Weather apps. Windows Phone has no shortage of them, possibly due to their frequency of use as well as the ability to work with specific data. Regardless, I am always excited to see new ones join the flock, especially if they embrace the Modern design language from Microsoft.
Atmosphere is a wonderfully designed weather app for Windows Phone 8 that has enough features to keep most forecast fans content. The design of Atmosphere is probably its main feature, as it is bold, clean and easy to read. Likewise with the Live Tile, which has one of the better layouts I have seen.
In terms of features, Atmosphere doesn't disappoint:
- Beautiful Live Tile
- Simple interface with advanced features
- Weather graphs such as the sunrise and sunset indicators.
- Multiple locations
- Themes
- HD Lockscreen Support
- Quick loading
- Down to the percent precipitation chances
- 7-Day weekly forecast, 7-hour hourly forecast
- Location services
- Minute-by-minute forecast during storms
Everything about Atmosphere in terms of design is well thought out and easy to navigate. Switching between dark and Accent color gives users much desired choice. Same goes with the Live Tile, which thankfully can be the Accent color or transparent (for Windows Phone 8.1 users), depending on user preference. The Lockscreen support is decent, with all the significant information presented to the user without the need to squint. The images themselves do not change as often as I'd like, and it would be nice to either set my own or grab from another source, and at least on my Lumia 1520, there is a colored bar at the bottom, which looks like a graphics artifact.
Atmosphere can operate internationally and have multiple locations, but currently, the radar is only US based. The app uses data from Forecast.io for those who have preferences about weather sources.
Overall, in a Store crammed with excellent forecasting apps, Atmosphere still manages to impress. Personally speaking, I rarely use the same weather app for more than six weeks. Instead, I prefer to rotate through my favorites or try whatever is new. Atmosphere fits well into my collection, and I enjoy it.
Atmosphere runs for 99 cents on the Store though there is a free trial to take it for a test run. If you try it, let us know what you think. Moreover, head into our forums where the developer has his own support thread for feedback and feature requests!
