Review: Handy Weather v4

Paragon Software has recently updated Handy Weather, their weather information application for Windows Mobile.  Handy Weather v4.00 adds "finger friendly" navigation, weather maps with zoom capability, hourly forecasts and locating forecast cities with GPS.  We had the chance to take the updated version out for a test drive recently and after the break, we'll share our impressions on Paragon Software's Handy Weather.

We took a look at the previous version of Handy Weather some time ago and found it to be somewhat lacking. Forecast listings in an entire State were omitted, features were rather limited and updates were a little on the slow side. The previous version of Handy Weather seemed to be more of a Beta than a production version. Paragon deserves a good deal of credit for vastly improving Handy Weather eliminating most of the previous versions shortcomings.

Handy Weather v4.00's main screen is the five day forecast view that shows the forecast highs and lows with a weather icon showing the general weather pattern for the date. Tapping on an individual date pulls up more details on that specific day's forecast. Here you will see the forecast high/low, winds, UV index, humidity and general weather condition.

You also have a hourly forecast for each date as well as a 24 hour forecast showing the morning, day, evening and night forecast. Handy Weather still has the weather map view showing he weather patterns on various regions of the globe. Each map can be zoomed and panned.

My biggest gripe with the previous version was the limited selection of cities to forecast. Handy Weather did a very good job increasing their city selections plus added GPS functionality. If your city isn't listed, you can get your GPS location and the nearest city will be listed.

Forecasts can be updated manually or scheduled periodically. Forecasts updates were downloaded noticeably quicker from the previous version with no delays experienced.

Additional features on Handy Weather 4.0 include the ability to send forecasts by email or SMS, track multiple cities, and there's a Today Scree plug-in showing the five day forecast. While only one city can be tagged as your "home" city (default forecast display) it appears there is no limit no the number of additional forecast cities you can track. I was able to add twenty one additional cities to my city list.

Overall Impression

Handy Weather is a noticeable improvement over previous versions. Features have improved with forecasts downloading a lot quicker. You have far more cities to choose from (over 40,000) plus you can use your GPS to locate the nearest forecast city to your actual location.

Handy Weather's biggest drawback remains that you still have to that pesky annual subscription. Renewals are at a discounted price but I just don't know if there's enough here to justify the expense with non-subscription weather applications being available such as Elecont Weather.

If you travel a lot and need access to current conditions and forecasts, Handy Weather is a very good option to consider and the annual subscription might not be an issue. Handy Weather does have a trail version which will help you decide if the features justify the cost. Subscription aside, Handy Weather is a vastly improved application worth considering if you're in the market for a weather application.