Sunday, September 18, 2011

Living Earth HD - World Clock and Weather

Living Earth HD - World Clock and Weather
Living Earth HD world clock, weather and alarm app is designed for both the iPhone and iPad and I must say that it looks extremely gorgeous on the iPad. And right now it's 50 percent off the original price.
I've reviewed many clock apps and I have to say that I'm quite impressed with this one for its beautiful display of a realistic 3D rendering of our planet, effortless setup and real-time weather reports. The clouds are even rendered with near real-time satellite cloud data (every 3 hours). View global cloud patterns, and tropical storms as they are happening.

Price: $2.99 Download on the App Store

Sure, there is a clock already installed on the iPhone and it works great and yes there are a billion clock apps on the app store, but the Living Earth HD world clock and weather app not only is stands out in function, but also in form. It really is amazing to look at. It would literally be an awesome wall, nightstand, office or anywhere for that matter clock.

When the app is launched it automatically displays time and weather for Cupertino, Apple's headquarters. By simply touching the localization tab in the lower left the app displays the user's current city within seconds and rotates the 3D rendering of planet earth to their location. It's very nifty.

Current temperature along with an image of the weather (cloudy, sunny, raining, etc.) and the high and low for the day are displayed in the upper left. Touch the temperature and a five-day forecast drops down in an overlay giving all the necessary details one would expect. This is a really useful feature when planning for the week. Touch it again and it goes away.

Time and date are displayed in the upper right and by default its a bit small. However, one tap and it doubles in size for easier viewing. Another useful feature for those of us that have difficulty viewing small text.
And of course, this is a world clock so Living Earth HD not only displays the location being viewed in the bottom right corner, once tapped it also displays six other cities that can be customized in the settings tab. For instance, at the time of this review, London was 72 degrees and clear and so was Shangai. Interesting.
If weather is a hobby, then the built-in screen snapshot and share function is a great feature for showing off a beautiful scene of current date, time and weather via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Email or just to save in the photo library.

The 3D rendering in Living Earth HD also allows the earth to rotate at a continuous spin or manually with the swipe of a finger. To get back to the the user's hometown, simply double tap and voila. Last, but not least, the alarm clock function is simple to setup with all the usual functions and luckily this app allows playback of the iTunes music library. Quite the bonus since I like waking up to "We Will Rock You" by Queen.

For its stunning 3D rendering of our planet earth in HD-quality graphics and simplistic, but very functional clock, weather and alarm functions, Living Earth HD is a must download. The only downside is that all third-party apps must be in the foreground to be fully function, but seriously, once this app is launched it won't be closed.

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