Stock Clock app desk clock function

Question

I've used the stock Clock app on my S4 (and previously on a different phone with an earlier version of Android) for alarms, timers, and a stopwatch. I only just discovered (because it's scrolled off to the right in portrait mode) that it has a desk clock feature as well. Sorry for the length of this, but I want to post on this in case others have not seen it either. (The user manual is hopelessly uninformative.)
When you tap the Desk Clock button in the Clock app (turn it sideways to landscape mode for easiest access), you get a screen with the time and date, a calendar, and a weather widget. (On my S4 it's an AccuWeather widget, which seems not to update unless GPS is on, making it less useful.) In either portrait or landscape mode, it's a handy clock to have on, especially with a kickstand. Press the Menu key to get Settings for options to display or not display the calendar and weather, and to access the system Date and time settings.
It gets handier when you tap the little icon in the upper right corner to make it full screen. Now it displays without the other Clock app buttons across the top. It also has four shortcuts across the bottom of the screen, for Alarm, Music, Gallery, and Internet. The Menu key in this full-screen mode offers more options, including changing or hiding those app shortcuts, and settings to hide the Status bar and to choose a background from your gallery or use the Home screen wallpaper (but a busy background makes the clock hard to read).
In this mode, the desk clock display is not affected by the screen timeout setting. It will display indefinitely. After a brief time, it turns off the background image (I hear two little splash noises when it does this) and just displays the time and date and weather on a black background, I presume to save battery. To prevent the remote possibility of burn-in, it even moves the items displayed around on the screen every so often. This display mode can also bypass the lock screen. With the desk clock in full-screen mode, press the Power/Lock key. (Again I hear not one but two little splashes when the phone turns off.) When I press the Power/Lock key again, instead of my lock screen, I get the full screen desk clock.
You may want to plug the phone in if you keep the clock displayed for a long time; even with the black background it's going to be using some battery. As far as I can tell, using the above procedure will keep the clock displayed as long as you want. Since it bypasses your lock screen, when you press Power/Lock to turn the phone on with the clock displayed, everything is available: you can just touch the screen to restore the background and access the notification bar, or press the Home button, or whatever.
Two last notes: The settings for the Desk Clock function also include settings for Dock, which I don't use and can't report on. Also, I don't have a PIN or pattern set up for my lock screen. I suspect that if you do, this will not bypass the lock screen, on the reasonable assumption that you want some actual security; but I don't know for certain, and hopefully someone with experience on that score can post a reply.

Answer 1

Nice! Thanks for the write-up.