The main advantage of today's tablets and smartphones - the opportunity to keep abreast of world events. All kinds of news services, online resources, and specialized applications will show a summary of breaking news, political upheavals and economic trends. But there is a tradition common to all: the day we begin with a study of the weather. Today our collection for Android will be devoted to popular weather applications and widgets. Of course, we understand that many of our readers prefer the native resolution of the device manufacturers or popular services like Google Now or "Yandeks.Pogoda." However, even they are sometimes not so easy to use, and the accuracy of the forecasts ...
In fact, they have an accuracy? And here it is - a simple question, so that he will devote a separate explanation.
Meteorology - the science is very complex and multifaceted, and the weather - only one side of its functions. Therefore, the world is not so much centralized services involved in forecasting, and most of them - state. A program and the weather service internet - consumers, not performers. Therefore, it is not necessary to present them increased demands - they only provide data meteorological, no more.
Same service directly receive data from satellites, probes and from terrestrial meteopostov. The data is processed, collate - and based on the result given forecasts. That's why local services will always be more accurate import, which in non-native areas is only satellite photos, without the support of ground stations. True, much is being done to coordinate the work of all the world's weather services, and data from local weather stations included in the total planetary array. Alas, the funds for a complete redesign of the system is not enough, even in European and American organizations, not to mention the Russian. So that in the coming years, the difference in the readings of, say, Hydromet and the World meteorological center in Geneva, would be substantial.
In Russia, the weather "makes" Hydrometeorological Service (Roshydromet) with the support of the satellite system "RDC". These satellites are designed to monitor the fire situation, but the image they are quite suitable for the prediction of clouds and precipitation, even over large areas.
Aggregated data Hydromet consumers take the first level - the federal TV channels and radio stations, and major media portals like FORECA or GISMETEO. Which, in turn, supply the data already processed most of Internet resources, not excluding the weather widgets.
In addition, there is such a thing as sbyvaemost forecast. Alas, the criteria in this part of meteorologists are often at odds with the layman simply did dramatically. Firstly, for the forecast within, say, Moscow or Leningrad region is considered good sbyvaemost at 80-85%. For regions like the Krasnoyarsk Territory, which occupies several climatic zones, the figure much lower, and forecasts it made in the zones. Secondly, the situation is even within the same region may differ very seriously. For example, the forecast for Moscow gives variable cloudiness, air temperature 25 ° C and light rain. In the north-west of Moscow, all about what happens. And in the south-east - a thunderstorm, rain, the whole sky in the clouds, almost + 20 °, and wet and citizens on what meteorologists bonfire light. But the amount of prediction came true, because it gave the entire city. Downpour, though strong, but short and local, and the definition of "small" based on the amount of precipitation in millimeters. It is really small. Clouds also given the average of the city.
Also note that many resources buy outlook "wholesale" - for a week or even two ahead (which is cheaper). But the forecast accuracy is only guaranteed for the next day, on the second it is much lower, and on the third and further considered unreliable. So widgets taking hydrometeorological data from Web sites in this respect much more accurate than most national newspapers.
To sum up: in our collection, we consider the program-informers only in terms of user friendly. Forecast accuracy, as we have seen, does not depend on software developer one iota, so we ignore it.
In addition, included in the compilation of the application, popular with users of Google Play. In this article, there is no advertising or opus ratings downloads, here collected only the software that is selected ordinary people for everyday use.
Solo Weather
A very simple application with a pretty widget. Solo Weather functionality is not limited to deducing the current temperature. The main screen includes a brief forecast for five days, the schedule changes in temperature and a complete description of the current weather conditions on the day. The application is able to display information about the wind direction and speed, atmospheric pressure, humidity, and the exact time of sunrise and sunset for the selected area.
Separately want to mention widgets. Developers should consider the change as a simple color scheme of the widget, and its skin. At this point, the application is under open beta test, so they can be certain inconsistencies, but for the time of use the author of these lines is found in only one of the defects - incomplete Russian localization. The rest of the application works fine with its functions.
