[belfastdispatcher]

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.

Well, is the dcreen locked or not? Kinda defeats the purpose of a locked screen. But if my phone is locked but not password locked I just have to press the top left button to unlock it. And lastly, I have universal search from my homescreen to find any song I want.



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.

It's not random, you choose the next song in line in an album.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[avt123]

It's not random, you choose the next song in line in an album.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Ok and then when the album is done, you need to chose a new album and then go for there. I don't see the difference. At least with Android, I can choose whatever I want without having to unlock the device. I don't only have the option of "play/pause, next, previous".

Do you not understand any of this? For the 1 extra step you need to take (taking device out of pocket) you get a ****ton more features. I really don't understand how you can complain about that.

[belfastdispatcher]

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.

Hardly one step, you have to wake up the screen don't you?
Ond OS6 has your version 2 too
Version one you're right but only if you don't want to interact with what feature the widget is performing.

Sorry, no, I see no benefit from widgets and it's nothing to do with android at all, it's the concept of widgets.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[avt123]

Hardly one step, you have to wake up the screen don't you?

Ok that's like half a step. My screen is on before it even leaves my pocket and the device is viewable. You have to add that step as well. Also, you can have the alert turn the screen on for you, so again, good bye to that step.

Ond OS6 has your version 2 too

When did BBOS get an Android-like pull down taskbar?

Sorry, no, I see no benefit from widgets and it's nothing to do with android at all, it's the concept of widgets.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I don't know what to tell you. If you don't find instant access beneficial without you having to pull the info up, then there is nothing more to say. For someone who like to talk about efficiency, I would think the benefits are obvious.

[belfastdispatcher]

OS6 has the notification bar to quickly get all the alerts.
And I fail to see the benefits of a widget that bypasses the locked screen.
Also if allerts are very important you can leave the notification bar down or the messages folder open as they update automatically as allerts come in.
I'm sorry but widgets to me are a aolution to a problem that never existed.
Tell me, do you have any widgets on your computer?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[howarmat]

face it guys, you are talking to a brick wall...

and yes i have some widgets on my windows 7 homescreen that give me weather info, notepad and CPU/RAM info

[pantlesspenguin]

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.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I don't keep my phone on my pocket when I'm listening to music . I typically only listen to music at the gym, and my phone rests on the equipment. Most of my gym pants don't have pockets.

[avt123]

OS6 has the notification bar to quickly get all the alerts.
And I fail to see the benefits of a widget that bypasses the locked screen.
Also if allerts are very important you can leave the notification bar down or the messages folder open as they update automatically as allerts come in.
I'm sorry but widgets to me are a aolution to a problem that never existed.
Tell me, do you have any widgets on your computer?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Yes, my Mac does have widgets. Do I use them? No, because I don't keep the dashboard open. You are comparing a feature on a mobile device to that of a desktop computer where someone would be more likely to run a full blown application. But lets bring up a new topic all together now shall we?

[avt123]

face it guys, you are talking to a brick wall...

and yes i have some widgets on my windows 7 homescreen that give me weather info, notepad and CPU/RAM info

Yep, this happens almost every time.

[belfastdispatcher]

I don't keep my phone on my pocket when I'm listening to music . I typically only listen to music at the gym, and my phone rests on the equipment. Most of my gym pants don't have pockets.

Lol, I tried the same at my gym but they have these touch screen display/tv and it starts pressing things. I keep mine in an armband now and listen to podrunner pod casts, google Podrunner, very good man, def recommend it and they're free.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[belfastdispatcher]

Yep, this happens almost every time.

Man believe me, there was a time when I thought they were a good idea, I even bought the expensive weather app that changed the wallpaper to weather info updated as often as you would want, it wasn't long till I realized that you only needed to see it once or twice a day not constantly on your screen.

I don't use it now and it was money down the drain.

