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Today on AppJudgment we're taking control of our Android layout without adding additional screens or home replacements
What's up, universe! Welcome to AppJudgment your source for app news and reviews. I'm Anthony Carboni
And today we're looking at one of the best Android interface organizational tools I've found
Multicon
I'm a real nutcase about my homescreen layout. I'm constantly changing things around to make sure I've got my phone optimized
To get me to everything I want in the least amount of taps
The problem is that with its strict four by four grid Android kinda wastes a lot of space
There are couple of popular ways around this. The most common is to add more homescreens if your phone allows it
I'm not a fan of that just because it's extra stuff to swype through
You get to a certain point it's the same as looking at your full app list
You can also install a home replacement that allows you to add more icons per screen
But home replacements aren't as neatly integrated into the OS as I'd like
And changing the number of icons on the screen tends to make things look strange and mangles your widgets a bit
And to Multicon. By default this free widget allows to put four app or shortcut icons into the space normally occupied by one
You can also configure the widget to use up to a full column allowing you to place down sixteen icons at once
You can even switch up the number of icons per space and really use every bit of your homescreen to its fullest
A simple solution to a common problem
But it's not without problems of its own. When we return I'll talk about some of the corks holding Multicon back
We're back and we're talking about Multicon - a quick and easy widget that gives you more layout flexibility on your homescreen
It's a great little tool but it's got some downsides
First of all while you can put down a widget that takes anywhere from a single space to an entire column on your screen
You can't place down rows or span multiple columns without using multiple widgets
Not a show stopper. But it can get pretty annoying to trying keep track of what you've already put down and where in other instances of the widget
Also while I appreciate the ability to configure how many icons can fit into each space
Doing anything more than a standard four gets a little too small to be useful
I also found that when placing down a lot of icons in a row the widget has problem drawing the icons
And winds up giving you these generic placeholders
The app puts limits on the number of icons you can wedge into each space
So you'd think they'd only allow what it can handle
Overall Multicon has really helped me organizing condense my homescreen into a layout that's a lot more manageable
I like that it's a simple widget not something overly complicated like a home replacement
I also like that it has flexible layout options that allows for any shortcut on the phone. Not just apps
I'd really like to see some multicolumn options though so I don't have to keep track of everything I placed previously
Shortcomings aside this one is definitely a download
It's a quick, easy and free way to wrangle all those stray apps you've got in the one place.
What are you using to keep your phone organized? Let me know by tweeting me at acarboni
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