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Squid7085

macrumors 6502a
Aug 14, 2002
558
48
Charlotte, NC
I looked forward to Widgets for years, I have an Android phone and it only took me a few days to realize I don't want them anymore. I never use them for "On the go info" or anything, and all they do is drain the battery. I like the widgets in the notification center better. However, it would be nice to have "Live" icons, so the weather app could show the temp or something, much like the calendar app.
 

boss.king

macrumors 603
Apr 8, 2009
6,140
6,887
i used a very handy app called drocap2 that enables you to take a screenshot and upload it to picasa

Do you have a widget for that app? ;)

What I find funny is that you insist on people being given choices and then cram your opinion on widgets down everyones throat. In case you haven't heard, it could still be possible to create widgets for iOS5 (http://www.9to5mac.com/71638/developing-widgets-for-ios-5-notification-center-technically-possible/).

The thing about widgets on iOS 5 is that they don't really fit with the layout of iOS. Apples implementation is clever, but ultimately I think it doesn't fit with rest of the OS (haven't used it yet so I could have my mind changed).

Just cos you find widgets useful doesnt mean everyone will. If I only have 2 pages of app, launching the app would be just as efficient as a widget, and widgets would probably just end up as clutter.
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
Widgets are not in iOS's DNA. It hasn't even looked/worked well outside Android.

Nonsense. Widget-like objects have been popular for a decade on smartphones, and still are.

Other OSes provide live icons, like Android's widgets or the live tiles on WP7, or they provide multiple live windows like WebOS or the Playbook.

Widgets are also a good reason why people jailbreak the iPhone, starting with SBSettings.

I think widgets would ruin the sleek look of iOS.

Too late! :) iOS 5 has lockscreen and notification widgets. Even the original calendar icon that updates once a day is a simple widget.

(Widgets need not be fancy. One of my most used widgets is a simple calendar icon that displays the days left until an event, such as a anniversary or birthday or trip.)

Open source = more time tweaking and customizing. "Controlled curated" = more time actually using.

I don't know why people try to drag this topic into a widget discussion.

Open source systems are not required for the ability to tweak. It only requires that the device isn't locked down to one idea of what is desirable. (Apparently Stocks and Weather are most important in Apple's mind.)
 

tigress666

macrumors 68040
Apr 14, 2010
3,288
17
Washington State
Here's my .02 cents.

I was excited about the idea of widgets on the iphone. But honestly, I'm still not going to buy or refuse a phone cause it has or does not have widgets. They're something I can do without though I could see the usefulness/niftyness of them.

That being said, I don't want a widget that takes up a whole lot of space. Sorry guy with the full screen twitter widget, but a widget that took up my whole screen would piss me off (or rather if having a widget for that app was important to me, I'd either find another app that does the same thing and has a better widget that doesnt' take up that much space, or just not use the widget cause it wasn't worth it and maybe even bitch about them implementing the widget that way). I'd rather have instant access to my apps than that (sorry but I agree with the other guy that a full screen widget is more annoying unless that is really the only thing you use your phone for and only occasionally use it for other stuff. My phone is useful for me cause it is so multi-purpose and a full screen app dedicated to just one program makes it more clunky to use if you are using it for lots of different things pretty often). Or even if they put widgets in the notification screen like apple did. I'd want the widgets to stay out of my way unless I wanted to see them if they are going to take up more space than an icon.

Or alternatively, what I'd really like to see is live updating icons. So that they don't take up more room than the icon already does, and they can give you a little bit of useful information that if you just need to know that, you don't need to open the app. If you want to know more detailed info, then you can open the app. For any more detailed info widget, I'd like it to be in my notification screen and I'd still be annoyed if it took up more room (no more room than the two widgets Apple already has).

Personally, I'll just be stoked if Apple allows developers to add widgets to the notification screen (I've heard that that might still be possible from a few posts I've seen on this forum). Though I really wanted to see Apple use widgets for quick access to some settings (like wi-fi, airplane mode, bluetooth).

Widgets to me should be something that do allow you to do some stuff (like the basic stuff or the main functionality) without opening the app but if you need to do more extensive stuff, that's why you open the app. For a simple example, the weather widget could show you today's temp/weather but if you wanted the extended forecast than you open it.
 
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Fliesen

macrumors 6502a
Mar 30, 2010
758
2
Austria
Too late! :) iOS 5 has lockscreen and notification widgets.
)

does it really?
does the weather / stocks widget work from (or even show on) the lockscreen?

in another thread i realized that apple only allows 'interaction' with the lockscreen in manners of either swiping (to unlock or entering the app that triggered the notification) or by first double clicking or holding the home button.

also, your examples are spot on. One could also consider the iPod / Pandora controls on the lock screen a widget.

