Yahoo Overhauls Tablet Email, iOS Weather Apps

Yahoo's new email and weather applications, unveiled today, prove that the company is thinking outside the box.

"With amazing displays, vibrant colors and lifelike images, tablets have changed the way we experience books, photos, movies and more," Lee Parry, senior director of Yahoo mobile, wrote in a blog post. "Yet email, something we do every day, has remained pretty much the same. We've been boxed in."

The revamped Yahoo Mail for iOS (pictured) and Android tablets provides a full-screen experience that, as Parry put it, "gets rid of the noise." Sans folders, buttons, and tabs, users can flip through email like a magazine, swiping from page to page, or tapping the side of the screen to rapidly scan through the inbox.

The tablet's larger screen allowed Yahoo to integrate a full-screen option that turns any email or attached file into a full-scale message. Tap anywhere on the screen, and the reply, delete, file, and star icons will appear. A split-screen view allows users to automatically group messages by sender, then with a simple swipe, choose their intended home — be it the trash can or a folder for funny family photos.

Meanwhile, Yahoo also released an updated weather application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, now with a better view of upcoming forecasts.

"Instead of reading the weather, you can SEE the weather," director of mobile products Marco Wirasinghe wrote in a separate blog post. Yahoo Weather combines images from the Flickr community with local conditions, providing some context for your forecasts.

Like flipping through a stack of postcards from well-traveled friends, the app offers a stream of weather photos from around the world, culled from its Project Weather Group. Tap the temperature icon for a quick view of the forecast, or scroll down for precipitation, wind and pressure, a radar map, and more.

"Our goal is to have amazing photos for every weather condition that cover the globe — morning, afternoon, and night — across every city in the world, and we want your help," Wirasinghe said. "Whether you're simply a daydreamer or an avid photographer, submit photos of your favorite places to our Flickr Group and your image can be seen by tens of millions in Yahoo Weather for iPhone."

Check out the videos below for a look at the new email and weather apps in action.

Yahoo Mail is available for free in the Apple App Store and Google Play store; Yahoo Weather can be downloaded from the iTunes Store at no charge.