Quick question about widgets

[ZiggSVO]

I searched from my phone on the site for an answer and can't seem to find the answer. Newbie here so please don't flame . But are widgets active and draining battery life if they are on a different home screen?

 

[msw323]

Anything that is running in the background can drain the battery, but it usually is minimal, unless the widget is data intensive.

 

[dbpaddler]

Not all widgets actively access data. Some are static. But anything that continually updates will drain the battery to whatever degree. Depends on frequency and the amount of data it accesses.

 

[UTnick]

they don't like to be called "widgets." they prefer to be called "little apps."

 

[UTnick]

But for all seriousnesses. There are widgets that constantly poll and those that don't. All widgets will run in the background but you can kill them and they will stay on your home screens. So to answer your question -- no, not all little apps run down your battery. Spending on how you run them. Ha, I didn't answer your question.

 

[xorbe]

Totally depends on the widget. Think of it as a background process. Maybe it does nothing until you tap it. Maybe it polls something every few minutes. Or maybe, it chugs away like a freight train and drains your battery. Keep an eye out when you install new apps and widgets!

 

[godsidekurt]

Yeah thats what I find annoying about the widgets...how do you know when and if its pulling info? For example the weatherbug widget is awesome...but doesnt have a specific setting as to when it updates.

 

[Stefan Petit-Freres]

Widgets tend to drain the battery if it is constantly searching for info or running in the background like task killer. To make up for that I just put the screen lighting on 50% and change the screen timeout to 15 seconds.

 

[UTnick]

Yeah thats what I find annoying about the widgets...how do you know when and if its pulling info? For example the weatherbug widget is awesome...but doesnt have a specific setting as to when it updates.

ahh, but it does. and you can set the thing to stop updating once your battery hits a certain level. at least with weatherbug elite. i paid for the darn thing and they still haven't update their graphics for hi-res. those son's of beaches.

i use advanced task manager. it's a blue icon. not advance task killer. widgets that are running will show up in the list and you can kill em if you want. i usually only kill the widgets that just have no reason to be active like my lockscreen widget. i don't think it helps anything, but it's what i do.

 

[scharfy]

they don't like to be called "widgets." they prefer to be called "little apps."

I LOL'd...