One of the things I love about the Android interface is the use of widgets on the home screen.  Widgets allow you to put virtually any information right in front of your face where you need it most.  My only complaint is that not nearly enough companies utilize widgets effectively.  Fortunately, aniFree is out there for all of your widget needs.  You probably remember them from my recent view of their previous offering, aniAgenda.  Now they are back with the extremely flexible aniWidget app.  They sent me a copy to check out for this review, so let’s go ahead and take a closer look.

AniWidget is a fantastic little tool which puts all the power of eight widgets one tiny space.  You can choose to display:

• a clock
• current date and time
• monthly calendar
• daily agenda
• notepad
• weather
• newsfeed
• tools (including flashlight, radio toggles, and more)

What is nice here is that the standard aniWidget module takes only a quarter of the screen, meaning you can fit up to four independent widgets on the screen.   In addition to that standard widget, there is also a larger (1/2 screen) widget, which includes a larger version of the weather widget, larger newsfeed widget, and several different combinations of the remaining standard widgets.

Once you have setup the widget, toggling between the various options is easy.  There are two hidden buttons on each widget.  One on the lower right will flip to the next widget in the cycle.  If that is too slow for you, however, just tap the tools button on top (it is centered on the standard widget, but in the upper left corner on the large widget).  This will open a new panel, which allows you to set any widget in that space, access the settings, toggle any of the tools, or seek additional assistance from the help screen. 

There is also a third hidden button in the upper right hand corner, which allows you to interact with the widget.  This button changes, based upon the widget you have activated.  For example, from the daily agenda view, it will jump to your agenda.  Tap the same button from the notepad widget to create a new note.  Weather and news will find a refresh feed button in that space.  And, well…you get the point.

Now that you know how these widgets are going to work, let’s go ahead and take a look at how they look.   I have to admit that while I was impressed by the functionality in this one, I was a little disappointed by the look of some of these widgets.  Not that there was anything wrong with them, they just felt a bit plain. 

Sure, you can customize the face of the clock widget, but I was really hoping for a little more razzle dazzle out of these widgets, something that would really “wow” the people who glance at my phone and see them running.  For the most part, what you got was a translucent white background with some text or icons.   No fancy borders, graphics, or other animation.  There is a bit of a tradeoff here, as fancy graphics and animation could clutter your screen or slow your device.  Nonetheless, it would have been nice to have seen a little more attention spent on the lock and feel of the widgets, making them a little more attractive on the screen.  The clock is a great example of this.  With several different faces, you could add a little customization and flair to the widget.

I really think aniFree is onto something with this one.  It allows eight widgets to take the space of one.  And each is useful in its own way.  I was really quite impressed overall by the functionality and flexibility of this one.  I would have liked to have seen a little more attention on the look and feel of the widgets on the screen.  That being said, I think the functionality of a widget like this far outweighs any concerns I may have had with the look or feel of the interface.  This one functional spectacularly well, packaging some of the most necessary features into a single flexible widget.

AniWidget was developed by aniFree, and is available in the Android Market for $2.99.

Today’s Deal of the Day in the JAMM Store is MobileRemote for Windows Mobile.  Being half off for today, you can now register MobileRemote for $5.99.  Hurry, though, as we’ll be moving on to a new title at midnight!  You can download and register MobileRemote here.

MobileRemote transforms your phone into a wireless Bluetooth mouse, keyboard and media controller. Connect to any bluetooth enabled PC, OSX or PS3 and wirelessly type, move the mouse, and control the media from your phone. MobileRemote behaves exactly like a physical Bluetooth keyboard, with the convenience and portability of your phone.

Features:

• No PC, OSX or PS3 Software Required
• Remember Previous Pairings (connect with 1 click)
• Multiple Input Methods (keyboard, mouse, media)

Minimum Requirements:

• Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional (or greater)
• Windows Mobile 6.0 Standard (or greater)
• .NET Framework 2.0
• Bluetooth

Display Dimensions
240×240, 240×320, 240×400, 320×240, 320×320, 400×240, 480×480, 480×640, 480×800, 640×480, 800×480
Operating System
WM6, WM6.1, WM6.5

As part of our developer interview series, we were able to snag an interview with Chris McKay.  Chris is the developer of the classic Windows Mobile applications WisBar Advance and WisBar Advance Desktop.  His comments make for a really great read, so be sure to check back on Monday, March 15th.  See you then!

Today’s Deal of the Day is an interesting one, as it is really intended for a Windows desktop computer.  Allowing you to create custom ringtones is Ringtones Maker.  It is a whopping 85 percent discount for the rest of the day Saturday, so I recommend checking it out here.

Ringtones Maker is a windows application that enables you to create your own custom ringtones for free from your own music (mp3 or other kind of audio tracks). It runs on windows pc. You can make unlimited ringtones. This process is as simple as

* Select one of the music files from your computer.
* Select part of the music track that you want to use as a ringtone and
* Click on Make Ringtone button.

Free Download
You can download free version of Ringtones Maker to see it in action before you buy it. You can also apply fade-in, fade-out and other sound effects, adjust volume and preview the ringtones.

Limitations of the Free version vs. Full version
The free version is as good as the Full version. There is only one limitations though. Full version allows you to create as many ringtones as you want. You may want to create unique ringtones for your family members, business associates and other contacts. Free version allows you to create only three ringtones.

