Social Networking And Weather Is Found In Weathermob
Weathermob (Free) by Weathermob, Inc is a social take on weather forecasts.
Let’s admit it, weather is arguably one of the most common forms of “small talk.” Everyone has something to say about the weather, right? It’s hard to find someone that really doesn’t care about weather, whether they like it or not. Weathermob takes this idea of weather small talk to an entirely new level, and it’s actually a delight to use.
Before you can begin using Weathermob, you will have to create an account. For those that hate apps that require Facebook or Twitter to create an account, good news! – there’s none of that here. Your Weathermob account will be kept completely separate. Once you register (and become a weatherman or weatherwoman), then the fun begins.
The app has five tabs along the bottom that will give you a different view: Home, Forecast, Latest, Following, and You. At the top, there will always be two buttons: Location and +Report.
From the Home view, the app will pull in data about your current location, or you can manually select a place from the location option. Regardless of your choice, Weathermob will give the location a cutesy name (Willowville, for example, as I am at a Starbucks on Willow Street in Long Beach), and display the current temperature. In addition to the temperature, you will get information like the current condition (overcast) and an overall “mood” of the area. The mood data comes from the moods that other users of Weathermob have selected when adding a new weather report.
The Forecast tab will allow you to view a weekly (left) and hourly (right) forecast for the currently selected location. The way that Weathermob presents this data is beautiful and elegant. Each forecast is in its own pane, and weather is represented with beautiful icons and graphics. The app also displays the percent chance that the area will have precipitation, which is nice and always good to know. I am also in love with the typography that is used throughout the app.
When you want to add your own “weather report,” just tap on the +Report button. From here, there are three sections for you to fill out, with a spinning wheel of options to choose from. You have to fill out the current weather conditions (sunnyish, cloudy, foggy, overcast, etc), how the weather makes you feel, and what’s good in the weather (coffee, burger, beer, ice cream, soup, a bath, etc). There are some random icons in the last option though, which gave me a good laugh. Examples include a skull, seagull, and a sheep.
In addition to these three fields, you can add your own words describing the weather (or whatever you want), a video, or just a photo. When you are done filling in these bits of information, just send the report and it gets uploaded to Weathermob’s servers. It can also be posted on Facebook or Twitter.
The Latest tab allows you to view the weather reports of other users from all over the world. You will see the location of the report, the icon representing the weather, their mood, and what the weather is good for. If the user added their own words, video, or photo, you will see it in the stream.
Of course, what’s the social aspect good for if you can’t talk to others? Weathermob does allow you to leave comments for other users, “like” it, and even follow the user. If something is inappropriate, you can also flag the report for review (under the “More” button).
The Following view allows you to see the activity of users that you are following. Of course, this won’t be very busy if you aren’t following a lot of people. The You tab shows your Weathermob profile, with your number of reports, followers/following counts, and where your recent reports were sent from. The option to add friends is here, and you can find Twitter/Facebook friends, Weathermob users, and invite people.
Within the app settings, accessible through the You tab, users will have several options. You can edit account details, your profile image, social network accounts (Facebook/Twitter), and choose your units (temperature, times, distance).
I found Weathermob to be a fun and nifty weather app. The forecast is pretty accurate, when compared to other weather apps. The social aspect is not forced on you besides the initial account sign up, but you can use the app solely for getting information in a beautiful way. In a way, it’s kind of like an Instagram for weather.
As Weathermob is a free download, I’d highly recommend picking it up and giving it a try.
