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How widgets can make your life easier, not harder

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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I think the issue is that you are trying to suggest that what is useful for you is useful for everyone, and that clearly isn't the case. For instance, a shortcut bar to turn wifi/gps/bluetooth on and off would be completely redundant for me because I have no reason to turn any of those settings on or off. However, a shortcut to allow the control of music playback from the lock screen is incredibly useful, but iOS does this already anyway. Likewise, the ability to go straight to the appropriate app when dealing with a notification on the lock screen is also very useful, but again, iOS already does this without the need for a widget.

All you're really showing is how widgets make your life easier, and I think you're finding that that doesn't translate into how that can make everyone's life easier. For a lot of people, widgets wouldn't make any difference whatsoever.
 
mrochester said:
I think the issue is that you are trying to suggest that what is useful for you is useful for everyone, and that clearly isn't the case. For instance, a shortcut bar to turn wifi/gps/bluetooth on and off would be completely redundant for me because I have no reason to turn any of those settings on or off. However, a shortcut to allow the control of music playback from the lock screen is incredibly useful, but iOS does this already anyway. Likewise, the ability to go straight to the appropriate app when dealing with a notification on the lock screen is also very useful, but again, iOS already does this without the need for a widget.

All you're really showing is how widgets make your life easier, and I think you're finding that that doesn't translate into how that can make everyone's life easier. For a lot of people, widgets wouldn't make any difference whatsoever.
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I've shown a sample of useful widgets for me, yes, but it was merely to demonstrate what can be done with them. To show that they're not always these hideous skinned clock/weather things, that sometimes they actually have a purpose.

There are thousands of widgets available on android with a huge amount of different purposes. They are by no means limited to what I've shown here. I can guarantee that a widget could accomplish something you do (or anyone else does) on your/their iPhone(s) regulalrly in less taps.
 
matttye said:
I've shown a sample of useful widgets for me, yes, but it was merely to demonstrate what can be done with them. To show that they're not always these hideous skinned clock/weather things, that sometimes they actually have a purpose.

There are thousands of widgets available on android with a huge amount of different purposes. They are by no means limited to what I've shown here. I can guarantee that a widget could accomplish something you do (or anyone else does) on your/their iPhone(s) regulalrly in less taps.
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I think we all know that there are thousands of widgets and that many of them serve a purpose. I'm sure some of them probably could allow me to do things with fewer taps, but there's also the downsides to consider such as the amount of space they take up and the effect they may have on battery life.

It's all essentially irrelevant anyway because iOS does not have widgets. If you want an iOS device you are just going to have to accept that it does not have widgets. If you absolutely must have widgets, buy an Android device.
 
mrochester said:
I think we all know that there are thousands of widgets and that many of them serve a purpose. I'm sure some of them probably could allow me to do things with fewer taps, but there's also the downsides to consider such as the amount of space they take up and the effect they may have on battery life.

It's all essentially irrelevant anyway because iOS does not have widgets. If you want an iOS device you are just going to have to accept that it does not have widgets. If you absolutely must have widgets, buy an Android device.
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If everybody thought like that we wouldn't have any of the devices we have today. We'd all have big bulky phones with rubber buttons and antennas sticking out of the top of the device.

I can see the potential in iOS but it's lacking in a few key areas. There's nothing wrong with wanting improvements to a device. I would actually like an iPhone because I like the integration with iTunes and iCloud, and these are great on my iPad, but I'd like to see a few improvements before buying one.

What is wrong with that?

Ps. I've already suggested this to apple multiple times.
 
matttye said:
If everybody thought like that we wouldn't have any of the devices we have today. We'd all have big bulky phones with rubber buttons and antennas sticking out of the top of the device.

I can see the potential in iOS but it's lacking in a few key areas. There's nothing wrong with wanting improvements to a device. I would actually like an iPhone because I like the integration with iTunes and iCloud, and these are great on my iPad, but I'd like to see a few improvements before buying one.
What is wrong with that?

Ps. I've already suggested this to apple multiple times.
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I'm not demanding the feature because I have no interest or use for it. If there's something I feel Apple should include, I will suggest it to them (and have done so in the past).
 
mrochester said:
I'm not demanding the feature because I have no interest or use for it. If there's something I feel Apple should include, I will suggest it to them (and have done so in the past).
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I wasn't suggesting that you should do this, just explaining why I want this feature in ios even though I have an android phone.
 
matttye said:
I wasn't suggesting that you should do this, just explaining why I want this feature in ios even though I have an android phone.
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Great, good for you, but the best you can do is make the suggestion to Apple and hope they roll with it someday.
 
mrochester said:
Great, good for you, but the best you can do is make the suggestion to Apple and hope they roll with it someday.
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We've established that :p

This is a discussion website, so I'm discussing something. I appreciate that this thread will have no bearing on whether or not apple implements widgets.
 
OP - I completely agree with you, which at the time being is why I'm using my Galaxy S II. iOS wins hands down with how smooth it feels but at the end of the day thats not enough for some people. I am very bored with it and hoping iOS 6 is intuitive again. iOS is NOT intuitive in any shape or form compared to Android right now.

Ya gotta excuse the iFanboys.
 
matttye said:
I've shown a sample of useful widgets for me, yes, but it was merely to demonstrate what can be done with them. To show that they're not always these hideous skinned clock/weather things, that sometimes they actually have a purpose.

