Depending on what they’re doing, widgets can be resource hogs. A home widget is essentially a small and limited user interface to either an existing app or background service. They’re primarily used to display data, not for input, which can be a challenge for apps like our notes widget which is in development. Since widgets are typically displaying data from a background source, they have to be updated at regular intervals…for example with a stock ticker app, it would be every second, using lots of resources. With our notes app, it only updates when a note is added/modified so it is relatively lightweight. Our upcoming gesture dialer/text widget Sign is also very lightweight because it is essentially dormant until activated by the user.

Thank you to everyone who voted in Simply Applied’s recent poll! We value your input as we feel our way around the Android landscape. After mulling over the results and weighing the practical aspects, we have chosen the late entrant Sign as the name for our upcoming gestures dialer application, currently in beta testing. We feel this fits with Simply Applied’s brand image of simple and efficient.

The initial user interface will incorporate the gray header and footers that were shown in the poll. However, future updates may incorporate a variation on this theme and may eventually allow some level of customization.

Please check back frequently for updates on the release of Sign. We believe you will appreciate the convenience that ‘signing’ can offer for speed dialing and sms/texting. For up to the minute updates, please follow Simply Applied on Twitter at www.twitter.com/simplyapplied.