Description:

If you need to be able to quickly control the volume (decrease, increase) of your device, then the following application will definitely be useful to you. I would like to introduce you to a simple but very useful widget for controlling the volume of your device with almost one touch.

will help control the volume of the following things: alarm clock, player, phone, notifications, system, calls. You can also use the widget to set vibration and silent modes. Using this application is very simple. All you need to do is download the application from our website, then install the widget on your desktop, and that’s it, you can control the volume of your Android device. does not contain advertising and is completely free. In the widget settings you can set which audio channels to display in the widget. You can also choose the background (black or transparent). This can be done by checking/unchecking special checkboxes that are located opposite each line with the name of the audio channel. As for the background, for me

transparent background

looks much nicer.

Conclusion:

Let's summarize. Where can volume control come in handy? For example, at an important meeting or at a child’s concert. Not a bad software for volume control. I was very pleased that the application has no advertising and is completely free. And the simplicity of the controls simply amazed me. On a 5-point scale, the application from the developer Serkun deserves the maximum score. I hope you find it useful. Our Android Market is your right choice! Android is a mobile platform on which many mobile phones of our time are based. Such

operating system allows you to develop Java applications. Android OS was recently developed by 30 companies led by Google. Working with the Android operating system is very convenient, faster and more efficient. Today, many programs, games, and applications are being created for this mobile platform. Hundreds of thousands of such applications have already been created and translated into the main leading languages ​​of the world. There are a huge number of sites on the Internet that host both free and paid programs and applications that suit everyone regular phones with Android system. But you should visit our website, because it is very convenient, easy to use, and most importantly contains the newest and latest applications.

Android programs- these are completely new and useful additions. They allow you to expand absolutely all the capabilities of the communicator. Programs exist so that every user can achieve absolutely all desired goals on their phone. Our website has a huge selection of programs: security programs, a converter, a calculator, financial programs, Android applications, software that allows you to read books and many others no less. useful programs. Downloading universal programs such as Word, Microsoft Excel or Microsoft PowerPoint- now it’s also possible!

Android Games– these are the most modern, colorful, bright and Interesting games 21st century. You can download games on every site that specializes in games, but on our site downloading will turn into pure pleasure. The need for games and applications is growing every day these days. Users want to download and start using the latest applications, and our website will only help achieve this goal.

All applications, games and programs can be found in online stores and websites Google Play or as they are also called Android Market. Such a store is our website, where you can download various latest applications. To download anything, all you need to do is register, and the download operation itself is very simple. It stores a huge variety of applications for every taste. In addition, you can easily carefully examine the most complete catalog, where all the information is described, there are screenshots and reviews of other users about any application or program. Our Android Market– this is a great choice! If you download programs from us, you can be sure of high quality applications. Once you download one program on our website, you will want to do it again and again, you can be sure of it!

Learn how to get the most out of Android widgets and how to create your own widget yourself, no coding required!

Not so long ago, in the 90s (already the last century), there was a certain boom in all kinds of small technical devices that could be carried with you to perform certain tasks and, of course, demonstrate your “coolness” :) Montana watch with alarm clock on 16 melodies, pagers, Tetris for "999 games", Tamagotchi and other electronic useful and useless devices, which were called the fashionable word "gadgets" (from the English "gadget" - "thing", "device")...

By the beginning of the new century, the boom had died down a bit. Mobile phones came onto the scene and were able to replace several gadgets at once (for example, a communication device, a calculator, a portable gaming platform...) and at the same time emphasize the status of the owner. However, the craving for small and beautiful “useful things” has not disappeared at all and has fully embodied itself in the concept of so-called “widgets”, first for Windows Vista, and then for mobile devices. Android platforms and iOS.

Why do we need widgets?

Widgets are virtual analogues of real gadgets. They implement additional functionality in the form of displaying certain information or controlling any actions of the operating system without the need to launch full-fledged programs.

Widgets have become especially popular in the Android mobile OS. A large (sometimes with various decorations) clock on the desktop, a quick switch for WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS operating modes, a weather or exchange rate informer - all this is implemented by widgets. As already mentioned, they are constantly visible, which makes them accessible literally in one click.

