a tester on the Google+ community. From there, you’ll gain access to direct links to the Play Store. AcDisplay only work on Android 4.4, but more backwards compatibility is currently being worked on.
Gravity Screen
This app uses the sensors in your phone in order to turn off the display when it is placed down, for example, on a table and to turn it on again when the device is picked up. It is also possible to make numerous fine adjustments to the app as well. For example, you can specify that the display is only turned on when you wave your hand over the proximity sensor.
Gravity Screen seems to be the perfect solution for everyone, as a lot of the things it brings to the tablet aren’t standard features for most smartphones. One should consider, however, that always being active will also drain the battery considerably more than without it on. Moreover, Gravity Screen doesn’t offer any custom notification or lock screen, but simply will activate the display. Gravity Display is free on the Play Store but does also offer in-app purchases that adds a bit more to the app.
NotificationPeek
Third in our list of apps is NotifcationPeek, which was originally a feature on Paranoid Android, and now is available to be downloaded and installed as a stand-alone app. We did an in-depth review of it recently, but decided to add it to our list of apps regardless. Similar to AcDisplay, notifications appear on the lock screen in the form of minimalistic icons without having to press any buttons.
After installation, you have access to app notifications that appear on the lock screen and the app can also incorporates the proximity and position sensor, so that it can tell whether it is on a table or in your hand-bag, for example. Once you pick up the device, the display will then turn on.
NotificationPeek uses the source code of AcDisplay and also requires Android 4.4 to run. In our short test with the LG G2 Mini, some features did work but it didn’t respond to a change in movement. However, tests on the Nexus 5 worked flawlessly.
The app itself isn’t officially in the Play Store, but can be found on the developers Google+ page or found on Github, where you can download the latest APK for free.
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