Like any modern operating system, Android also has multitasking, i.e. it allows you to run multiple applications at the same time and keep them in the background. Multitasking, for example, means that if you listen to music you can, at the same time, open the browser or browse the photo gallery.
However, while multitasking on a PC is made of movable windows that can be kept one on top of the other or side by side, the problem with multitasking on Android phones and tablets and also iPad is that it is not possible to open multiple applications together on the screen because each app opens in full screen.
On tablets it is not possible to do as you do on a Windows PC, to open several windows together one above the other and therefore be able to work on different programs simultaneously.
Android is the only mobile system for which there are applications with the floating and floating window, that is, that can be moved on the screen keeping it in the foreground while looking at another one.
UPDATE: Starting from Android 7 it is possible to open the apps on a half-screen, so as to keep two of them together open.
Floating or floating applications, using a Windows PC language, open in a floating or "pop-up" window on the screen that can be moved wherever you want and always remains in the foreground.
It therefore becomes possible to have true multitasking, where you can watch videos, surf the web, take notes, or do other things while using another application.
Obviously, this type of such special applications perform better especially on Android tablets such as the Nexus 7, Nexus 10 or the Galaxy Tab or on larger smartphones such as the Samsung Note because they have enough screen space.
Among the best and most useful floating apps for Android, which open in windows similar to those of Windows are:
1) Browser
The free Floating Flux browser allows you to surf the internet from your Android phone or tablet while using another application.
You can open multiple websites in different tabs and view different pages at the same time, side by side.
The nice thing is that you can open a site that is constantly updated, such as an online newspaper or the football results page on Livescore, always keeping it in the foreground in a part of the screen or fixing it, as if it were a widget, on the Android home screen.
The browser window can be iconized as it is done with those of Windows, maximized or enlarged by pulling the right corner.
Floating Browser Flux is, without a doubt, one of the best web browsers for Android.
Another browser for Android with windows is Overskreen Browser, which costs 2 Euros.
2) App to watch videos
A video player is a very significant example of use for applications that open like pop-ups, especially on a tablet with a larger screen.
You can watch a video always keeping it in the foreground while browsing the internet or while reading emails or while using any other application that, of course, opens in full screen.
Among the floating applications to watch videos on Android are BSPlayer and Super Video, two of the best Android applications to watch movies on mobile or tablet.
Stick It! is a paid application that supports floating windows and also supports YouTube videos, in addition to local video files.
3) Audio Music Player
Floating Audio Player is a free app to listen to music from YOutube even with the screen turned off or by holding the video in a small mobile box.
The window can be customized, resized and moved.
4) Notepad
To take notes or to write a text by copying it from a web page or from a document open on the screen, the Hovernote app can be installed on Android.
With Hovernote there is no need to go back and forth between apps, in fact it opens a text editor that floats in the foreground on the screen, above the other applications, in a window that can be moved or resized.
5) Post it notes can be stuck on the screen of the Android phone with the free Floating Stickies application, to take notes and keep them open.
6) Chat
How annoying is it to chat on a tablet or a smartphone being forced to keep the chat application full screen without being able to do anything else?
Sure there are notifications, but what if you want to keep the chat in a corner like on Windows with programs like MSN Messenger?
The Directchat application opens a mobile chat window, allowing you to chat on Google Facebook and Messenger .
The chat window can always be kept in the foreground and remains visible on the screen even when using other applications.
7) Calculator
The default calculator app on Android works well on cell phones but is really huge when opened on a tablet.
Float Calculator, free, allows you to use a calculator in a pop-up, while using another application.
8) Floating widgets
Unfortunately, there are very few applications that move on the screen for now.
For example, there isn't a floating app with pop-ups to always keep Gmail or the music player in the foreground.
Luckily, many apps also provide a widget that sticks to the Android home screen.
Here then a tool like Floating Widget becomes very useful because it allows you to transform any widget into a floating window that always remains in the foreground while doing other things.
The widget turns into a floating application .
I remember, in another list, the best widgets for the Android screen.
9) Camera
The Snapy, The Floating Camera app opens the camera in a floating window that can be easily resized and moved around the screen.
Snapy allows you to adjust the exposure level, contrast, size, resolution, white balance, etc.
When you press the camera icon, a floating window opens with the camera ready to take pictures.
Snapy, like all these apps that open in non-full screen windows, can be launched even if you are using another application.
10) Multiapp
With Floating Apps Free - Multitask you can open any application in a floating window.
The apps open in windows on the screen of the tablet or Android smartphone.
Other floating applications that can be used as windows on the screen of an Android tablet or mobile phone are
- AirTerm, a Linux terminal that opens on a floating window, to connect to a server or to open the Android command console.
- Cool Tool that shows system statistical information for the device.
With all these applications you can therefore use an Android tablet as a PC .
These apps demonstrate, once again, how the Android interface is more flexible than that of iOS and also of the user interface of Windows Phone and Windows 8 for tablets.
In another article, the best applications for Android tablets.
