BB folk: here's a widget show & tell

**pantlesspenguin** · 04-09-2011, 11:48 AM

OK, I know I said I'd never root. Well, I found a ridiculously easy way to temp root my phone, & now I can take screen shots

. It appears that some people don't understand exactly what widgets are & what they can do. Let me demonstrate.

Here's my main homescreen. The only widget I have is the clock/weather widget. The widget updates w/ the current conditions, much like BeWeather. The widget also supports weather animations. For example, when I open my phone from sleep mode, the sun shines bright, clouds cover the screen, rain droplets fall, etc depending on the weather. Also, if you click the widget, it takes you to a desktop mode & you can easily access your alarms, world clock, stopwatch, & timer.

One swipe to the left, & here's what I have. There you see my weather channel widget, weatherbug maps widget, & to-do list. With the weather channel & to-do list, I actually have to click into the apps to use them. However, see that blue circle on the map widget? I just tap on that & the map refreshes. No need to enter the app.

Two swipes to the left, & I have my calendar. With this widget, I can scroll down & see everything in my calendar until mid-June.

(on second thought, I'm not going to post this because I have names & birthday info that people might not want put out there...but you get the idea)

One swipe to the right, & I have my power widget, media player widget, & shazam widget. With the power widget, I can toggle wifi, bluetooth, gps, sync, & screen brightness. With the media player widget, I can control my music. With the shazam widget, one tap & it's listening to the music. With the actual app, it takes a few more seconds to start the listener thingie. I use shazam quite a bit in my spin classes.

Two swipes to the left, & I have twitdroyd, my preferred twitter client. See the arrows at the bottom? I can scroll through tweets w/o entering the app.

I don't have these active on my home screens, but I wanted to demonstrate them. Here's an email widget. You have a choice of views. Here, you can see the sender & part of the message. Again, you can scroll through your messages w/o having to enter the email app.

Here's a text widget. Again, you have a choice of views & you can scroll through your texts.

Now that you see what widgets can do, you gotta admit they're pretty darn rad.

**TheIgster** · 04-09-2011, 11:59 AM

Well done...widgets are what makes Android my favorite OS. The widgets I use with LauncherPro for example, completely make this a great, great phone.

**belfastdispatcher** · 04-09-2011, 04:00 PM

Lol, I know you're excited abouth this bout to me it just complicates things.
Weather app:

When you wake up in the morning you look at the weather app and you know what it's gonna be like for the rest of the day or next day, why do you need to constantly have it up on the screen?

Twitter app:

It might be a widget but if it takes up the whole screen you might as well have the proper app open not a widget.

Music:

It's easier to control the music using the volume buttons or by the dedicated media buttons at the top with some blackberrys.

Messages:

Flicking trough messages one at the time is a very inefficient way to deal with messages and again, if it takes up the whole screen why bother? It would be better to have the messaging app open.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

**avt123** · 04-09-2011, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by belfastdispatcher

Lol, I know you're excited abouth this bout to me it just complicates things.
Weather app:

When you wake up in the morning you look at the weather app and you know what it's gonna be like for the rest of the day or next day, why do you need to constantly have it up on the screen?

People move around and don't stay in the same spot. It auto updates and tells you your new location and the weather for that area. It is live weather readings telling you exactly what it going on. Why no have it if it is available and is actually usefull?

Twitter app:

It might be a widget but if it takes up the whole screen you might as well have the proper app open not a widget.

Not all twitter apps take up the whole screen. A lot come with several so you can pick which size you want, and some are resizable as well.

Music:

It's easier to control the music using the volume buttons or by the dedicated media buttons at the top with some blackberrys.

Not all devices have dedicated music buttons. What about the BBs that don't have them which is the majority of BBs available on the market. We can have lockscreen widgets as well and you don't even have to unlock your device to control your music selection.

Messages:

Flicking trough messages one at the time is a very inefficient way to deal with messages and again, if it takes up the whole screen why bother? It would be better to have the messaging app open.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Once again, not all messaging widgets take up the full screen. It is a preview and you can respond right there. It usually displays the most recent message.

**belfastdispatcher** · 04-09-2011, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by avt123

People move around and don't stay in the same spot. It auto updates and tells you your new location and the weather for that area. It is live weather readings telling you exactly what it going on. Why no have it if it is available and is actually usefull?

Not all twitter apps take up the whole screen. A lot come with several so you can pick which size you want, and some are resizable as well.

Not all devices have dedicated music buttons. What about the BBs that don't have them which is the majority of BBs available on the market. We can have lockscreen widgets as well and you don't even have to unlock your device to control your music selection.

Once again, not all messaging widgets take up the full screen. It is a preview and you can respond right there. It usually displays the most recent message.

Again, sounds like a sure way to complicate things.

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**avt123** · 04-09-2011, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by belfastdispatcher

Again, sounds like a sure way to complicate things.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

It complicated nothing. You just do not know how to use an Android device efficiently. Everything I do on my Android devices gets done faster than it did on ANY BBs I had. Widgets are extremely helpful, and if RIM ever adds them, I doubt you will say they make things more complicated once you have extensive use with them.

