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Why most people put clock widget on home screen?

lcneed

Android Enthusiast
Coming from the iPhone, I have got to ask. The time is already up on the status bar, so why do most people put a big clock widget up on the home screen? I can understand date or weather, but why a big display of time? Just because it is bigger and easier to see? :p
 
Well, im not sure bout most people but clock widget just feels natural for android. i rarely ever notice the clock on status bar. 95% of the time i look at widget for time. Plus clock widget has weather update, next alarm, battery info -i know u can display battery % on status bar but i really hate a cluttered status bar, less icons the better- And it also looks a heck of alot better then having icons everywhere. *cought* iphone
 
I use it because I hide the status bar to have more screen.
Not to mention many of the weather apps include a clock.
 
Coming from the iPhone, I have got to ask. The time is already up on the status bar, so why do most people put a big clock widget up on the home screen? I can understand date or weather, but why a big display of time? Just because it is bigger and easier to see? :p


Because I could never do it on my Iphone. :D I have mine mostly now because I'm so used to it.
 
I use it because I hide the status bar to have more screen.
Not to mention many of the weather apps include a clock.

Do you need to be rooted to hide the status bar? I actually have the local temperature at the status bar too. :p I guess iPhone users are used to looking at the time on the status bar. I guess it is just an Android tradition to have the giant clock.
 
Do you need to be rooted to hide the status bar? I actually have the local temperature at the status bar too. :p I guess iPhone users are used to looking at the time on the status bar. I guess it is just an Android tradition to have the giant clock.

You don't need to have a giant clock, you can resize any widget.
No, you don't need root to hide the status bar, just a different launcher.

You are not limited to the stock UI anymore. :)
 
You might think it is funny... but after 5 years on the iPhone.. I have been assimilated into the collective to use stock only! :p

I do understand that some people get use to that mentality, and yes, I do find it funny. LOL

My first smartphone was a Treo 700P. I could change everything on that phone.
Then I went to windows mobile and could change everything there. Then Android.
There is no way I could use a device that makes me do what the manufacture wants me to do and nothing more.
 
Mine was the Treo 600! The Treo 700P was my wife's first smartphone. But now she has been assimilated by iPhone also and there is no turning back for her.

I tease iPhone users regularly (friends and family), but I do it in fun.
It is a good, stable device, and very easy to use. I get that.

What I don't get is how it became so popular to begin with.
The 1st iPhone couldn't do mms, no camera flash, no video recorder, no copy/paste. Yet it was a huge seller.

My old LG flip phone could do all of that. When I was looking for my first smartphone the iphone didn't make my radar due to the lack of those basic smartphone functions.

The original Droid didn't make my radar either because it couldn't voice dial over bluetooth.
That's why I chose windows mobile as my second smartphone since palm had given up.
 
When the iPhone debuted it was the new hotness.
Anybody who was anybody who knew anybody HAD to get their hands on one.
During that same time, Blackberry started appealing to non-corporate and I was rockin' with both.
I was such a fan that I started buying
Rxpert83 said:
anything with the logo on it :p
.
 
What I don't get is how it became so popular to begin with.
The 1st iPhone couldn't do mms, no camera flash, no video recorder, no copy/paste. Yet it was a huge seller.

I think the iPhone became really popular when they started the App store about a year later. I didn't get the original iPhone. My sister got one and I think it was really nice but I was rocking my Blackberry. When the App store came out and the iPhone 3G.... it was the deciding factor for me. The iPhone 3G was so well made that I am still using one right now as a iPod Touch.

Before the iPhone, I have never purchased any Apple product. I was a Windows person as with my whole family (parents, brother, sister..). After the iPhones, we had purchased a combine $30000+ worth of Apple products. I have a Macbook pro that is running windows.
 
I always like to use stock phone programs and stuff as well. I just feel that whenever I have to get a different app/widget its always a compromise, the app has benefits but then it always seems to lack features that the stock version had. And I get used to what ever was on the phone when I first get the phone and play around with it, so changing anything feels weird
 
My clock widget when pressed will take you to click app, where I can access my world time, timer alarm clock functions etc. My weather widget is configured to open app when pressed. And so on. It's not just a display, it's also an intuitive shortcut to a specific app or function.

