^ Apple's own take with widgets? Weather widget in the Notification center. Am I missing something? 
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How widgets can make your life easier, not harder
- Thread starter matttye
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The 'best' part of the widgets and constantly updating the content is the battery life.... And yes you guessed it, no, thank you. I'll take any iOS device over android. Been there, done that. I just want a phone that lasts me easily through the whole day and not till noon.
widget update schedule can be customized you can even have them on manual update if you want. Or a radical idea if you don't want them don't put them on your home screens.
^ Apple's own take with widgets? Weather widget in the Notification center. Am I missing something?
Yes you are missing something. We are talking about apple implementing a widget engine/system that allows for third party development, not just what Apple implements (I'm not sure that passes as a widget anywho)
One of my most used widget on my android phone was weather. It was on my lock screen. All I had to do was turn on my phone to get the weather. No unlock, no extra launch, just power on and power off. Some people want to be able to see their Facebook newsfeed in the same manner, others maybe twitter..... Some perhaps email.
I suppose they should buy an Android phone if they want to do all of those things. It seems like a simple solution to me!
I think the Android battery life problem isn't widget driven, but really has to do with the fact that handset manufacturers don't take the time to optimize the OS for the hardware. In my experience, where android take the biggest hits in battery life, is when they are accessing the radios, whether it be user (browser or app) or widget driven.
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That certainly is one way, however, I don't see anything wrong with folks asking for more out of Apple. There are plenty of people in the Apple Eco system that would like to see what WM7 and Android offer integrated into iOS. I mean heck, you can get it on a Mac already.
Well Apple accept user submissions via their website. I can only assume that these suggestions eventually up in a priority list and they are worked on one by one. Like I've alluded to before, there's only so much Apple can do. They may be able to throw a load more money at it to make it all happen faster but that approach might not come up very favourably in a cost/benefit analysis.
While surely there is so much apple can do in between major resources, I'm just not comfortable enough with the inner product development life cycle to chalk up the lack of a widget engine to a resource issue. Widgets may be an immensely easy thing to do that doesn't take much redevelopment, or it might be a year long iOS ui overhaul. Outsiders know that up until very recently apple was very much personality driven, so who knows, the real reason it's not there may be a jobs'ism. if you have the insider track I'd love to hear what you know.
Here is the fact that we all know, it's just not a feature of iOS.
One thing I'm sure of, is that a strong user base demanding more out of Apple is a good thing. It's what brought on native mms support and what brought on third party developed apps (not the terrible web apps....).
I think the Apple user base are probably the most demanding of the lot given the high price and expectations of Apple's products.
I don't have an insider with Apple but I believe you place far too much emphasis on the influence of a single man at Apple as the reason why widgets don't feature in iOS. The actual reason is probably far less exciting/interesting and probably comes down to resources/cost/benefit.
I'm not saying that Jobs is the reason, that was just an example. Others are Maybe it doesn't fit with the Apple approach, maybe they tried it and found it to be a resource hog. My point was that I don't know enough about the behind the scenes to know why it's not a feature set. . I think you just admitted the same, albeit CBA is a valid opinion/guess.
I was trying to draw the conversation just back to the plain facts. It's not a iOS feature set, and there a userbase asking for it. some of the best improvements to ios came from the very same user base asking for widgets.
I am not certain if this is what you're talking about but if you're referencing Dianne Hackborn then I *think* she was incorrect:
An important part of achieving this security is having a way for (EDIT: It has been pointed out to me that iOS does in fact use multiple windows and multiple GL contexts. Lesson to me, just don't talk about anything I haven't directly verified.
I think windows phone has the right combination of a unified, simple theme and "widgets" (or live tiles as they call them).
It keeps things from getting cluttered (though some people dislike WP7 a lot), but still provides the important information right on the home screen
It keeps things from getting cluttered (though some people dislike WP7 a lot), but still provides the important information right on the home screen
I too wish Apple would implement them, I don't understand why some are so opposed to the idea, let me remind you that with every new feature Apple has added to iOS it has come with an ON/OFF toggle in settings.
With MMS, there's a toggle to turn it off completely if you wish, same for iMessage, Facetime, and even the new notification system can be bypassed, and you can keep using the old in your face pop-ups. Apple has always given us a choice to use the new features they add, I don't see why that would be any different with widgets, if someone just doesn't care for them, or feels they might affect their battery life well then you don't have to use them. And for those of us that find them useful, we can be happy too.
Choice is a good thing.
With MMS, there's a toggle to turn it off completely if you wish, same for iMessage, Facetime, and even the new notification system can be bypassed, and you can keep using the old in your face pop-ups. Apple has always given us a choice to use the new features they add, I don't see why that would be any different with widgets, if someone just doesn't care for them, or feels they might affect their battery life well then you don't have to use them. And for those of us that find them useful, we can be happy too.
Choice is a good thing.
I'm OK with the idea of widgets but don't need them. I did a quick search and this article 15 Android widgets that will make iPhone users jealous is a little long in the tooth. Some of the functionality is in iOS5 (or earlier) and I don't see much that isn't an iOS app or just a tap or two away.
Yes, would much prefer their concentrate their time on this than waste it on battery killing widgets...
Widget is surely useful at times, but it's just so unApple looking. I doubt they going to implement it soon.
