How To: Improve Weather Forecasts on Your Samsung Galaxy S3 or Other Android Device

70 degrees, 8 mph winds, and sunny clear skies. That's the current forecast here in Los Angeles and I can't really complain. However, if you don't live in Southern California, checking the weather may be the difference between getting stuck in a snowstorm or remembering to bring an umbrella.

The default Weather widget on your Samsung Galaxy S3 by AccuWeather will normally do the trick, but I personally think it's a little graphic heavy. I just want to know what stats for the most part, so I don't really need all the pizazz.

Need Something More Minimalistic?

If you want a weather app with a minimal design and a cool slider that informs you of weather changes throughout the day, then you should try out Nice Weather by Aurélien Hubert.

It's a simple as it gets. Once you download the app, it will ask to enable Location Settings. Once you allow that, it will instantly display the current weather at your location, with weather data provided by Open Weather Map.

Nice Weather's Features

The slider on the bottom can be moved in 3 hour increments, each adjusting to the time's forecast. Swiping to the left will reveal the weather forecast for the following day.

You can manually enter in your location by tapping on the location heading and entering in your information.

Changing Units

By default, the app will have metric system units. You can change these units by tapping on the corresponding marker and changing it to your preferred measurement. If you're in the states, that means setting it for miles per hour (wind speed), Fahrenheit (temperature), and inches (rainfall).

You may also notice that there is no menu or settings panel. The apps is a simple as possible and doesn't have any other settings or options beyond what you can see. Its simplicity is exactly why I am such a big fan.

Nice Weather's Current Drawbacks

The app is still in its early phases and is missing a few key features like widget capability and the addition of multiple cities. A pro version is slated to come out in the near future with these features available.

Still, it's a great weather app that does exactly what it needs to do and nothing more. The slider feature is very handy and something not present on other popular applications.

Need Something More Extensive?

If Nice Weather doesn't do it for you, but you still want something better than the stock Weather widget, make sure to check out Yahoo Weather. It's much more expansive and feature heavy, but still looks great.

You can add it as a widget too, something you cannot do with Nice Weather, and the photos uploaded from Flickr are pretty impressive.

If you are looking for a feature-rich weather app, then Yahoo Weather is pretty good place to start.

Both apps actually have at least one up on the stock Weather widget, and that's displaying wind speeds. In order to see wind speeds on the Weather widget, you have to click through and open up more details in your web browser. Pretty lame if you ask me.