Take facebook for example, I don't know about you but I get 100 news feeds a day from it, unless I look at the screen constantly I couldn't rely on a widget as I would be missing feeds, same with twitter, how many feeds can a widget display at any given time?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[howarmat]

friendstream widget has your complete facebook and twitter feed all in one. very much like most apps like SS, tweetdeck etc do. i have over 500 people on twitter, i sure as **** am going to miss things nor do i really care. i dont use a widget for those things though either. On my windows machines i do though, its in sidebar so i catch more of what is going on then. that is a "widget" well actually plugin for firefox

[belfastdispatcher]

friendstream widget has your complete facebook and twitter feed all in one. very much like most apps like SS, tweetdeck etc do. i have over 500 people on twitter, i sure as **** am going to miss things nor do i really care. i dont use a widget for those things though either. On my windows machines i do though, its in sidebar so i catch more of what is going on then. that is a "widget" well actually plugin for firefox

Well, that's not a real widget as it's in the browser but that's exactly the point I was trying to make, the widget can update the information every second but if you only look at the screen every 30 minutes what's the point?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[avt123]

Man believe me, there was a time when I thought they were a good idea, I even bought the expensive weather app that changed the wallpaper to weather info updated as often as you would want, it wasn't long till I realized that you only needed to see it once or twice a day not constantly on your screen.

I don't use it now and it was money down the drain

Ok, then don't install that type of widget. You are making it sound like you are forced to buy/use something you wouldn't want. I fid weather widgets convenient and I look at it way more than 1-2 times a day. Same goes for sports scores.

Take facebook for example, I don't know about you but I get 100 news feeds a day from it, unless I look at the screen constantly I couldn't rely on a widget as I would be missing feeds, same with twitter, how many feeds can a widget display at any given time?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I don't use facebook or any social networking for that matter. One less way for people to stay out of my business. All of my friends use IM/text anyways, and if they have a really important pic they want to show me, they IM/text/email it.

Also, you can switch through feeds. There are usually options to go to "next" within some widgets. Widgets are basically there to show you the most recent stuff. Like I said, it is for a quick glance to get info. If you need all the info, you open the app.

[Tre Lawrence]

LOL.

Four legs good, two legs bad.

[pantlesspenguin]

Here's the friend stream widget. As you can see, you can scroll through the feed without entering the app. You can scroll til your heart's content without missing anything.

[pantlesspenguin]

Oh btw Belfast, you asked why I need to have the weather widgets on my screen after I've seen the weather for the day. I live in the heart of "tornado alley" in the US. Weather here can change in an instant. I need to have up to date weather info at all times. The weather channel widget shows me the current conditions and outlook for the next couple days, but it also provides alerts and access to the actual app.

[belfastdispatcher]

Oh btw Belfast, you asked why I need to have the weather widgets on my screen after I've seen the weather for the day. I live in the heart of "tornado alley" in the US. Weather here can change in an instant. I need to have up to date weather info at all times. The weather channel widget shows me the current conditions and outlook for the next couple days, but it also provides alerts and access to the actual app.

Lol, in that case never turn it off man. Where I live it's rain or more rain, there's a reason Ireland is green lol.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[belfastdispatcher]

Here's the friend stream widget. As you can see, you can scroll through the feed without entering the app. You can scroll til your heart's content without missing anything.

Well that's my point, the widget is occupying the whole screen so why have a widget with limited functionality when you can open the app. Does it take that long to open your facebook app?
Does the widget give you chat or messages/replies/like/wall notifications? What if you notice someone's online and you want a quick chat?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[pantlesspenguin]

Well that's my point, the widget is occupying the whole screen so why have a widget with limited functionality when you can open the app. Does it take that long to open your facebook app?
Does the widget give you chat or messages/replies/like/wall notifications? What if you notice someone's online and you want a quick chat?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I personally either use the app or actual website for Facebook (app is kept in the "bored" folder on my main home screen). I was just demonstrating the friend stream widget since howarmat mentioned it. We get 5-7 home screens on these phones so space typically isn't a problem. I realize this is personal preference, but I LIKE how some widgets take up space. With some Facebook and Twitter widget views you can only see one post at a time. They take up less space, but ate annoying to scroll through.

