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What is the fascination with widgets and weather

BHP41 said:
I can see some of your points in where something like this might be useful. Although i'm sorry to say that your phone will not tell you when a tornado siren is going off in your area, only when there is a watch or warning. When the sirens go off(I use to live in tornado alley) it's already on the ground. It's a last second effort to warn any one near it, that there is imminent danger.

I will say that in this circumstance is where we really see the need for a major iOS notifications update. When it comes to weather that is severe my iPhone will beep and notify me. It puts a badge icon on the weather app(TWC). If I didn't keep that app on my first screen it could easily go unanswered and you may miss that important information. Where on Android it's in the notification bar.

It doesn't show a need for widgets, it shows a need for notification improvement in iOS.

There is a app that allows you(jailbroken) to display info that you want on the lock screen and hide it when you need to with a simple gesture. This should be embraced by Apple in iOS 5.
Gestures are the key to making lock screen information work, IMO. This is how i see it working. Just my take on the whole subject. If the lock screen worked sorta like Android where you had screens, lets say 5 that you could cycle through with a simple swipe left or right and you could configure these display the information that you choose, for me it would be a calendar on one, and countdown until next meeting on another, my mail, my messages. These act as a revolving door(gotta have Apple style). Giving you the up to date information you desire. When you're on one of these screens, lets say mail, and you would like to answer that email a simple pinch to zoom gesture would take you to the mail app. After you're done a simple 3 finger pinch to zoom gesture would return you to the lock screen. I see this being really beneficial and efficient. There is no need for widgets. The lock screen is where I want my information.

Then there is the point about security. If you have info on your lock screen then how do you protect your info in case of a lost or stollen device. Simple, a gesture that you can set in settings that unlocks your device. I'm not talking about the primitive way Android goes about it but more along the lines or the Dolphin browser for Android that allows you to use the screen and make your own gesture to either page back, page forward, new bookmark, etc. That's a brief summary on the way I would like to see iOS5 handle this.
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You should really purchase an Android device. I have no idea why you own an iPhone. All I read was Android this, Android that. The iPhone will not have features that will make the device an Android clone. Apple chooses when to release certain features and it's normally 3 years behind when everyone else does it. But hey, at least they do it right.

So if I learned anything reading this essay, it's that you own the wrong device.
 
BHP41 said:
.... a weather widget???? People that love android always seem to bring this up. I get the calendars and messages but weather? Really?? Even if you travel(I do) it just isn't nessesary. I would much rather open a app to check the weather where I'm going then have it constanly trying to update. To those that don't travel, here's a tip. Look up from your phone.

I'm really interested in hearing what everyone has to say about this.

To me it's just a waste of resources on a phone and I'm tired of it being brought up like it's some great feature. It's not. At least to me.
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Here's a question, how often do you check the time on your iphone? the date? Do you open an app for that, or just look at the home screen, like a widget? How about notifications? Isn't it convenient to have that sort of information on the home/lock screen, as opposed to opening up a different app to retrieve different information?

The way I see it, a widget like weather is OPTIONAL. If you don't like it? Don't use it. If you do, hey, it's there as an option. It still baffles me that anyone feels the need to trash something like an optional feature, whether it be widgets or something else.
 
xAnthony said:
You should really purchase an Android device. I have no idea why you own an iPhone. All I read was Android this, Android that. The iPhone will not have features that will make the device an Android clone. Apple chooses when to release certain features and it's normally 3 years behind when everyone else does it. But hey, at least they do it right.

So if I learned anything reading this essay, it's that you own the wrong device.
Click to expand...

Where do you see that I choose the wrong device?? for what it's worth I do own Androids(yes thats plural) and I chose the iPhone. It is simply the better phone/smartphone/device whatever you'd like to call it.

I can give many points on why the iPhone is the device for me but that doesn't pertain to this thread. What I gave was suggestions on how I thought certain features should be implemented into iOS. No where in that post does it state that I think Android is a better device. The only mention that I gave of Android being superior was the part on notifications, I think we can all agree on that. There was no Android this and Android that as you say, only references to the way that Android operates and how to make iOS better and put a feature in that most of us want. Never did I say that iOS should copy Android, far from it.
 
Rhonen said:
Here's a question, how often do you check the time on your iphone? the date? Do you open an app for that, or just look at the home screen, like a widget? How about notifications? Isn't it convenient to have that sort of information on the home/lock screen, as opposed to opening up a different app to retrieve different information?

The way I see it, a widget like weather is OPTIONAL. If you don't like it? Don't use it. If you do, hey, it's there as an option. It still baffles me that anyone feels the need to trash something like an optional feature, whether it be widgets or something else.
Click to expand...

