There is a really interesting application for Android that allows us to have a real multitasking feeling on screen of our device. Is named Overlays and provides us with the possibility of have floating widgets on open applications on our tablet or smartphone. Both maintain their accessibility and handling at one hundred percent and we can look for combinations that improve our productivity and our user experience. We can also insert shortcuts to applications or sections and searches within applications, weather information and clock.
Let's take a practical case: we are an investment advisor and we need to have information about our shares on the stock market in real time while we dispatch the emails that we are going to write. With Overlays we can do it and managing both open applications, one through the application's user interface in a normal way and the other through a floating widget.
The application has been developed by a former member of XDA Developers. In fact, it gives the impression of being the typical application for rooted computers, but in this case, it is compatible with all devices.
It has two versions, a free one that allows us to flirt with the idea and see the extent of its potential. In the free version we can define that a widget is always floating: on the main page of the launcher itself, when we open an application, when we exchange between operational applications or when we go to the applications menu.
We can generate various profiles. Each of them can be loaded with whatever you want: widgets, shortcuts, weather information or the clock. All this alone or all at once. By default there is a profile called general. But we can generate another profile to work since the type of information we need while we work is different and therefore the floating windows or widgets are different.
In the paid version we can do something even more effective. We can tell you what widgets we want to float when we open each specific application. If with Google Maps we want a direct access to the button to turn the GPS on and off, we can have it predetermined. Or if with Gmail we want to have access to the screen settings, then too.
The possibilities are endless and each user can find the most productive or convenient combinations.
To use Overlays you have to have a device with Android 4.0 or higher.
In Google Play you can download the free version. Try it and if it convinces you you can choose Overlay Pro, the paid version, for 1,79 euros.