Shortcuts vs Widgets

[shenanigans_ink]

I use FolderOrganizer to Launch all my folders and Aps because it gives me the ability to change the icons without using OpenHome, AHome, or BettterCut.
I've only recently noticed that I can use both Shortcuts and Widgets to put FolderOrganizer Labels and Iitems on my homescreens. I was curious if anyone knew if placing or launching shortcuts took up less CPU as opposed to using Widgets to launch labels or apps? Or is there no difference between having a Widget running on a homescreen and having a shorcut running on a homescreen?

 

[shenanigans_ink]

I was hoping some advanced users might actually know the answer to this.

 

[kodiak799]

I don't really have an answer.

From what I've learned in Sweeterhome, part of the memory constraint is Davlik java, which has a bitmap limit of something like 30megs. So bitmap is determined by size, so larger widgets will definitely take up more than a shortcut.

Now, if you are talking about a 1x1 widget vs. an icon, particularly a "non-active" widget, I would think the memory usage would be similar.

CPU is a different issue. A shortcut won't be using CPU because it's not active. Widgets will take up a little CPU, at times, depending on how often they are set to refresh or update. If you are talking about widgets for folders, maybe like a live folder, I'm not really sure but think the CPU usage would be minimal.

I wouldn't worry about CPU unless you do a bunch of multi-tasking. In my experience, an overclocked Droid has more horsepower than the ram appears to be fully able to exploit. In other words, ram/memory is the constraint you need to be concerned with.

I'm sure someone can provide a technical answer on this, but I suspect it's more an academic exercise with no real difference.

 

[shenanigans_ink]

thanks for the help. that was a good answer.

 

[a_priori_mouse]

I do not know the correct answer, but there is one observation. Sometimes when I go to home from any app, I see only shortcuts, and widgets appear only in one second. This applies to widgets 1x1 as OneClick widgets. This may be evidence of more demanding widgets to CPU. That is why I use shortcuts instead widgets when it is possible.

 

[EbE404]

I use FolderOrganizer to Launch all my folders and Aps because it gives me the ability to change the icons without using OpenHome, AHome, or BettterCut.
I've only recently noticed that I can use both Shortcuts and Widgets to put FolderOrganizer Labels and Iitems on my homescreens. I was curious if anyone knew if placing or launching shortcuts took up less CPU as opposed to using Widgets to launch labels or apps? Or is there no difference between having a Widget running on a homescreen and having a shorcut running on a homescreen?

The short answer is that widgets are always going to take more resources (CPU and/or RAM) than a shortcut.

The longer answer is that a widget is basically a "self contained" app that will be running, thus consuming those resources, as opposed to a graphic icon that functions as a pointer to launch an app. Now, there can be widely varying differences as to just how much resource a widget will consume. For example, something like the Pandora widget will just sit there acting a bit like a shortcut, until the program is actually launched, at which time it turns into an interactive widget that acts as a control transport and displays data.

On the other hand, something like the Facebook widget or a news widget is constantly updating, thus it needs to not only display information, but also run in the background and use data to update its display.

 

[Corinacakes]

You can create custom themes for folderorganizer widgets too