You know the old saying, right? ‘Everyone complains about the weather but nobody ever does anything about it.’
That’s because there’s just not much that can be done about the weather, and based on how similar weather apps are on the iPhone and iPad, there’s not much new under the sun there, either. Except for this clever little iPhone weather app that screams to Apple, ‘Give me floating tiles!‘
Something New Under The Sun
Atlanta’s weather changes rapidly at certain times during the year, so both my iPhone and iPad have multiple weather applications.
Some are free, some cost a dollar or two, but most do pretty much the same thing. Weather conditions and forecasts.
Here’s the problem. We have to tap the weather app to get the information we need. What I want is a weather app that tells me without asking.
Haze won’t do that. Not yet. But what it does provide is a more clever way to display weather data.
First, weather information isn’t just visual. There’s some audio mixed in. And Haze makes use of the iPhone’s compass and gyroscope.
The basics are visually different as well.
You’ll get current conditions and five day forecasts. Plus, there’s sunshine hours, UV information, cloud coverage and little details such as sunrise, sunset, high and lows, windchill, and windspeed.
And, yes, there’s temperature ranges, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and all the standard weather information goodies, but wrapped up into an animated package of color which matches your mood and weather.
In other words, Haze is simple, elegant, and is just screaming to put into a home screen floating tile like you seen in Windows Phone.
As it stands now, apps in iOS need action from the user to become, well, useful. Haze is no different, though visibly, it’s a different way to get information that everyone needs, and every weather app already has.
Is it worth the just-less-than-a-dollar price tag? Probably. Especially if you like simplicity and prefer to get details information at a glance. What’s missing? An option to have a floating tile of weather information on the iOS home screen.




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