I'm glad I found this topic and it still has some kind of recent activity.
I searched the web for it and I really can't see the point of widgets either.
I own a HTC EVO 3D. The widgets HTC includes in it are beautiful, but don't get me wrong, 99% serve no utility, and the ones from apps from the market aren't any better (the great majority of apps doesn't even offer widget options). And believe me I would never touch a iOS device over an Android.
To start, this video only shows me a lot of swipes required to do things and half-baked versions of apps. In the video you can see also that you can have text instead of an icon to launch your apps, that's it, and this isn't useful at all. I don't even know if it's part of a widget or a launcher.
In this topic there are also photos of a cube-like home screen, what does it have to do with widgets? It's accomplished with a launcher, there's no need for widget.
Why should I use a widget instead of opening the app? Are 1, 2 or maybe even 3 or more swipes better than a single tap in the app shortcut?
- I mean, there's a 4x4
Messages widget: I can put in one of the home screens. But why!? If I receive a new message I'll go to it via the notification and reply, if I want to write a new message I just open the app from the dock which will include the full list of conversations and the + button!
-
Music controls: the controls on the lock screen are much better. Some vendors put these controls in the notification area, again it's better because you can get to them from any screen, you don't need to leave the app you're on to skip a track or stop the music.
-
Toggles: why should I put one in a home screen if I can have all of them with toggles in the notification area? Some people don't even put them in the main home screen, what's the point? You have to dig swiping even more. Again another example of how widgets force you to leave the app you're on while notification toggles will let you do all of this without even leaving the app you're on.
-
Social networks streams: so you see a good post and want to comment, you tap and you're throwed to a limited custom built UI - or - you're throwed to the official app. You want to talk to somebody in Facebook chat, then you'll need to open the Facebook app. You want to visit somebody's profile? Again you'll need to enter an app screen. Not even the fact you can have Facebook+Twitter streams together in one stream is worth it, the kind of content posted in these networks are so different anyway... Also any kind of notification like a reply you receive will get to the notification area where you tap and go to the app.
Somebody mentioned if you open the Facebook app you need to wait until it loads new stories before being able to post something, this isn't true. If you post a lot of things a shortcut to the "new post intent" can be created in the home screen, no widget is needed to accomplish this. If you post pics the best thing to do is to open the media gallery app, select the photo and share it to Facebook, not a widget that in the end would require you to follow exactly the same path.
- Want
e-mail? 1 tap to get to the app / new e-mail notifications.
- Want to
call somebody or even
message? If you call this person often it'll be at the top of the dialer or just one more 2 easy taps and you'll get to the group you have sorted this person, no need for a widget with your favorite contacts displayed in a home screen one or more swipes away. Anyway, all needed in this case is to create a shortcut to each person.
-
Bookmarks without the need of opening the browser? I don't use the stock browser so I have no bookmarks there. Also, do you really prefer to swipe to another screen and tap the bookmark instead of having a shortcut to your preferred web browser? I use Opera, I just tap it once and then tap the page I want to go to in my "Speed Dial". (It's awkward: you prefer 1 or more swipe(s) + tap vs. two taps.)
+ I actually use one widget: the one from the
notes app. It's like the complete app but the list of notes is presented like a pile of paper. It shows the latest note on-screen and you can swipe, flipping, to revel the "paper" page underneath the current one, there's also a + button to create a new one and also buttons to create notes using a image with the camera, mic for recording a note in audio and one for drawing. It's awesome, better than the actual app's interface and that's why I use it. The way you can see your notes at a glance and get to edit them fast and simple like flipping the paper on your desk and start writing with a pen is totally worth it, would it mimic the actual app UI I'd rather to have a shortcut to it in the main home screen.
+ I have the HTC
clock widget in my main home screen because it's very good to see time this big in the morning when you wake up and the
weather temperature on it is very handy. But if it wasn't in the main home screen its use would be already compromised compared to a notification that can show a bigger clock and weather from an app like Google Now or some other. (It's tapping home to get out of the app you're on then swiping to the home screen you have the widget vs simply pulling the status bar!)
I can see the
tasks app widget is also very feature-rich but it doesn't beat the actual app UI in any way to be worth it.
It seems there are very, VERY FEW cases of good implementation of widgets. The thing is
whether it's a nice idea or not, the execution is poor. Widgets equals somewhat good visuals with poor productivity and lack so many features compared to the actual app it isn't worth a swipe over tapping a shortcut to open the damn app. Maybe in a tablet you have more space to have widgets on your main home screen and then the situation of swipe vs. tap gets a little better but they'd still be half-baked versions of their respective apps.
I'd like to also leave a link for this topic which questions the usefulness of home screens as a whole:
http://androidforums.com/android-lounge/378916-whats-point-home-screen.html
I very much agree it's a bit pointless and an app launcher you can rearrange and set up folders like iOS's one or one of the likes of Samsung/LG would be already good enough for me, even the Windows Phone approach is more attractive (but I wouldn't use this OS because it lacks other crucial things such as a notifications/status bar). (Again, before you say I want an iPhone when you run out of "arguments" to defend widgets use: I don't want an iOS device. I'm completely against Apple and their practices.)
The fact is with Widgets you're just
wasting more RAM because they're being constantly pre-loaded, and forcing yourself to
keep going back to the home screen again and again and perform swipes.
PS. BTW, Widgets were removed from Windows in PCs because of security issues specifically in the way they run "on top" of the Windows OS, I mean, problems somewhat in the "framework" developers use (and hackers could use to exploit the security breach). The issue is in the way Windows execute them, not in the "widgets" idea as a whole, which in Android runs basically as a different and more limited UI of an app.
