Google's Meter App Helps You Manage Battery Life And Stay Wi-Fi Connected

Worried about how much battery life you have left on your Android phone? Worry no more. Google's new app Meter promises to provide a whole wealth of easily accessible data.

Offering a stylish presentation of real-time information in a wallpaper, the app switches periodically between displaying information such as battery life, Wi-Fi signal strength, and app usage. With this data displayed clearly, users can change their habits and usage patterns before their phone dies or they lose connection.

The app is a product of the Google Creative Lab, responsible for experimental apps such as Landmarker, a compass that shows you the location of nearby landmarks, and Big Web Quiz, which uses Chromecast to host a multi-player quiz game up on the big screen.

In a demonstration video, Meter is shown to be using motion data to manipulate the graphics on screen. The visuals indicate the status of each relevant statistic, with a small footnote explaining the current visual. For example, a circle inside a larger circle will expand and contract depending on how much battery is left, with a footnote explaining the current battery percentage.

The new wallpaper will be a great hit with customers who have upgraded to Android Marshmallow. The OS upgrade promises smarter energy use through a new feature called Doze. This detects when the phone is not in use by measuring the motion sensors. Meter will keep these customers up to date on the energy savings they've made by upgrading, but the visual animation of the wallpaper may end up sacrificing some battery life that would've otherwise been saved.

Meter is available from the Google Play Store for free. Open source code is also available on GitHub.