The stock and weather widget really do seem like some sort of 'proof of concept'. Just like stocks and weather were among the first native 'apps' on iPhone OS 1.0.
 

maclaptop

macrumors 65816
Apr 8, 2011
1,453
0
Western Hemisphere
I thought iOS 5 would have incorporated widgets. Bit of a let down really. I like the widgets on Android. Luckily I have both ;-)

I knew they wouldn't because of Steve Jobs enormously jealous ego. Just like he has gone out of his way to lie and declare war on Adobe and Flash, he's not about to incorporate highly useful widgets because Android does. It's really a shame his childish side, prevents us from getting the best of all worlds in what could easily be an iPhone even more fantastic than any before it.

At the end of the day there are many limitations that are easily removed, but Jobs would rather act like the Dictator he is, than to borrow good ideas that are well liked items which ad fun, speed, and efficiency to his products.

But then again, that said the hypocrisy of Apple and Jobs is that they indeed do copy many of the features in several of their new products.

You simply cannot count on Apple anymore. Their reasoning and decision making is very arbitrary.

Every top of the line laptop in the PC space has had 3G connectivity built in for years, and yet the MacBook Pro still suffers from a lack of it. When I can buy a very good, robust, durable and fast ThinkPad in the same configuration for half the price. That laptop comes standard with every form of connectivity one could want.

I could go on and on giving example after example as I'm a huge Apple enthusiast and computer user that works in a cross platform environment. Therefore I always have the latest laptop from each manufacturer. While my personal preference is Mac, it's not because they are cutting edge, or feature all the options one would need, but rather because I've been using them so long as my personal machine and have a huge selection of Mac Gear.

Cheers... :)
 

shandyman

Suspended
Apr 24, 2010
6,458
397
Dublin, Ireland
I knew they wouldn't because of Steve Jobs enormously jealous ego. Just like he has gone out of his way to lie and declare war on Adobe and Flash, he's not about to incorporate highly useful widgets because Android does. It's really a shame his childish side, prevents us from getting the best of all worlds in what could easily be an iPhone even more fantastic that the any before it.

At the end of the day there are many limitations that are easily removed, but Jobs would rather act like the Dictator he is, than to borrow good ideas that are well liked items which ad fun, speed, and efficiency to his products.

But then again, that said the hypocrisy of Apple and Jobs is that they indeed do copy many of the features in several of their new products.

You simply cannot count on Apple anymore. Their reasoning and decision making is very arbitrary.

Every top of the line laptop in the PC space has had 3G connectivity built in for years, and yet the MacBook Pro still suffers from a lack of it. When I can buy a very good, robust, durable and fast ThinkPad in the same configuration for half the price. That laptop comes standard with every form of connectivity one could want.

I could go on and on giving example after example as I'm a huge Apple enthusiast and computer user that works in a cross platform environment. Therefore I always have the latest laptop from each manufacturer. While my personal preference is Mac, it's not because they are cutting edge, or feature all the options one would need, but rather because I've been using them so long as my personal machine and have a huge selection of Mac Gear.

Cheers... :)

dude, you have far too much of an active imagination, you need to get away from the PC and enjoy life rather than dream up that Jobs is a dictactor.....
 

WeegieMac

Guest
Jan 29, 2008
3,274
1
Glasgow, UK
In iOS 5 B1, when you open Notifications in the Settings app, you can clearly see the option to "Add To Notification Centre" for the likes of Stock and Weather.

This will clearly be adapted for other apps in later releases. Anyone who thinks Apple will have two widgets, Stocks and Weather, for the public release and not offer users a choice of more (or custom?) widgets is being a little naive.
 

shandyman

Suspended
Apr 24, 2010
6,458
397
Dublin, Ireland
My aren't we sensitive. The truth hurts eh?

not sensitive at all, started reading that and thought you really need to get some help lol. you're comparing jobs to someone like pol pot is a bit of a nutjob thing to do. he's a bloke in charge of a company.

truth hurts? how so? i'm a windows man, have been since 3.1 on my first PC, currently running windows 7 on a dual boot with the beta of Windows 8 and loving it. i have an iPhone and an iPad, but that's about as far as i go with apple, they're stable reliable devices that don't require tinkering to make things work.
 

