Are you looking for a multi-purpose Notification Center widget that can do many things in one with deep customization and simple appearance? You might be happy to hear about a new jailbreak widget dubbed ActionSlider for Notification Center by iOS developer Merlin Mao. It's very similar to the free WeeCloseApps for Notification Center that we reviewed earlier today, only it costs 99¢ and has many more features added to it – think of it as a pro version. ActionSlider can do everything WeeCloseApps can do, but there are much more settings to choose from:
Right off the bat, you can see that instead of simply sliding to the right and left, you can also slide only the middle of the right or the middle of the left – this gives you two extra actions, which WeeCloseApps could only do two of. Not only that, but there are more actions to choose from. From the main preferences pane, you can kill any music that might be playing when you slide the widget’s slider and you can choose to dismiss Notification Center when you slide the slider as well. For each of the four slider positions, you can do any of the following actions:
- Close app - simply closes the application you are currently in like the home button would
- Kill app - closes and kills the application you are currently in from the App Switcher
- Kill background - kills background applications, but not the application you're currently in
- Kill background all - kills everything; the application you're in and everything running in the background
- Show switcher - opens up the App Switcher
- Wiggle switcher - puts the App Switcher into jiggle mode so you can kill applications
- Now playing bar - opens up the App Switcher and displays the iPod controls section
- Activate siri - launches Siri so you can query something
- Capture screen - takes a screenshot
- None - does nothing
Another feature that we didn't see in WeeCloseApps is the ability to white list applications. This feature will allow us to choose applications that will remain open in the App Switcher when we use ActionSlider to kill all applications running the in the background. It's handy for keeping applications like Messages and Mail running.
To invoke any of these actions, you simply launch Notification Center and use the knob, dragging it in the direction and distance of your choice. You will notice a couple of lines in the slider's appearance which mark the four locations you can drag the slider to. ActionSlider for Notification Center can be enabled or disabled at any time by dragging it in and out of Notification Center from the Notifications preferences pane in the Settings application:
ActionSlider for Notification Center works great with IntelliScreenX and other third party widgets meaning you don’t have to fret about compatibility. It fits nicely in IntelliScreenX’s top shelf so that it’s accessible only when you need it. The functions such as taking a screenshot or activating Siri are great in this widget because it takes away the need to use the iDevice’s buttons for both actions. ActionSlider requires iOS 5 since it needs Notification Center to be installed and will install CustomWidgetIcons as a dependency.
The developer promises more features to come for Actionslider, which gives us something to look forward to. I like the cosmetic appearance and intuitive interface of this widget. Everything seems to be implemented so well that I really have to recommend it for anyone who wants an easier way to access iOS functions without using any of their hardware buttons. Many of the features of the widget are great for when you have broken buttons (opening the app switcher, launching Siri, taking screenshots, etc.).
Name: ActionSlider for Notification Center
Price: 99¢
Version: 1.0-1
Repo: BigBoss
Developer: Merlin Mao
Editor's Rating: / 4.5/5
Sources: Merlin Mao
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