If you appreciate beautiful, full-bleed graphics in an app that performs as good as it looks, the all-new updated Yahoo! Weather app is one you'll want to have a look at. Checking the weather on our phones is one of those things nobody needs to do —getting up and looking outside would be good for anyone — but most of us do it. It's convenient, and lets us see what the skies and temperature are like in places where we're not. Maybe you're traveling and need to know whether to pack an umbrella or which jacket to take, or you're wanting to know the forecast of the place you're going. Or maybe you just like being able to check something as trivial as the weather through your expensive smartphone. We never judge.
There are a lot (as in a whole lot) of apps out there that show you the weather, but Yahoo! has found a way to stand out from the crowd. Using high-resolution pictures from Flickr —a company Yahoo! owns — that show the location and current conditions as a backdrop, the weather never looked this good. I've been playing with the update here for a couple hours, and I'll tell you that looking at the weather in Berlin is better when the background is a gorgeous picture of the Brandenburg Gate in the background. The same goes for a sunset picture of the National Mall in Washington, DC. Of course not all locations are going to be covered, so if you live somewhere out-of-the-way like, for example, Bunker Hill, West Virginia, you'll have a generic image.
The app is also really feature-rich. The settings cover everything from unit types (Celsius or Fahrenheit) to persistent notifications and alerts. You can add as many locations as you like, and of course your current location is always available. Add in things like 10-day forecasts, 24 hour forecast, the chance of precipitation, wind and pressure numbers, the moon phase, UV patterns, sunrise and sunset times, an interactive map and a set of widgets of all sizes and you've got the recipe for an app everyone will like. There's even a lock screen widget if your Android supports them.
The app is free, and if you're already using the Yahoo! Weather app you'll be getting an update notification soon. If you're not, and want to give it a try, grab it via the Google Play link above. We've got a whole slew of screenshots of the UI and settings after the break.