There are thousands of widgets available on android with a huge amount of different purposes. They are by no means limited to what I've shown here. I can guarantee that a widget could accomplish something you do (or anyone else does) on your/their iPhone(s) regulalrly in less taps.
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You win. iOS has NO capability to get the weather or turn wifi on or off. You win.
 
sk1wbw said:
I guess Android users can't find the Settings app?
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mrochester said:
I guess if you consider going into 'settings' to change a setting as non-intuitive. Frankly, it sounds like the most obvious place to go but that might just be me :).
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I think youll both find that in most OSes there are quick ways to access the most used options. That's why in windows you have a clock and date, network options and a volume mixer in the system tray.

Having to go through several different screens to get to the options you use the most often is not user friendly. There should be a way to change them from the home screen or notification centre.
 
matttye said:
I think youll both find that in most OSes there are quick ways to access the most used options. That's why in windows you have a clock and date, network options and a volume mixer in the system tray.

Having to go through several different screens to get to the options you use the most often is not user friendly. There should be a way to change them from the home screen or notification centre.
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I know, tapping two screens is the end of the world. It takes a whole two seconds off my day. Are you an average pathetic Android user or what? I swear to GOD this is one of the many reasons I despise Android. It's an absolute cluster **** mess of an OS, plus the users are the most ****ing arrogant pricks in the electronics universe.

This is a ****ing Apple forum, not an Android forum.
 
matttye said:
I think youll both find that in most OSes there are quick ways to access the most used options. That's why in windows you have a clock and date, network options and a volume mixer in the system tray.

Having to go through several different screens to get to the options you use the most often is not user friendly. There should be a way to change them from the home screen or notification centre.
Click to expand...

It's a good job I don't turn any of those settings on and off then; I'd hate to think how confused I'd be having to delve into the settings menu!

I agree that there should be a quick way to access the most used features of a phone. I have my 20 most used apps on my home screen. The things I use less often are relegated to the second page in folders.
 
Oh, and if you are thinking of joining the Navy and think my cursing is offensive, then you should consider another occupation. :)

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mrochester said:
It's a good job I don't turn any of those settings on and off then; I'd hate to think how confused I'd be having to delve into the settings menu!
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Hey, if I want to shut off the wifi settings, do I go into the SETTINGS app or is in the Calendar or Weather app? I'm so ****ing confuzzled here!!! :confused:
 
I find it interesting to see people claim Apple copying ideas from others (mainly android) but fail to see it works everywhere. For example if you have used a N900 running a maemo port, you would be familiar with the drop down bar with quick settings long before the G1 was out. It is not like android hasn't taken its ideas from competitors.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Personally I think phones as they are, are great yeah sure more features could be added but that's commercial consumerism if you were given everything you ever wanted in a phone then you'd stop buying any other phone, and you would soon moan about something else, if you want a phone with widgets go get one, iPhones don't have many if any (not too sure and don't care) but at the end of the day you still need to click or tap to get into the app sO what difference does it make? It's occurring to me that some people are too obsessed with phones and need to snap back to reality. You buy a product for what it does have not to moan about what it should have!!
 
sk1wbw said:
I know, tapping two screens is the end of the world. It takes a whole two seconds off my day. Are you an average pathetic Android user or what? I swear to GOD this is one of the many reasons I despise Android. It's an absolute cluster **** mess of an OS, plus the users are the most ****ing arrogant pricks in the electronics universe.

This is a ****ing Apple forum, not an Android forum.
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You'd rather go through several screens than have something on the home screen? That is bizarre. Even if it doesn't take very long to change your commonly used options, it takes longer than it would if you only had to tap a widget.

This thread isn't about android, it's just using android to illustrate a feature I'd like implemented in iOS.

I lold at you calling me an arrogant prick.

mrochester said:
It's a good job I don't turn any of those settings on and off then; I'd hate to think how confused I'd be having to delve into the settings menu!

I agree that there should be a quick way to access the most used features of a phone. I have my 20 most used apps on my home screen. The things I use less often are relegated to the second page in folders.
Click to expand...

Hmm the first half of your post disagrees with me but the second half agrees...make your mind up :p
 
matttye said:
You'd rather go through several screens than have something on the home screen? That is bizarre. Even if it doesn't take very long to change your commonly used options, it takes longer than it would if you only had to tap a widget.

This thread isn't about android, it's just using android to illustrate a feature I'd like implemented in iOS.

I lold at you calling me an arrogant prick.



Hmm the first half of your post disagrees with me but the second half agrees...make your mind up :p
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Because you ARE arrogant. Not sure how else to say it. You've let your sex affair with widgets get the best of you. Let me clue you in: not everyone loves Android and widgets. Some people do and some people don't give a ****. Like me. Android does things differently. That doesn't make it better. Trust me, I used one. I felt like throwing it against a brick wall. Same thing with Blackberry and WP7. The apps suck there as well. There is simply nothing like Things or Firetask or Omnifocus on any other platform than the iOS. Trust me, lots of people USE their phones for productivity and not simply those ****ing stupid widgets.
 
sk1wbw said:
Because you ARE arrogant. Not sure how else to say it. You've let your sex affair with widgets get the best of you. Let me clue you in: not everyone loves Android and widgets. Some people do and some people don't give a ****. Like me. Android does things differently. That doesn't make it better. Trust me, I used one. I felt like throwing it against a brick wall. Same thing with Blackberry and WP7. The apps suck there as well. There is simply nothing like Things or Firetask or Omnifocus on any other platform than the iOS. Trust me, lots of people USE their phones for productivity and not simply those ****ing stupid widgets.
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What do you think I use my calendar widget for? Productivity. Its not there to sit and look pretty, but I wouldn't expect you to understand. You have a one track mind.
 
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