Android Apps

[Black Hole]

I'm annoyed that the clock app on my Samsung Android phone does not display seconds. The app offers alarm (ie alarm clock, which I use), stopwatch (which I use), timer (ie kitchen timer, which I use), and "world clock" which can be configured to list the time at any city in the world you choose... but only to the minute. What it does not offer is a straightforward display of the current time in hours, minutes, and seconds!

I don't think I want seconds on the home screen widget, because I understand the continual screen updates would increase battery drain, but perhaps I'm wrong about that and anyway my phone is mostly on standby and not displaying the home screen. If the widget I have had the option to display seconds, that would do, but I certainly don't need or want an analogue clock display... I never understood the point of those except to be decorative!

Anybody got a favourite clock app/widget which does what I want, perhaps synced to Internet time (or maybe the phone's internal clock is already synced)?

 

[gomezz]

The World Clock tab on the default clock app on my Samsung phone shows seconds.

Alternatively tapping on the time on the lock screen changes it to show seconds as well.

 

[bottletop]

Check out "Fullscreen Clock"
Not suitable for everyone, but it displays large font and has option for seconds.
Keeps screen on (not lock screen) so may drain battery!

Fullscreen Clock - Apps on Google Play

Large digital clock

play.google.com

Or maybe

Clock Widget - Apps on Google Play

Clock Widget + is a powerful clock Widget for Android smartphones

play.google.com

 

[MikeSh]

The World Clock tab on the default clock app on my Samsung phone shows seconds.

Alternatively tapping on the time on the lock screen changes it to show seconds as well.

You're right. I never knew that (though these days I never need seconds for ToD, only timers).
(This is on my Samsung tablet btw. Phone is not Samsung.)

 

[gomezz]

TBH I prefer my atomic clock synced G-Shock watches for telling time to the second.

 

[Black Hole]

Alternatively tapping on the time on the lock screen changes it to show seconds as well.

Not here... Samsung Android 7!

The World Clock tab on the default clock app on my Samsung phone shows seconds.

Nope.

Or maybe

Clock Widget - Apps on Google Play

Clock Widget + is a powerful clock Widget for Android smartphones

play.google.com

That's got it! Thanks. I could not find it in the Play Store under "clock widget", until I put "pies3nscy" into the search – it's not like I hadn't looked!



Directly after install it was running about 1 second slow, but it seems to have caught up now so there must have been some kind of sync.

 

[MikeSh]

Not here... Samsung Android 7!

"Android Nougat went unsupported with no more security updates after October 2019."

Be afraid ...

 

[Black Hole]

Be afraid

Yeah, I'm trembling!

(not)

 

[MikeSh]

Yeah, I'm trembling!

(not)

I kinda think you're not one who uses your phone for interweb stuff much.

OT a bit, Nougat is (I think) the last named Android version I remember being hyped. O for ... ? They are just numbers now, at least what I see. 14 is I think the latest, which would be U?

 

[Black Hole]

To be fair, it gets a great deal of use... as a hot spot.

 

[EEPhil]

As is mine. What annoys me is that things appear to be out of date as soon as I buy them, with security updates only available for a year (or two if I'm really lucky).

 

[MikeSh]

To be fair, it gets a great deal of use... as a hot spot.

I wonder how important security updates are if it's basically just passing packets across?
I'd guess some might be but a lot probably not.

 

[gomezz]

Even the most up to date system can be hacked if the user is determined enough to let it happen!

 

[Black Hole]

This clock widget displays some weird stuff at times! Somehow it had fallen behind and did a race ahead when I cahanged networks. I think I'll keep looking...

 

[Black Hole]

Umm...



And the real laugh is that the (annoying) status notification says "ClockWidget is working"! No it bloody isn't!!

 

[MikeSh]

I used a clock + battery state app a year or two ago. I went to the play store just now to see if that might suit you but noticed reviews saying similar to your problem. Seemed to be the widget running slow but updated of the app was opened and closed.
The developers said that there are settings in Android* that may need changing (guessing app permissions) to allow better time keeping.
Probably at the expense of battery life as it'll likely mean allowing background operation all the time.

( * They said "later versions" without specifying, so whether yours counts ... ?)

 

[Black Hole]

I don't understand why it should be so hard! All the widget has to do is read system time and display it, so I guess the third-party widgets are trying to be fancy and eschew system time in favour of NTP. The basic built-in widget works fine... it just doesn't display seconds!

 

[MikeSh]

I don't understand why it should be so hard! All the widget has to do is read system time and display it

The problem is access and power. The apps need permissions to run and the Android/Samsung system is pretty aggressive with power saving*, so apps and widgets often get put in a coma. Each version of Android seems to change these things too which makes it hard for developers to keep up.
The built in widgets* are of course catered for by the manufacturer (and/or Google).

* The absence of seconds display is possibly a power saving feature too.

 

[trog]

@BH The cheap motorola moto e13 I bought last year comes with the option to show seconds and only cost £63, pretty good battery life too. Maybe not the fastest processor but fine for general use and its Android 13 so gets updates.

 

[Black Hole]

I'm not about to buy even a cheap new phone just for the seconds display! Worth noting for the future though.