You’d think it’d be easy to make a weather app but most are just terribly cluttered and vomit-inducingly ugly. Shine for iPhone actually cares about how you’re going to use it – it’s fast, gorgeous and super simple to use.
What is it?
Shine, $1.19, iPhone. It’s a weather app. And I didn’t care about weather apps when I lived in California – I mean, you look outside the window and that’s that – but when I moved to the east coast, where real weather exists, it’s important to plan your wardrobe accordingly. But most weather apps suck! The stock weather app is laughably simple, the more in-depth apps are gorge my eyes and hurt my fingers.
Shine is a beaut, when you bring it up, it gives the current weather in clear text with an enjoyable cartoon graphic. The bottom displays the forecast (which is side swipeable to see the rest of the seven days) with high/low temperatures, precipitation and again, enjoyable cartoon graphic. If you wanted to know more specific forecasts for the rest of the day, you just scroll down from the main page to see what the weather will be like every three hours (will be updated to every hour) for the next three days.
Shine wants to keep weather simple, so don’t go expecting complicated stuff that the gen pop folks never use. Instead, think of it as a slightly more detailed version of Apple’s never-been-updated weather app with the same ease of use.
Who’s it good for?
People who need to check the weather. People who want more than the stock weather app but not as much detail as The Weather Channel. People who like gorgeous apps with smart interfaces.
Why’s it better than alternatives?
It’s pretty, that’s a duh. But what surprised me most was how fast the app responded to my swipes. I could flip between cities and get updated faster than any other weather app I’ve tried. I also love how the app uses different gestures (that are natural to the iPhone), I can swipe across one panel to see the weeks forecast, scroll down to see the hourly forecast for each day and all of it just felt right. No lag, no clutter.
How could it be even better?
What I really, really need in a weather app is that “This Is How It Really Feels” temperature, I live off of those numbers. Also, I’d love a settings page so I can choose which hours they forecast (as I could care less what the weather is between 4am-8am). Push notifications for some severe weather conditions would be nice too. I wouldn’t be against having a teensy bit more info when I tap on the current weather either. Weather buffs would probably like weather maps, description of the weather and all that junk.
Shine for iPhone [iTunes]