What's the real meaning of a widget?
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I googled on the keywords Android and widgets, hoping to find clear definition of a widget. But all the definitions are vague and could be applied to any apps. My feeling is that a widget is a small app that runs in the background at all times, as a separate thread. Usually, it displays something or waits for input at all times. As opposed to an app that has to be started/terminated explicitly when the need arises. If this is the definition of a widget then it is the oldest concept in multi-tasking operating system where such concept used to be called a background process. If this is so, then why it is said that widgets are unique to Android. I bet iPhone has them too but under a different name. What is so unique about widgets?
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I googled on the keywords Android and widgets, hoping to find clear definition of a widget. But all the definitions are vague and could be applied to any apps. My feeling is that a widget is a small app that runs in the background at all times, as a separate thread. Usually, it displays something or waits for input at all times. As opposed to an app that has to be started/terminated explicitly when the need arises. If this is the definition of a widget then it is the oldest concept in multi-tasking operating system where such concept used to be called a background process. If this is so, then why it is said that widgets are unique to Android. I bet iPhone has them too but under a different name. What is so unique about widgets?
A widget is a visual element (e.g., textview, button, spinner). See here for more.
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I googled on the keywords Android and widgets, hoping to find clear definition of a widget. But all the definitions are vague and could be applied to any apps. My feeling is that a widget is a small app that runs in the background at all times, as a separate thread. Usually, it displays something or waits for input at all times. As opposed to an app that has to be started/terminated explicitly when the need arises. If this is the definition of a widget then it is the oldest concept in multi-tasking operating system where such concept used to be called a background process. If this is so, then why it is said that widgets are unique to Android. I bet iPhone has them too but under a different name. What is so unique about widgets?