Among the many things we love about Android, its fun and functional widgets are somewhere at the top of the list. Changing the look of your phone, adding a few personalized features, upgrading your weather or time-telling – all that and so much more is within the small widget’s power. I have come to think about widgets as helpful fairytale elves, that can get all the tasks accomplished and you won’t even know they were there.
But let’s move back to the real world. With widgets being so dearly loved by Android users, it’s not surprising that we are now able to choose among a great variety of them. So which ones should make it onto your phone?
Below are a few must-have widgets of 2014 that we think would add style and functionality to your device.
Slider Widget – Volume
You may have had this problem. You turn down the volume on your phone by pressing the volume button on the side and think that from now on everything you do will be under the veil of silence. So you open that farm game you’ve been too ashamed to admit you are addicted to and hear it blaring the “Old Macdonald Had a Farm” all over the boardroom.
This is all because different applications and features on Android have different volume settings and you can’t control all of them at once by just pressing the volume button.
With Slider Widget you will know exactly what kind of volume you are adjusting and brings the helpful icons right onto your home screen for quick and easy access.
Shazam
You have probably heard about Shazam and heard good things too. In case you haven’t, the app allows you to know which song is playing or which TV show is on by just “listing” to it. So the next time you hear a nice song in the mall, you won’t have to try to remember the lyrics and then roam the Internet in search of the song. All you have to do is let Shazam “listen” to it and the app will tell you the name of the song and the artist, so that you can easily download it for your collection.
Cal
There are so many calendar apps to choose from these days that it’s getting harder and harder to pinpoint the one that would be at the top of everyone’s list. After all, we are all have our own set of criteria when it comes to organization. However, Cal seems to give its users the ultimate selection of calendar features without making it overwhelming and piling on too many functions. Cal does a great job of letting you know what’s on the agenda for today, while featuring a number of customization options to fit any theme.
Directions
Directions is a very useful app that will help you get to your favourite (or simply frequently visited) locations. It comes as part of Google Maps and may actually be already pre-installed on your phone. What does it do? It helps you make a list of places that you visit often, like, for example, “office”, “home”, “sandwich place”, which will then appear as icons on your home screen. Now, whenever you need toge to one of those locations, all you have to do is tap the necessary icon and specify whether you will be driving, walking, biking or taking public transport– and the app will quickly pull up the directions. Directions makes your daily navigation more convenient and simple.
Google Keep
Last, but by no means least, comes Google Keep – an application that combines note taking, reminders, lists with audio and image features. The application is a great way to quickly jot down reminders on the go and make sure you don’t forget to get that packet if milk. And when you have one of those million-dollar ideas you can simply record your thoughts to come back to them later.
No comments:
Post a Comment