The main advantage of widgets is their information content and convenience. For example, with a standard mail widget, we can quickly view the headers of incoming emails without opening them in mail program, or dial the phone number we need with one touch without launching the standard dialer.

There are a lot of different widgets, so it’s simply unrealistic to classify them in any way. To perform literally any action, you can choose a suitable visual gadget. Therefore, I offer you a short overview of ready-made free widgets for Android and applications that allow you to create them.

Useful widgets for Android

Power Toggles

Android has a native widget called "Power Management". It allows you to place a number of switches on your desktop that can enable/disable WiFi work, GPS, Bluetooth, updates and adjust the brightness of the screen backlight. Without a doubt, the widget is useful, but its main drawback is that the set of its buttons cannot be changed in any way. Exactly for those who want more convenient control above your device, there is an application Power Toggles:

By using this application You will be able to add widgets to the desktop and notification panel, similar to the standard “Power Management”, but customizable in the way you need! There are several dozen switches to choose from that can be used in the widget you are creating:

• enabling wireless data transfer interfaces (2G, 3G, 4G, NFC, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS);
• control the player and volume of multimedia and signals;
• control built-in functions such as flashlight, display backlight brightness, screen lock, and even power off;
• display information about battery usage and notifications;
• placement of any labels.

In addition, you have the opportunity to create so-called “Folders with switches”. Unlike a regular widget, such a folder occupies only one cell on the desktop, but can contain unlimited amount buttons and shortcuts! Quite a convenient alternative to regular folders. But that's not all! Power Toggles widgets can be placed not only on desktops, but also in the notification panel:

An additional advantage of Power Toggles is the ability to display a small additional informer in the notification line. For example, you can display the remaining percentage of battery charge (if your firmware does not have the ability to activate it normally), current date, internet connection type or Android version. Little things, but useful :)

ColorNote

New versions of Android have begun to introduce standard applications and widgets for displaying various notes on the screen. However, if you do not have any, then they can be successfully replaced ColorNote:

This application takes up only a little more than 1 megabyte, but brings quite a lot of benefits. With its help, you can, for example, create shopping lists, reminders about things to do, or plan your actions in the calendar.

The application has 3 types of widgets:

1. ColorNote today- displays a functional to-do planner widget with the ability to add entries directly in the widget.
2. ColorNote sticker 1x1- displays the name of the note you selected and the number of entries in it in the form of a small number.
3. ColorNote sticker 2x2- displays all (or part) of the text of the note you selected.

There are two types of notes available in the application: “Text” and “List”. The first one is convenient to use for storing various pieces of information, and the second one is for conveniently storing all kinds of lists. By the way, in list mode you have the opportunity to cross out unnecessary (or already completed) items.

All notes in ColorNote can be linked to specific dates, protected with a password, synchronized and transferred over the Internet. In addition, it is possible to highlight individual records in different colors, as well as set Various types reminders (one-time, recurring, with output to the status bar, etc.) to them.

All versions of Android have a built-in Calculator application. With its help you can perform any basic calculations. But, if you need to calculate something more complex than ordinary arithmetic operations, then I recommend you a good alternative with a gorgeous widget:

The Calculator ++ application widget is a full-fledged calculator that is always available on the desktop without launching full-fledged applications. It allows you to perform all the simplest mathematical operations, as well as:

• correctly count examples with brackets;
• obtain roots of any degree from a number and raise numbers to any degree;
• work with trigonometric and statistical functions (button "f");
• perform calculations with integrals and constants;
• save the result to a buffer and insert data from it, as well as cancel the calculation history.

If you lack some of the capabilities that the widget provides (and they should be more than enough for quick calculations), you can use the calculator of the application itself:

Here you can get access to plotting function graphs, changing the number system (binary, decimal and hexadecimal are available), as well as a small converter module for time, amount of matter, electric current, length, mass, temperature and number systems.

For those who like to change the appearance, there are 4 built-in widget themes to choose from, so Calculator ++ can organically fit into almost any interface and become an excellent tool for those who do a lot of calculations.

