HD Widgets. Gorgeous Weather & Clock Widgets for Android Tablets & Phones!
by Antonio Wells
Dec 29, 2011 8:04 AM –
Install
HD Widgets is a set of widgets you place on your Android tablet or smartphone home screen to personalize it with gorgeous weather, forecast, clock and utility toggles. The sizes vary, as well as customization tweaks offered. Lets dive in to see how they fare.
Price: $1.99 $0.99 On Sale
Tested on: Nexus One
Content Rating: Low Maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Splendid graphics display for home screen widgets!
- Highly customizable, from look and feel from HTC Sense-style, retro digital or futuristic Honeycomb-styled widget sets to function!
- Accurate weather plus forecasts and weather alerts, even weather service providers are configurable!
- Shortcuts!
Cons
- No animations of weather.
- Limited themes; no library of downloadable clock, weather, and background themes like competitors.
Features:
HD Widgets was initially only for Android tablets, now it is available for both tablets and smartphones. It includes varies sizes from 1×1 icon widgets, 2×1 little widgets, 4×1 smaller header & weather, 4×2 larger header & weather, to 4×4 full screen, etc. Depending on your size preference you can add them just as you would any Android widget; longpress a free area on the home screen, from the “Add to Home screen” menu select ‘Widgets’, select ‘HD Widgets’, then choose your size. Upon first launch the app walks you through an intuitive tutorial of how to customize the widgets.
Customizing HD Widgets consist of a set of sliders either left/right for clock, background or sidebar. For example when adding 4×2 larger header & weather you can change the header position, meaning the clock can be center, left, right, weather only (no clock), 3 or 5 day forecasts (again no clock)… see samples. Another example is with the full screen widget which only allows modifying the background and sidebar between 5 day forecast or utilities toggles (Airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, screen orientation lock, and auto-brightness.) The developers promise more toggle options are on the way.
One thing I do like about HD Widgets over existing leading app with the same capabilities, Beautiful Widgets, is that you can edit existing widgets easier. To do so, simply tap the weather to invoke the full weather display, “Menu” button and tap ‘Active Widgets’ to edit.
I have gripes with HD Widgets though, unlike Beautiful Widgets, you do not get animations. Inspired from HTC Sense weather widgets; on rainy days the screen is drippy wet and windshield wipers swipes by to clean them off, clouds float by on drab days or snow falls, etc. this feature I miss. :( You do not get the wealth of third party themes for styling clock, weather, and background themes like Beautiful Widgets or Awesome Widgets Bundle.
When you do launch the weather you have detailed information including degrees in Fahrenheit or Celsius, forecast graphic, 5-day forecast, written weather description, sunrise/sunset, wind speed, direct, etc. plus an option to refresh the weather. More settings such as update frequency and weather service provider can be edited here as well.
Lastly, home screen weather widgets are not only beautiful but convenient for they have shortcuts. Such as tapping the clock portion launches Alarm app or tapping date portion launches Calendar app.
Watch on Mobile
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HD Widgets
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HD Widgets All Widgets
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HD Widgets Home Screen
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HD Widgets 4×2 Headers
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HD Widgets 5 Day Forecast
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HD Widgets Select Sidebar 5 Day Forecast
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HD Widgets Select Clock
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HD Widgets Select Clock 2
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HD Widgets Select Clock Honeycomb
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HD Widgets Honeycomb Clock
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HD Widgets Select Sidebar Settings Toggles
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HD Widgets Active Widgets
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HD Widgets Quick Start Tutorial
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HD Widgets Settings
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HD Widgets Android Tablet
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HD Widgets Android Tablet 2
Usefulness:
While HD Widgets present a cool personalized touch, they are both useful and convenient- for quickly displaying weather and forecasts plus provide quick shortcuts to Calendar and Alarm apps.
Ease of Use:
I find this widget set app slightly easier to use than others of similar ilk. Plus it comes with a handy tutorial to enlighten you on how to use them.
Frequently Used:
Typically they will greet you every time you visit your home screen.
Interface:
Aesthetics are obviously where the app shines. Whether on a smaller screen smartphone or larger screen of a tablet the weather graphics simply pop! You’ll definitely have friends/family ask, “where did you get that weather?”