Controlling the volume on your Android phone can be a tricky affair. It might not seem that way but, how often have you missed an SMS or e-mail notification when listening to music? I know I do it quite often, I also have certain times when I set my phone to silent but, when the time has passed, I forget to turn it back and I miss more notifications. Wouldn’t it be great if you could set up an app to deal with these things for you? Of course it would, read on to see if Smart Volume Control is that app. We’ll be running through the paid version of the app but, if you want to try before you buy – and try with us – then take a look at the free version.
Description: Smart Volume Control is an application that is designed to help you keep on top of what comes out of your phone and how loud it is. It might sound like just another app to deal with your volume but, SVC does a whole lot more. It can control the status of your Bluetooth, WiFi and your volume through location, timers and even calendar events. It’s a crazily powerful application and one really worth exploring. Take a look at the video below to find out more:
How it Works: To get the app installed, just go and head to the Play Store. After that just go ahead and open up the app to see what it can do for you. One of the simplest things you can from the app is control the volumes of anything on your device, from one simple screen.
You can swipe between the tabs at the top of the app by simply swiping left and right, a lot like other Holo like apps. A lot of your time is going to be spent in the Profiles tab, and as you can see there are a lot of them to choose from:
There’s perhaps a whole lot in Smart Volume Control that I couldn’t show you in one review so, let’s go through the main use I need for it. So, you might know that we run a podcast every Monday and for me it’s around 12 o’clock at night due to crazy time differences. For the podcast we make sure stuff is on silent – or at least I do – but I’ve been known to forget. So, let’s set Smart Volume Control up for me, so I never have to even remember. Through profiles I can set the time I want it to start on silent:
Now, if I’m not careful I’m going to leave this on silent all the time and if someone needed me in the middle of the night they wouldn’t be able to get hold of me, thankfully I can just set a trigger for the loud profile to kick in when we’re done with the podcast:
Now, there are other ways you can set up triggers, for instance you can use locations as well, which is pretty great if you go to church a lot, or use the local library a lot as well. By setting up a GPS trigger, you don’t even have to remember to change your profiles. Of course, there’s more you can do with the app than just changing the volume, you can have the profiles change a lot of things:
Smart Volume Control is what you make of it and, it’s one of those apps that you can’t be shown what it can do, you need to go out and discover it for yourself. There’s a whole lot to love about the app though and if you’re looking for some trouble-free control over your phone then SVC is a great app to get it through. It’s extremely simple to set up and once you have a lot of schedules etc loaded into the app you can see them all through one handy screen:
If you need any help getting to grips with Smart Volume Control+ you can go ahead and take a look at their website for more info.
Opinion: I listen to a lot of music – from my PC through my Hi-Fi, through Google Music on my phone and tablet – most of the time, I’m plugged in some way or another. Often, I miss notifications or leave my phone in silent mode. For the Android Headlines Podcast for instance, I silence my phone but I forget to and then I wonder why I wake up late in the morning. I have a Bluetooth speaker dock as my alarm clock and volume is pretty important because, given the chance, I’d stay in bed all day long. With Smart Volume Control I can set everything up and forget about it. My phone now fits around my life, not the other way round.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – For such a rich app, there are no slow downs and everything runs really well on a couple of devices I have here.
- Features (5/5) – If you listen to a lot of music, do a lot of phone talking etc, then this is the app for you. SVC is packed to the rafters with all you need to take back your phone’s volume.
- Theme (5/5) – SVC takes cues from the new Holo theme and adds a unique stamp to it, you always know you’re in SVC and yet it also fits in well.
- Overall (5/5) – For those out there that find themselves constantly adjusting their phone’s volumes, give SVC a try and profit from saving time and never having to go through a million settings screens again.
Pros
- Varied amount of uses for the app make it great for everyone.
- Good looking theme creates a good user experience from the start.
- Location and date triggered events are fantastic for meetings and events.
- Of particular interest to me was the speed triggered controlled – perfect for when you really go for it on a run!
Cons
- A tutorial with example events would be really helpful.
- Descriptions of each trigger within the app would help SVC become more accessible.
Concclusion: As I keep saying, if you’re somebody who – like me – listens to a lot of music, it can be a little difficult to either filter the noise through or drown it altogether. For instance, on the train home form work, you want to listen to music and not be bothered for a little bit but, if you were to miss a call from the wife – that could land you in trouble. With SVC you can filter it all out while being selective as well, unfortunately though, this leaves you with no excuse to forget the milk on the way home. If you’re fed up of having to watch your phone’s every move when it comes to your volume then grab hold of control and take your phone back through SVC. For those who follow routines, setting SVC once will be enough for it to make a difference. Certainly worth the money and definitely something you should try out.