Description: We’ve reviewed eWeather HD before, but now the team is back with a new update, version 5.4 to one of the most featured weather apps on Android. This time around, the team have added the ability to take a look at the previous year’s weather compared to current conditions and there are now themes both available to download from the team behind eWeather and from your friends. These new additions join the already impressively long list of features that eWeather has to offer, like the ability to track a 10-day forecast through just one widget, or take a look at a detailed weather map of what’s going to happen near you over the next few days. For weather nuts and those that need to know what the weather’s going to be doing, eWeather HD is one of the best apps out there, so let’s take a closer look at this latest version.
How it Works: Just as before, you’ll need to download eWeather HD from the Play Store. Once you’ve done that, you can go ahead and launch the app. You’ll first be given a look at an analogue clock that also displays the weather hour-by-hour which is a nice use of an analogue clock.
By swiping left or right you’ll be taken to different views of the app, like 10-day forecast.
Those that read our original eWeather HD review and use it regularly will be aware of all the features that eWeather HD has to offer, but some of the new ones here are the 365 page which can tell you what the weather was exactly a year ago.
This has been particularly interesting to me as they say here in the UK that we’ve had one of the warmest Septembers on record, so I went ahead and took a look at September using this graph and it turns out that this year wasn’t all that much warmer than it was last year.
One other new feature in the 5.4 update of eWeather is the ability to change the look and feel of the app. You can download or import themes from your phone or choose from a selection from the developer as well.
Choosing a color or a combination of colors will change how eWeather looks and feels on your smartphone.
All of the same features that you loved about eWeather HD are still here, like the ability to choose from a wide-range of widget sizes.
And it’s not just the size of the widgets either, there are an insane amount of different options as to just what you want the widget to display, too.
Opinion: While eWeather HD continues to get better and better, it’s still something that might be overkill to a lot of people. However, if you’re the type of person that really needs to know what’s going to happen with the weather in the next week to ten days, then eWeather is the app for you. It’s also, so so much more than that, there’s a fully featured weather map system here as well as the new ability to look at weather archives for the last year, which could help you plan ahead weeks or even months into the future using genuine data as a guide. As always, eWeather HD continues to be the best weather app available on Android for those that care about the weather forecast. It’s not overly flashy, but then again it’s not try to be. Other, less featured apps can go after being pretty, eWeather HD is all about offering the most and it wins every single time.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – It feels as if eWeather has gotten faster to me, but it was never a slow app so there’s little to complain about here.
- Features (5/5) – With even more added in the new 5.4 update, eWeather couldn’t offer anything more even if it tried. The archive feature is a really nice feature and it’s genuinely helpful, like the rest of the app.
- Theme (4/5) – With the ability to theme how the app looks, eWeather HD has gotten prettier and it’ll only continue to do so as more and more updates trickle down.
- Overall (4.5/5) – Certainly an app for the data-lover, eWeather HD continues to offer more features than mostly anything else out there and it now does so with some extra tricks up its sleeves.
Pros
- Still offers consistently more features than other apps like the radar feature, the weather archives, the vast array of widgets, the different forecasts and more.
- Dew is now listed in the conditions that can help you determine how slippy it is outside in the winter.
- Weather archive is an excellent new feature and is not only interesting to look back through, but also to help people forward plan using genuine data as a guideline.
- While eWeather HD has never been about looking the prettiest, the new theme feature goes a long way to making it one of the more appealing apps while also offering more features and ways to forecast the weather than any other weather app I’ve come across.
Cons
- Some older elements of Android are still used here, like the menu system and with Android Lollipop launching soon it will need updating.
- Those looking for a weather app that’s easier on the eye might not appreciate the extra features, but then eWeather isn’t about good looks.
Conclusion: It’s hard to write just how many features eWeather HD has on offer, but if you just take a look at the Play Store listing you’ll see that it’s huge and if you’re really into your weather, you’re going to love this. For those that genuinely need to know what the weather forecast is for perhaps track conditions or flight conditions, eWeather HD has so many helpful features that there’s nothing out there that competes on this sort of level. Sure, the app is getting a little crowded and while the theme support is nice, it’ll need to be updated when Android Lollipop arrives otherwise it’ll look a little out of place. Still, eWeather HD remains one of the best weather apps around, period.