One of the most popular Android widget applications of all time, Beautiful Widgets, is now available as a free app on Google Play. This new free version is a bare-bones edition that allows you to pick and choose the options or themes you want. As you find something that looks interesting, you can decide to buy it out-right. The folks at LevelUp Studio even bundled some of the options into packs, but you can buy pieces individually as well. Should you decide that you don’t want to spend countless amounts of cash on individual packs, you can always upgrade to the Pro version, which is the new name of the original Beautiful Widgets.

Play Link

Via:  LevelUp Studio

Sorry for the wait, but here are the answers to Volume 12 of the Droid Life Q&A Sessions. We answered a few on last week’s show, so if you’re looking for even more personal thoughts from us on some of your inquiries, then be sure to watch that.

There seems to be a lot of people curious as to what we can see at this year’s Google I/O. To be completely honest, that is what makes it such a great event. We go in, thinking we have some good clues as to what we can see, and then Google always surprises us with new goodies. It is always the numero uno Android event of the year.

There is a good handful of other topics discussed inside, such as our favorite smartphone cameras, which apps we use the most, as well as which features we might like to see kanged from various OEM skins and baked into Android. But enough talking, let’s get to it.

Lock screen widgets, one of our favorite features of Android 4.2, are indeed included on the Samsung Galaxy S4. Yes, that means all the DashClock you can handle on Sammy’s latest flagship device. Unfortunately, the process of getting them setup isn’t the easiest unless you know exactly what to look for. Out of the box, Samsung has actually disabled lock screen widgets in a sense, but with a couple of taps through Settings, you can get your device up and running them in no time.

In the video below, we take you on a detailed tour of Samsung’s take on lock screen widgets. It can be a bit finicky at times, to say the least, but once you get the hang of them, we think you’ll enjoy widgets at phone wake just as much as the rest of us who live and die with Nexus devices, do. 

Google I/O is approaching swiftly, so that means it’s time to fill up our calendars with evening activities, one of which seems to be Lookout Mobile Security’s party. Last year, they asked us to invite a big group of readers from Droid Life to join in on the fun (“fun” meaning free booze and prizes), and have once again asked that we do the same for another 10 members of the DL community. 

The makers of Remember the Milk just launched version 3.0 of their popular task application, which comes complete with a new user interface and tablet support. With the new look also comes new features – enhanced notifications and actions, redesigned widgets for easily managing tasks/notes, as well as the ability to edit multiple tasks with the press of a few buttons. 

The Samsung Galaxy S4, aka the most anticipated smartphone of the year, is finally here. After showing itself at a questionably comical press event in NYC on March 14, many of us have been counting down the days to its arrival. There were so many new software features on display during the phone’s unveiling that only some serious time spent with the phone could allow us to digest even a sampling of what Samsung and the Galaxy S4 have to offer. But there are some serious questions that need to be answered with this phone as well. Is it a big enough jump from the Galaxy S3 to get anyone to upgrade? Is it better than the HTC One? Are all of these new software features gimmicks that no one will really ever use? Is the overall package enough of a jump to keep Samsung relevant?

We’ve had a review unit in hand for a week now, thanks to Samsung, and are more than ready to share as many answers to those questions as we can. Stick with us, it’s going to be a long ride. 

This afternoon, Verizon approved the Android 4.1 “Jelly Bean” update, build number VS93021B for the LG Spectrum 2. With Jelly Bean comes a ton of great features like Google Now, expandable notifications, camera software enhancements and more. 

If you are at all like me, and find yourself using Google’s Sound Search on a regular basis in order to purchase new music that is playing while you are on the go, and you also love DashClock, then check out this new extension called “Sound Search for DaskClock.” Rather than having to rely on the official Sound Search app or set up a separate page for it outside of DashClock on his lock screen (since lock screen widgets only allow 1 per page), the developer of this app decided to include Sound Search in DashClock itself.