But I have another idea, I really love to see MultiTasking can be unified or at least works like Notification Center. Rather than double tap home button, we can slide it from anywhere. So it'll allow us to switch between app without the need of physical tap. Sounds cool to me. Only press home button when you want to go to homescreen, or at most when you need that triple tap function(assisitive touch, voiceover etc)
But I have another idea, I really love to see MultiTasking can be unified or at least works like Notification Center. Rather than double tap home button, we can slide it from anywhere. So it'll allow us to switch between app without the need of physical tap. Sounds cool to me. Only press home button when you want to go to homescreen, or at most when you need that triple tap function(assisitive touch, voiceover etc)
Wow, 4 wasted pages of something I've been saying for a long time. Android users brag about widgets and customizing the UI and iPhone users USE their phones. 4 pages of this.
You're missing the point. My widgets are just widgets that I use to make my life easier on android. You're not limited to the widgets shown in my post, they are merely a sample of the ones that I use.
People commenting on the theme of my phone or the individual functionality of the widgets in my screens are totally missing the point.
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My phones themed...default android ui looks nothing like that. I said this earlier in the thread which you obviously didn't read.
The widget interface is incredibly simple. Long press on a blank part of a home screen and a menu pops up giving you the choice to add shortcuts, contact shortcuts, widgets etc. when you press on widgets you get a list of the widgets you can add, then its simply added if there's enough room. Things are slightly different when widgets offer different sizes, but that's only one extra step; after tapping on the widget you want to add, you tap on the size you want.
The calendar on android is not really any different to the iOS one. They have the same basic functions and it's easy to add events on both. Not much to say about them really. The widget is simply a quick way to view and add events without having to launch the calendar and is also very simple to use.
The blue clock is just to tie in with the theme. It doesn't really serve a particular purpose, I just liked the look of it.
The SMS/mail/call indicators light up when you have a missed SMS/mail/call so I'm not sure what you mean by that.
The battery widget is one of many available for android. Not all of them will say "good."
I don't take offence at all, I just think you're missing the point. I have shown widgets that I use to make my life easier on android, but there are literally thousands and thousands of possible uses for widgets. Nobody has commented on the ones that iOS doesn't have; such as quick access to settings, quick access to call/text favourite contacts. People are only commenting on the widgets that iOS does have workarounds for. What about the thousands of uses that it doesn't?
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You're a fool if you think there's such a thing as a wrong opinion.
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Nearly all of my widgets have a purpose so I don't know why you think I'm bragging about customising the ui? The only widget I've added to screens shown above that doesn't serve a purpose is the clock widget, which I didn't even mention. All of the others have a use and that is to make it quicker to perform my common tasks.
Again, you're misunderstanding my post or are clearly biased/an android hater. I've shown how widgets can be truly useful and the only thing you can say is crap like that.
Static widgets don't kill the battery. In fact, none of my widgets shown kill the battery because they're all fairly static, or they have slow update intervals. I have a Facebook widget which does kill the battery, but you don't have to add something like that if you don't want to.
The widget interface is incredibly simple. Long press on a blank part of a home screen and a menu pops up giving you the choice to add shortcuts, contact shortcuts, widgets etc. when you press on widgets you get a list of the widgets you can add, then its simply added if there's enough room. Things are slightly different when widgets offer different sizes, but that's only one extra step; after tapping on the widget you want to add, you tap on the size you want.
The calendar on android is not really any different to the iOS one. They have the same basic functions and it's easy to add events on both. Not much to say about them really. The widget is simply a quick way to view and add events without having to launch the calendar and is also very simple to use.
The blue clock is just to tie in with the theme. It doesn't really serve a particular purpose, I just liked the look of it.
The SMS/mail/call indicators light up when you have a missed SMS/mail/call so I'm not sure what you mean by that.
The battery widget is one of many available for android. Not all of them will say "good."
I don't take offence at all, I just think you're missing the point. I have shown widgets that I use to make my life easier on android, but there are literally thousands and thousands of possible uses for widgets. Nobody has commented on the ones that iOS doesn't have; such as quick access to settings, quick access to call/text favourite contacts. People are only commenting on the widgets that iOS does have workarounds for. What about the thousands of uses that it doesn't?
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You're a fool if you think there's such a thing as a wrong opinion.
I think you should do one of two things:
A) Buy an Android device and submit a suggestion to Apple.
B) Live with the lack of widgets and submit a suggestion to Apple.
I think the vast majority of people here are probably well versed on the prons and cons of a widget based interface and don't need to be shown how it can make their lives easier; They've probably already considered and dismissed a widget based system in favour of something else. I'd say you're wasting your time posting things like this; you're preaching to the converted, but in the opposite direction.
I have an android device, where do you think the screens came from?
The people who dismiss widgets usually always post uninformed comments about them, such as "they're battery killers" (not all are) or "I don't need a big ugly clock widget" (that is not the only use for them...by far)
Even in this thread, people have only put down the widgets that iOS already has workarounds for. Nobody has commented on the useful ones such as the shortcut to the wifi options, or the four contact widgets that provide quick access to calling/texting favourite contacts.
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Like the notification bar you mean? (android) Or swiping left from the camera to get to the gallery? (windows phone 7)
Every tech company copies others. It's the way this world works. Nobody can innovate on every single thing that goes into their devices.