Gismeteo

One of the most popular widgets on Android is the weather widget. At one time, the trendsetter for such informers was the interface from smartphones from HTC. Since then, many have tried to copy it, but, in my opinion, the benefit of “weather forecasters” is not in their beauty, but in the accuracy of the forecast. And here one of the leaders is a time-tested service Gismeteo:

The application from Gismeteo has a relatively small size (about 8 megabytes), but includes 5 types of widgets of different sizes:

1. 3x2- displays hourly weather for the current day or weather for the week;
2. 3x3- displays weather and large digital clock;
3. 1x1- displays the current temperature and cloudiness in a given locality;
4. 3x1- displays hourly and current weather for the day;
5. 2x1- displays the current temperature, cloudiness and wind strength in a given locality.

For each widget, you can choose a light or dark background, as well as set its transparency level, which allows you to achieve perfect harmony with the interface of any desktop. In addition, large widgets have additional options in the form of the ability to choose to display hourly weather or a weekly forecast, show current weather, and click actions.

The application itself automatically detects your location and allows you to view the weather in all nearby settlements. By default, the main screen displays the current weather and forecast by day or hour. If we expand the bottom panel, we can see not only traditional data on precipitation and temperature, but also find out the geomagnetic situation, humidity, changes in winds and pressure.

Gemini Taskiller Widget

It's no secret that operating system Android has the unfortunate property of quickly filling up all the RAM with various processes. In emergency cases, you can free it manually by disabling some applications running in the background, or you can do it automatically with Gemini Taskiller Widget:

The application takes up less than a megabyte and allows you to add a small widget to your desktop that will launch automatic optimization used random access memory in one click. The application itself, alas, is in English, but does not require any special settings, so anyone can figure it out:

From additional functions in the settings you can activate the mode to enable memory clearing when shaking (the strength of shaking is set by the slider), clear the memory by pressing the "Optimize RAM Now!" button, download the application manager from the authors, and also change the standard funny inscriptions of the widget reports to no less funny, but native language :)

Android has a built-in widget for quickly calling a contact from phone book. In principle, it copes with its task, but it looks rather dull and has no additional functionality. If you want an alternative, it exists in the form of an application under the simple name:

Unlike its analogues, this application was initially “tailored” to the ability to work with two SIM cards, and has a pleasant appearance, good functionality and at the same time “weighs” a little more than a megabyte!

In total, it has two widget options: “Quick contact” and “BC icon”. The first option allows you to display a scalable widget on your desktop with the selected contact and action buttons (call, SMS or email). The second one is similar to the standard “Quick Call” widget and allows you to add an icon with a single action when you click on it (by the way, icons can be grouped into folders).

Some settings are locked and require the purchase of a premium version, but for comfortable use the basic free functionality is quite sufficient.

Well, for a snack, I offer you a widget that can successfully replace the standard Android digital clock:

This widget has what is sorely missing standard watch Android - customizable appearance. IN free version Applications You have access to a couple of dozen different fonts, the function of scaling, rotating and changing colors, as well as displaying an additional line with the date. An additional advantage is the ability to select an application that is launched by pressing the watch.

The paid version allows you to access a template editor, additional fonts, a weather informer, and a display of the remaining battery charge counter.

Applications for creating widgets

There are a great many widgets, but sometimes you want to do something yourself that only you personally need. For such cases, there are, albeit few, applications for creating widgets. Let's look at some of them.

If you don’t like a lot of decorations and you are only interested in the payload in the widget, then you may well like the widget builder:

The logic of working with it is very simple: you add a blank of the required size to the desktop and “hang” the required functionality on it:

• watches (with and without date);
• remaining battery charge (in the form of a barcode);
• weather (with temperatures in Celsius or Fahrenheit).

After selecting the widget type, you can customize its appearance. Because we have everything in sight plain text, then there are not so many settings: font color, its type, as well as the presence of shadows and background. From additional features You can note the “attachment” of single and double click actions to the widget, as well as the import and export of ready-made widgets for Reserve copy and sharing with other users.