Pros:
- minimalistic interface;
- convenient and informative widget.
Cons:
- incomplete localization (beta).
Gismeteo Weather Forecast
Service Gismeteo have long established themselves as one of the most accurate sources for weather forecast in Russia. Applications that are using this service, repeatedly recognized as the best for different devices and platforms.
Gismeteo Weather Forecast - is the development of direct representatives Gismeteo, therefore, for the accuracy of the information on changing weather conditions you should not worry. The application itself may output in a convenient form of information about the current weather all over the world, geomagnetic storms, exemplary Forecast and detailed - for two days in the region, selected manually or by GPS. In addition, Gismeteo Weather Forecast boasts instant switching between elected locations, as well as informative widget with detailed daily forecast. The only disadvantage of the application - can not be disabled Advertisement
Pros:
- informative widget;
- warning of geomagnetic storms;
- rapid transition between tabs cities.
Cons:
- advertising.
Animated Weather Widget, Clock
One of the best applications with the conclusion of the current weather conditions in the form of graphic animation. The program collects information for the selected city and shows a forecast for the four days.
The developer does not inadvertently restricted forecast four days on end - to predict the situation in the longer term does not make sense (see. Introduction to the review). The user - information on atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind strength and direction, sunrise and sunset. Beautiful animation of all weather conditions, from drizzle to a hurricane and a blizzard can be displayed on four pre-installed themes, a list which at the request of the author will be constantly updated.
Application fee, but the trial version has full functionality and is different from the "premium-assembly" only in the presence of advertising.
Pros:
- accurate prediction for four days;
- animated display of weather conditions.
Cons:
- advertising;
- "Premium" versions does not have functional advantages over free.
Weather BZ
Very reliable application is the most accurate weather forecast. "Weather BZ» favorably with counterparts from the three sources of data collection (Foreca, AccuWeather, Weather Underground), as a result of giving the greatest possible accuracy of the forecast for almost any region.
The rest of the users to expect a standard set of weekly forecast, pressure readings, wind, maximum and minimum temperatures, as well as the so-called comfort temperature. The main application screen changes the layout depending on the time of day, showing a simplified animation of the current weather, which uses a pre-set theme, which can be changed as needed.
"Weather BZ» can output an hourly, daily or weekly forecast as a widget on your desktop or advanced notification system "curtain."Interestingly, the developer has completely refused advertising and monetization is only due to donations from the main application menu.
Pros:
- informative widget;
- mapping of the forecast in the notification area, and "curtain";
- animated display of weather conditions;
- three sources of the forecast.
Cons:
- no objective disadvantages.
Weather clock and Widget
This application is gathered in itself all the best from similar solutions of other authors. The developers have added a choice between two popular sources - AccuWeather and Open Weather Map, - for the selection of a more accurate forecast. Have the opportunity to view daily, weekly and ten predictions, plotting changes in weather conditions, the automation of data update and search for a location map as a GPS, or manually. In addition, available as a quick and full information about the forecast change in atmospheric pressure, wind speed and humidity.
But the main difference between this application from the competition - a set of widgets. You can customize the display of any parameter to any screen size, thus changing not only the number of cells in the grid, but also the design of the widget. The developers propose to form the Quick Access Toolbar purely to suit your needs: depending on the wishes can be displayed on the desktop as an hourly forecast, and a week with a clock and an alarm button shortcut. In addition to information, customizable background and widget style data tables and fonts.
The application is completely free, but not devoid of advertising. But this is not a problem, you can disable banner buying Donat version in store.
Pros:
- Two sources of forecast;
- forecast for the day, week and ten days;
- informative customizable widget.
Cons:
- Donat version has no functional advantages over free.
By tradition, we offer you in the comments to discuss the selection. We also would like to know about your favorite apps to check the weather. Do not forget that even if your solution does not get into a selection, this advice can help you to other users.