The Evolution of Technology

Posts Tagged ‘widget’

On Friday I buried the lead. In a post about the transparent Pandora widget, I posted a picture that included a clock widget. Apparently, AndGeeks readers were more interested in the clock than the Pandora widget. (And yeah, I screwed up in that post. There is a Pandora widget, but it’s not available if the app is on your SD card.) For those asking, it is the SiMi Clock Widget, and your enthusiastic curiosity is justified. It’s a pretty awesome clock widget that comes with plenty of customization options.

Despite the name, SiMi Clock Widget does not only provide the time. It has settings that let you customize how you view the time, date, weather, and battery settings. The last one might seem out of place, but it somehow works with SiMi. Oh, and it also has a built-in app launcher. These aspects of the widget can stretch all the way across your screen, giving you a one-row widget that provides a wealth of useful information. How it displays on your home screen is all up to you. That’s why I’m sure people will love this.

For some users, monitoring minutes and messages is not an issue. Unlimited plans are in, and with prepaid they can save you a lot of money. But not every prepaid plan includes unlimited minutes and messages. Virgin Mobile, which we covered along with the Motorola Triumph, has limits on its most attractive service plan. Other carriers, too, offer Android handsets with metered plans. Many carriers — and soon it’s likely to be more of them — offer limited data, too. Thankfully for prepaid users, a new widget lets you keep close track of your usage habits.

Via the xda blog comes the Prepay Widget. It’s one of those useful apps that does exactly what the name implies. It takes advantage of certain commands to retrieve relevant information, and then puts that information front and center, so you always know how many minutes and messages, and how much data you have left in your billing cycle. Because it’s a widget, you can’t even forget to check the app. It’s always there, taking up just a row on your home screen.

Which application do you use most frequently on your Android? For me it’s not even close. Every day when I’m out, whether in the car or taking a walk, I load up Pandora. For my money it’s the best freely available streaming radio option, and it works like a charm on my N1. The one thing it lacks is a widget, but it was only a matter of time before someone developed one. Imagine my delight, then, when I saw such a widget on xda. As you can see in the screenshot, it’s a transparent widget, too, blending seamlessly into your home screen. You can track forward, pause, thumbs up, or thumbs down a song without going back into the app. It’s also nice to see the artist and song on your home screen, rather than in the notifications bar.

There’s no Android Market listing for this one, so you’ll have to allow for non-Market apps (Setting -> Applications -> Check the Unknown Sources box) and then go to http://db.tt/jFS4st1 to download it.

This post originated at AndGeeks.com – home to all things Android! Also a great source of info about Android Phones.

Pandora users will love the transparent widget

This is not a picture of my desktop, but mine down does contain this nifty circle you see in the bottom left corner. What is it, you might be wondering? It’s a simple widget that keeps accurate tabs on your battery life. See, the battery gauge in the notification bar is nice and all, but it’s not terribly accurate. It changes colors at certain intervals, but by the time you reach the 30 percent mark, it might be too late. This widget gives you the percentage of your battery remaining, so there is no mistake. Now that I’ve installed it, I know exactly when I need to charge my phone.

While the widget is as simple as it gets, there are some customization points. Specifically, this means the size of the widget. You can go 1×1, which probably works best for most smartphone users. But, depending on your screen setup you can also go 2×1, 1×2, 2×2, 3×3, or 4×4. I’m not quite sure why you’d need 4×4, but hey, some people need the reminder front and center. The app is, of course, free, and you can get Circle Battery Widget at the Market.