Following on the heels of AccuWeather’s update for Windows Phone is WeatherBug, who lands at the 3.0 marker today. If you know updates, a whole number change means “big” and that’s the case here. How significant is this? Well, our records last show an update for this app back in May. Wait sorry, that’s May 2012.
WeatherBug 3.0 has been completely overhauled and it’s more in line with their iOS and Android designs. That’s not to say they haven’t flatten some of the graphics and adapted it for Windows Phone, but rather the menu system is a bit odd for Windows Phone users. Having said, we would be lying if we didn’t say it was feature packed. Let’s take a look.
WeatherBug 3.0
- Real-Time Enhanced Pin-Point Forecasts for 2.6 Million Locations Worldwide – The industry’s most accurate current, extended and hourly weather forecasts for your neighborhood and beyond. With 25% more accurate forecasts for the next 24 hours (when compared to other weather apps), Know Before™ you head out!
- Extended 10-Day Forecast – Weather happens. Get the most accurate extended forecast and Know Before™ 10 days ahead.
- Exclusive DTAs & Severe Weather Alerts – Minutes Matter. Our Dangerous Thunderstorm Alerts (DTAs) provide you 50% faster warnings to severe weather than the competition. Plus, you get National Weather Service (NWS) warnings and watches to stay informed of severe weather conditions at all your current and saved locations.
- Spark Alerts – Spark, an exclusive feature of WeatherBug, turns your smartphone into a personal lightning detector. Get minute-by-minute, mile-by-mile Spark lightning monitoring, in real-time, from the WeatherBug total lightning detection network!
- Enhanced Interactive Maps – Enjoy our enhanced maps with multiple layers such as Doppler radar, humidity, pressure, wind speed, high/low forecast, satellite imaging and more!
- Live Weather Cams – View live images from over 2,000 weather cameras across the U.S. to get a better picture (pun intended) of the weather at destinations near and far.
That sure is a lot of marketing mumbo jumbo. Let’s take a look at what Windows Phone users really care about:
- Double Wide Tile support – Tile flips to show a nice graphic of current conditions with the current temperature, conditions and location on the other side. No update time
- Lockscreen support – While the HD image of the current conditions look really elegant, as far as we can tell, it doesn’t actually tell you anything. No current temperature, location, etc.
- Settings – Besides Fahrenheit and Celsius, there is zero customization or options; evidently the app updates whenever it feels like
- Multiple locations supported including current (GPS based)
- Ad supported – Ads are near the bottom; they’re a little distracting and there is no in-app purchase to remove
WeatherBug 3.0 overall is an interesting app. It’s not bad looking at all, although with the menus (upper right and left corners for locations and various forecasts, respectively), it doesn’t really fit in with the Modern UI design aesthetic. Still, it is a zippy app that is clear and easy to read.
The Live Tile is ‘ok’, bringing in the bare minimum, and the Lockscreen support is halfway decent. Regardless, WeatherBug 3.0 is a free, first-party title that we’re glad to see on Windows Phone, especially after their 18 month hiatus.
Pick up WeatherBug 3.0 for Windows Phone 7.x and 8 here in the Store or scan the QR below.
Via: Windows Phone Central Forums/ bguy_1986
