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Very
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Beautiful Widgets - The Beautiful is as Useful as the Useful
Tested version: 3.4
Latest version: 5.2.1
Requires Android: from 2.2
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Summary
“Life is beautiful”, “The Beauty and the Beast”, “Isn’t the world a beautiful place?”
As you can see, people across borders and centuries have always appreciated beauty. We’re not just practical beings; we also have an inherent soft spot for the esthetic. Android may be super functional, but is it always pleasing to the eye?
In the eyes of some users the beauty of HTC Sense trumps considerations about effectiveness and usability. For those of you looking for a UI à la HTC Sense without having to root your device, Beautiful Widgets is a great solution for pimping up your phone’s screen.
Beautiful Widgets brings you a great deal of cool-looking widgets to your phone.
Find out why Beautiful Widgets is more than just about good looks in today’s test report.
Test video
Features & Use
Section rating:
Beautiful Widgets includes widgets for:
- Time
- Weather
- Home screen
What’s a widget in the first place?
For all Android newbies that haven't come in contact with widgets on their computers here's a short explanation of the term.
A widget is not an active program, but a small graphic window that can receive (and sometimes transmit) information. These pieces of data can be exchanged over an API. To put it simply: widgets are programs that can be installed. In the case of Beautiful Widgets, the widget simply accesses the Android weather app or the Android clock to get its information.
All available widgets can be accessed by long-pressing the screen and selecting Widgets. There you can select a widget from the scroll-down list and place them on your home screen.
Beautiful Widgets includes Widgets and Skins
Widgets
The widgets included are available in different sizes and designs. Generally speaking, there are three aforementioned types of widgets. Each widgets can be customized to your liking:
- Super Clock Widget: This widget can display the time in 12 or 24 hour format. The date format can also be adjusted. You can also choose which apps to open when you press on the a) clock, b) date or c) weather icon. The font and color can also be adjusted.
- Weather Widget: Here you can adjust which weather app to be used in conjunction with the widget: either Accuweather or Google. Additionally, you can have your location specified or have the phone automatically know your location. The temperature can be displayed in Celsius and Fahrenheit. All in all: a whole treasure full of options!
- Home Widget: The home widget is a mix from the two widgets above with similar preferences and options.
Differently sized widgets can be placed on the home screen. Depending on the amount of space on your screen, you can choose between 2x1, 4x1, 4x2 and 1x1 (not always available) widgets.
Skins
The skins are the real attraction of Beautiful Widgets. With their help, you can change look and feel of your widgets. In the app you can assign certain skins to specific widgets. There’s a small library where you can browse through different designs. Once you’ve found the perfect skin, you can download the skin for free and save it to your SD card.
Toggles – Key Functions At Your Fingertips
Toggles are one of the app’s other important components. They are small on/off switches that allow you to control key Android functions directly from your home screen without having to open your settings. With Beautiful Widgets you can add Toggles for the following:
- Brightness
- Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth
- GPS
- Silent
- Vibrate
- 4G
- Auto-Rotation
- Unlock Pattern
- Silent Timer: Pretty useful. One click on this toggle lets you define a timeframe where your phone should be silent (e.g. you’re at the movies or a dinner with your girlfriend/boyfriend).
Bottom Line:
“The beautiful is as useful as the useful” is a famous quote from Victor Hugo’s epic novel Les Misérables. Beautiful Widgets combines both of these things to make your Android phone as customized and personal as possible. The number of available skins is impressive and the list keeps on expanding. This leaves you the possibility to change and redesign your home screen as much as you please.
It’s a shame that the widgets don’t display any animation, but have to be activated with a click. It would also be a good idea to add a wallpaper library to the app. That way you can have the perfect widget wallpaper combo! Beautiful Widgets would get 5 stars if it has those extra features.
Screen & Controls
Section rating:
The weather animation for Beautiful Widgets has a lot in common with HTC. I would be doing this app a dishonor by simply comparing it to HTC Sense. In actuality, Beautiful Widgets has a lot more to offer. There’s a huge library of different skins from numerous designers that can be downloaded for free. And the designs are COMPLETELY different from each other so there isn’t any repetition.
Simply perfect!
Speed & Stability
Section rating:
The widgets on the home screen didn’t have any effect on my phone’s performance. No crashes experienced. Beautiful Widgets saves skins to your SD card saving you precious storage space.
Price/Performance Ratio
Section rating:
Beautiful Widgets can be purchased for about $3.31 from the Android Market or AndroidPIT App Center. The price is appropriate for the huge amount of variety and selection.
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Developer
Top App:
Beautiful Widgets Pro
Beautiful Widgets Beautiful set of Widgets containing clock widget, clock and weather (...)
Beautiful Widgets Beautiful set of Widgets containing clock widget, clock and weather (...)
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Market Comments
A Google User, Jun 19, 2013
Still continues to Force Close Haven't used this in a while. Stopped using it because of the Freezing & Force Closing. Months later still the same. Takes way to long to load clock widgets, Holiday widgets are still very limited same ones when I last used it. I'm now going to uninstall again as a dissatisfied customer again.
A Google User, Jun 18, 2013
Disappointed I used to love bw so much i went and purchased the Pro, but then so many freaking updates its ridiculous, and it doesn't even charge the city i am in automatically anymore, i have to do it manually, shame SmH,
A Google User, Jun 18, 2013
Not Happy The Icons are too small now and less sensitive to touch. While the app is functional, it keeps changing for the worse. I am on an almost 3yr old device that may not be as compatible though. I would like to be able to resize the icons.
A Google User, Jun 18, 2013
Awesome! This app has really come into it's own. Bought 2-3 years ago. Went away for a year or so and come back to tremendous enhancement. It is highly evident that this developer has put in a considerable effort in making not just a good product, but, in fact, an exceptional one.
A Google User, Jun 18, 2013
Lost widget after reboot Lost all BW after reboot the phone. Please fix it asap! Sony Xperia S 4.1.2
A Google User, Jun 18, 2013
After last update Last 2 updates are awful. BW is terrible. It will not even apply the skins I download and some won't download. The Time isn't even showing on the default skin. Local weather is way off. Says 32 and it should be 100's. I tried I uninstalled and reinstalled loosing all my skin downloads and now it is worse than before. Not happy will have to uninstall as it is now useless.
A Google User, Jun 17, 2013
Cool app,but bugs need fixed! Cool app,but now I can't choose themes from weather or clocks;they don't show up,Please fix asap! I'll rate higher when this is fixed... .
A Google User, Jun 17, 2013
Problems The home widget doesn't update timezones, location, or weather.. I've double checked my settings, the app is not doing what it's supposed to. HTC DNA
how personalization screen shots download to my android version
gtg
I just upgraded my tmobile vibrant 2.1 to 2.2 froyo from Samsung thru tmobile and it took me 2 days to get it. Now I am learning as I go dealing with apps and updates probably because I didn't repartition on Odin.I keep having to update apps to run on 2.2 froyo is there anything to speed up the process I herve only had for a month. I had a blackberry before.I am not used to a android.I don't know whether to keep going or update or what. I can't even remember my login for pit.so I have to create a new one
mhmd
I purchased it from here and running well on my motorola defy.I only set one small weather which is only showing current weather and i noticed my phones battery drain upto 50%. If you go to battery use and which app use ur battery most.When i use this widget in battery use android system consume my battery and when i removed widget there is no android system in batry use. so it consume more batter even wid single widget so think if you set live wallpaper also what happen.