Pick Out The Perfect Background With OGQ Backgrounds [Android 2.1+]
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The first thing most people see when they switch on a smartphone is the home screen’s background image. While most Android versions come with a small selection of possible wallpapers, it’s often not enough. Backgrounds is a free Android app that taps into a huge selection of online images, letting you find the perfect background.
The first screen shows a selection of recent wallpapers, with a search option (more on that later). That “loading” progress bar on the “don’t worry, be happy” image is a part of the image itself – there’s no progress indicator when loading each image. The thumbnails are square, which can be a bit misleading, because Android devices are anything but square. New images are loaded only once you scroll down, so the app sometimes looks like this:
That’s basically a blank screen shown while images are loaded. If you’re using a fast Wi-Fi connection to pick out your wallpapers, this lag might not be so noticeable. But on a mobile data connection, it is sometimes a tad on the slow side.
Now, remember that search option (top-right corner)? Well, it doesn’t actually work. I could type a string into it, but there seems to be no way to actually run the search (the keyboard’s Enter button does nothing). If you’re looking for a particular wallpaper, you might be better off using the Categories view:
The category tree is flat – there are no subcategories. The “Ranking” view shows wallpapers that people liked. How might someone like a wallpaper, you ask? That brings us to the single wallpaper view:
When you tap a thumbnail to get a closer look, the single wallpaper view opens. You can then set it as a wallpaper or a contact image, save it to your device for any other use, share it or favorite it. We’re here for the wallpaper option, so let’s see what that looks like:
This is one feature I particularly like. Backgrounds lets you select one of three different wallpaper sizes, and decide what area of the image you’d like to crop (if cropping is needed). Once you make up your mind, just tap Apply and (hopefully) enjoy the end result:
But what if you don’t like your new wallpaper and want to revert back to the one you had before? Well, I’m glad you asked! This is where the History option comes in handy:
As you can see, it doesn’t have amazing duplicate detection (three instances of the same wallpaper). Still, it is the wallpaper I wanted to revert back to, so that’s fine.
One issue you should be aware of is that at least with Go Launcher EX (my launcher of choice), the “full-size wallpaper” option doesn’t always work as you’d expect it to. Even with a high-res device (T-Mobile Vibrant, Galaxy S), some of the wallpapers are a tad too large, so they get cropped. In those cases, your best option is to choose to crop the wallpaper manually:
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, what really matters is selection. Having a huge range of background images to choose from in one clean app is very convenient. There are no annoying ads or other cheap monetizing tricks – the app just works, and works well. Now we can only hope they fix the Search option!
In case Backgrounds isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, here are some other interesting sources for Android backgrounds:
- 7 Sources To Download Quality Android Homescreen Wallpapers
- 10 Best Sites To Get Free Backgrounds For Your Mobile Phone
- Reddodo: Animated Wallpapers & Screensavers For Your Mobile
How do you find your Android wallpapers?
Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:31:58 GMT
Tags: backgrounds, google android, Mobile Tips, wallpaper,
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