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Sunny for iPhone is gorgeous, relaxing and fun
Last year I wrote a review of Windy, a gorgeous, relaxing app by Taptanium that follows the eponymous character's journey across several lovely settings, complete with stunning visuals and relaxing, stereoscopic sound. Today the same team has released Sunny (free with in-app purchases), a follow-up app that accompanies a new character through a beautiful, parallax-heavy world of calming surf and beautiful bays. The story is broken up into several chapters, each telling a part of Sunny's journey. After weeks at sea, he steps foot onto a mythic land and is compelled by his pet water dragon to journey on. Much like its predecessor Windy, the visuals in Sunny are just terrific. Each parallax-heavy scene (you can adjust exactly how pronounced this effect is) offers much to observe. A single tap hides the on-screen controls, subtle as they are, so you can explore the new "bay" (there are six in total) without distraction. There's even a "secret" bay you can easily unlock, which features a cute red panda. Of course, that made me think of @Darth. Here's what those controls offer. In the upper left there's a timer. Tap it to have the audio end after a prescribed amount of time. Tap the leaf icon in the upper right to read the story that accompanies each scene. It's a single narrative arc that adds a bit of fun to the experience. Not only fun, but "sunrays," which I'll explain later this post. Additional settings let you adjust the audio by increasing or decreasing: 1. Music 2. The patter of rain on a tent 3. The patter of rain on the ground 4. Birdsong Finally, the chapter selector lets you move from chapter to chapter and scene to scene. As long as you've collected enough sunrays, that is. Sunrays are points that you earn to unlock additional chapters, and there are two ways to acquire them. First, simply use the app. When you launch Sunny for the first time, you'll earn sunrays for exploring the options I described above. You can earn more by using the app for three minutes per day. If you're in a hurry you can pay $0.99 to unlock the app entirely. Finally, I've got to mention the sound. Since Sunny was made by the folks behind Thunderspace and Windy (both of which were also updated today), you know it's good. Pop on some headphones and enjoy the effective "3D" sound. Waves seem to crash from left to right, raindrops seem to land above your head and wind swirls in various directions. It's impressive and immersive. I've taken to listening to Sunny while I'm at my desk and it's quite nice. I love my office and all, but I'd much rather be in an idyllic nature setting. Sunny lets me imagine that's where I am.
Haze for iOS launches, clears the visual clutter of weather apps (hands-on)
RoboCat and Taptanium aren't fans of the typical weather app, which tends to bombard the user with numbers when they just need a heads-up as to whether it's warm or likely to rain. Its newly launched Haze, then, is the potential antidote. The iOS app initially shows just the core temperature, humidity and hours of sunlight in different sections, with its namesake haze effect giving a clue as to whether conditions are trending up or down. If you need to know more, a tap expands the details, and a swipe down shows a 5-day forecast. There's also a handful of elements that we seldom see in these apps, such as a direction-relative wind indicator, optional motion-driven navigation and visual themes. RoboCat hints to us that an iPad version might be on the way, although ports to Android and other platforms are more likely to depend on the early response. We had the chance to give Haze a spin ahead of launch. It's at least a refreshing take: there's an appeal to exposing only the weather we want to see, and in a colorful way that never needs more than one hand to navigate. Compared to Apple's default app, though, it's at once providing more information and less. Haze is much better at supplying the current day's conditions, but its forecasts don't always reveal what's happening -- you'll know the humidity is shifting on Tuesday, but not the likelihood of snow. Consider the app more of a single-day weather specialist in its current form and the 99-cent price ($3 after a promo period ends) is easy to justify.