Kariya

macrumors 68000
Nov 3, 2010
1,820
10
Nonsense. Widget-like objects have been popular for a decade on smartphones, and still are.

Other OSes provide live icons, like Android's widgets or the live tiles on WP7, or they provide multiple live windows like WebOS or the Playbook.

Widgets are also a good reason why people jailbreak the iPhone, starting with SBSettings.

iOS has only ever had the two widgets (actually apps since you had to launch them first) and their functionality was just scaled in iOS5...emphasis has always been on apps. It's an app-centric UI compared to other OSes which promote live widgets from day one. Also live app does not equal widget (webOS/QNX). The only platform that has implemented widgets in its pure defined form (small active snippet of information) from the days of Konqueror are WinPho and Android.

I for one am happy with Apple's way, if you want widgets then for the love of all things sacred buy an Android phone. Done.

I don't get it. Why do you folks keep asking that Apple essentially turn iOS into a completely bastardized version of Android...why not just buy a device from the actual platform and be done with it.

AND The funny thing is if by some slim chance Apple actually implements a tiny bit of something from Android you scream at the top of your lungs that Apple copied it from Google.

There is no win with you lot is there.
 
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D4F

Guest
Sep 18, 2007
914
0
Planet Earth
To me no widgets = no next iPhone.
Seriously. I switch / thether 3G / WiFi a lot and every time I have to unlock / swipe / look settings / click / scroll / click / scroll / press just for a damn on/off thing it makes me sick.
On my android all I do is click / unlock press widget - done.

Huge crap.
 

WeegieMac

Guest
Jan 29, 2008
3,274
1
Glasgow, UK
not sensitive at all, started reading that and thought you really need to get some help lol. you're comparing jobs to someone like pol pot is a bit of a nutjob thing to do. he's a bloke in charge of a company.

truth hurts? how so? i'm a windows man, have been since 3.1 on my first PC, currently running windows 7 on a dual boot with the beta of Windows 8 and loving it. i have an iPhone and an iPad, but that's about as far as i go with apple, they're stable reliable devices that don't require tinkering to make things work.

And you think Macs do?

If so, how wrong you are.
 

shandyman

Suspended
Apr 24, 2010
6,458
397
Dublin, Ireland
And you think Macs do?

If so, how wrong you are.

did i say that? nope, look at the first half of the sentance that you did not make bold...

i said "i have an iPhone and an iPad, but that's about as far as i go with apple, they're stable reliable devices that don't require tinkering to make things work." i was not talking about macs at all, i was talking about phones. you took my sentance totally out of context and misunderstood it
 

tigress666

macrumors 68040
Apr 14, 2010
3,288
17
Washington State
And you think Macs do?

If so, how wrong you are.

I'm very confused on what you mean when you refer do you think Macs do?

Do what?

Require tinkering to make things work? The guy specified he doesn't think they do. And you apparently think they don't require tinkering...so how would he be wrong.

But then, maybe you are talking about them being stable, reliable devices? Which he does think they *are* (but you said do so your sentence does not sound like you are referring to that).

So, please clarify what in the world you are stating there.
 

Squicken

macrumors member
Jul 23, 2010
65
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Arent wodgets available for notification center?
 

Squicken

macrumors member
Jul 23, 2010
65
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

andythursby said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Arent wodgets available for notification center?

only for stocks and weather

Those are the default ones available from apple, which means that notification center widgets are possible. I recall a post on either this website or maybe cultofmac that showed somebody who had made a widget for the nc. Maybe Apple will give an API for creating widgets? If not theyle be abailable on Cydia.
 

Squicken

macrumors member
Jul 23, 2010
65
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

http://www.9to5mac.com/71638/developing-widgets-for-ios-5-notification-center-technically-possible/
 

shandyman

Suspended
Apr 24, 2010
6,458
397
Dublin, Ireland
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)



Those are the default ones available from apple, which means that notification center widgets are possible. I recall a post on either this website or maybe cultofmac that showed somebody who had made a widget for the nc. Maybe Apple will give an API for creating widgets? If not theyle be abailable on Cydia.

i never said other widgets wouldn't be possible. he asked what widgets are available and as of now, its just those.
 

belalrawi

macrumors newbie
Jul 3, 2010
18
0
Columbia, MO
I think its funny that some people in this thread who dont want to use widgets want to enforce that upon other people. Classic.

If you think about it, the status bar is sort of a "widget" since it provides quick information without having to open an app; time, battery life and signal strength. What if you had 3 new apps that you had to open so that you could check time, battery life and singel strength?
 
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