Nudge - "Shake, Shake, Shake!"

by Jay O. on Aug 31, 2010 9:23:40 PM — read 4,174 times

TAGS: Android, Android Market, Apps,

Tested version: 1.4
Latest version: 1.4
Requires Android: from 2.1

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Summary

" ... Shake, Shake, Shake - Shake your Android!" Or should I say “Nudge your Android”? This app promises to do a whole lot: by simply nudging your Android you can trigger and control lots of different actions. Read on to find out if this actually works, or if you should simply continue to “shake you booty”, as the KC & Sunshine Band suggest you do.

Features & Use

Section rating:

Shake your Android once and you start your call. Shake it twice and your favorite app opens up. That’s how simple life with a smartphone can be. Nudge is an app that allows you to access functions with one flick of the wrist.

First off, select which action you want to trigger. Choose between:

• Contact/Number
• Open Home Screen
• Open App
• Sound settings to mute

If you want to make a call you have your entire access your entire address book, so to speak. The only glitch is that there’s no search function, which means that there’s no fast way of navigating through your list of contacts. A search function would make sense if you’re the type of user who has 400 contacts in their phone, especially if you want to call Doctor X or something.

If you’ve already installed Froyo on your phone then the Silence Ringer option will be of no use to you, as it won’t work; tests on several different Froyo devices confirmed this. I couldn’t figure out if the same problem occurs when using phones that run on older Android versions, so if you have any further insights please let me know in the comments below.

The Pattern option lets you choose just that: which gesture will trigger an action. You can be as creative as you like, but keep in mind that Nudge only recognizes two gestures: 1) shaking it to the right or left (it doesn’t matter in which direction you move it), and 2) tipping it backwards or forwards (again, the direction is irrelevant). You can combine these patterns in any way you please: one shake, two falls, another shake, and three falls and your on the line to mom.

Bottom line:
The app really does what it intends to do, and it makes using your Android a whole lot easier. It’s a great app to have if there are certain actions and functions that you need and perform regularly. Just one shake and you can start your phone call. If that isn’t convenient I don’t know what is. However, because the app is running in the background it can occur that an action is started without you knowing about it. This doesn’t occur very frequently, though. Furthermore, you can set the responsiveness of the motion factors.

I did find that scrolling through my contact list was a bit annoying and this function could be improved.

Lastly, Silence Ringer isn’t compatible with Froyo, which is obviously going to affect the score negatively.

Screen & Controls

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The app’s design is pretty good. There’s an overview of all the different actions, which you can deactivate if you want to. Choosing actions is very simple and easy to do, except for the missing search function that allows you to search for a contact.

Let’s get to Nudge’s interesting aspect: triggering the actions. After you’ve installed the app it runs in the background, waiting to pick up the patterns that you’ve created. Recognizing patterns works like a charm, but it does take a bit of practice. If an action has been triggered successfully your phone will vibrate briefly and then get to the task at hand.