4. Adding Widgets to Your Home Screen
The Galaxy Tab A contains dozens of preinstalled widgets, which act as miniature applications that allow you to perform different tasks. This chapter covers the following topics:
Adding a widget to a Home screen
Widgets are a truly valuable aspect of the Android platform. A widget is a small, portable piece of code that you can interact with like a miniature application. Your Galaxy Tab A has quite a few widgets from which you can choose that can make your Tab experience even more convenient.
Accessing the Widgets Screen
You can find widgets on the Widgets screen, where 46 preinstalled widgets for different tasks are listed. Tapping a widget can provide you a variety of information, such as stock market news or the weather. (By default, you have a weather widget on your Home screen.) A widget can also act as a world clock or initiate functionality from a parent app, such as Maps, when you tap it. Although you can apply widgets to a Home screen, some widgets must be configured.
1. On the Home screen, tap and hold on a blank area within the screen for 2 seconds.
2. Tap Widgets.
3. Swipe left and right through the pages of widgets. The number of pages depends on the Galaxy Tab A model you have and your screen orientation.
Why Do I See More Than 46 Widgets?
If you see more than the 46 widgets described in this chapter, you likely imported widgets from another Android device you own (such as your smartphone) when you set up your Tab A. This chapter discusses only those widgets that come preinstalled on the Tab A.
Adding a Widget to a Home Screen
It’s easy to add a widget from the Widgets screen to an existing Home screen or a new one that you create. When you add a widget to a Home screen, you can specify where that widget—either an icon or the widget area—will reside on the Home screen. If you decide that you want to move the widget to a different location on the same or a different Home screen, you can drag the widget to that new location on the current Home screen, another existing Home screen, or a new Home screen that you create.
Some widgets also enable you to change their size before you place them on your desired Home screen. If the widget you’re trying to add to an existing Home screen won’t fit on that Home screen, Lollipop adds a new Home screen automatically and places the widget on that new Home screen.
Place a Widget on a Home Screen
1. On the Home screen, tap and hold on a blank area within the screen for 2 seconds (not shown).
2. Tap Widgets.
3. Press and hold your finger on the Dual Clock widget.
4. The Edit Home screen appears; the Home screen tile appears in a smaller area of the screen and the widget you’re moving appears as an outline on the screen. Underneath the Home screen tile, Lollipop also highlights the corresponding Home screen icon.
5. Move the outline over the Home screen tile to which you want to add the widget.
6. Release your finger. The widget appears on the Home screen where you placed it, which in this example is below the Galaxy Apps widget and to the right of the Milk Music widget. If any other widgets appear on the screen, then these other widgets reposition to make room for your widget.
7. The Dual Clock widget lets you configure the information that it displays. Add a new city by tapping the Tap Here to Add a City box.
8. Perhaps a friend has traveled to Paris for the summer and you don’t want to call her in the middle of the night. Tap the European continent on the map to see a map of cities.
9. Tap, hold, and drag within the map until you see Paris. Tap Paris to see the current local time.
10. Tap the plus icon to add the city to your clock.
11. Paris is added to the clock, and now you know the current time for the city where your friend is staying.
12. Tap either city to change to a different city.
13. You can search for a city by typing the city name in the Search box.
Move a Widget on a Home Screen
You can move a widget to a different location on the same Home screen by tapping and holding the widget within the Home screen. This example shows how to reposition the Dual Clock widget.
1. Tap and hold the widget you want to move. The widget outline appears in the Home screen tile so you can see where you can move the widget.
2. Drag the widget to the new location on the Home screen. The Home screen is ordered in a grid format and + signs within the Home screen denote grid corners. As you move the widget to the new location, a lighter copy of the outline appears below and to the right of your widget outline. This lighter outline copy denotes where your widget will reside on the screen. If there’s a widget that already resides in the location you want, the widgets reposition themselves on the screen to accommodate your desired location for the widget.
3. Release your finger. The widget appears in your desired location.
Move the Widget to a New Home Screen
You can add the widget to a brand-new Home screen by dragging the widget outline to the right side of the screen until the new Home screen tile appears. Move the widget outline to your desired location within that new Home screen tile. When you’re satisfied, release your finger. The new Home screen appears with the widget in your desired location.
Resize a Widget
Some widgets come in a preset size. Others allow you to change the size of the widget when you add it to the Home screen. You can also change the size of an adjustable widget after you add the widget to a Home screen. This example describes how to add the Gmail widget.
1. On the Home screen, tap and hold on a blank area within the screen for 2 seconds (not shown).
2. Tap Widgets.
3. Navigate to the page that contains the Gmail group widget.
4. Tap the Gmail group widget icon to view all widgets in the group.
5. Press and hold your finger on the Gmail widget. The Home screen tile you chose appears and the widget you’re moving appears as an outline within the tile.
6. Move the outline over the Home screen tile to position the widget within the tile. When you’re satisfied with the location of the widget on the Home screen, release your finger.
7. In the Choose Folder window, tap the Gmail folder you want to display in the widget within the list.
8. The widget appears on the Home screen with a blue box around it. Blue circles, or handles, appear on all four sides of the box.
9. Resize the widget by tapping and holding on one of the handles and then dragging left and right or up and down, depending on the handle you’re moving. For example, if you drag the bottom handle up and down, then you change the height of the widget. If your widget size is too large for the available area on the Home screen, then the box and handles turn red to tell you that the widget is too large for the available space.
Can I Resize More Than One Direction at a Time?
When you resize the widget using one of the handles, you can only drag in the handle’s required direction. For example, if you tap and hold the right side handle, you can only drag left and right. After you finish resizing the widget and release your finger, the handles reappear so you can tap and hold on one of the other handles and drag in the required direction.
10. Release your finger. The resized widget appears on the Edit Home screen. If the widget is too large for the area you want, Lollipop automatically resizes the widget to fill the available width or height.
11. Tap the Back touch button. Your widget appears on the Home screen at your desired size.
Resize and/or Move the Widget Again
If you decide that you want to resize the widget, tap and hold on the widget. The Edit Home screen appears so you can resize the widget on the Home screen, move the widget around on the Home screen, or move the widget to a different Home screen.
Creating a New Home Screen
A task earlier in this chapter describes how to create a new Home screen when you add a new widget. There are two other ways to create a new Home screen: from within an existing Home screen and in the Home screen menu.
1. On the Home screen, tap and hold your finger on a blank area within the screen for 2 seconds.
2. Swipe to the right within the page until you see the New Page tile in the menu. (It has a plus sign in the center.)
3. Tap the New Page tile.
4. The new Home page appears in a tile on the screen. The new Home page you’re viewing is denoted by a white dot underneath the new Home page tile.
5. Tap the new Home page tile to view the new Home page on the entire screen.
Removing a Widget
It’s easy to remove a widget from a Home screen if you decide that you don’t want it any longer.
1. Navigate to the Home screen that contains the widget you want to remove. Tap and hold on the widget.
2. Within the Edit Home Page screen, drag the outline of the widget to the Remove icon at the top of the screen. When the Remove icon is highlighted in red, release your finger.
3. The Home screen appears and no longer contains the widget you removed.
