See Weather In A Different Perspective With Partly Cloudy
July 30, 2012
Partly Cloudy ($0.99) by Raureif is yet another weather app, but it comes with a unique visual infographic perspective that hasn't been done before. But is being different enough to keep me using the app? In this case, probably not.I'm not sure why, but it seems that weather apps are all the rage lately. I do like that though, because it's showing that there are developers who are adding a twist on traditional weather apps. When I first learned of Partly Cloudy, I knew I had to check it out. I love gorgeous interfaces, and this app definitely has it.
Once Partly Cloudy is launched, you will be greeted with a screen that features a large, visual clock in the middle. You are able to see the time on the outer ring of the clock, and a second ring underneath that features colors that represent the temperature. A clock hand can be dragged to reveal data for a certain time. A button on the bottom right corner allows users to switch between three clock views: 12-hours, 24-hours, and week view.When the hand is on a selected time, Partly Cloudy will display several bits of information on the screen at once. The temperature will be in large text at the top and center of the screen. The Beaufort wind force scale and precipitation amount will be shown to the left of the temperature, and high/low and weather situation (sunlight, cloudy, etc.) to the right. But that’s not all, as the clock will display even more information. Lines in the center of the clock represent wind force at the indicated time, and a blue bubble symbolizes the amount of precipitation. A button in the bottom left corner will make the app focus on now, if it wasn’t already. A gear icon in the top right corner allows you to access the settings, where you can manage multiple locations and toggle the metric system. Even though the app displays the information in a noteworthy way, I still found some flaws with it that prevent me from using it daily. First, while the app does allow multiple locations, it's a pain to switch between them. You have to either tap on the location at the bottom or access settings, then select the location you want. I guess that I have been spoiled by other apps, such as Weather HD and Solar : Weather, which let you navigate between multiple locations with just a swipe. You can't even view all of your locations at once, which is disappointing.Secondly, I have been unable to get the data for the current time. When I looked at the app at around 11 a.m. PDT, I was unable to get data until 2 p.m. for some reason. Anything before that would just say “Data Unavailable.” Thirdly, the temperature seems to be way off — Partly Cloudy is giving me a temperature that is about 10 degrees higher than the standard weather app’s hourly forecast. I’m not sure what weather source it’s pulling data from (the app description just says a “trusted Norwegian source”), but it doesn’t seem to be very accurate for me. With these flaws, I can’t recommend the app fully — maybe in a future update, though, so keep it in your watch lists. However, I do commend the developer for being daring and trying something new with the weather.