I've set up my home screen so that my widget will have shortcuts to a specific function, yes you can call them links.:p

But some of the 'links' do display useful information without the need to swing on the tiny bar. :what:
Sent using the power of the dark side.

Here's how my home screen looks like, I've set up 6 links in the space of 2 icons (apps). Current location wjen pressed will open navigation. Clock will open clock aoo and so on...

zurema9a.jpg


I bet the iPhone can't be customized like you want it like android.:what:

Edit: I used Zooper awidgets to customize my own. :D
 
My clock widget when pressed will take you to click app, where I can access my world time, timer alarm clock functions etc. My weather widget is configured to open app when pressed. And so on. It's not just a display, it's also an intuitive shortcut to a specific app or function.

I've set up my home screen so that my widget will have shortcuts to a specific function, yes you can call them links.:p

But some of the 'links' do display useful information without the need to swing on the tiny bar. :what:
Sent using the power of the dark side.

Here's how my home screen looks like, I've set up 6 links in the space of 2 icons (apps). Current location wjen pressed will open navigation. Clock will open clock aoo and so on...

zurema9a.jpg


I bet the iPhone can't be customized like you want it like android.:what:

Edit: I used Zooper awidgets to customize my own. :D

Nice screen I do like that calendar layout where did you find that one please
 
@ N0P PH473 why would you say people who choose to use large clock widgets are "lame?"

I certainly wouldn't say they are "lame", to each their own and all that. But as a relatively new person to Android, these gigantic widgets (with no option to make them smaller) are driving me up the wall. Take for instance the assistive light in N0P PH473's screenshot, why does that need to be so gigantic? At the most it could be the size of any other icon, and the beautiful thing about the S-Pen is that it could be even smaller and still be useful. But Android seems to be designed so that all widgets/icons are based on relative size instead of absolute size, so the fact that I have a gigantic screen AND an S-Pen doesn't actually get me any more desktop real estate. I had more information density on my N900 with a 3.7" screen. [/end rant]
 
I certainly wouldn't say they are "lame", to each their own and all that. But as a relatively new person to Android, these gigantic widgets (with no option to make them smaller) are driving me up the wall. Take for instance the assistive light in N0P PH473's screenshot, why does that need to be so gigantic? At the most it could be the size of any other icon, and the beautiful thing about the S-Pen is that it could be even smaller and still be useful. But Android seems to be designed so that all widgets/icons are based on relative size instead of absolute size, so the fact that I have a gigantic screen AND an S-Pen doesn't actually get me any more desktop real estate. I had more information density on my N900 with a 3.7" screen. [/end rant]

There are flashlight widget in the play store, a lot of them are free. :D

I think the best answer for the OP's question is that we can. :D

I'd rather have the option than not at all. I can always delete it, or replace it if I don't like it.:)

-Sent using the force
 
There are flashlight widget in the play store, a lot of them are free. :D

I think the best answer for the OP's question is that we can. :D

I'd rather have the option than not at all. I can always delete it, or replace it if I don't like it.:)

-Sent using the force

The flashlight was just meant as a handy example. :) I did find another flashlight app in the f-droid repo that is icon size and works well.

My bigger issue is that Android doesn't seem to provide an easy way to natively scale widgets when they are resized, it just crops them instead. This leads to (IMO) abnormally large widgets, like the clock widgets that everyone seems to have.
 
Coming from the iPhone, I have got to ask. The time is already up on the status bar, so why do most people put a big clock widget up on the home screen? I can understand date or weather, but why a big display of time? Just because it is bigger and easier to see? :p



"Just because it is bigger and easier to see?"

Yes
 
I certainly wouldn't say they are "lame", to each their own and all that. But as a relatively new person to Android, these gigantic widgets (with no option to make them smaller) are driving me up the wall. Take for instance the assistive light in N0P PH473's screenshot, why does that need to be so gigantic? At the most it could be the size of any other icon, and the beautiful thing about the S-Pen is that it could be even smaller and still be useful. But Android seems to be designed so that all widgets/icons are based on relative size instead of absolute size, so the fact that I have a gigantic screen AND an S-Pen doesn't actually get me any more desktop real estate. I had more information density on my N900 with a 3.7" screen. [/end rant]

Again, the beauty of android is you can do just about anything you want to do. You want widgets resized, use a different launcher; the play store is full of them free/paid.
 
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