~ MamakTalk ~: Sponsored App Review: Floating Toolbox

Floating Toolbox is an Android app that does pretty much what you think it does; it puts a floating toolbox full of your chosen apps and utilities on your display, ready whenever you want, much like that from the Galaxy S5. No matter which application you’re using, you’ll be able to expand your toolbox, giving you access to whichever apps you choose. It’s a simple, yet effective way of giving you quick access to your most-used applications and it’s configurable to your likes and dislikes, too. Anyone that’s familiar with Facebook’s chatheads will know what I’m talking about here and the app works well. How well? Read on to find out.

Getting Floating Toolbox set up is pretty simple, and all you need to do is to download the app from the Play Store, then you can go ahead and launch the app to change some settings.

There are a number of tabs here, as you can see. The free version does ship with a few limitations, namely the amount of apps you’re allowed to have enabled in your Toolbox, but you can still customize things if you like as well.

Let’s take a look at my homescreen. Here on my Nexus 9 everything looks regular, but you’ll notice that there’s a circle with three dots in it that’s floating around (to the left of my clock widget).

Now let’s take a look at what happens when you expand it:

This works just as you’d expect, you just touch one of these icons and you’re taken to the app. It also works in whatever app it is you’re using. Like Firefox for instance:

This does have its limitations, in that these apps launch in full window sizes, but that’s not a massive problem if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to access apps no matter what you’re using or which app you’re in.

Hiding and changing the settings for your Floating Toolbox is nice and easy. All you need to do is to press and hold on the three dots and you’ll see options at the top and bottom of the display.

In the below shot, you’ll see that I’m dragging the three dots to the Hide button down below. This will of course hide the Floating Toolbar, to get it back you just need to open up the app from your app drawer.

Floating Tollbox is one of those apps that while I can’t see a need for it for everyone, I can see those using an app for business or for doing lots of things at once finding a lot of value here. The app isn’t exactly revolutionary, but the developer makes no bones about that and for a simple app, this works really quite well. Plus, it’s a neat way of getting something similar to the Galaxy S5’s floating tools without having to jump ship. It’s a nice way of easily making a quick list of apps that you want to launch, rather than apps imposed upon by you by say Samsung or Sony. If you’re constantly heading back to the home menu, or to the app drawer, then this is an app that can help you go to and fro those applications quite easily.

Ratings

Speed (4/5) – I had no issues here and while it’s not instant, this did work quickly and without hassle.

Features (4/5) – Floating Toolbox is no revolution, but if you want a quick and easy way to launch things from anywhere on your Android device, then this is worth investigating.

Theme (4/5) – A good-looking floating app, this blends in with pretty much everything nice and easily.

Overall (4/5) – A simple, solid application that does what it says it does without any hassle, Floating Toolbox is worth taking a look at.

Pros

Works well on even the latest version of Android and blends in effortlessly.

Easy to configure, with the choice and arrangement of apps being your choice, not your device manufacturer’s.

No need to spend oodles of time configuring things as it’s all easily and quickly done.

Good option for those that are in a habit of going back to the home screen all the time.

Cons

Might not be as advanced as some users were hoping for.

Would be better if some apps could be launched in floating windows to match.

All-in-all, Floating Toolbox is what it says it is; a quick and easy way to access your favorite apps no matter where you are in Android. It works on top of any app and the simple list of applications are easy to see and quick to launch, too. For those that don’t want to jump through hoops to gain a little more functionality, Floating Toolbox is easy to use and adds a lot of extra value, too.