The myriad of features and customization offered by Android widgets often confuse a lot of people who have just made the switch to using an Android. As we’ve covered several times on TheDailyBuggle, Android customization is one huge pyramid with really no perceived apex. But perhaps one of the most useful (and most used) facets of the Android OS that’s provided to you out of the box is a widget. What are Android Widgets? Let us break it down for you.
What is an Android widget?
Have you seen all those nice Facebook boxes that show the number of people in amongst your friends who like a particular page on the web? They can be added to almost any website. Well, that in essence is a widget. A small, portable piece of code that behaves as a miniature application. Now, taking this concept to the Android realm, an Android widget is much the same. They are small units on your home screen that can be used and interacted with, just like applications. Tapping on an Android widget may lead to the invocation of some functionality of the parent application, or the opening of that application itself.
How To Add An Android Widget To Your Homescreen
Moving to the next, very obvious question. It’s incredibly easy to add an Android widget to the home screen. In order to do so, simply long press on any empty section of a home screen. A pop-up will appear and you can add the usual selection of folders, short cuts, etc. to your home screen.
In this very list, you’ll also find the option of adding widgets. Clicking on the Widgets options will take you to another list that’ll display all the possible widgets that are available on your Android. Clicking on one of them will add them to your home screen, provided you have enough space free on the screen to the add the entire widget. Otherwise, the Android widget will be added to a new page.
Getting More Android Widgets
Now that you know what an Android widget is, let’s talk about where you can find some more. Although an Android phone comes with a good set of widgets by default (and HTC-branded phones come with a lot more than others), power users are always yearning for more and more out of their Android widgets. The good news is that it’s equally easy to install additional widgets to your Android OS. That is because widgets are generally coupled with applications that you download from the Android Market. So, suppose you download a new multimedia application (like the awesome ones covered here). You can rest assured that it’ll have some sort of widget to accompany the app.
A Word Of Advice
Android widgets are powerful in their own way, and that’s a great thing. However, they do have a drawback. Any Android widget that keeps polling the system continuously (such as for system monitoring), will consume a big chunk out of your device’s battery. This is particularly true if the app is badly coded. You need to make sure you are judicious with the number and type of widgets you have on your screen. Reading reviews about the app in question also helps as the community keeps providing ample feedback.
Apart from that little brickbat, you can go ahead and use Android widgets without giving them a second thought. Have fun and let us know of any particularly cool ones you come across in the comments.
