Microsoft’s experimental Garage Team came up with a bunch of pretty nifty Android apps ever since they started it earlier this year. One of the useful apps they developed was the Next Lock Screen, a time-saving quick launcher that lets you see the important things you need to see even when your smartphone is on locked screen mode. An update to the app now brings even more personalization options, which can be an alternative to the Android 5.0 Lollipop’s new notification scheme.
An important new feature for the latest version of the app adds weather information to your locked screen so you won’t even need to open a weather app to check if it’s raining or snowing where you’re going. More personalization options for your locked screen is also part of this latest update. You can make your home screen wallpaper as your locked screen backdrop as well. If the status bar is too distracting or not aesthetically pleasing for you, you can also hide it now for the app.
The Garage experiment was created for Microsoft developers to have a place to work on apps that isn’t for the company, but rather for other platforms like Android or even iOS, as long as it will benefit the company. Next Lock Screen lets you see your messages, missed calls and appointments in one glance, which is handy for people who are always in a hurry and who find that life is too short to constantly unlock their screens.
For Samsung devices already running on Lollipop, the update also brings better integration with the default lock so you’ll still be able to use the app if you want to. If you want to try it out or if you already have it and don’t have the update yet, you can go to the Next Lock Screen page on the Google Play Store.
