Sun is a web app for iOS. It came out a few months back, but the original version used a different weather API that wasn't free, so the developer had to find a free alternative. I don’t know when the developer found an alternative since the update doesn’t affect the original Sun web app. For some reason, that one does not update, so you will have to go back to the Sun website, and once again add it to your homescreen.
Once you have that dealt with, once you open it, if you have any experience with any older version of Sun, the you’ll notice that the interface has been tweaked a little bit. The idea is the same, but there have been some minor changes that make the experience that much better. Oh, and this new version actually has the capability to update itself when it runs.
The Sun web app does one thing that I really like. Its a feature that you can add to the default Weather app in iOS, but only with a jailbreak, so its nice to see that you can actually do this without a jailbreak, on a totally stock iOS device. The icon for Sun on your homescreen is constantly changing when you launch it. The icon actually displays the current temperature outside, so if it is -45 C outside, it should say that on the icon, which is actually pretty convenient if you want to quickly know the temperature, although it does have a little bit of a drawback, that being the fact that you need to launch the web app to update the temperature on the icon.
By default when you install the web app, it will have a few locations in it by default for weather. First off, it will use your location to determine where you are, in my case, Edmonton. Then it has three other preset locations, which you can change if you want. Those locations are:
Copenhagen
Vienna
Hong Kong
As I said, you can change those if you wish, although I just don’t bother with it, since I really don’t care what the weather is like elsewhere in the world, except where I live.
If you tap on the screen when you are in the app, you will enter another interface for more detailed weather information. You get an 11 day forecast, and graph that shows weather trends for quite a few days.
If you tap the button in the top right, you get into the settings which allow you to customize the other preset locations, temperature units (celsius, and Fahrenheit,) basically it gives you the option to switch the units from Metric to Imperial.
In terms of the interface of Sun, it is very simple to use, which is something that I expect out of something like this. I’ve said this many times before, but if a weather app is confusing and complicated to use, no one in their right mind is going to want to use it. People want and need quick access to weather information, and they should be able to get that through a weather app, or in this case, a web app with ease.
Sun is a web app, and it is able to do everything I would expect it to do. And it is able to do it in a very simple, clean way. I am very impressed with this weather app. It is very simple though, so if you want to get some more complicated information, this web app may not work for you, but if all you're looking for is more simple information, than Sun will work well.
