Android Police was handed a couple awesome screenshots over the weekend of some widget improvements rumored to be in the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich update. A few of the core Android system widgets (namely Gmail, Email and Calendar) are getting significantly redesigned widgets, inspired by those found in Honeycomb.

All images courtesy of Android Police.

Gmail

The Gmail widget looks really nice and polished, and marks a vast improvement over the widget found in current Android phones. It also looks a bit slicker than the Honeycomb version.

Email

Enterprise Android users rely on the email application to keep up on their work email. The email widget was redesigned to look almost exactly like the gmail widget.

Calendar

The calendar widget as it exists today is just one big blue box with a couple appointments on it. It’s simply not pleasing on the eyes at all, and once I saw the calendar widget on Honeycomb, I wanted it on my phone. Fortunately, Google again took the widget from Honeycomb and improved on it a bit in Ice Cream Sandwich. The new widget looks great.

Final Thoughts

It looks as though Ice Cream Sandwich is coming together quite nicely. Google has done some great work enhancing the user experience. We’ve got just over 24 hours now before Google takes the wraps off Ice Cream Sandwich at their event in Hong Kong. Taylor and Clark will have some post-announcement coverage on RadioAndroid with the folks from RadioAndroid and AndroidActivist.

With three new applications all fighting for the same spot, the competition has already heated up. Which one deserves to be installed on your phone? What features set them apart? Do you even need to install a desktop replacement? Read along as we break down all the details.

Price Point

dxTop Home Screen

• aHome: $2.99 (for a limited time – normally $4.99)
• dxTop: $3.99
• Open Home : TBA (expect paid version soon)

dxTop came to market first with the $3.99 price point.  They were soon undercut by aHome at $2.99.  Recently Open Home Lite has launched as free.  It is no surprise that Open Home has the most downloads with 5,000-10,000.  aHome and dxTop are currently tied with 1,000-5,000 downloads.  I expect the full version of Open Home will eventually be $2.99 like the other Better Android app Better Cut.

Winner:  Tie.  All 3 apps offer free demo or lite versions so this is a wash.  aHome is going up in price and we don’t know for sure what Open Home will cost.

Widget Support

• aHome:  2 included. 3 paid widgets on market.
• dxTop: 1 free, 6 paid widgets on market.
• Open Home: Coming soon.

dxTop holds the lead with 7 total widgets so far.  I grabbed the memory monitor from the Market since it was free, but I’m not sure how useful it is.  My favorite widget of all is the weather widget included with aHome.  I will note that in aHome, it is much easier to add widgets.  In dxTop you have to search for a widget before it can be added(hope they fix that).

Winner: Tie.  Same developers are releasing their widgets for multiple apps.  Open Home has yet to implement any new widgets, but I would expect to see similar items.  Nothing stands out at this point.

Themes and Skins

Glossy Theme for Open Home

• aHome:  1 free on market. iPhone theme.
• dxTop:  None.
• Open Home:  6 free on market.  Many more ports coming from XDA forums.

Winner: Open Home. Since Open Home is porting skins from XDA, he has an endless supply.  It will be interesting to see if the other two follow his lead.  I expect we will soon see a marketplace for paid themes popping up soon.

Extra Features

• aHome:  Dock bar. Multilple UI settings.  Up to 10 desktops.
• dxTop:  4 desktop areas. Enhanced navigation
• Open Home:  7 desktop ares.

All the apps provided extra space on the desktop which is nice.  dxTop also allows you to use all your existing bookmarks which is a huge plus.  I love the 1-swipe navigation of dxTop as well.  aHome offers a dock bar similar to iPhone which can be turned on and off.

Winner:  dxTop.  With the improved navigation, any app is only a swipe away.  Developer is soon adding the ability to organize apps into folders in the tray.

Updates and Support

aHome With Widgets and Dock

• aHome:  Online forums, but no change log.  Frequent Updates.
• dxTop:  Full website with change log.  Frequent Updates.
• Open Home:  Blog with updates, but no change log.  Frequent Updates.