You can save the converted music tracks on your computer. So instead of creating ringtones, you can use this software as an audio file format converter. You can open music tracks from any one of the the supported file formats and convert into any other supported formats.

Features:

• Fast download – Small installation package
• Quick and easy installation – takes only two minutes to start making ringtones
• Light-weight – uses very little memory
• Preview
• Extract part of the music track or use the whole track as ringtone
• Sound effects like fade-in, fade-out, echo and reverb etc.
• Adjust base volume of the music track
• Copies ID3 tags from source to target music tracks / ringtones
• Supports following audio file formats: WAV, OGG, MP3, MP2, M4a, Wv, Flac, WMA and AAC
• Simple – people without technical knowledge of computer can also make ringtones
• Keyboard shortcuts make the operations even easier
• Risk free trial – Use the free version to make sure that it works for you before you purchase it
• Free version does not expire unless you successfully create three ringtones
• Works as ringtones maker as well as audio file format converter
• Can be used for music editing for other purposes also

Minimum Requirements:

• Windows PC

Display Dimensions
240×240, 240×320, 240×400, 320×240, 320×320, 400×240, 480×480, 480×640, 480×800, 640×480, 800×480
Operating System
Pocket PC 2000, Pocket PC 2002, Pocket PC 2003, Pocket PC 2003 SE, WM5, WM6, WM6.1, WM6.5

I just went through the process of choosing what the best phone is for me and to a certain extend still am.  But here the operating word is YOU!

As soon as Palm merged the PDA with a phone I had one!  Before I carried a Palm and a phone.  It made sense to carry one gadget that replaced two!  I currently use an unlocked Treo 680 (my second one) on the T-Mobile network.  The phone has served me well but it’s time upgrade!

As I started to consider what was the best option for a new phone for me, I came from a different angle: the must have functions and features, the “would be nice” and the rest.

For me the must haves are: the ability to sync with my computer, good power and memory specs, internet, camera, a decent screen (size & resolution), a day’s worth of battery life, software I need and let’s not forget, good phone functionality.  Now, the “Would be nice’s”:  GPS, document editing, and maybe the ability to work with my favorite books and music.

What is the best phone for you also depends on how you plan to use your smartphone, how many contacts/data you have as well as how you feel about having someone else keeping that info (read Google Buzz intro fiasco!) and how comfortable you are with that idea.  Android seems to be an interesting OS with good performance and integration BUT personally, the idea of a data mining company (Google) keeping all my contacts and personal info kind a freaks me out!  But, hey that’s just me…   They may not want to do any “evil” but stuff happens and I don’t think they would be held responsible if it does.  I don’t want to clean-up that mess!

I don’t think Palm has came out with a desktop syncing software for WebOS – so Palm is out!  And since none of my current software will work with the Pre/Pixi I am no longer tied to Palm.

I am a contractor and use several pieces of software from SplashData: SplashID, SplashMoney and SplashShopper (because it was free, and because it’s useful).  All three of these have a desktop companion that makes it very convenient for backups.  (See more info here)   Syncing with my computer came in handy the day I broke the screen on my first Treo 680 and I had to get a new one in a hurry. After plugging the new one in, I was good to go!  You can do that with the Cloud too, but you know how I feel about that.

Years ago (20+) I was looking to purchase my first computer.  I looked a PC’s and Apple.  Apple was a problem for me:  you could only buy hardware and software from them and at my, what a price.   As such, I got a PC!

Fast forward 20+ years and Apple has very sexy products with pretty much the same mentality, unless you go to the Dark Side in jailbreaking your iPhone.  A friend of mine got the 3GS last year so I asked him if I could play with it – I depleted the battery!   It works well, plenty of apps etc… but to me the screen size is an issue – it’s not big enough.  It’s also connected 100% of the time to the internet with no possibility to turn it off (I would like to be able to do that).  Apple could be a contender in a new iPhone for 2010 came with a larger screen?  Unfortunately, I don’t know if I can wait that long (June or July).

I also seriously considered Nokia’s Maemo. It’s an interesting OS that seems to work well.  However, because it’s a new OS it does not have a lot of apps, though more are appearing every day.  The N900 screen is also too small. I would LOVE to get my mints on this one and play with it for awhile though!

Windows Mobile is all that’s left, I think. The 6.5.x.x version seems to fit my bill.  Since I first saw the HTC HD2 I have been drooling over it!  The more I learned about it the more I wanted it.  I can’t wait for it to come out.  There is plenty of software out there for it and it has a 1 GHz processor (in a PHONE!!!) and they are now seriously talking about 1.5 and 2 GHz processors!  The screen size it good (4.3 inch – it looks awesome in the videos).  Windows Phone 7 Series seems interesting but very social networking centric which, at this time, does not really interest me.  I’m not big on texting either, but things could change.

There is not magic bullet my friend.  And like the previous comments it all depends on you, your pain threshold for your monthly bill, which provider you like/tolerate, the phone(s) you like and yes, the operating system you like/must have.  All this factors in with what you’re planning on doing with/on it.  Now you are starting to even see locked or unlocked (subsidized or not) phones like this in Europe. I have been waiting for a long time for this day to come. Smartphones are finally starting to be interesting now… and there is plenty of competition – in hardware and software/OS’s.

That’s my 2 cents. Thanks for staying up until the end but there is a lot to consider now in choosing the best phone for you.