Sports score for example. Why the **** would I want to search a website or open an app when I can see live sports scores straight from my homescreen instantly?

**belfastdispatcher** · 04-09-2011, 04:32 PM

Originally Posted by avt123

It complicated nothing. You just do not know how to use an Android device efficiently. Everything I do on my Android devices gets done faster than it did on ANY BBs I had. Widgets are extremely helpful, and if RIM ever adds them, I doubt you will say they make things more complicated once you have extensive use with them.

Sports score for example. Why the **** would I want to search a website or open an app when I can see live sports scores straight from my homescreen instantly?

It's nothing to do with Android, it's the concept. When I first got windows 7 for my laptop it had widgets, they soon became annoying.

Want an app? Press a button and get the full benefits not just a slimed down version. That's much easier to me.

The blackberrys that don't have dedicated music buttons can use the volume buttons, long press skips to the next or previous song or video.

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**avt123** · 04-09-2011, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by belfastdispatcher

It's nothing to do with Android, it's the concept. When I first got windows 7 for my laptop it had widgets, they soon became annoying.

Want an app? Press a button and get the full benefits not just a slimed down version. That's much easier to me.

The blackberrys that don't have dedicated music buttons can use the volume buttons, long press skips to the next or previous song or video.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Apps are useful for some things and widgets are useful for others. They are both great to have. Especially when a widgets is usually just a toned down version of an app made for quick and instant viewing. It is convenient.

Like I said, why open an app to see sports scores when I can view them right away by just unlocking the screen. It is much quicker and more efficient. If you need the extra details, open the app.

That is great that BBs can do that. Too bad you have to chose at random that way. I can choose any song I want right from my lockscreen with a widget.

**belfastdispatcher** · 04-09-2011, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by avt123

Apps are useful for some things and widgets are useful for others. They are both great to have. Especially when a widgets is usually just a toned down version of an app made for quick and instant viewing. It is convenient.

Like I said, why open an app to see sports scores when I can view them right away by just unlocking the screen. It is much quicker and more efficient. If you need the extra details, open the app.

That is great that BBs can do that. Too bad you have to chose at random that way. I can choose any song I want right from my lockscreen with a widget.

Would it not be better for an app to push the info to your inbox? Twitter/facebook/news feeds etc showing in the messages folder., pretty simple. I'm not talking emails by the way.

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**avt123** · 04-09-2011, 04:51 PM

Originally Posted by belfastdispatcher

Would it not be better for an app to push the info to your inbox? Twitter/facebook/news feeds etc showing in the messages folder., pretty simple. I'm not talking emails by the way.

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It would only be easier that way if that's the way you like having things set up. It is personal preference. For me, unlocking my screen and seeing information instantly is much easier than having to unlock the screen and open the messaging folder and then find the info I am looking for.

Also, all this info can appear in the status bar as well. Just pull it down and everything is right there. Previews and all sorted by most recently updated/added. All of which can be seen within any app or any homescreen you are currently using. No need to have to worry about multitasking/switching between apps.

**DenverRalphy** · 04-09-2011, 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by belfastdispatcher

Would it not be better for an app to push the info to your inbox? Twitter/facebook/news feeds etc showing in the messages folder., pretty simple. I'm not talking emails by the way.

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Because sometimes it's more convenient to get a quick glance at exactly what you're looking for than have to filter through your inbox. And for example, why would I want live sports scores/statistics pushed as messages? I'd receive 100 messages for one game (depending on the sport) whereas a widget would be a simple glance away, and should I need more info on the game... a simple tap of the widget and voila, all info right there at my fingertips sent one time and organized in a simple manner vs 100+ individual updates I'd have to organize myself.

**avt123** · 04-09-2011, 05:01 PM

^^ Exactly. Espeically when you have things that can be updating every couple of seconds/minutes like sports, that would be extremely annoying. I do keep updates on and my device vibrates every time there is a score update, and that can be very annoying at times as well. But I love sports so it usually isn't.

**belfastdispatcher** · 04-09-2011, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by rmjones101

Because sometimes it's more convenient to get a quick glance at exactly what you're looking for than have to filter through your inbox. And for example, why would I want live sports scores/statistics pushed as messages? I'd receive 100 messages for one game (depending on the sport) whereas a widget would be a simple glance away, and should I need more info on the game... a simple tap of the widget and voila, all info right there at my fingertips sent one time and organized in a simple manner vs 100+ individual updates I'd have to organize myself.

You don't receive 100 messages, you get the update as it happens replacing the previous update and after you read it they go away from the inbox not to clog it. You get a message saying you got new tweets/facebook feeds/news feeds/ebay updates/weather updates etc and when you click on the message you get the whole app not just a message.

Simple.

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**avt123** · 04-09-2011, 05:26 PM

Once again, why use a whole app when i can just glance at something without having to open anything? You are adding extra steps to the process.

**belfastdispatcher** · 04-09-2011, 05:33 PM

Originally Posted by avt123

Once again, why use a whole app when i can just glance at something without having to open anything? You are adding extra steps to the process.

