They are Android widgets, but less discoverable. Actually they are not discoverable at all. I don't see how this preserves "iOS simplicity" to introduce a feature that is not simple and can only be known by word of mouth.
I would argue that iOS users also don't know that they can double tap the iphone home button twice to pull up the ability to kill an app without someone telling them that functionality exist or they accidentally find out. This widget concept would be no different.