App Review: webOS Weather Apps

Weather. That ever changing thing that we just can’t help but check up on, whether it be on the web, our phones or indeed just old school looking out of the window. Of course, we’re talking mobile here, and webOS has a plethora of weather apps available and I thought I’d run through each weather app I have on my phone, in a sort of combined overview of their feature and give you some pros/cons and which I like the most. So on with the show…

Weather Window by Hidden World Hut

This is one of my personal favourite weather apps. The app itself will show your current temp, highs lows, a quick three day forecast, all just basic ‘quick glance’ information. The beauty in this app lies in the periodically changing background. Within the settings you can choose from a number of different categorised themes, and at the interval you select the app to update the weather, it will update your phone’s background according to the weather. I really love this feature, and for me the theme that stands out particularly is the ‘tree’ theme, it’s just cool to see it changing throughout the day.  Weather Window also has a notification/dashboard bar that pops up when the weather updates, which you can just leave minimized in the tray and a quick tap will remind you of the current weather conditions.

Download: Free & Paid $2.99 | £2.49

Also check out their website for more cool pics!

Weather Dashboard by Super Giga Mega

This is just literally as it says on the tin, weather in your dashboard. There is no real app to open here (only to configure settings etc.) However, with this app, the information in the dashboard is a little more thorough than that of Weather Window’s. First and foremost it’ll give you the current weather conditions, tap on the dashboard notification once and it’ll display the outlook for the day, tap again and it’ll show tomorrow’s outlook, tap once more and it’ll display a ‘quick access’ refresh icon along with a preference icon, which will load the card up. It’s a simple yet effective app, and gives you what you need to know for the next couple of days, easily and efficiently. The full paid version will give you access to an auto rotating dashboard, more frequent refresh times and the ability to lock on to your location using GPS.

Simple Weather by Leetcom

One of my personal favourites at the moment. The application itself will give you pretty basic information, but over a 5 day period which is better than some of the other apps that only display 3 days. Usual preference options apply here, location, refresh frequency etc and you can also choose a custom background for the app. The best thing about this little app though is the periodically changing icon upon a refresh, which’ll display the appropriate icon (rain cloud, sun) for the current conditions, with the temperature also right next to it. Also within the preference options you get to choose between two different icon sets, which is a nice touch. This app is great for putting in your quick launch bar so you can quickly see it, especially when initiating the quick launch ‘wave’ bar by dragging up slowly from the gesture area from within any app. Another great thing about this app, as you can see from the screenshots, when you leave the app in card view it’ll just display the temperature in a large font for ease of viewing. Nice touch.

If I were to nit-pick about this app, I would say that the text for my location overlaps the weather conditions, so some UI elements that need to be brushed up on here.

Download: Paid $1 | 79p

aniWeather by forwebOS.com

This app brings a different dynamic to the fray. This app’s main goal is eye-candy and it’s great to leave the card open so it acts as a widget type effect. Of course, you’ve probably guessed that this app has animation. Basically it means you’ll get to see moving clouds, rain droplets, snow etc which is all pretty cool and snazzy.  As with Simple Weather, it’ll give you a five day forecast, and all the usual settings. You can also select to imprint a clock on the app, presumably if you wanted to use the app open solidly  in full screen.  Occasionally I do get a bit of lag with this app’s animations, but I don’t believe it is anything to do with the app,  just generally flakiness with stuff going on in the phone’s background. I do really like this app, in the ‘most visually pleasing” awards it wins first prize, the devs really have done a great job on this. And for free, what more could you ask?

Download: Free

Weather Now by monkeydog

Another app mainly based around the updating dashboard/notification pop up, which in this case displays a nice amount of information; weather icon, your location, conditions and the time it was updated. One complaint about this app is that even if I have the frequency set to three hours, the notifications seem to come through a lot more frequently. Still, if all you want is information popping up in your dashboard every so often, then this app is worth checking out. Available only through Preware or PreCentral.net’s homebrew app gallery

Download: Free

WeatherIcon by abesapps

This is another very cool app that periodically updates the icon, so it’s great to keep in your quick launch for easy access. The app itself also shows a good four days weather forecast so you can prepare for what’s coming. I think the icon on this looks great, maybe just pipped by the icon of Simple Weather, but that is just personal preference as I prefer a more realistic icon, but this app does give you a lot more detail within.  All the usual preference options you’re familiar with are included, you can lock on to your location with GPS and there is also an option which allows the app to ‘auto-locate’ you which is pretty cool.  All in all, a great app and moreover it is free, so for those who like the idea of an ‘live’ icon based weather app will do well to check this one out!

Download: Free

The Weather Channel by The Weather Channel

This app is definitely a more serious weather app. The Rolls Royce of weather apps if you will. Now it may not be the most pleasant on the eye, but the information contained within is very thorough and it is the only weather app that offers a 10 day weather forecast. It also offers a ‘current’ and ‘hourly’ forecast for your day, so for those looking for something a bit more accurate than a days forecast, then this is the app for you. Even further, it gives you information on ‘severe weather’, ‘storm watch’ and ‘tropical’ so especially good for those that live in those type of affected areas.  If you were to only have two weather apps on your phone, you should definitely make this your back-up for main information, and another one for eye-candy. This app is free which is a superb touch, but it does come with ad banners, which I guess you can forgive considering they are giving the app to you for nothing. A definite download in my book.

Download: Free

To conclude

It’s pretty hard for me to pick one winner from these are all great and some are very different from other, but if I had to choose I would personally narrow it down to my top three, in no particular order:-

• Weather Window
• Simple Weather
• The Weather Channel

I think with these three apps, your weather needs should be pretty much catered for. I know there are more out there, so if you’ve got a suggestion of another one or want to give your opinion on your favourite weather app, then please feel free to leave a comment in the box below!