The Pops app for Android devices allows you to receive fun, animated notifications for text messages, e-mail and more. If you’ve found the standard notification messages and tones being too boring and bland for your liking, the Pops application (free in the Android Market) is sure to spice things up.
When you have new e-mail, text messages, or Facebook/Twitter updates, you’ll also receive a custom animation along with it. You can then quickly go to the message itself directly from the animation, ensuring that Pops don’t interfere with reading your mail in a timely manner.
Some of these animations are cute and fun, such as a cartoon puppy bringing you your message, a smiley face popping out of an envelope, and some which even use the Android mascot. Others use popular Internet memes such as Nyan Cat, with the cat’s Pop Tart body instead replaced with the notification source’s logo. Some are even more in your face, such as one which etches your notification into stone or another which uses industrial, metallic letters reminiscent of Transformers. Whatever your preference, the application is fully customizable so you can set each service to have its own notification.
The volume of the sounds can be altered, and the sound can even be disabled if you prefer just having the animations without distracting sounds. It’s also easy to disable the animations when needed, whether you’re in an important meeting or simply not in the mood; naturally, they can always be re-enabled with ease.
Not only is there a wide variety to choose from, you can also use your phone’s camera to record photos or video to use as your own custom Pop animation. The level of customization is amazing and really lets you tailor the app to your own needs rather than being stuck with things you don’t want. The app is currently free, so you can check it out for yourself and see just how customizable it is.
Let’s re-cap some of Pops’ cool features:
- On screen notifications include the message and its sender’s name and photo;
- Improved and visually rich messaging experience;
- Pops has a growing gallery filled with animated pops. There are currently more than 80 to choose from;
- Use your own photos or videos to create personalized Pops;
- Logs notifications in a single location with one-click access to notification for quick reply;
- Put the Pops on pause (great for meetings, lectures, etc.);
- Supports Facebook, Gmail, Twitter and SMS /text messaging.
Looking for more Android apps? Make sure to check out a list of 10 Essential Android Apps or a small handful of Free Voice Recognition Android Apps.
