Which Are The Best New Android Widgets (December 2014)

Up until iOS 8, widgets were among the main showstoppers of Android. Indeed, this is the beauty of Android - the ability to add a handy and configurable small applications with limited functionality right on your home screen is surely among the most valued aspects of Google's OS. Widgets are a classic example of where Android can go right and wrong. Pick some great widgets, and your phone transforms into a more powerful tool. Pick bad ones, and your home screen becomes an abomination.

We’re here to help. After doing these Android widget roundups for a couple years, our list for this year includes both new additions and old favorites, so your home screen can be as useful–and as attractive–as possible. Here are some of the best Android widgets to have on your phone in 2014:

Though 1Weather bills itself as the most aesthetically pleasing weather app, that doesn't mean it's not informative and packed with data. In fact, it managed to cram more information into its main page than the nerdy Editors' Choice Weather Underground. On the maps main screen you'll find visibility, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed/direction, UV index, dew point, temperature, and chance of precipitation. Each has an accompanying glyph, and there's a handy explanation for each measurement when you tap it. Very nice.

wiping right pulls up more displays for extended forecasts, hourly and extended forecasts in symbols, chance of precipitation for the week, an animated map, phases of the moon, and time of sunrise and sunset. With the exception of the radar map and text-based forecasts, each display is carefully rendered with clever icons. For example, an inverted umbrella indicates no chance of rain and an eyeball is shorthand for visibility. I wasn't able to get 1Weather to display tomorrow's sunrise and sunset times, however.

My favorite design flourish is found on the extended and hourly forecast page, where you slide your finger back and forth across a graph to get the forecast for a particular time or day. High and low temperatures share a graph with bars indicating the chance of precipitation. At a glance, you can see a day's or a week's worth of information, or you can drill down for the specifics. It's a deft way of displaying a lot of information.

Like most weather apps, 1Weather has radar map with plenty of layers you can toggle on and off. I was surprised to see various disasters as overlays, so you can see nearby fires in addition to the usual radar, clouds, temperature, and so on.

1Weather appears to get most of its data from the National Weather Service. Weather Underground also draws from the same source but augments it with data from thousands of home weather stations and even user reports.

TI Widgets Toolbox is a handy application that includes a set of calculators and search tools. You can use the toolbox in order to perform calculations for amplifiers, PCB boards and other electronic components. The application also allows you to search for certain parts or technical documents in the Texas Instruments database.

First of all, let's see what Round Clock Widget TAS by Tiny Apps Studio has to offer. In fact, this is a prime example of an app that appears to be simple but has quite a lot of sophisticated functionality. Let's start with the look. The widget display the time in twenty different styles, each with its own tweaks and special look.

In addition, the app shows a simple animation for the seconds timer which is more important than people realize because with this animation, a user can just glance at at the widget and in an instant know what time it is, down to the second, just by looking at the animation. Another very useful feature Round Clock Widget TAS app has it language customization. The app configures its time and date display to match the preferred language on the device it is installed on, and there ARE marked differenced between time and date displays in different parts of the world.

Volume control on Android can be kind of a pain to manage, as there's multiple volume settings that need to be managed, but it's not always obvious what settings you're adjusting when. Slider Widget simplifies this process by placing all five independent volume controls, as wells a brightness control setting, on your homescreen in one convenient widget.

The widget not only displays what level the various settings are at, but gives the user a handy slider for adjusting each one without taking up a ton of space on the homescreen. The stock power widget (and the manufacturer variations thereof) generally only allow you to adjust the brightness to a couple of preset levels, and volume buttons only affect whatever volume level you're currently using. If you're in a media app, it adjusts media volume, if the launcher, ringer volume. If you want to make sure your media volume is down before playing a video at work.

One of the features of widgets is to get some works with smart phone done on the home screen without opening any application and companies like Google, HTC or Samsung try to make more widgets pre-installed. If you call, text or mail your family, friends, or coworkers very often during the day, then make sure to get the widgets and save some time for sure.

Choose your favorite contacts or group contacts and then easily and quickly stay in touch with them on your home screen. The widget has also another feature that functions as an app launcher on the home screen.

Although it doesn't come with 1028 different widgets, this newcomer for Android allows you to control some of the more substantial settings of your device comfortably right from your home screen, be it Wi-Fi, mobile data, or others.