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I still don't know what kind of widgets the OP would use IF they were on iOS...
 
Can I confirm that the clock icon on iOS 7 shows live time? If so that's useful. How about live info on weather icon? It could include the ability to activate live icons in settings or switch them off if you want to save battery. Can the icons on window one, all be setup to include recently used apps, or most often used apps?

Although the clock icon on iOS 7 displays the current time it is more of a polish/cosmetic change rather than a practical application. With the clock on the lockscreen and status bar why would you even look for the clock icon to see the time?

The weather icon is the same. It would be a nice cosmetic for the weather icon to display the current weather but that is available from any screen by just pulling down notifications.
 
Weather? Look outside, it's more current and usually a little more accurate too.

According to that Zoe Daschanel Apple ad, we're supposed to both look out the window at the rain, and then redundantly ask Siri if it's raining.

I love Zoe, but... :)

Anyway, I think a lot of people use a weather widget that has a five day forecast included, which is helpful. If you work inside without windows, it's also handy to kno what the temp and weather is like outside.

Another weather widget I like is the one for the iOS/Android app Rain Alert. At a glance I can see how far away and how intense the rain is.
 
Agreed. No one wants a battery hogging widget... but what if you could have a widget that didn't have a negative impact to the battery? I don't care to have a glance-able Facebook widget, but a glance-able Calendar on my home screen might be helpful. iOS 7's Background App Refresh is going to keep apps up-to-date in the background, so now its just a matter of displaying that up-to-date information somewhere.

If it didn't waste battery that's fine. I just don't want developers or my phones memory using it resources for stuff I don't need
 
I expect that some kind of widget page will be introduced late in the iOS beta program with a swipe right from the homepage where the universal search used to be.
 
I expect that some kind of widget page will be introduced late in the iOS beta program with a swipe right from the homepage where the universal search used to be.

I don't think that swipe right option to bring up spotlight search came across so well. I've seen my mom do that and she always gets confused about what she did to end up there. I'm glad Apple removed it.
 
I don't think that swipe right option to bring up spotlight search came across so well. I've seen my mom do that and she always gets confused about what she did to end up there. I'm glad Apple removed it.
Unfortunately it's not a bit too easy to bring up the search bar on pretty much any screen with a quick downward swipe that could happen on the majority of the screen.
 
Personally I hate widgets, they all look useless and make the user experience worse (I don't have widgets on my Mac). Although this is my opinion, if people like them why not give them the choice to have widgets or not like on the Mac?
 
Unfortunately it's not a bit too easy to bring up the search bar on pretty much any screen with a quick downward swipe that could happen on the majority of the screen.

I dont think my mom knows how to swipe "down" LOL. Me? I accidently bring it up when Im swiping down.
 
I dont think my mom knows how to swipe "down" LOL. Me? I accidently bring it up when Im swiping down.
Pretty sure everyone does given that swiping down (just like in any other direction) is used by majority of the apps (even just the phone app). Something we'll have to get use to over time.
 
One of the issues I still have with iOS7 is that it's still utilizing the icon grid layout. Basically the same just a different look.

We still have no live info widgets like Android or Win phones. The icons on iOS7 are still huge. IMO the icons should be smaller (or at least give us an option without jailbreaking) and leave more space for widgets.

I think it's a bit outdated to have to click on icons for every info. iOS7 is certainly lagging behind to appear and act as a more dynamic mobile os.

Can't just be the battery drainage excuse. Do we really have to wait for a more dynamic/ interactive mobile OS until iOS10?

So, you'd like a mobile OS with smaller icons and widgets. Why, then, don't you just use Android? Serious question. What you want exists... why not just use it and stop suggesting that iOS become the same?
 
Pretty sure everyone does given that swiping down (just like in any other direction) is used by majority of the apps (even just the phone app). Something we'll have to get use to over time.

You're telling me. I still trigger control center when jumping in Subway surfers.
 
So, you'd like a mobile OS with smaller icons and widgets. Why, then, don't you just use Android? Serious question. What you want exists... why not just use it and stop suggesting that iOS become the same?

My answer would be because Android is laggy.
 
Can I confirm that the clock icon on iOS 7 shows live time? If so that's useful. How about live info on weather icon? It could include the ability to activate live icons in settings or switch them off if you want to save battery. Can the icons on window one, all be setup to include recently used apps, or most often used apps?

Hows that useful? You have the time on the top bar,how can having a live clock be useful? Simply displaying the same information twice.
 
If I may ask, what 8 live widgets are you running?

I'm using a lockscreen weather widget, a homescreen weather widget in my dock, and I have an assortment of iWidgets, I placed 3 on a blank page just to see if using so many at once would affect my battery at all.

Maybe I'm incorrect but didn't OSX have live widgets before Android was even out yet? Dashboard widget's was first introduced on OSX Tiger in 2005. Apple chose not to implement live widgets on iOS just like they chose not to use mobile Flash. Too much battery and resources would be used. Look where mobile Flash is now.

