Looking for a great Battery Widget? Look no further!

One of the downsides to the Android OS is the fact you don't know the actual percentage of your battery remaining. Android only shows the battery icon on the top of the screen so when you're jamming out on Pandora or tweaking on PSX4droid, you won't know exactly how much of your battery is remaining. The best way to monitor your battery is to use a battery app or widget.

As you may know, there are dozens of battery apps and widgets found throughout the Android Market. I've tried many of them and none seemed to fit my requirements. I wanted an app that would have shortcuts to control wifi, gps, and bluetooth; three things I use quite frequently. Many of the apps I've found either were very large files (1mb+ for a battery app?!?!) or would drain my battery constantly (a bit counterintuitive..). Several of them also did not show percentages and some showed percentages in 5-10% increments.

Battery Widget by geekyouup includes those three shortcuts. This is not an app per se but rather a widget. This widget has a VERY small footprint so it won't use up our precious internal memory. The user interface is very simplistic as well. The battery indicator displays how much battery life is left using 1% increments so it is quite accurate. I've compared the accuracy with SystemPanel and there are no discrepancies. As far as I know, this widget does not have any noticeable effect on battery life. In fact, perhaps this widget can indeed help you save battery life by helping you shut off bluetooth, gps, and wifi when you're not using it. It's also quite popular since it's been around since the G1 days with hundreds of thousands of downloads. The QR code is below.

I just want it to be known this is NOT an app so don't go clicking on it in your apps window or getting frustrated it's not working. This is a widget so you need to long press your homescreen and go to "widgets" section then find Battery Widget to add it. 

QR Code for Battery Widget

Battery Widget for Android on AppBrain

Your little personal assistant, Edwin

"Help me find the nearest Japanese food restaurant"

*Searching...*...*Google maps opens and shows the nearest Japanese restaurant*

"What is today's weather for Honolulu, Hawaii?"

"The weather for today is 80 degrees Fahrenheit, partly cloudy with the chance of rain."

Speech-to-action/speech is one of the up and coming technologies found today. The future is definitely here!

Edwin, Speech-to-Speech by neureau is one of the first apps I ever downloaded onto my phone. This is probably one of the coolest apps on the Android Market right now. If you ever wanted a virtual personal assistant on your phone, this is it! This app shows what your Android powered phone is truly capable of.

Edwin is packed with various voice commands and actions. Click on the microphone icon, say something, then your wish is Edwin's command. With a simple interface and high speech recognition accuracy, this app is a bargain for the low price of FREE! This app definitely holds it's own against the new Google Voice Search and Vlingo. Definitely a great app to show off to friends. The QR code is posted below =)

Some of the various commands are:

-Search services (Are you looking for reviews about the latest video game or are shopping for lingerie for your girlfriends? Edwin assists you in your searching needs. Edwin also uses Wolfram Alpha, a popular knowledge engine)

-Dialing capabilities (If your hands are busy, just use Edwin to dial a friend by using your voice)

-Date and Time (Ask Edwin what time is it in Norway or ask him what time is it in France)

-Application launcher (It doesn't open all applications but it can launch Gmail, your camera and a few other apps)

-Hardware controlling (Enable your bluetooth or turn off your 3G)

-Weather (Ask what's the weather in Seoul, Korea)

-Map search (If you're looking for the nearest hotel or Italian food restaurant)

-GPS location services

-Dictionary and spell checks (I told Edwin to spell "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and amazing he spelled it accurately.)

-Math and conversions (Edwin can solve math problems and do conversions i.e. kilograms to pounds.)

-Translation services (Edwin can speak and translate French, Spanish, Italian, and German)

-Messaging commands (One of the coolest options is the ability to tweet, text, or email friends by just stating their name and your message)

Overall this app is pretty nifty. I've had this app since I bought my phone back in June. I also find it quite accurate. It recognizes my voice about 85% of the time. I am sure accuracy will improve with updates. I do wish there was a widget though but perhaps that's in the future. Also there are several "easter eggs" found throughout the app. Ask it, "What is the meaning of life? Tell Edwin, "I love you." Ask Edwin, "How are you?" Tell him that you're bored. Think of anything random and ask Edwin. It'll put a nice smile on your face. There are a few nice surprises =) The fact that it's free makes it noteworthy.

Edwin, Speech-to-Speech for Android on AppBrain

Try this app out. Definitely worth looking into. Also I'll be doing a post about Vlingo and will eventually do a comparo. Stay tuned!