Lumia 800: Foreca Weather App by Microsoft (18th May 2012)

The N900 has a wide Widget for Foreca Weather which gives a sequence of 7 predictions, each one covering 6 hours. Excellent overview of likely conditions, although the rain and hailstorm forecasting has seemed way off recently.

So I decided to check out the Marketplace for something similar on my Lumia. Perhaps a full-width Tile for the Start screen, like the native Calendar app has?

  1. On the Lumia 800 Start screen, swipe left to the Applications list.
  2. Scroll down a bit and click Marketplace.
  3. Push the search icon, centre bottom of the screen.
  4. Type in weather and press the → button.
  5. The 2nd entry is by Microsoft Corporation. The online Windows Live Calendar uses Foreca as its data provider, so this is probably using Foreca data as well.
  6. Clicked the entry and read the Description.
  7. Swiped leftwards a few times to browse the other information about it.
  8. Decided to give it a try, so clicked Install.
  9. It asked permission to use my location, so I clicked Allow.
  10. I now have a Set Up Account page asking for my Country/Region and date of birth.
  11. I’ve always chosen against adding these to my Windows Live ID, so a bit irked I have to give them now just to get some weather on my Start screen.
  12. I enter the details and click Accept to the terms.
  13. It assigns me the ‘gamertag’: Player639972953. Yuck!
  14. I click Done. But I’m back at the Weather entry, still with an Install button.
  15. I click the Install button again.
  16. Allow access to location again.
  17. Now I’m taken to the Applications list and a progress bar fills in at the bottom, beneath the new Weather app entry.
  18. I press and hold down on it, which shows the context menu. From here I click Pin to Start.
  19. Instead of the Tile going into the one gap in my 4 rows, it starts a new row. D’oh.
  20. I press and hold on the Tile until the screen mode changes.
  21. I drag the Tile to the only empty space in my 4 rows.
  22. I tap an empty part of the screen to confirm the move.
  23. The tile isn’t showing live Weather. Huh? That’s another small let-down.
  24. I tap the app and it asks permission to use my location, again. I allow it, again. (3rd time, overall.)
  25. I set my location by typo’ing nlondon, which it corrects in the suggestion list.
  26. I click the Save icon and it starts to bring in information.
  27. I return to the Start screen but it’s clearly not a Live Tile, just a static tile.
  28. I return to the app and click London, which gives me the detailed views in the gloriously crisp Metro style.
  29. I notice a pin icon at the bottom of this view.
  30. I click the pin and hoorah! It adds a Live Tile for London to my Start screen.
  31. I push and hold on the static Weather tile and Unpin it.
  32. I drag the Live Tile for Weather to the gap.
  33. I click a blank area to confirm the move.

Finally! I have live updating weather on my homescreen. After nosing around a bit more I notice the 2nd page in the London detailed forecast says:

Data provided by Foreca, AIRNow.

Changing my ‘Gamer Tag’ (23rd June 2012)

This is the jargon for the name automatically given to me when I signed up for the Marketplace. You can change your ‘Gamer Tag’ on Xbox’s website.

  1. A box on that page says: Enter your new gamertag
  2. I start by trying Ben Millard.
  3. (Strictly speaking, I guess that should be coded: Ben Millard?)
  4. Clicked Check Availability.
  5. Amazingly it is available! I immediately clicked Claim it!
  6. Success! It tells me: Your gamertag is now Ben Millard
  7. Yay!
  1. Received my Nokia Lumia 800 Cyan!
  2. Sync WLM Calendar via Hotmail
  3. Sync Contacts with WLM via Hotmail
  4. Foreca Weather App by Microsoft
  5. gMaps App?
  6. Google Maps?
  7. Photos & Sharing
  8. Timer
  9. Vodafone
  10. Received my Monster Headphones
  11. Software Update via Zune
  12. Windows Phone 7.8!
  13. New Screen Protector