Anyone who is an avid user of the top of the range smartphone or tablet such as the iPhone 4S, iPad or the new Google Nexus 7 tablet will appreciate the difference that a beautiful looking app can bring. Functional apps are all well and good, after all, we expect a purchase or download to fulfill its purpose but an app that does what it says on the tin while looking beautiful pushes the user-experience to a new level.
Browsing through the App Store and Google Play Store will return a multitude of apps that perform certain tasks. Weather apps are literally littered throughout both the stores, but we have recently started to see an influx of weather-based apps that look simply stunning. Weather Neue, literally translated to Weather New, is one such example of an app that offers relatively simple weather based information but does it in a way that is a pleasure to look at and use.
Weather Neue is built to offer a minimalistic experience and attempts to move away from the traditional method of plastering the screen with reams and reams of data and large meaningless images. The user-interface of the app is stripped right back to displaying the current temperature in large typeface along with the current location and a small image that represents the current climate. A simple tap on the location at the top of the view invokes a lovely animation that pushes the main view to the background and shows a new options panel that allows the theme to be changed as well as the units of measurement.
The rest of the display is taken up by a series of tiny but beautiful icons which represent the chance of rain, the wind speed and the wind direction as well as a place at the very bottom of the app for the current weather and an additional three days forecast. Regardless of what theme is being used, the whole interface is beautiful by its simplicity, but for me, the elegance is made complete by the initial animation that takes center stage when the app is first fired up and looking for the weather details. Rather than displaying a typical activity indicator or a heads-up display, the developers have kept with the style of the app and included a constantly changing temperature indicator.
Weather Neue is available as a free of charge download for the iPhone, iPod touch and Android devices and looks simply stunning on the display of the new Nexus 7. Definitely a must have utility for those who have purchased Google’s first Nexus tablet. The information at the bottom of the settings page declare that the Weather Neue has been made with love, and after using it for an hour or so, I definitely agree.
Download Weather Neue for iPhone, iPod touch or an Android smartphone or tablet. [iTunes Link /Google Play Link]
Be sure to check out our iPhone Apps Gallery and iPad Apps Gallery to explore more apps for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and also our Android Apps gallery to explore more apps for your Android device.
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