Settings Plus 2014.1008.508.2801

Put some of the most visited system areas at hand, on the Start screen with a dedicated app
There are many Windows Phone users who are trying to find a convenient method for tweaking the looks and the functionality of their handsets and the Start screen is a good place to start the customization.

Settings Plus is one of the specialized tools that were designed particularly for this purpose and it provides a simple way of pinning commonly used shortcuts to make the respective system sections easier to reach.

Minimalistic GUI for ease of use

The design is fairly common and the focus is on functionality, so as to make the tiles quickly accessible. All the tiles are neatly stacked in rows and columns, but their arrangement could be a lot better if users would have the possibility to order them alphabetically.

There are no text labels on the tiles shown in the main screen, so for some of the shortcuts you will have to open them to see what they stand for.

Somewhat of a letdown is the fact that, once pinned to the Start screen, the tiles may be resized to only two sizes, more precisely small and medium, with the wide format not supported.

Tap and hold to add the shortcuts

With one press on each shortcut you can go directly to the Bluetooth, WiFi or cellular system settings and make any modifications you need. This way you will avoid going through the main "Settings" section of the system.

Other links include the email + accounts, lock screen and location services configuration areas, so, overall, the number of accessible system settings is pretty limited compared to some similar tools.

When you want to add a Start screen tile for one of the above mentioned sections all you have to do is tap and hold the corresponding icon and in a couple of seconds the shortcut will be created.

You can tell which are the tiles made with Settings Plus because each of them bears the app's icon in a smaller form in the lower right corner. Unfortunately, this is all they display because the current status of the system components they stand for cannot be shown onto the tiles.

To avoid creating duplicates on the Start screen, the application has a warning system that pops up a notification in case you try to pin one of the already existing tiles and it will prevent the creation of that shortcut.

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softpedia rating

3.5/5

user rating

UNRATED
0.0/5
 

0/5

2 Original Screenshots
Settings PlusSettings Plus
Hits & Misses

hits

  • simple operation
  • notifies the user when trying to pin an existing tile

misses

  • needs more shortcuts
  • wide tiles are not supported
  • could use some tile customization options
  • unattractive interface
Bottom Line
Design / UI6
 

The appearance of this utility is dull and it could use an upgrade from the visual perspective to make the layout more appealing.

Function6
 

Settings Plus comes with a small number of shortcuts, there are no tile customization options and the support for wide tiles is missing.

Security7
 

There are many system areas in which the application looks and for a few of them it has no good reason to do so.

Battery9
 

Very friendly to the system resources, this app needs a small amount of energy to keep it running, so the battery usage is kept low.

Price10
 

Every feature listed inside this application is made available at no cost and there are no annoyances inside either.

Compatibility10
 

Settings Plus is made to work on most Windows Phone powered handsets in existence, as it only needs version 7.5 of the OS.

Editor's Review
VERY GOOD
Reviewed by Olivian Puha, last updated on May 5th, 14:44 GMT.
Specifications
price:
Free with ads
current version:
2014.1008.508.2801
reviewed version:
2014.1008.508.2801
developer:
Stephen Borgelt
category:
SYSTEM & SHELL
os version req.:
7.5, 8, 8.1
age rating:
N/A
in-app purchases:
No
hits:
367

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