Live tiles vs widgets

This would be a personal decision. I like Live tiles more because when I see my home screen, I am able to see if there is notifications instantly of everything on my phone. If I want to see more I just tap on the tile and bam more info.

Some apps like the WPcentral live actually shows you how many new articles is on the website. You can also make Tiles from normal website and they also update with the latest news article. I don't really use it but its available.

The new version of the developer preview also has live folder Tiles. I just used one and popped my games in there. It's quite handy seeing all the games in one spot that I never play.
 
Insint said:
This would be a personal decision. I like Live tiles more because when I see my home screen, I am able to see if there is notifications instantly of everything on my phone. If I want to see more I just tap on the tile and bam more info.

Some apps like the WPcentral live actually shows you how many new articles is on the website. You can also make Tiles from normal website and they also update with the latest news article. I don't really use it but its available.

The new version of the developer preview also has live folder Tiles. I just used one and popped my games in there. It's quite handy seeing all the games in one spot that I never play.
Click to expand...

That's exactly it. It depends on how you use your phone and what is important to you. For example, I very rarely watch videos on my phone let alone movies, but if you do then that widget on kingrob's phone is amazing.

We can sit here all day and argue over which is better, but I've said it in a different thread as well, I reckon Android, iOS and WP are all on about the same level now and you just have to pick the one you personally like most. It's a good time to be a consumer :D
 
Frikkenator said:
We can sit here all day and argue over which is better, but I've said it in a different thread as well, I reckon Android, iOS and WP are all on about the same level now and you just have to pick the one you personally like most. It's a good time to be a consumer :D
Click to expand...

Very true!

Already proven with the HTC One M8 running Android and Windows Phone on exactly the same hardware.

A long time ago I said that one day you'll purchase the OS you want to run on your smartphone, except for Apple. :sick:
 
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kingrob said:
Very true!

Already proven with the HTC One M8 running Android and Windows Phone on exactly the same hardware.

A long time ago I said that one day you'll purchase the OS you want to run on your smartphone, except for Apple. :sick:
Click to expand...

Yea, I reckon (read hope) that is where it is heading which would be fantastic... for everyone but Apple.

backstreetboy said:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lx.launcher8. Live tiles suck for me. You cannot interact with them like eg. change the music track, go directly to create a mail or open a specific book directly.
Click to expand...

I can't believe we missed this aspect! I also can't believe there is no facepalm smiley.
 
kingrob said:
Very true!

Already proven with the HTC One M8 running Android and Windows Phone on exactly the same hardware.

A long time ago I said that one day you'll purchase the OS you want to run on your smartphone, except for Apple. :sick:
Click to expand...

To add to that, another thing I hope will change somehow is the grip Samsung and Nokia have on the respective platforms. But Samsung spent a ton of money getting here so I guess it's fair.
 
kingrob said:
Very true!

Already proven with the HTC One M8 running Android and Windows Phone on exactly the same hardware.

A long time ago I said that one day you'll purchase the OS you want to run on your smartphone, except for Apple. :sick:
Click to expand...

What would Kingrob prefer a iPhone 6 with android or a S5 with iOS:D
 
Comparing Live Tiles with Widgets is like comparing Apples with Oranges, they are two completely different technologies.

Live Tiles purpose is to display information relevant to a particular application, whilst Widgets can do the same they are more geared to offering application features without the need to open the application (say turning off your WiFi).

To argue about which one is better is pointless, it's more about personal preference.
Until recently I had an Android smartphone (before moving to Windows Phone), I can honestly say that I never really enjoyed Widgets as each application decided to make their widgets with a custom theme, thus making them feel disjointed from the OS (personally it looks ugly to me).
That said, the whole thing that drives Android is "customization", not a bad thing but not always a good either.

Coming in the next version of Windows (Threshold) you will see that Live Tiles are going to be a lot more interactive, hence why they are going to be called "interactive live tiles", thus making them more like Widgets.

Regards,
sYk0
.
 
sYk0 said:
Comparing Live Tiles with Widgets is like comparing Apples with Oranges, they are two completely different technologies.

Live Tiles purpose is to display information relevant to a particular application, whilst Widgets can do the same they are more geared to offering application features without the need to open the application (say turning off your WiFi).

To argue about which one is better is pointless, it's more about personal preference.
Until recently I had an Android smartphone (before moving to Windows Phone), I can honestly say that I never really enjoyed Widgets as each application decided to make their widgets with a custom theme, thus making them feel disjointed from the OS (personally it looks ugly to me).
That said, the whole thing that drives Android is "customization", not a bad thing but not always a good either.

Coming in the next version of Windows (Threshold) you will see that Live Tiles are going to be a lot more interactive, hence why they are going to be called "interactive live tiles", thus making them more like Widgets.

Regards,
sYk0
.
Click to expand...
Yeh you right, widgets can feel so disjointed. I mean, just take a look at my screen and it will show you exactly that...

uploadfromtaptalk1409023332149.jpg

O wait, maybe not. 3 different widgets, from 3 different apps.

Maybe its time to admit to yourself you didn't know what you were doing?
 
fanie.dry said:
Yeh you right, widgets can feel so disjointed. I mean, just take a look at my screen and it will show you exactly that...

View attachment 143848

O wait, maybe not. 3 different widgets, from 3 different apps.

Maybe its time to admit to yourself you didn't know what you were doing?
Click to expand...
Lol, no. You just happened to find three widgets that work nicely. Myself I have got two widgets only - a calendar/weather one and a quick access one to turn off WiFi etc. Any more and it starts looking and feeling ridiculous.

And on a side note (as a person that owns all three devices), Android really isn't my favourite albeit newest. If the app store wasn't so shunned and good apps so ridiculously sparse I would drop both iOS and Android in favour of WP.

That said, I am posting this from the droid :p
 
Hamster said:
Lol, no. You just happened to find three widgets that work nicely. Myself I have got two widgets only - a calendar/weather one and a quick access one to turn off WiFi etc. Any more and it starts looking and feeling ridiculous.

And on a side note (as a person that owns all three devices), Android really isn't my favourite albeit newest. If the app store wasn't so shunned and good apps so ridiculously sparse I would drop both iOS and Android in favour of WP.

That said, I am posting this from the droid :p
Click to expand...

Nope, wrong.

The battery/clock widget bar at the top.
- Zooper widget
- Battery progress bar comes in blue, changed it to orange
- Had a app drawer icon in the top right, changed that to play store icon, as i have a gesture configured to open the app drawer

Weather widget
- HD Widgets
- Comes in all different colours. Had to check the hex colour code from the battery/clock widget above to find a perfect colour match between the background of the weather widget and the bar of the battery/clock widget
- Same thing with the battery bar orange, and the orange of the weather icons.

Calendaer widget
- Business Calender Pro
- Gave it a solid background which is not default, used the same colour as background.
- Had to tweak settings to get it to not look schit (font size) and looks completely different from the default view you get when selecting it.

Not a massive amount of effort, but maybe I should make the same screen, with the default settings of each widget, to just prove my point... yes, yes, i think i will. hang bal.
 
Lament said:
Fanie, reading through multiple threads, Your are to S5/Android as PP is to Plasma :p
Click to expand...

PP to Plasma? That went straight over my head.

But are you saying that my opinion is biased towards Android? If yes, then I have to agree. But then isn't that what a discussion in a thread like this is all about? Bunch of people biased towards a certain OS, trying to explain why they believe their OS of choice is better than the others?

If I am wrong, please, by all means, point out my faults.

;) :D
 
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