The BBC has brought us many apps over the years, delivering iPlayer, news and sports direct to our smartphones, but today it delivered yet another — this time dedicated to the weather.
We can’t quite get our heads around why the BBC has launched their weather app — given the data it uses is directly from the Met Office, who already has its own app. It is however far more aesthetically pleasing than the one launched by the Met Office, so on this occasion we’ll forgive it.
Like the Met Office’s own app, there is no optimised view for iPads — which isn’t the best news, but hopefully this will be rectified soon.
Upon firing up the BBC Weather app, it should immediately detect your location and give you an overview of the weather conditions, although we had a slight problem trying it out — given our Galaxy S4’s refusal to fetch our location.
We were however able to search for locations, which brought up detailed information of the current weather, as well as pollen count, humidity and wind speed — just to name a few.
The BBC has laced the app with quite a few bells and whistles, with Android users being able to add a dedicated widget to their homescreen, and even beam weather information to their friends via NFC.
iOS and Android users with iOS 5+ or Android 2.2+ can download the app today for free, but the Beeb is remaining mum on whether Windows Phone 8 or Blackberry 10 will receive the same treatment.