I am currently using Home++ (which is AWESOME by the way) as a home replacement app, and I have the notification bar hidden. The only downside to this that I have found so far is that I can't see the battery meter or signal strength without showing the bar.
I know there are widgets out there, actually there are tons of them. Reading reviews it looks like some are decent, some are horrible, and a lot have mixed reviews. I want a graphical one that looks good, and ideally displays signal strength as well.
What are you guys using? I don't want to download and pay for 10 or 15 trying to find one I like so I am hoping to gather some screenshots and recommendations here.
I use Home++ also, but I keep the notification bar visible on the top because I like seeing my notification icons. I had a battery meter, SD card reader, and internal memory reader widgets, and they all seemed to kill my battery.