[Xopher]

I think it is all about personal preference. On my SGS, I like having the clock widget with weather. The nice thing is, I can either change to a different clock skin, or even a different widget all together. For me, it's about having choices.

On my BB, I have a theme that shows the weather icon, which changes with the weather and shows temperature. It's not as flashy as my SGS, but can be viewed similarly.

Score Mobile on the BB will display the score for the currently selected game as the icon text, so you can get a quick update by highlighting the icon.

For me, I don't use a lot of full screen widgets, except for Executive Assistant, which is similar to the Today screw on my BB. The main difference is that I can view more sections on the Android widget than I can on my BB. Along with appointments, missed calls, SMS messages, and email, I can also view tasks, which are important to me and not viewable on the BB Today screen.

One of my SGS home screens has a lot of small widgets that either display information or toggle things. I have a battery widget which will show me which apps use the most battery, a widget that shows me how many apps are running (and links to the task manager so I can shut down apps), a data usage widget, toggle widgets to turn on/off notifications, the lock screen, flashlight, and change profiles. There is a lot of information on that one screen, which makes it very handy for me. The theme I have on my BB can give me access to a lot of that, too, but I have to click on things to view the information.

Both devices are different. Each person sets theirs up to meet their own needs. I think the point of the original post wasn't to bash BB, but to point out how widgets can add benefit to the Android home screens.

[pantlesspenguin]

Both devices are different. Each person sets theirs up to meet their own needs. I think the point of the original post wasn't to bash BB, but to point out how widgets can add benefit to the Android home screens.

This is exactly my intent. I noticed in some of the bb vs android topics it seemed some bb owners didn't understand the concept of widgets. Heck before I tried android I didnt get it either, but now I don't think I could have a phone without them. I just can't get over how customizable this thing is. Even the customization are customizable (like the different widget views) lol. I rarely need to search for info now because I know exactly where it is and the fastest way to get that info.

[jebulls]

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?

I liked the widgets when I tried out android. Speed dial widget was very nice also. Only thing I noticed is you can have so many different widgets and such widgets as twitter and weather can hinder battery life. But thats where understanding your device and getting it set up properly comes into play!! Widgets are very helpful and having the option to use them on BB would be nice. I would expect to c this with the QNX hh. Better late than never i guess!

[belfastdispatcher]

This is exactly my intent. I noticed in some of the bb vs android topics it seemed some bb owners didn't understand the concept of widgets. Heck before I tried android I didn't get it either, but now I don't think I could have a phone without them. I just can't get over how customize this thing is. Even the customization are customizable (like the different widget views) lol. I rarely need to search for info now because I know exactly where it is and the fastest way to get that info.

I think this thread demonstrates why many people like Android and why just as many still like the blackberry way of doing things. I like my things simple, if it's important it will go straight to the inbox, if not it stays in a separate app.
When I look at the screen I want to see a clean interface, not a lot of colors and lots of information.

I had widgets on my PC and laptop and also on htc winmo phones before, I'm not new to them I just don't think they're efficient and overall they slow me down.

But the world is a big place and there's room for all of us

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[TheIgster]

Heck before I tried android I didnt get it either, but now I don't think I could have a phone without them. I just can't get over how customizable this thing is. Even the customization are customizable (like the different widget views) lol. I rarely need to search for info now because I know exactly where it is and the fastest way to get that info.

Exactly. Not a chance I could ever have a phone without widgets any longer. My main screen has a clock and weather widget, along with a calendar widget. To the left, my screen has a friends widget with Facebook and Twitter updates, to the right, I've got a Google search widget, along with several icons for apps I use on a daily basis. One more screen over, I've got a People widget that is a face dialer for easy access to call, email or txt my favorite folks.

Android is so customizable, I simply don't understand why anyone would want "less" options or say things like "I want it simple." To me that sounds like saying "I want to be limited." If you want your Android simple, you can make it that way...if you want. I could have one screen with just icons and no widgets if I didn't want them. But it's all about choice as far as I'm concerned and not being painted into a corner using your phone the way the manufacturer intended. I can use MY phone, MY way.