This has to be one of the weirdest apps that our dedicated tipster, DavidB, has ever sent in. Looks like a developer decided to create an application that lets you know how much of a charge your BlackBerry has while charging. This is supposed to save you the hassle of having to walk over to your phone to see how far along it is in charging. The ironic part is that it leaves the screen on to be able to display this information which logically makes the charge take longer…
The app is only 99 cents on sale now but still I am both slightly intrigued and bewildered by the application. I think it would be cool if RIM found a way to show you how charged the device was with the LED but I think that an animated screen saver is a bit overkill. What do you think?
Features:
- Automatic activation when plugged in (optional)
- Delays automatic activation until you’re not actively using the phone
- Can be activated manually
- Automatically disappears when you unplug, if it started automatically
- Can either keep monitor onscreen indefinitely, or allow auto security lock
- Charging confirmation (external power indicators)
- Battery temperature indicators
- Analog and digital clock with day and date
- Large clock can be kept on continuously to replace phone’s built-in clock during charging
- All options set conveniently via menu
- Small application size
Normally, if you want to see how a charge is coming along you have to walk over to the phone, click it, and read a tiny indicator.
Charge Cool instead. Now, when you’re delaying going out waiting for the phone to charge up, and need to keep checking to see if it’s charged enough yet, start the animonitor and you can tell at a glance from as far away as you can see the screen. And LED notifications such as for incoming messages are still visible and unaffected.
The animonitor starts automatically (if you wish) when you’re plugged in and not using the phone, then keeps the screen on and indicates charging status by the color of an energy-burst with %-charged and/or a clock floating over it, and two bouncers that go higher the more the battery is charged. When the burst is green and the bouncers go far across the screen, you’re well charged. When the phone smiles, you’re 100%.
Have you even been waiting for your phone to charge, then discovered it wasn’t charging at all? The clock and %-charged shown in the center of the animonitor change to electric-blue if you’re fast-charging, electric-violet if you’re slow-charging, or shadows if you’ve lost external power. Optionally, the backlight pulsates while you’re plugged in, and stops pulsating if you lose power — this is easier to see from a distance.
There are also thermoflashers that indicate the battery temperature range, in case it overheats during charging or is still too cold for charging after being left in a cold car. (Charging when too hot or cold can reportedly cause damage and loss of capacity, and damaged batteries have been known to ignite).
When you plug in to a computer to transfer files or back up, the animonitor will not annoy you by activating immediately. It will wait the same length of time the display is set to wait before turning off due to inactivity, and then the animonitor will appear. If you dislike the phone’s clock activating immediately, you can set the clock app not to auto-activate when charging, and use I Charge Cool instead, since it shows analog and digital time plus the day of the week and the date. The animonitor can be set to display its clock constantly instead of alternating with the charge %.
This is a simple app, it won’t brew coffee for you while you’re charging, but costs about as much as an average coffee, should make charging less annoying for you many times, and looks cooler than a dark screen or clock that’s keeping the charging status a secret.
Would you buy your phone a coffee if it would ever after show you its charging status like this? If so, this app is for you. If not… think of cheaper coffee!
For users who depend on the automatic security lock, if this app is configured to keep the display on past its normal timeout, this has the side effect of resetting the security timer so that the auto-lock will not engage. For this reason, auto-startup and/or display-time extension can easily be disabled and later re-enabled from the menu to suit your situation. If you engage the security lock manually, the phone will lock not only the keyboard but also the display, blocking the animonitor, although the backlight will continue to pulsate. You can lock the phone temporarily if you have to leave it unattended, then enter the password when you return and the full animonitor will resume immediately.
via BlackBerryBlast
