Help Some newbie questions (consistent widgets, homescreen modifications)

[Gazanfer]

I bough Galaxy Nexus 3 days ago, and this is my first android phone. I loved everything about galaxy nexus and android ICS, except:

1. Widgets are not consistent. I'm not looking for extraordinary widgets, I just want to have my basic widgets (time, date, weather) to be consistent. Corners rounded same, all borders aligned, using same colors, using same or matching fonts, etc. But, there is no official digital clock! Why they decided to put analog clock by default, and no digital clock; I can't understand at all... Is there anything I'm missing?

They don't have to be official widgets, I tried beautiful widgets, hd widgets, lots of custom clock/date/whatever widget, they are always inconsistent in some way, even after hours (in my case, days) of customization.

So, is there a consistent widget set I'm missing?
I looked at other people's screenshots here, and they're also mostly inconsistent and/or misaligned, but no one seems to care... It drives me crazy to look at my phone if some widget is 1px misaligned with another one...

2. I don't like the search bar. I want to get rid of it. I can do this by just disabling it, but that means that:
i) I can't use it anywhere else
ii) I can't use that area for anything else...

I searched, and I know that there are launchers that do this, and I tried them, but I like the stock launcher, I have no problem with it. I just want to remove search bar and change my grid to 4x5. Launchers change far more stuff than just homescreen area, and I don't want to change them.

Any ideas?
How can I disable search bar AND use the space WITHOUT installing any launchers?

 

[CharlzO]

2. I don't like the search bar. I want to get rid of it. I can do this by just disabling it, but that means that:
i) I can't use it anywhere else
ii) I can't use that area for anything else...

I searched, and I know that there are launchers that do this, and I tried them, but I like the stock launcher, I have no problem with it. I just want to remove search bar and change my grid to 4x5. Launchers change far more stuff than just homescreen area, and I don't want to change them.

Any ideas?
How can I disable search bar AND use the space WITHOUT installing any launchers?

Without using launchers, it isn't gonna happen. Just use NOVA launcher. It's the same as the stock, and lets you recover that space. If you aren't rooting the phone, the only difference you'll see between completely stock, and NOVA, is how Widgets are handled for placing on the home screens. Seriously though, that's the only difference. You won't have to do anything different than stock unless you want to.

 

[mrichick]

Maybe try looking for some themes and icon packs, both of which will allow you to customize with more uniformity. There are lots of free ones in the market but I think you have to choose a different launcher in order to apply them. Lots of those in the market as well. Like many other peeps here, I'm using the Nova launcher because it offers so many cool ways to tweak the appearance but still maintains the beautiful ics changes

 

[Gazanfer]

Without using launchers, it isn't gonna happen. Just use NOVA launcher. It's the same as the stock, and lets you recover that space. If you aren't rooting the phone, the only difference you'll see between completely stock, and NOVA, is how Widgets are handled for placing on the home screens. Seriously though, that's the only difference. You won't have to do anything different than stock unless you want to.

I tried Nova launcher now, and it is fantastic! I knew about it before, but I was afraid it would change everything as other launchers do.

Thanks.

 

[Jay3]

I can't believe how many people don't want the search bar. I use it all the time, every day.

 

[mrichick]

I actually like it too , but not on every screen

 

[Jay3]

But the screen is plenty big enough to to make the grid of apps available, and the remaining screen real estate is bigger than most popular phones like the iPhone. It goes away when any app is run. It's just there, clear and unobtrusive. Almost like the Suri of this device.

But I hear a lot of people say it bothers them sitting up there. I hope they don't take away. I use it it initiate calls and everything. It's my voice search button.

I think maybe the main folks that don't like it are going for a very aesthetic skin or something, and want everything to follow a them.

 

[Gazanfer]

I don't like it, because:
- It's on all homescreens, this means it's taking up 4x5=20 slots. Even if I use it, why would I want it on all homescreens? I would put it on just one screen.
- Even then, it's not movable, you have to have it at the top.
- It's style is not consistent with anything else, and it's not configurable.