WorldMate review

Jennifer Scott

We review WorldMate, an iPhone app that claims to help with all your travel needs

Published on Sep 22, 2009

If you're a jet setter, it's pretty handy to have an app on your phone that will help you on your jolly way.

WorldMate is one travel app available for Symbian S60 devices that allows you to check out your destination before you arrive.

On opening the app for the first time it asks you to set your location. Although this is easily changeable after setting it, the app will open defaulted to your choice each time without any rearranging.

WorldMate offers you a simple layout with your chosen location at the top – with a drop down menu should you wish to change – followed by the date, temperature and expected weather conditions in a box below giving you an informative short summary.

Below this follows your menu bar, easily accessible one touch boxes with clear symbols guiding you to what information you know.

On the free version of this app you can access the weather, weathercaster, currency converter, world clocks and world map, but on the paid-for version you can access extras including a satellite image, flight status, flight alerts and flight schedules.

For the weather option it gives you a five day forecast of your chosen location featuring temperature estimations as well as both symbol and word descriptions. The grid layout makes it easy to read and just sticks with the basics of what you want to know from this app.

To accompany this is WorldCaster, a nifty but occasionally annoying feature that gives you two daily weather updates at your chosen times. The problem is it comes up with a cartoon woman who speaks you through the forecast. Personally we prefer to read the updates and not have something that makes us jump each time it goes off but some might like her voice alerts.

Currency converter and world clocks are pretty self explanatory but again the simple layout and ease of use with these two features need underlining. Whilst the currency converter has three pre-set currencies which instantaneously converter the numbers typed in, the world clocks option has five pre-set, but adjustable, world clocks allowing you to check the time zones in just one touch.

WorldMap is a less useful feature, just showing us where the city we had entered was, but an understandable inclusion for the less geographically knowledgeable.

For a rather a monthly subscription $6.95 (£4.25) per month or $49.95 (£30.54) per year extra features are available including flight schedules, flight alerts and flight status which are all smart and useful ideas for the regular business flyer or backpacker but not something worth investing in for the occasional holiday maker.

WorldMate is a sleek and well designed app that has thought of a lot of essential travel items to include in one package. The free version is a fantastically useful tool and is well worth the download but to 'Go Pro' as the app puts it and pay $6.95 per month you would have to be a regular flyer to make it worth it.