Since all of these apps are in the early stage of development, they have been releasing new updates each day with bug fixes and added features.  I really like that dxTop includes an easy to find change log on the front page of their site.  With all the updates going on, it is nice to be able to see what is new or has been fixed.

Winner: dxTop.  Thank you for posting your change history.  I wish every developer would do this.

Summary

Each one of these desktop replacment applications ads new features not currently available on Android.  Customers will find different things they like with each one.  I consider myself a power user and I really like the navigation of dxTop.  All three of these apps are installed on my phone, but I have dxTop set as the default.  It performs the quickest and I have had the fewest problems with it.  I encourage you to download and use the free versions of each one of these applications and send your feedback to the developer.

If you have had a chance to play around with any of these, which is your favorite desktop replacement?  What other widgets or features would you like to see added?  Do you think the price point is right for a desktop replacement?

Here is another review from Logan featuring aHome desktop replacement app for Android.  aHome comes from iPhone developer mAPPn.  This app is similar to dxTop, but it comes with new themes including an iPhone version.  Widgets are also supported just like dxTop.  I’ve been using dxTop myself, but after watching this video I want to try aHome.  I guess it comes down to which dev continues to release updates and how good their widget support it.

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From Logan:

New widgets including weather and digital clock

Thanks to mAPPn, a new home screen application has been released to the Android market for $2.99 as a limited price. And for how cheap this is, it’s an app worth buying and keeping. mAPPn has released one theme for this app and it’s of course, the iPhone theme. Because everybody wants to make their Android look like something they don’t have enough money to buy. But this theme isn’t half bad. It’s got the dock on the bottom that shows 4 main applications that stay cemented on the bottom of the screen so they don’t move when you swipe to a different screen.

aHome also has something that everyone is looking for… NEW WIDGETS! aHome brings 2 new widgets to the Android desktop. The first widget Weather, gives you a choice to pick what country your in, then enter your zip code to get the correct information for said zip code. The second is a digital clock instead of an analog, for people who don’t know how to read a clock.

I decided to do a dog fight between the two apps, dxTop and aHome. Both home alternatives. I know lots of people who love dxTop, and aHome just came out. So dxTop has a little bit of a head start. One thing that aHome towers over dxTop is that when you fill up one screen with apps, aHome provides you with a whole new screen. dxTop only has one new screen. Now granted that aHome doesn’t have a dock, but as soon as you download an application, it gets transferred right to your most recent page with an open space. aHome wins again!

New dock included with aHome

To delete an application, it’s just like the iPhone. Long press on an app (don’t move it, but you can let go) and two boxes will come up that say “Delete” and “Rename”. Just tap delete. That easy! The rename function about aHome is very nice, especially if one of your app names are too long, and you can’t read it.

And last of all, aHome wins, AGAIN, with the fact that aHome changes the look of some of the apps on your G1. These are the ones that have been changed:  Pictures, Music, Camera, Alarm clock, Youtube, Settings, Market, Contacts, Browser, Messaging, Email, Calender, and the Calculator.  I’d love to see more themes come to aHome, and more widgets. Everybody loves widgets. But there you go! aHome wins by a landslide!

Dual Trays

Some may be put off by the purchase price, but dxTop brings other new features to the Android desktop.  In addition to widgets, users also have access to four desktop areas and dual trays.  I have only been using dxTop for 24hrs, but those 2 features alone have sold me on the app and I will not be returning to the default desktop.

The four desktop areas allow more space for placing shortcuts and widgets.  A new navigation method is utilized as well.  You can quickly jump to each area with a single swipe.  For example, the home screen is always reached with a downward swipe no matter what desktop area you are viewing.  It takes awhile to get used to, but I prefer this method now.  No longer do you have to swipe twice to move from the far left to the far right.

Dual trays allows a new way to sort applications.  You can view currently running apps, recently run apps, and apps that are running as a service.  In a future release, the dev plans to add support for grouping applications similar to Jeffrey Sharkey’s GroupHome.

Adding a Widget

If you are still not sold on the app, please try out the demo.  This is the first dev to make widgets available to Android users and I think we should support him.  It is the best solution currently available for Android and a step above what Google offers.