How is the weather over there? The rainy May we had has started to spill over into the month of gloom, I mean, June over here. I’m sure it will clear up soon, so I can finally work on my Twilight complexion, minus the sparkles. It’s true! My BlackBerry told me so. How do you check the weather on your BlackBerry? Some users point their mobile browsers over to their trusted weather stations mobile site. Others decide to either slap on sunscreen or throw on a raincoat based on what their friends and family say on Facebook, Twitter, etc. For those who want the latest conditions and forecast information, I say it’s time for a BlackBerry weather application.
One of the many mobile mini meteorological marvels to mention (whew!) is Ace Weather Forecasts. Regardless of whether you are wondering about the conditions of where you are, where you’ll be or where you wish you were, Ace Weather Forecasts provides in-depth weather conditions for nearly every location around the globe. There’s a 100% chance of a review after the jump.
About Ace Weather Forecasts
The application was developed by Ace Mobile Software, who also gave us Ace Mail Viewer and Free Ringtones Maker. For anyone still using an older model of BlackBerry, make sure you are running at least OS 4.2 or higher, in order to use Ace Weather Forecasts. The most recent version of the application is 1.1.203 and has a file size of 223.8 KB.
As I mentioned before, Ace Weather Forecasts provides information for “any worldwide location”. When you initially start up the application, you will be asked to enter in the location you wish to receive information about. You are also able to create a list of multiple locations you want to keep your eye on. The homepage icon is transformed into a basic weather notifier. The icon graphic gives a visual representation of the current weather. I did have issues with another feature - My location, current temperature and conditions would appear as text as I scrolled over the homepage icon. I pulled the battery, and when my BlackBerry rebooted, the application was gone. After downloading a second time, I lost the home screen text update for an hour; only the application name appeared.
Basic icon on the left, weather conditions on the right
view current weather
Opening the application you can see additional current weather details that include: wind speed and direction, visibility, humidity pressure, precipitation and sky cover (on top of the temperature). Ace Weather Forecasts also includes daily and hourly charts and forecasts for each of the details, as well as sun/moon rise and set times. Using your trackball/trackpad, you can scroll up and down to move between each detail chart and scroll left and right to navigate within the displayed chart. If they were able to fit all of the information on the screen (instead of 90% of it) it would eliminate in-chart navigation. I was glad to see that the application supports both metric and imperial units of measurement.
viewing wind statistics
options menu
Conclusion
While Ace Weather Forecasts does a decent job of providing weather details, in my opinion, it needs a fair bit of tweaking, as far as presentation goes. There are other weather apps out there that sport a clean UI, so I have high hopes for this one! It is also fairly expensive, costing $19.95, where similar apps are typically go for half of that. The good news is that there is a free trial period AND it’s on sale in the CrackBerry App Store for $9.75 until June 30th.
Pros
- Track multiple cities
- Home screen weather notification
- Daily and hourly charts
Cons
- Charts need to be resized to fit screen
- App disappeared after rebooting
More Info
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Brandon 8ch Jun 7, 2010 at 4:48 pm
I wish it was free =(
jkpitcher Jun 7, 2010 at 4:51 pm
Will stick with my BerryWeather. Thanks for the review though.
jpkirkpa Jun 7, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Looks like a functional app, but the UI isn't too appealing. Almost seems too much was done to add info wherever without regard for how it would look on the phones
kevindharner Jun 7, 2010 at 6:03 pm
you get the same stuff with weatherbug (both free and elite)
I'll stick with that
cwhitney24 Jun 7, 2010 at 6:22 pm
$19.95? Sorry. Sounds like a good weather app but my berryweather looks better and gives me all I need...for less.
slushie_jazzman Jun 7, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Hey all, as an aussie user it's hard to find a weather app that does the town I live in - most do the capital cities and that's about it. The fact that it does my little town is awesome. My only gripe is that it doesn't refresh all my locations automatically, it will only update my home location. Other than that pretty top app, wouldn't pay the $20 for it though, was happy when I got it for the special price a while back
Steven Friedmann Jun 7, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Duh! WeatherEye is free, no bugs, and has multiple cities & more. Just no hourly wind graphics but who cares. Who would pay $20 for something you can get for free that works better?
