Widgets galore on upcoming HTC Hero

John Chan | May 20, 2009

Being able to install custom widgets is one of the most significant improvements Android 1.5 has over its predecessor. These let you put handy items on your Home screen so you don't have to call up an application or the settings page to perform frequently performed tasks like checking the time and toggling wireless radios. There are already quite a number of widgets available on the Android Market, but HTC looks like it's taking things a step further if this video is any indication. From the same source as the leaked HTC Hero firmware video we highlighted yesterday is another clip that shows a heavily modified Android Home screen and a host of the Taiwan manufacturer's own widgets.

One of the most significant enhancements is that the HTC Home screen spans seven pages, up from the default three on a vanilla Android. When you pick a widget to be placed on the Home screen, parts of it will dim to indicate where the already occupied slots are. The widgets themselves look like HTC extracted its Windows Mobile TouchFlo 3D interface's tabs to become separate entities. These include weather information, quick access to contacts, even the Footprints feature so far found only on the HTC Touch Cruise. Footprints helps geotag pictures shot with the phone camera.

Now, we don't know if all these features will actually make their way onto the Hero. But it does make us wonder if Samsung, too, has a whole bunch of customizations lined up in the software of its upcoming Android phone, the I7500, too.

Via Engadget

Filed under: Handhelds, Mobile Phones
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