I'm non-rooted, using stock launcher.
This particular screen is not set up for aesthetics, but for utility.
This entire screen is widgets used to manage my computer’s battery, display, internect connection, data download cap, memory etc.
In the top row, first two icons are Wi-fi on/off toggle and AT&T network data on/off toggle (*) icons using Widgetsoid. I keep data off to avoid overages charges, except when I really need it. Sometimes I turn Wifi off to conserve battery if I know I won’t be surfing.
The 3rd/4th columns of that top row are the standalone "battery monitor widget" followed by Widgetsoid battery temp. Touching Battery Monitor Widget brings a wealth of battery info. Without opening the icon, we can see the level is 62%, the drain is 262milliAmps (250 milliamps for 7 hours would use 1750milliAmp*hour=100% battery life), and the battery temperature is 96F.
Now down to 2nd row from top.
The first two are related to my display. Brightness setting (currenlty 5%) and time-out delay (currently 2 minute). These are controls from Elixir Widgets. Tap brings up a list of values to easily change these settings. Very customizable.
3rd/4th columns on that 2nd row are are silent mode (no sounds, phone will vibrate according to settings), and a flashlight icon (one press and the flash is used as flashlight). These are both on/off toggle functions built using Widgetsoid.
In the 3rd and 4th rows I have two (left/right) blocks each sized at 2x2 regular icons, each suitable for holding up to 3x3=9 icons, built in Elixir.
Start with the box on the left: Wifi strength icon (53%), network strength icon (23%).
Next row below starts with my next alarm (4:45 AM Monday) based on the “clock” application. Clicking on this will bring up the clock so alarm can be adjusted. Then it has the normal settings icon.
Last row has data downloaded form Wifi since establishing Wifi connection (8.8MB), myAT&T icon to check my data usage, and data downloaded from network since last connection (currently 0 since not connected).
Now the box on the right.
First row is number of open applications (currenlty 2). I set it up so that if you click on it, it brings up the task manager (the same thing you’d get by long-pressing hope and then selecting task manger. Next to that is CPU speed (currently 200Mhz, can go up to 1.2GHz when I start doing stuff).
2nd row has free RAM (currently 170MB). I set it up so clicking on that brings up the Applications menu where I can get to manage applications/running applicacations and running services. Next to that is cpu usage (currently 26%)... if it’s low that means cpu is underutilized and getting ready to downshift or if high, it’s getting ready to upshift.
Below that is “Fast Reboot” icon (frees up a lot of memory, but not as much as if you power down and power back up). To the right of that is cache size with ability to empty... it cam with Elixir and I’m trying it out...don’t fully understand it.
Below that is the 4 bottom icons from my main home screen... don’t have the ability to put different ones here than my main home screen with the stock launcher.
I spent awhile with Widgetsoid and Elixir Widgets. Both allow a lot of customizations. Widgetsoid is easier to learn and I like the boldness of their toggle icons (there is no doubt if it’s on or off). Elixir Widgets for me has steeping learning curve, but more powerful and more features. Elixir let’s you associate many different actions with any display widget...including taking you to various points in settings menu, launching applications, taking you to Elixir non-widget program for analysing your Android. Elixir also allows you to set the refresh rate of your widgets and gives you statistics of how much processing power your widgets consume (although I haven’t quite figured out what they’re telling me yet).
I think using one or two widget engines vs a different one for each widget tends to minize the amount of overhead. Each of these appliations (Widgetsoid and Elixir) has between 4 and 8mb loaded among the running applications and running services, that doesn’t significantly increase when you add widgets.
If I really wanted to save memory, I would uninstall Widgetsoid and use all Elixir widgets. But I'm not desparate, and I like the appearance of the Widgetsoid toggles.
All widgets mentioned are free.
* The Wifi icon works fine as both a control/toggle and a display of current status. In contast, I find that the network toggle is a little flakey when used as a control and leads me to places where the display no longer reflects the correct status. Therefore I control network on/off using the menu or the power-down menu rather than this network icon... and just use this network icon as a display of current network status... when used in this manner it always displays the correct status. (which can also be confirmed by watching for data on the other icon down below).
How do you guys get your screens like that? I have "Go launcher" on my phone and STILL can't get these graphics and etc!
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