Thermometer

CNET Editors' review

by: Chris Page on April 28, 2013

Applications that function as simple tools are all over the market. Thermometer is a very basic application that allows the user to find out what the outside temperature is. While this may seem like an easy task, Thermometer fails to deliver a quality application worth downloading.

The application downloads and installs quite easily and doesn't occupy a huge amount of space on the device. It does seem that the program is rather large, however, considering its very basic functionality. Upon opening Thermometer the user is greeted with a blank white screen with very hard to read light gray lettering. At this point the user is required to either touch a locate button or type in a city to find out the temperature. Apparently this app uses a Web service to find out the temperature at a specified location. Once the location has been selected a graphic appears that shows the temperature in a colorful mercury thermometer. The temperature is also printed at the bottom of the screen in both Fahrenheit and Centigrade. At all times there is a rather large advertising banner at the bottom of the application's home screen. There are also advertisements that will pop up from time to time in the notification bar. In addition to these, the app also places random icons on the home screen in yet another effort to advertise. This triad of advertising is not only distracting but also invasive at times.

It may be useful to find out what the temperature is outside, but not at this expense. The poorly-designed user interface combined with the incessant advertising keep us from recommending Thermometer.