If you would please read past the first post I addressed this issue. As you will see I do agree with you and gave a way that I thought it could be designed and used.

I have never liked changing the first post unless absolutely necessary(the thread becomes 5-6 pages) because it shows where the thread started form and the post after that are directly related. I do assume that people will read through a 20 post thread before jumping on the keyboard. Maybe I'm wrong to assume that.
 
its very useful has the weather up so you dont have to open an app and wait it is there as soon as you unlock your phone
 
1. I'm a weather nut, having quick access to weather info is a must.

2. Apple's weather icon is embarrassing, 4 years without any upgrades whatsoever, it can be 3am, and 40 below in a blizzard and it says it's 73 degrees and sunny. Widgets allow us to get around Apple's archaic weather app, for those of us who are jailbroken at least.
 
redbeard331 said:
1. I'm a weather nut, having quick access to weather info is a must.

2. Apple's weather icon is embarrassing, 4 years without any upgrades whatsoever, it can be 3am, and 40 below in a blizzard and it says it's 73 degrees and sunny. Widgets allow us to get around Apple's archaic weather app, for those of us who are jailbroken at least.
Click to expand...
Another amazing feature for htc sense if its rainy when you first unlock ther will be little rain droppers then wipers will wipe them off each weather has its own anamitation nice touch in
 
I like the vanilla weather/news widget.



(That bottom widget).

The best part is within the weather 'app' that is launched when you tap the weather icon, there's this (Yea, you tap the weather icon once in the widget and then once in the app XD):

android_2.1_droid_weather_engadget.jpg


You can drag along it and see predicted wind/preciptation%/temperature and that's pretty cool IMHO.
 
Pmoser said:
Another amazing feature for htc sense if its rainy when you first unlock ther will be little rain droppers then wipers will wipe them off each weather has its own anamitation nice touch in
Click to expand...

Yea I've always thought that was pretty cool, Apple has to do something with iOS5!
 
JoeG4 said:
I like the vanilla weather/news widget.



(That bottom widget).

The best part is within the weather 'app' that is launched when you tap the weather icon, there's this (Yea, you tap the weather icon once in the widget and then once in the app XD):

android_2.1_droid_weather_engadget.jpg


You can drag along it and see predicted wind/preciptation%/temperature and that's pretty cool IMHO.
Click to expand...

Yea that is pretty nice, I'd like to see more examples from other phones to get an idea of what Apple could do. If I couldn't jailbreak my phone I don't think I could buy another iPhone, I'm just bored with the lifeless grid of icons, even though I think Apple builds the best hardware.
 
BHP41 said:
.... a weather widget???? People that love android always seem to bring this up. I get the calendars and messages but weather? Really?? Even if you travel(I do) it just isn't nessesary. I would much rather open a app to check the weather where I'm going then have it constanly trying to update. To those that don't travel, here's a tip. Look up from your phone.

I'm really interested in hearing what everyone has to say about this.

To me it's just a waste of resources on a phone and I'm tired of it being brought up like it's some great feature. It's not. At least to me.
Click to expand...
I respect your opinion & I'm sorry others upset you.

Me? I enjoy reading about how others use their devices since there's so much one can use them for. I find it interesting.

Widgets for any type of app interest me, they're great time savers. On a computer or smartphone I find them useful.

Some people are obsessed with weather, and although I'm not one, I have a friend who is, but quite honestly it doesn't bother me in the least.
 
I don't know, but it looks like a customized version of 1.6 or something.

I use vanilla android myself, it looks more like this:
500x_froyotalkwide_top.jpg


But I use the widget I pointed out earlier lol, and yes I have the google search bar.

The only thing I don't like about vanilla is the white status bar >>
 
UCLAKoolman said:
Wow. Yuck. What version android is this? Icons look terrible and the status bar is cluttered as all hell.
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the ones on the left are notification icons, obviously iphone users are unfamiliar with them and are understandably confused :p
 
Widgets are all about obtaining information immediately.

This isn't quite a widget, but it serves a similar purpose... I like having the weather in my status bar. I love being able to see what the temperature is with just a quick glance. Also, I have it set to update every 30 minutes, and there has been no noticeable toll on my battery life. As you can see, I'm at 57% usage, and that's with moderate (normal) use, unplugged for at least 15 or 16 hours, I don't remember exactly. I charge my phone every night and very rarely is it below 40% by the end of the day.

And even further, I like being able to quickly see that I have an unread e-mail or text message, or a missed phone call, etc... COME ON, APPLE... WE NEED BETTER NOTIFICATIONS!!!
 

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I just wish the weather and clock icons updated the same as the calendar. It's not always 73 degrees at 10:15 or whatever the icons display. It almost annoying and easy enough for apple to change.
 
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