UCCW - Ultimate custom widget

Another constructor works in a similar way UCCW - Ultimate custom widget:

This application allows you to create widgets not only with text, but also with colorful ones. background images, and various effects. In this case, you can first create or download a ready-made widget in the editor, and then add a blank of the required size to the desktop and attach the desired informer to it, which will be automatically scaled.

UCCW allows you to implement the following functionality:

• displaying time, date and working with an alarm clock;
• analog clock display;
• demonstration of any text and graphic elements (including simple shapes);
• display of battery charge level in the form of text or scale;
• receiving weather data;
• creating informers about the number of letters, SMS and incoming calls.

Creation and editing of a widget occurs in visual editor applications. You can add any shapes, images or text fragments, place them as needed, and then connect the required functional modules to them and apply the desired effects of changing color, transparency, etc.

The only nuance that I encountered when working with Ultimate custom widget was the not entirely correct display of loaded widgets in the menu for selecting them for editing. If you have created a new informer or downloaded it from the Internet, it will not appear here until you restart the application. Otherwise, there are no complaints (except that the editor “eats” quite a lot of RAM, but the widgets themselves don’t seem to be particularly “gluttonous” :))

Another universal widget editor, which first existed for Windows, but has now been ported to Android -:

Like the previous application, XWidget allows you to create colorful widgets with various functionality, which is implemented thanks to one of 4 cores:

1. batteryCore- battery core. Allows you to get the device's battery charge percentage and/or display it in numerical or graphical form.
2. dateTimeCore- date and time core. Implements different kinds clocks, calendars and everything related to time.
3. shortCutCore- the core of shortcuts. Makes it possible to “attach” the necessary actions related to calling applications to any widget elements.
4. weatherCore- weather core. Provides access to online services with weather forecasts, which can be displayed as a widget.

If we compare XWidget with UCCW, then this application has both positive and negative sides. The positive ones include much smaller size(4.3 MB versus 12.9), large quantity ready-made widgets available for download, the presence of a function for creating shortcuts. The main disadvantage is the lack of Russian language and a core for obtaining information about mail, calls and messages.

As for the editor itself, in my opinion, it is more convenient than in UCCW, much more logical and has no problems with freezing. In a word, if you know English, then, it seems to me. what XWidget will be best choice in this application category!

conclusions

Widgets in Android are a very useful thing, however, some users are afraid that using them drains the battery faster. I did a little experiment: I installed several different widgets and measured the battery drain rate. Naturally, the results may be subjective and require additional verification different devices, but I didn’t notice much of a difference!

The battery drains not from widgets, but from the functions they perform. For example, an ordinary non-animated digital clock will not create a special load on the battery, but some kind of weather informer will, because it will periodically request and download data from the Internet using WiFi or mobile network, as well as processor and video subsystem resources for processing and outputting this data. True, the load can be significantly reduced by reducing the frequency of updates in the widget settings.

As you can see, widgets correct selection and configuration can significantly improve the comfort of working with the device and equip it with new functions that will work without launching full-fledged applications! The main thing is not to abuse them and use them wisely, and then you will be able to get the maximum benefit from them.

P.S. Permission granted to freely copy and quote this article provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.

Let's be honest - many batteries mobile phones just not usable. Even Google says you should be grateful if your batteries are running low. Android device work all day long. In fact, in order to keep your smartphone alive for a full “working” day, you are often forced to turn off different features phone.

So what is possible make it easier in other words, to make your phone last longer on battery life? And can any application management actually help? In this article, we'll look at more obvious Android battery uses, power-saving solutions, and more modest tips and tricks that could make a real difference - and add a few hours to your phone's potential life.

1.Usewidget Android Power Management

Simply put, you need to take control of your phone's power. The best way Battery life maintenance consists of lowering your battery life limit a little. powerful phone by turning off features - but do it in a stylish way. Don't just leave it off all the time, or you can also still use your Nokia 6610. Home screen widgets, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and other power-hungry one-touch on and off functions, only a headache from switching off function, in while Android 1.6 is added by Google to your own power icon - set it to more long term installation work in Android Power Management Widget to the home screen.