No extra speps, it takes you to the right part, for example if I watch an item on ebay and I get an alert to the inbox I click on it and it takes me straight to that item's page showing all the info about it but I have all the app's entire features available if I need to do something else in the app as it's the full app not a slimed down one.

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**belfastdispatcher** · 04-09-2011, 05:44 PM

By the way, the volume thing is not a blackberry thing, I thought all phones had that. I pretty much remember Sony Erickson and Nokia's I had many years ago that could do just that, it makes sense.
Blackberry can't take credit for this one

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**the one and only M** · 04-09-2011, 05:44 PM

I've had shazam installed on all my Android phones since my Droid and this is the first time I've noticed that there is a widget. Things will be so much easier now!

**avt123** · 04-09-2011, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by belfastdispatcher

No extra speps, it takes you to the right part, for example if I watch an item on ebay and I get an alert to the inbox I click on it and it takes me straight to that item's page showing all the info about it but I have all the app's entire features available if I need to do something else in the app as it's the full app not a slimed down one.

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How is that not adding a step? You have to unlock, and go to the messaging folder to see what you want. All I have to do is unlock my device, and the info is right there. If I need the full app, I click the widget and it opens instantly. I fail to see how just unlocking and viewing is not quicker.

**avt123** · 04-09-2011, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by belfastdispatcher

By the way, the volume thing is not a blackberry thing, I thought all phones had that. I pretty much remember Sony Erickson and Nokia's I had many years ago that could do just that, it makes sense.
Blackberry can't take credit for this one

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Don't worry. RIM wasn't given any credit for it anyways.

**pantlesspenguin** · 04-09-2011, 05:49 PM

I still don't think you understand, Belfast. When you tap on the widgets, it takes you to the full app. Like when I tap the blue circle of my map widget it refreshes, but when I tap the widget it opens a full size map. When I tap my weather channel widget, it opens the app, when I tap my media player widget, it opens the app, when I tap the twitdroyd widget, it opens the app, etc. So you have the widget for quick viewing, and easy access to the full app. And like avt said, you can resize the widgets. I just have mine set up the most convenient for me.

**pantlesspenguin** · 04-09-2011, 05:52 PM

By the way, here is the lock screen media player widget.

**belfastdispatcher** · 04-09-2011, 06:15 PM

Originally Posted by avt123

How is that not adding a step? You have to unlock, and go to the messaging folder to see what you want. All I have to do is unlock my device, and the info is right there. If I need the full app, I click the widget and it opens instantly. I fail to see how just unlocking and viewing is not quicker.

No, all i have to do is unlock then press M and I'm in the messages folder. If I click on a ebay message it takes me to the ebay app but to the right part of the app related to the alert, if I need to do something else I have it all to my disposal, if not I press back and I'm back in the messaging folder ready to click on the next one, I don't need to start from scracth again.
Anyway, they might not be widgets but blackberry also has the today screen where you can click directly to a alert/message or calendar entry/missed call/sms etc

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**belfastdispatcher** · 04-09-2011, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by pantlesspenguin

By the way, here is the lock screen media player widget.

I can still skip to the next song or the previous one by holding down the volume button even if the phone is password locked, also I have the mute button at the top right of the phone that pauses the song. Don't need to look at the screen, I can do it in my pocket.

And that is complicating things, you have to take the phone out of your poscket, look at the screen then touch it and put it back in your pocket, and same again and again.
I put my hand in my pocket and press a button.

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**avt123** · 04-09-2011, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by belfastdispatcher

No, all i have to do is unlock then press M and I'm in the messages folder. If I click on a ebay message it takes me to the ebay app but to the right part of the app related to the alert, if I need to do something else I have it all to my disposal, if not I press back and I'm back in the messaging folder ready to click on the next one, I don't need to start from scracth again.
Anyway, they might not be widgets but blackberry also has the today screen where you can click directly to a alert/message or calendar entry/missed call/sms etc

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So for you...
1.Unlock
2.Press M
3.click message
4.back
5.select new message to view

For me version 1--
1. Unlock
2. View info directly from homescreen

Version 2
1.unlock
2.pull down task bar which has all viewable alerted info

How is your version not extra steps?

EDIT- I'll even add a version 3

1. view info from lockscreen.

1 step.

**avt123** · 04-09-2011, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by belfastdispatcher

I can still skip to the next song or the previous one by holding down the volume button even if the phone is password locked, also I have the mute button at the top right of the phone that pauses the song. Don't need to look at the screen, I can do it in my pocket.

But your random pressing of buttons doesn't allow for exact selection of a song, video or whatever you want. You have to unlock the device, open the music app and then manually search for it. This can be done right from my lockscreen.

And that is complicating things, you have to take the phone out of your poscket, look at the screen then touch it and put it back in your pocket, and same again and again.
I put my hand in my pocket and press a button.

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You really like complaining about features that BBs don't have by saying they make things more complicated right? You haven't said one positive thing about what widgets can do, you just keep saying it is complicated.

There is nothing complicated about just looking at something. If you really need to complain about pulling out your device to chose whatever song you want, and not just choosing at random, then I don't know what to tell you.