Rathores blog

                                           




It will grow on you over time and, no, it’s not a tumor. It’s Atooma, an Android automation application currently in open beta. Unlike all other automation apps, Atooma simplifies the automation process, by providing you with configurable symbols rather than complicated scripts. In short, you can get started almost immediately, with very little effort.
Atooma possesses the ability to do almost anything with your phone. For the sake of brevity, this article outlines just three of its most useful applications: setting an alarm clock, saving battery life, and finding new and useful features using Atooma’s database of recipes.

Part One: Setting An Alarm Clock With Soothing Music Or Radio

If getting woken up by the ear-piercing shrill tone of a customary alarm clock has lost its charm, you may want to consider upgrading to using your phone’s ability to play songs from the Internet. This method will require either an MP3 song that you like (and know where it is located) or that you have an Internet radio program installed on your phone.
The first component of setting up an Atooma recipe specifies a trigger that kicks off a specific action. In this case, you are setting the clock that will activate the song.

• Step one, fire up Atooma. You’ll have to log in through your Google account.
• Click on “New Atooma“.
• After granting access, choose the Mobile icon.
• Choose the Time icon.
  

• Tap on “Set Time”.
• Then set to your desired wake-up time. If you’re a type-A personality like me, set the alarm trigger for the crack of 12.00pm. You have the option to set the alarm for any day of the week, as well. At this point, the option appears to allow the alarm to repeat every week or function as a one-shot. Set as desired and then choose “OK”.
• After setting the if-trigger, you’ll be prompted for the “do” action, which executes a specific function based upon the whether or not the criteria of the trigger is met. In this example, if the time is 12.00pm, then Atooma performs whatever action you desire. In this instance, we will have it open a music file. If you prefer using an Internet radio app, instead of playing a song, skip to “Launching an App” below.

As in the last step, go to Mobile.

• After that, choose “Media player” from the scroll-ring.
• Then choose “Play audio”.
• You’ll be prompted to pick an audio file. Choose the song you want to wake up to and then select “OK”.

You’ll be prompted to name and tag your recipe. After naming and tagging, you can then save your recipe.
You can turn on a recipe by tapping on it in “My Recipes” and then touching the check mark. From now on, you’ll be woken up at 12.00pm by the song of your choosing.

Launching An App

If you prefer hearing something else, instead of a song, I suggest installing Tune-In Radio Pro. The link is to the iPhone review of it, but it’s also available on Android. To get started, make sure you’ve followed the directions from Part One.

• Select Mobile.
• Choose “App Launcher”.
• Then select “Launch activity”.
• Choose Tune-In Radio from the menu.
• Select OK.
• Then choose the equals sign.
• Name your Atooma recipe.
• Tag your Atooma appropriately and then hit the back button to banish the keyboard.
• Choose Save.
• From the “My Atooma” menu, tap on the name of your recipe.
• Tap on the check icon and you’re done!

Part Two: Save Battery Life

My favorite battery saving method is to have Atooma turn off my phone’s wireless functions, by going into airplane mode when I’m asleep.
To get started:

1. Go to Mobile.
2. Tap the Time icon.
3. Set a time when you won’t be using your phone.
4. Hit the Do button.
5. Go to Mobile.
6. Select the Airplane mode icon.
7. Choose “Turn on“.
8. Hit the equals icon.
9. Tag, name and then save your recipe.
10. Select your recipe from the menu and click on the check button. Your phone will enter airplane mode whenever you set the time for.
11. Finally, you will create another Atooma recipe: repeat steps 1-10, except in step 3 you will choose a time when you want the phone to exit airplane mode. Also, in step 7, choose “Turn off“. This will set your phone back into normal operation.

Part Three: Finding New Atooma Recipes In The Database

Atooma keeps a fan-sourced list of recipes. These vary greatly in their function, but I highly suggest taking a look at them.
To get started:

• Swipe from right to left, where the Wall section is located. Here you can filter by tag. Simply select the tag you’re interested in, such as Battery, and Atooma will show a list of recipes with battery saving features.
• After picking the recipe, tap the check mark.
• Some recipes will prompt you to input additional information following that.

Conclusion

While you can save battery life or wake up listening to your favorite song, Atooma possesses nearly limitless potential for customizing and optimizing your phone’s functionality. The Atooma database of recipes contains thousands of potential applications alone, which makes the setup process extremely easy.
Although many other phone automation tools exit, none have the simplicity of Atooma. The only automation app that clearly exceeds Atooma in all aspects, aside from ease of use, is Tasker. However, Tasker is nearly impossible for the average user to properly setup and operate thanks to its bewildering complexity. However, other automation apps, such as the recently updated Llama, have gotten great reviews.
Unfortunately, I haven’t tested all of them, but out of the three in my pocket, Atooma remains the easiest to use.
Given its many virtues, I highly recommend Atooma to anyone interested in phone automation. It will grow on you.  Let us know what you think of it.