If you want to see a list of recently opened apps on an Android device, just press and hold the Home button. But what if you want to see a list of apps that are currently running? You can install any number of third party task managers, but Task tray is one of the more elegant solutions I’ve seen, since it feels like it’s built into the OS almost the same way as the recently opened apps feature.
Here’s how it works. you install Task Tray Beta and then press and hold the Search button on your phone. A tray will pop up at the bottom of the screen showing you all the apps that are running in the background.
You can scroll left or right to see more apps. Just tap on any icon to open that application. Or if you want to kill an app, just tap and hold.
Bear in mind, Android was designed so that you wouldn’t have to close apps very often. It automatically manages memory for you, and sometimes closing a program can have unintended consequences if there are services it’s supposed to be running in the background. But Task Tray Beta is a useful task switcher even if you never use it to kill a task.
Task Tray Beta is available as a free donload from the Android Market. It’s compatible with all versions of Google Android.
