Widgets are a great way to quickly view information on your home screen without opening the corresponding application. It is one of the advantages of the Android operating system but it hasn’t been fully developed by app makers. A lot of apps don’t provide widgets and when they do, they can be underwhelming. So many times I’ve used a widgets and wished I could resize it or customize it. There is also the issue that once you have a couple different widgets, your home screen gets cluttered and space becomes limiting. This is where Tabr widget comes to the rescue and begins to address these issues with a Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich specific app.
Tabr is a brand new app that makes a development leap with one widget that has multiple tabs. The idea is that instead of having multiple widgets taking up space on your home screen you can have just one widget that displays multiple apps through the use of tabs. The idea of tabs is a simple concept that really makes sense but this is the first time it has been implemented in a widget. A related concept is the social hub widget by Samsung or the FriendStream by HTC but that’s not anywhere close to what Tabr can do. Those widgets simply combine all social feeds in one widget stream without any customization. I would consider Tabr as the evolution of the widget to a whole different level.
There are many ways to customize the look and feel of Tabr widget to your liking. The full version allows you to change font size and color along with the color for the background, toolbar, button and header. The tab view options are list, grid and stack although list view will be what’s used the most since it has the best viewing option. Each tab label can be renamed and you can add your own custom icon with a pic or ADWTheme icon pack. There are options for skin themes although there is currently nothing available since the app is new.
What’s great about Tabr widget is that it is very customizable in many aspects. The widget can be resized to any dimension and you can have as many tabs as you need. Currently the app downloads with the contact and bookmark module. You can add-on the agenda and social module which includes Twitter and Facebook with Google+ coming soon. Obviously, the development of more modules will really enhance Tabr and extend its functionality. You can add a single app to any tab or even combine apps in one tab. For example, you can have one tab that combines your Facebook and Twitter feeds and another tab that has your agenda. I prefer to keep each tab with a single app since I have multiple social accounts and it gets confusing to combine them. Currently, I have four tabs in the widget with my Facebook, two Twitter accounts and agenda. It’s really great that I can view all that information from multiple apps in one widget that only takes half of my home screen. What other widget app do you know that can do that trick.
Any app module has multiple options that you can adjust. The social module has automatic updates with item count up to 200. Touching any feed on Twitter allows for reply, retweet, share and connect to Twitter on the browser. For Facebook, you can comment, like, share, follow link and open Facebook on the browser. In the agenda module you can add any of your calendars including multiple calendars and adjust options for font, color, date format and more. The contact module can add all contacts or any group of contacts. You can setup custom options for different actions like messaging, calling, emailing and more when clicking on any contact. The bookmark module allows connection to your desired browser. There are many options for each module that you can fine tune to exactly what you prefer. That’s really what makes this app powerful and useful.
Tabr widget is a new app that really makes a big leap in widget development on Android tablets. I find the app very useful already even though there are only four modules that are currently available. The potential for Tabr is really high as more modules and custom skin themes are added. The next evolution of widgets has arrived in Tabr. Check it out and let us know what you think.
Download from the Android Market. The social module link and Agenda link.
Leave a Reply