Do Not Disturb makes it Easy to Silence the Phone on Demand
by Toni McQuilken
Nov 16, 2011 8:54 AM –
Install
Do Not Disturb is designed for busy people, who do not want to be distracted during a meeting. Now it suffices to turn the phone face down to make it silent. Shaking the phone during the call, the program turns off the sound of the call. The program has a Widget to control work modes: manual or auto.
Price: Free, $1.00 (Paid Version in Amazon Only)
Tested on: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, MyTouch 3G Slide
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Several options for setting how and when your phone will silence itself, including a widget.
- Has feature to auto reply by text message to callers (in Pro version).
Cons
- Some features say they are in the paid version only, which is only available in the Amazon App Store, not the Android Market.
Features:
Do Not Disturb is a basic app that allows users to quickly silence their phone or device. You can turn on the Silence Mode of the phone either with a click, or by turning the phone over onto it’s face (a feature similar to that of HTC Sense). You can also set up the app to mute the ringer at the shake of the phone.
I like that beyond just silencing the phone, the app does give you some other options. Such as locking the screen automatically when you put the phone into silence mode, setting up a flashing indicator so you’ll know if your phone is in silence mode or not, even choosing how the phone will notify you in silence mode, if any. This can be a vibration, a flash, or you can set it up to ring at a lower volume.
You can also choose to have the app send an SMS reply automatically to anyone who calls in the paid version when the phone is in silence mode. You can use the default message, or set your own. Another feature in the paid version is the ability to lock the phone at the press of the search button on the phone, which is a nice idea. The paid version is only available in the Amazon Market, however, and while the app popup says it is in the Android Market, I couldn’t find it there anywhere. It was only by going to the developer’s website and finding the link there that I was able to find the download for the paid version. So keep that in mind if you want to upgrade.
Also worth noting is that this app doesn’t do anything that apps such as Tasker can’t do. It does make it easier for people who don’t want to mess with a more complicated app like that, but if you already have Tasker or something like it, Do Not Disturb doesn’t bring anything additional to the table, unfortunately. Also, if you run a custom ROM like Cyanogenmod, their lock screen has a button to silence the phone without even having to go all the way in.
Watch on Mobile
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Do Not Disturb Widgets
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Do Not Disturb Settings
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Do Not Disturb Program Settings
Usefulness:
It is useful to be able to silence the phone, and I like that there are several ways to do it. I like that you can use the widget to toggle between automatic and manual silence modes – Automatic will put it in silence mode when you turn the phone over, and manual will put it into silence mode immediately.
Ease of Use:
It is very easy to use, which is where this app does shine. It makes setting up silent times or actions very easy to do, allowing people who aren’t as “tech inclined” to use it without the hassle. It is a bit confusing when you get the popup on some features that they are only in a paid version that is difficult to find unless you know where to look, so a link to “update now” or something of that sort would be a welcomed addition.
Frequently Used:
This depends on how often you need to silence your phone. It could be an app you use all the time, or one that is rarely needed. If you don’t need to silence very often, then there might be other, easier options out there, such as the ones built into some ROMS, or apps like Tasker.
Interface:
The interface is clean, if a tad bit confusing with some of the language – it is obvious English isn’t the first language of the developer in some of the phrasing. It doesn’t make it unusable by any stretch, but it might take a few reads through to understand exactly what each function does. I also found that when I tried to tap on a paid feature in the free version, I couldn’t get rid of the popup message telling me to upgrade until I went out of the app and went back in. So that’s a bit of an annoyance, but again, not an app killer.