I believe so..

And I don't think mobile flash is anything like widgets as far as battery life is concerned. And I'd like to point out that everything we do with our phones is going to impact battery life, why widgets are met with such hostility I don't know. They aren't impacting my battery life at all.

I think we need to clarify what kind of widget's we want because iOS already has widgets in the Notification Center (weather, stocks, calendar, etc) and the Control Center with system control toggle widgets. These widgets do not drain battery because they only update when the notification center is accessed. Unlike Android where a user can place all kinds of live feed widgets like a twitter feed, Facebook feed, etc which auto updates at a given interval. Even a photo album widget which cycle through photos eat up battery and resources. I have iHeart Radio and Pandora widgets on my S4 but I cannot use them to start the streaming music without launching the app so they don't really drain battery just sitting there. I use them to stop/pause the music and also get the name of the song and artist. I think Apple carefully selected widgets that are most used and chose not give use "live feed" widgets they DO contribute to more battery drain and more resources used. Just watch any YouTube videos on how to extend battery life and decrease lag on Android devices. Among the top tips is to reduce widgets to a minimum. It's a fact. I own an S2, S4 and a Nexus 7 & 10 as well as iOS devices (jailbroken) so my experience with both platforms are extensive.


iWidgets have caused zero drain on my device.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrdk-85Kmho

I would like to see third party widgets available just like Android has, even on an Android they are optional, nobody is forced to use them, so I don't see why some people are so vehemently against them.

The option to have them would be a great thing, people who don't like widgets don't have to use them, it really is that simple.

And I see a lot of people making this assumption that because certain Android widgets are battery hogs, iPhone widgets would be too. Many things Android phones suffer from aren't an issue on the iPhone.
 
So, you'd like a mobile OS with smaller icons and widgets. Why, then, don't you just use Android? Serious question. What you want exists... why not just use it and stop suggesting that iOS become the same?

Serious question in return: how would they become the same?

It's like when one system had copy/paste and another did not. Or MMS. Or video recording. Or multitasking. Or a zillion other things.

Asking for a similar capability does not make two OSes the same.

People can like something, and yet still want it improved.
 
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I think you are confusing notification widgets being displayed on your springboard with actual widgets that Android have. iOs does not have the framework for widgets. The Jailbreak tweaks Ive seen just add a notification widget to the springboard.

Below is a Facebook widget for Android. The information displayed in that window is only current if the widget is manually updated or set to auto-refresh at a specific interval. this is what kills battery because people will set it to refresh every 5 minutes.

Image

Well yea, I'd call that user error, I never set a widget to refresh any sooner than every 15 minutes. I have a bunch of weather widgets on my phone as it's jailbroken, I like how on Android devs can make widgets to go along with their apps as well. I'd love to have a ESPN widget for example, can't get things like that in Cydia unfortunately.

People can turn on everything on an iPhone, set mail to constantly push, and other things which will drain your battery fast, yet people pick and choose which ones they want to have set to push or be on 24/7, I don't see how widgets would be any different?

And personally, I'm hoping Apple comes up with something even better, maybe some kind of cross between live tiles as seen on Windows phones, and Android style widgets. If anyone could do so without killing battery life it would be Apple.
 
I'm hoping Apple comes up with something even better, maybe some kind of cross between live tiles as seen on Windows phones, and Android style widgets. If anyone could do so without killing battery life it would be Apple.

Yep. If anyone could do it with minimal battery impact it would indeed be Apple.

some of the reasons I didn't use widgets much in Android was

- Set up the re-fresh of a widget too often and it drained battery
- Set it less frequently and you were looking at old data
- Set it to manual...whats the point of this? I may as well just open the app itself.
 
Do you know that from experience or are you simply parroting. I used a GS4 for two weeks, no issues with lag. My 4s lags far more.
Comparing essentially 2 months old mobile technology with that which is essentially 2 years old? Yep, that's a good comparison.
 
Hilarious is people that just KNOW that a widget KILLs their battery...:rolleyes:

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Do you know that from experience or are you simply parroting. I used a GS4 for two weeks, no issues with lag. My 4s lags far more.

My GS3 lagged like MAD and it was much more powerful than my 4s...

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Serious question in return: how would they become the same?

It's like when one system had copy/paste and another did not. Or MMS. Or video recording. Or multitasking. Or a zillion other things.

Asking for a similar capability does not make two OSes the same.

People can like something, and yet still want it improved.

I like this guy.
 
One of the issues I still have with iOS7 is that it's still utilizing the icon grid layout. Basically the same just a different look.

We still have no live info widgets like Android or Win phones. The icons on iOS7 are still huge. IMO the icons should be smaller (or at least give us an option without jailbreaking) and leave more space for widgets.

I think it's a bit outdated to have to click on icons for every info. iOS7 is certainly lagging behind to appear and act as a more dynamic mobile os.

Can't just be the battery drainage excuse. Do we really have to wait for a more dynamic/ interactive mobile OS until iOS10?

What about "Today"?
 
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