WiFi Overview 360 Pro (for Android)

WiFi Overview Pro is a wireless analyzer and sniffer that runs on an Android phone or tablet. While this lightweight app (which costs the odd sum of $1.31, there's free edition too, subject to ads) is not a substitute for enterprise-level wifi analyzers that can do reporting, auditing and aid in troubleshooting wireless network issues?the app servers as a portable wireless tool that offers handy information about wireless networks in an area. There are a few issues here and there with the app not doing what it's supposed to do, but otherwise quite impressive for the price.

WiFi Overview Pro's Capabilities
On my Android phone (somewhat dated with the Gingerbread software) I can't see much information about wireless networks other than the signal strength as represented by fours bars, the encryption level of a WLAN, link speed, and the IP address the Android device receives when connected. Pretty basic information within the native OS.
Even other Wi-Fi Android apps I've tested such as Wi-Fi Ruler and Fing, don?t provide much more than the information you can see natively within the Android OS.

There's a lot more information displayed in WiFi Overview. On the main screen alone all of the wireless networks nearby are displayed with color-coded signal strength bars for each network. The color coding indicates if the network is one to which you are connected, a known network, or an open network.

In addition, the main screen provides the SSID, MAC address, channel and frequency. A quick tap on the wi-fi network I connected to, provided even more detail: the signal strength in dbm, wifi speed, IP address, netmask, gateway, DHCP and DNS servers, and the external IP address of any WAN/Internet connection.? There's also a graph rendered in real-time which displays the signal strength as you are connected.

Interface
WiFi Overview managed to pack a lot of information into the relatively small screen of my Android phone, without making the interface seem crowded. There are menu buttons at the top of the home screen. The "Main" button returns you to back to the home screen. "Wi-Fi Info" opens up that detailed information on a wireless network that you can get by tapping on the network from the home screen, "Graph" will display signal strength graphs for all wireless networks in the location.

Two features are particularly useful. One is "Ch. Check," short for "Channel Check." This feature will tell which channel a wireless network is set, and give recommendations for the best, least-crowded channel. "Ch. Radar"?short for "Check Radar" shows the signal strength of all networks in real-time and in decibels. These are two features that boost the app to a professional level as they could be used to monitor and configure access points in an infrastructure and aid in setting them for optimum performance.

I also really like the ability to create a quick shortcut to a WLAN you connect to regularly especially since you can't do that with the native Android OS.

Wi-Fi Sniffer
The app includes a Wi-Fi sniffer with customizable settings. For example, you can opt to auto-connect to an open wireless network, or set the connection sensitivity (which is at -81 dbm, by default). You can also enable notifications when a connection is made.

The customization is where I encountered an issue. I first had the sniffer set to auto-connect to open networks, which it did just fine. When I disabled this feature, the app still connected to the open network and even a complete reboot of my phone did not help.

I also noticed the app shows a lock next to a secured network?as is standard in wireless software. Yet, when I removed security from an access point, the lock remained in the interface next to that network.

Exiting out of the app also requires a few taps on the "back" button before the app would close; not as pressing of an issue as auto-connect not disabling or not reporting the correct security, though.

Pocket Wireless Tool Needs Small Improvements
WiFi Overview 360 is a handy wireless tool that you can of course take on the go with your Android device. It offers a very sharp and colorful interface which the developed obviously put a lot of thought into. Flakiness with reporting security and auto-connection behavior needs to be addressed. Still for just a little over a buck, the app is worth for the channel information and other details you get alone and is a three star app for networking software.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/Mb80GLBhUrk/0,2817,2411074,00.asp

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