DrLouie Jun 7, 2010 at 8:57 pm
There are many free ones.
I like NWS Client from http://renderfast.com/2010/03/30/nwsclient-1-2-released/ and WeatherBug.
Chris money Jun 7, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Berryweather!!!!!!!!!!!!
mutambo Jun 7, 2010 at 10:26 pm
this application is embarrassing. how can you even bother taking the time to review this crap? this is the problem with blackberry, that crap like this is even allowed to be sold and given any attention. this looks like it came out of 2004. maybe it has good features but it looks terrible. in need of a major update. yuck.
mutambo Jun 7, 2010 at 10:26 pm
this application is embarrassing. how can you even bother taking the time to review this crap? this is the problem with blackberry, that crap like this is even allowed to be sold and given any attention. this looks like it came out of 2004. maybe it has good features but it looks terrible. in need of a major update. yuck.
davidnc Jun 8, 2010 at 6:19 am
Well this weather app isnt for me after reading the review and about how it might disappear and stuff :p , sounds kinda odd but I guess if its all you got to choose from then good luck with it. I know all weather apps do not work everywhere in the world and when I live where they do ALL work its easy to forgot about where they dont all work at .
twokansamm Jun 8, 2010 at 8:17 am
This looks like a something that was written in the early 80s.
jrmtl Jun 8, 2010 at 8:54 am
Not early 80's , I would say early 90's .
Berryweather is the standard and anything else should be free
Smmrgrl Jun 8, 2010 at 9:47 am
Looks like something Palm would put out. :P
PRINCEJUDAH Jun 8, 2010 at 9:58 am
Oh mmy God I think Steve Jobs has officially sold me on switching to the iPhone 4. What are Blackberry Apps coming too? SMH!!!
Ghostnyc Jun 8, 2010 at 10:22 am
20 frakin bucks for a crappy looking weather app that looks like it belongs on 1st gen GSM based phone (seriously I had a Sony T60 back in 2002 that this app would have been great for)
This is an insult to Blackberry apps and the future of app development. You can get a PREMIUM fully functional, interactive, feature and image rich app like BeWeather or Weatherbug for HALF the cost OR...enjoy the free versions which are 1000 times better than this...ADMIT IT...YOU LOST A BET OR SOMETHING ...OR THIS IS A JOKE...RIGHT??? Did a kid you know make this?
Sock Jun 12, 2010 at 12:37 am
I have been a loyal BB user for a few years. A loyal Verizon customer since the Bell Atlantic Mobile days. My first BB was the 8330 curve, then the Tour 9630 and lastly the Storm 9550 Loved them all. BUT It's has now become time to jump ship. While i HATE to leave VZW, it's time for something new. I feel like RIM is going nowhere. I logged on to good ol Crackberry.com and read a review of a weather app called Ace Weather I believe for TWENTY DOLLARS !! It was the saddest app I think I have ever seen. It was a total waste of money and looked like it was written by a Tandy 1000 (yes I had one) And yes looks are important too. By the way, even if it was free, I wouldn't pee on it if it was on fire. I was so aggravated the crackberry actually had reviewed this app and it made me realize the there is just nothing interesting for crackberry to blog about RIM. It's the same ol crapola. Leak after leak after leak. Every website has post and/or information about upcoming devices (that actually are released withing a month or two) and it's exciting. It's something to look forward to. I understand the this a BB site but I'm bored of RIM and I think a lot of others are as well. Every day there is some more great news about the iPhone or Android. EVERY DAY!! Blackberry? Nothing. So it has come time for me to say farewell to RIM. At least for now, and say hello to the iPhone4.
jakeh0 Jun 28, 2010 at 1:36 pm
lol i thought this was an old article about an app written for the 8830 or something