FancyWidgets - Public Beta 1.1.8
Sergey Demyanov, author of the popular app Fancy Characters, is at it again with a very interesting and potentially powerful homescreen widget app for BlackBerry smartphones. As you can see from the above picture, FancyWidgets offers a variety of configurable 'real time' mini-applications or modules to add to your homescreen. Keep in mind, though, that Fancy Widgets is still in beta and there are many little bugs to be worked out before the final release.
On initial setup, everything worked smoothly for me. I loaded 4 different widgets and played with all the settings and adjusted the spacing, colors, fonts, transparency and information. For instance, I wanted more rounded corners of the widget field rather than the default boxy look. I didn't like where the default placement of a particular widget was, so I changed that. And I continued to play around until it looked somewhat satisfactory. Here is what I came up with:
I added the Calender, World Time, Free Memory Indicator and Quote widgets just to see how it would do. It worked just fine. I also tried out the Wallpaper widget. It had an option to use a folder and change the picture with a custom time setting and that worked great too. If i wanted to adjust a widgets' placement I would simply highlight the widget I wanted to move, go to 'Menu', 'Adjust Menu Position' and reposition from there:
On the positive side, FancyWidgets brings to your BlackBerry homescreen good information you would otherwise need open a native application for. I am sure we will see a lot of changes and improvements in the final release.
Now a little on the negative side. During my setup of FancyWidgets, I had a custom theme installed. The widgets appeared on the homescreen with no issues. One thing I noticed is that on landscape I could see the widgets. Strange, for sure, but that was most likely due to the theme. So I decided to change the theme. FancyWidgets never worked for me again. I even changed back to the original theme I had on my BlackBerry first. Nothing... so that was the end of workin' the theme.
Besides not being "theme friendly", the widgets are very simple in design and lack any graphical pizazz. I would not want to see them, as they are, on my homescreen. I'm hoping this will be improved in future updates also. Looking through the different menu features and configuration settings, I noticed a few grammatical errors. Not a big deal, but noticeable. Spacing the widgets were a little burdensome and time consuming, but I managed to get through it. FancyWidgets is focused on adding widgets to the homescreen but I cannot alter, move or add anything FROM the homescreen. From what i understand, this may be changed in future releases also.
All in all, I see a lot of potential for this app. I love the idea and I would definately make use of it if it was a little more polished. If you would like to give FancyWidgets a try, download the beta version and leave your thoughts in our forums. We would love to hear your thoughts and possible improvements that would make FancyWidgets a success!