2. Calm down about the update status

No one is saying you can't use your phone's features, but should you really be checking every two minutes for new messages or email? Set notifications to a lower frequency in apps that are constantly updated, it's not a small thing, it's what every app does Someday it might still leave a little battery charge while you sleep. So you can chat in your bed at any time, but then chat at night while you're sleeping.

3.Switch off auto-sync

If you're not strong Google user and don't know how to manage applications, disable them. If you can't live without Google Calendar and Gmail, you can do away with auto-sync altogether - just remember that you can manually sync your Contacts. The MySettings app will give you numerous little toggles and you can easily toggle auto-sync on and off if you like the idea of ​​having the whole screen full energy saving icons.

4. Disable 3G connection

Good old 2G is ideal for calls and texts, so kill 3G unless you plan on extreme web browsing on your phone. You'll also benefit from the overall feeling of increased calm that will naturally appear after you've stopped looking at 3G icon every two minutes, and were worried about your network connection mobile communications, is connected.

5. Lower your screen brightness

It's just as impressive to have your stunning OLED screen blazing and giving off so much light that the current occupants of the International Space Station have to squint their sun visors below when you wake them, but that's completely unnecessary. If you're inside, Android will be set to default 0% brightness. When you need to increase visibility, for easy access, install the brightness widget on your desktop.

6. Turn off GPS

GPS is a power monster and is something that hardly any user uses most of the time. Even the famous Foursquare app can do enough Good work tracking via approximation based on whatever mobile phone mast you are connected to, so if you are actually doing some serious activities, turn it off. You will be able to hear the sigh of relief from your battery. Seriously. Try to keep your phone close to your ear when you uncheck this box.

7. Keep track of everything installed on your phone

Android 1.6 introduced a menu that allows users to see exactly the state of the battery, giving you a percentage, and apps that drain all your phone battery minutes before you actually want to use it. For example, an app like mobile black box recorder. The “Battery Usage” tab in the Settings/About Phone menu will give you a detailed breakdown of what's consuming more power, allowing you to take manual control and uninstall any power-hungry app. Try replacing them alternative applications and see if it makes a difference or not. Just one app that is draining the battery on a particular phone can be a problem.

8. Setting up Wi-Fi out

In Android screen controls, there are Wi-Fi settings at the very bottom, check them out by going to the phone menu " Wi-fi settings” and then press the Menu button. From here, you can manually select timeout settings for Wi-Fi connections– one of the biggest origins of standby phones. This may give your phone a little more time to connect to the Wi-Fi network when you wake it up, but at least it's still significantly smarter than leaving it connected all the time and draining the battery.

9. Go Gothic

Today's popular phone screensavers, especially the OLED versions, use more power when displaying bright colors and more colors. So go gothic and choose a beautiful, dark screen background "today" and then enjoy the experience for charger, at least an extra minute every day.

10. Install time power manager

Sensitive applications also spend a lot of time on Android Market, which automatically handles your phone's power communication parameters. For example, there is no point in leaving your phone connected to the mobile network while you sleep; an application as simple as Airplane Autoswitch, which kills all radio transmissions, will save power loads, and also help you fall asleep, will not breaking the ping notification. Set it to turn Airplane mode on during your regular sleep, and then turn it on again when you wake up. Simple steps and the battery will only consume a small percentage of energy.

11. Put your phone somewhere with good reception

The phone uses more power when it searches for a mobile phone tower, so believe it or not, your battery will last longer if you leave your phone in a place where it gets good reception. Place it on the other side of your front desk, or on a windowsill. This will have a better value for signal reception. The Antennas app will give you a hilariously detailed summary of your phone's charging to the grid and all the masts in the area if you're looking to find the best low power placement within three miles of your home.

12. Don't drain your battery

It's an old tip to not completely drain your battery to ensure proper performance, thanks to modern lithium-ion batteries. They don't have the charge memory issues affected by previous generations of batteries and in fact perform better if you charge them regularly and consistently.

13. Buy a car charger

And leave it in the car. Buy a spare battery and leave it in a friend's car. Also leave USB cables everywhere. A spare set of spare batteries can help you in a difficult situation. There is no guaranteed way to defeat the system. This will be a good solution, one time you fall off a cliff and you need help.

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