iPhone4idiots

Everybody loves talking about the weather, right? Well, WeatherBug Elite makes sure you’ll know what you are talking about. Whether you hike, bike, fish, boat on the lake, play golf or any other outdoor activity, launch the app on your iPhone and check out the radar to see how close that storm is from your location. For me, the radar is the key feature on the app. Where is the storm relative to my location? Is it going to mess up my plans? You can’t find the answer with Apple’s native weather icon. With this app you have your answer in less than 10 seconds. Check out the full app review WeatherBug gives you quick access to weather information in several ways. There are five pages- the default being Conditions View which gives you detailed weather information about the day (current outdoor temperature, today’s highs and lows, wind speed and direction, rainfall, heat index, humidity, dew point and the day’s forecast). Forecast View gives a typical 7 day forecast. The coolest feature of WeatherBug Elite is Maps View which gives you a doppler radar map of your area. Seen here on the right, check out the thunderstorms approaching Nashville! Actually, it lets you view one of the entire earth (powered by Google Maps), which you pinch to zoom in and move around with your finger just like the Maps app. What’s amazing is that you can zoom in to your exact location. When I zoomed in on downtown Nashville, I easily found the Sommet Center (where the Predators play), 2nd & Broadway and Riverfront Park on the Cumberland River. It remembers what you were viewing last, so you can zoom in to the location you’ll want to check most often and it will start it there the next time you open WeatherBug. This is by far what I use the most often. How close it that rain? The Maps view shows you. The only thing that would be better would be if you could play the movement of the storm over the past few hours to see what direction its heading. But hey, that gives them something to work on for the next version. The fourth view is Video which gives you Rachel’s WeatherCast. This is a waste of time. All the information you need is in the other views. No need to have Rachel tell you the forecast. The last view mode is Camera seen here on the right which shows you upto five live camera shots in your area. This one is at Tennesse State University. It’s kind of like Rachel – not very useful. WeatherBug Elite costs $0.99 or there is a free version in the app store as well. Not sure of all the differences, but the paid version has no ads which is always nice (its one of the reasons you like iphone4idiots right). I find this application is very easy to use and gives me a fast, convenient, and reliable way to get information about the weather in my location. On the downside, the radar map isn’t animated to show me directions of weather patterns, but this is something I can live without. So if you’re looking for a weather application for your iPhone, something better than the seven day forecast you get from the native iPhone weather icon, you’ll probably like WeatherBug Elite.