The design and identity that Google wanted to give to its services have improved over the years. Now, with Material You, the third iteration of the design language, the company’s applications are prettier and above all more natural.
We have praised these design lines many times. However, they are still, at least, upgradable, like the side menu. In its desire to create a user interface that is as intuitive as it is attractive, Google forgot some sections like the weather forecast section of your main application.
Google’s weather section is a relic, and not exactly in a good way
The Google application for Android, which takes into account our personal preferences, is complete and returns information in different formats such as news, recommended videos, sports scores, and even allows us to configure various aspects such as history of research.
Precisely, This shows us the weather forecast in a visual way. The problem: The interface hasn’t been updated in years. Despite the fact that its weather section underwent changes at the end of last year, at least on the search engine side, the one found on all Android smartphones has not.
Here’s what the outdated design of Google’s weather section looks like.
It is worth mentioning when we talk about updating something, We don’t think upgrading for fun is good.. But we are talking about an interesting function that many users access on a daily basis and which has not changed for years. In fact, it retains a design similar to the recently updated one found on the web.
This becomes more important when we use the native widget included with Android 13. This widget is nice, but when touched it takes us to the Google app, open the outdated design of its weather forecast section.
The first criticism is taken by the graphic part of the section: occupies the entire screen of our mobile to show only the max, min and wind chill temperature, nothing more. To see more information we must scroll down where we will see the weather forecast for the next few hours, as well as humidity, pressure and a line with precipitation.
If we only talk about quantity, the information seems sufficient, although I could add some additional information like most Android weather apps do. But really your problem is not that, it’s the presentation. This data we mentioned is displayed with a small font that does not stand out from the rest of the design.
Moreover, the design contains a single illustration which varies depending on the current state. The one that takes up most of the screen and shows an adorable frog. Google could play a lot with the design of this application, keeping the Material You style but incorporating more varied images.
With the mobile in landscape the situation does not improve. Viewing the information is complicated, requiring a swipe to continue viewing it.
Something similar to what happens with the same widget, which seamlessly integrates into the operating system interface, including accent colors. It is true that we also lack more advanced data such as the status of fishing or real-time alerts for fires or other natural disasters, but for this we may need to install an additional application.
Yes, we call it a relic because of its age, not because of its value. This feature needs an overhaul, improving both its appearance and the quality of features it offers. The system deserves it, and the users much more.
