[Review] Make Phone Calls From Notification Center

[Anthony Bouchard]

With this Notification Center Widget you can make calls from Notification Center.

Are you a power iPhone user? You might find a Notification Center widget that has been dubbed NCInstaCall useful. It has been made a developer named Will Coughlin and it's free in Cydia. As you can see from the image above, you get a new widget added to your Notification Center with the name, version, author, and the iPhone's Phone application icon on it. Tapping on it toggles its special ability - bringing up a Phone keypad and allowing you to make a call. The NCInstaCall keypad and prompt looks like the image below:



It's really nicely integrated and doesn't appear to add any funky sights that are out of the ordinary which seems to be a common prerequisite of most third party Notification Center widgets. Another benefit of this tweak is that it works impeccably with IntelliScreenX. IntelliScreenX brings the Notification Center pull-down menu to the lock screen, so in combination with this tweak, you have the option to make calls right from your lock screen without having to go through unlocking your iPhone and searching your SpringBoard for the Phone application.

I think that the idea of this tweak is very handy. I do however, think that it could do with a visual makeover because having all of that extraneous text showing up in Notification Center isn't exactly what I like to call attractive. It doesn't really have that 'widget appearance'. Instead, it just feels out of place. It does a great job of making it easier for you to make a phone call, in my opinion, and for a free Notification Center widget I think that it's definitely worth checking out if it looks even the slightest bit interesting to you.

The functionality is pretty straight forward and it works great. This means that it earns a good rating from me. Albeit it works good, the strange appearance does cost it some points. When you install this widget, you might not notice it immediately. You will need to go into the Settings application and go into the Notifications menu and move the freshly downloaded widget into the Notification Center. After that, you can just pull down the Notification Center from the status bar and start using it. I recommend this tweak to anyone looking for an easier way to make phone calls while on the fly.

Name: NCInstaCall
Price: FREE
Repo: BigBoss
Version: 1.0.1-2
Developer: Will Coughlin
Editor's Rating:  4/5

Will you be trying out NCInstaCall? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Sources: Will Coughlin

[Mlitz69]

Why bring down the notification center to make a call when the phone app is right infront of you?

[rabbit_]

Why bring down the notification center to make a call when the phone app is right infront of you?

I was thinking that also +1

[Anthony Bouchard]

It isn't right in front of you on the lock screen when you are using IntelliScreenX. That's one of the main points that I'd use it for.

[Flathed]

Why bring down the notification center to make a call when the phone app is right infront of you?

I find there is a little lag when you open the phone app, if you need to enter in a number fast, this works better and simpler. Swipe, tap, number.

[exNavy]

Anthony just wanted to say I love all the articles you crank out. It really keeps the front page fresh and helps to introduce us to many programs we might otherwise miss.

[umran]

I am using CallBar its easy and you dont have remember or memorise all the phone numbers...

[mattpowell19]

I like the idea, but who memorizes numbers anymore. A contact option needs to be added to be able to pull up your contacts in the call widget.

[rkswat]

I don't bad mouth any app as I can't write one but it seems that there are a lot of "useless" apps being made lately. If you can't wait the .25 seconds it takes for the phone to open to be able to make a call you have more issues than this app can help. Nice job though.

[Flathed]

I thought this app was cool AFTER I downloaded it. I sell a lot if things online so most of my calls are to manually typed in numbers. Also just yesterday (before I heard of this app) I called in for a radio contest, I was cursing how slow it was from unlocking, phone app, change from contact list, then dialing. Is it a trivial amount of time saved, yes, but it is a slight improvement for me. If there was a NASCAR app, I wouldn't download it, but I wouldn't waste my time hating on it or the writers, especially without actually testing it first

[ZealFied]

Name Of That First Widget You Have? That Clock + Date + Twitter One.
Please