In less than two weeks, Vodafone will be launching the HTC Magic. It will be the second phone to be powered by the Android OS, but the first powered by Android 1.5 (aka the cupcake build). There are quite a few enhancements included in this new build, many of which I wrote about when I reviewed a Google build and an HTC build of Android 15 for the HTC Magic. But the one new addition that stands out the most with the introduction of Android 1.5 is the support for home screen widgets.
Android widgets aren’t anything new. Google included three of them (analog clock, search, and picture frame) in the original Android 1.0 that shipped on the T-Mobile G1. But to the developer’s disappointment, the Android team didn’t release any documentation on how additional widgets could be developed.
A group of developers on xda-developers.com eventually learned how to skin the widgets that were included with Android, but the progress stopped there.
On April 13, the new Android 1.5 SDK was released, finally giving developers access to the Android AppWidget framework. Developers now have the tools to create almost any type of widget they can dream up. Widgets can be paired with individual apps (example: The Weather Channel and create a widget that installs when you download the Weather Channel app from the market) or can be used as stand alone apps that full information directly from the internet.
So what type of Android widgets will we see in the future? Well, the Android team has already taken care of the calendar widget and the music widget, but that’s not going to stop anyone from developing their own versions. Once android widgets start hitting the market, I’ve venture to guess that most of them will simply be replacement widgets for the ones that Google included in Android. I’m sure by now, most people are stick and tired of looking at the same analog clock and a handful of developers will try their hand at creating a better looking music widget. Eventually, most widgets will be RSS feeds, news headlines, and stock tickers.
If developers play their cards right, a great android widget could be their ticket to success. I have tested out my fair share of prices apps on the Android Market, but have returned most of them since they were simply not worth the investment. It could just be me, but I think I’d be more willing to pay $.99 for a well designed android widget that gives me the info I need on my home screen than pay for an app that may do the same (or more) but has a poor design.
Here’s just a small list of Android widgets we would love to see in the coming weeks:
Twidroid Widget: Twidroid is by far the best Twitter app on Android. I’d love to be able to Tweet right from my home screen. I could actually imagine two different widgets (one for Tweeting and one for viewing Tweets).
The Weather Channel Widget: I use the Weather Channel App a few times a day since I’m stuck inside the office. I envision a simple Android widget that shows the current outside condition (sun, clouds, wind, rain, snow) with current temperature. It would be amazing if they has an animated weather overlay of your Android home screen when you tap the widget. Envision the animated HTC weather tab on TouchFLO 3D, but overlaid on the screen, covering your icons and other widgets with snow or rain.
CNN Widget: As nerdy as it sounds, I’m a news freak. I’m constantly on cnn.com and other news site throughout the day. Instead of following CNN on twitter, I’d much rather have an app that show the latest headlines, giving you direct links to photos, video, and more
RSS feed widget: These days, I seems Twitter infringing on the RSS space. Just to give you an example, we have picked up more Twitter followers this month than we have RSS followers all year. Fortunately, RSS is an automated system, giving RSS feed subscribers all the news that than just the information someone chose to Tweet about.
This is just a quick list of Android widgets I’d love to see on my phone. I’m sure I could come up with a few dozen other widget ideas, but maybe I should let you share a bit. Let us know what Android Widgets you’d like to see.
