ADBweather Plus
from AtomicDB

I've been a "weather-weenie" ever since The Weather Channel first appeared on cable, so I naturally gravitated to weather apps for the Pocket PC. Each of them had features I liked, and some lacked features (or had features I did not care for).
Since having my Samsung i700 Pocket PC Phone Edition (and being always-connected), I have really given several of the weather apps some serious road-testing, and ADBweather ended up being the app of choice for me. Until now, the app was a 2002 version, and while it did not have the "several-day-at-at-glance" icons on the Today screen, I still found it adequate for my needs. Here is a shot of ADBweather 2002 on the Today screen:

Fast-forward to today. AtomicDB has released (currently a pre-release as of 9-16-04) an updated version called ADBweather Plus. And Plus it is! The app has all of the features I was looking for, and has features beyond that as well! I created some animated gifs to illustrate, and will let the pictures do most of the talking:

The Today Screen

The default for the Today screen is to have the Summary Mode showing. At a glance, it resembles a lot of the other weather apps, displaying icons for several days of weather, along with the highs & lows. If you tap anywhere on the icon area, it brings up a context menu with numerous choices. The animation below illustrates how you can GoTo the forecast up to 6 days ahead (I chose Saturday for the illustration - I wanted to check the weather for our reunion picnic!). Notice how it then displays the detail for the day you chose, on the Today screen.
You can also reload the weather data, choose Detail Mode for the Today screen and configure the app (amongst other things) from that context menu.

Expanded Data

Tapping on the small alert icon on the right side of the Today screen will take you to the Warnings screen. This Hazardous Weather Outlook data is straight from the National Weather Service (NOAA). From the bottom of the screen, you can also choose to see The Short Forecast , Detailed Forecast and a Local Radar image . The drop-down menu will allow you to select any of the numerous cities you can have tracked with this app - I just have Louisville entered for this review...

But wait, there's more!

Tapping on the Image Viewer icon brings up some of the coolest stuff yet! You can opt to download National Satellite images, State Temp/Wind images, and Precipitation images - all of which can be animated! Check it out below!

USA Satellite

Ivan creeping inward..!

State Temp/Wind

State Weather (precipitation)

The image below shows the settings for the Image Viewer feature. There are quite a few options available - most of which I am just now exploring! At the bottom of the screen, it indicates how much space you will approximately use to store the images, which is nice to know.

Other Settings

You can change the Preferences for data, as seen below. The Reload Button options are: All Weather Data, All Cities, Only Active City and Only Image Viewer Data. The Default Startup options are Summary Forecast, Detailed Forecast, Radar View, Warning Forecast, and Image Viewer. You can also opt to change the Cache folder location.

You can select several options to Auto Reload Events, as well as Auto-connect (with a connected device, of course). As you can see, I have it set to Auto Reload as soon as I cradle my device, as well as once every two hours throughout the day. The screen on the right is for Network Connection settings, which I have configured for Auto-Connect. That way, if my device is on, it will make the necessary internet connection and retrieve the data all on it's own. I like that!

Conclusion

I will likely update this review as I play with the app more - I just felt compelled to post a review of the app as soon as I got it. I am thoroughly impressed, and think that Atomic DB has created a truly outstanding update. A free update, no less! That is a rare and wonderful thing.

And to think, the app normally costs only $5! Incredible.

NOTE: At the time of this review, ADBweather Plus is in Pre-Release status, and not officially posted at PocketGear or anywhere else. If you purchase or have purchased a previous version of the app, you can get the upgrade for free, but you have to register on their site.

To purchase the 2002 version, click here. I will update this page when the Plus version is available directly.

Enjoy!