OK.  I know what you are thinking right about now.  Hey, genius.  My iPhone came with a weather app included.  See, here it is:

So, why should I buy another one? 

Yeah, I can’t really argue with you on that one.  The iPhone and iPod Touch do include a weather app.  A bit sparse, though, don’t you think?  Let’s see…you get the six day forecast.  And…well, that’s about it.  Just that single screen forecast.  That’s it.  I don’t know about you, but I want something more.

When I started looking for a replacement weather app, I was thrilled to learn that Fizz Weather was about to make its way to the iPhone.  Fizz has always had a special place in my heart.  Way back in the early days of JAMM, it was a Fizz contest (I won) which originally drew me here.  It wasn’t long before I joined the team and…well, most of you all know the rest.  The point, however, is that I have been using Fizz Weather ever since.  So, let’s take a look at the iPhone version and see how it measures up to the competition.

Setup and Settings: Before we can get started checking the weather, we’ll need to do a little bit of setup.  And by that, I mean a very little bit.  So, let’s get to it.  As with most iPhone apps, all of your settings are hiding there under the little “i” button.

One of the big complaints that I have about most weather applications I have used is that the choice of cities renders them horribly inaccurate.  Much of the time, the app has a predefined list of cities from which you must choose.  This results in selecting the closest large city.  For me that is Washington, DC…nearly 30 miles away.  Not terribly accurate.

This is why I love Fizz Weather.  Can’t find your city?  Hey, if you are in the United States, just type your zip code.  I have not been able to stump the program yet, and by using zip codes instead of cities, your weather source is practically guaranteed to be within a few miles of your house.  Perfect.  Then again, I have always wished for a weather application which would link to your GPS, so it could provide weather data for your current location, wherever that might be.  Who knows.  Maybe if I say that enough, someone will tell me it is coming soon.

UPDATE: Apparently, I did make that request enough.  You iPhone users should be able to find the weather in your current location via GPS.  Just tap the icon on the find city screen.  iPod Touch users are still out of luck, seeing as how there is no GPS in the iPod Touch.

OK, so I entered two cities, and we are ready to go.  But not quite.  There are still a few basic questions to resolve, and those can be found under the settings menu on the bottom of the screen there.  

From here you can choose your units of measurement for temperature (Fahrenheit or Celsius), wind speed (miles or kilometers per hour), and barometric pressure (millibars or inches).  You can also use this menu to set the length and speed of the satellite and radar loops.  I did think it would have been nice if Fizz had thrown in a few alternate colors or skins.  But that was really neither here not there.

Main Screen: All right.  Now that we have things setup, let’s take a look at what you will see when you fire up the program.  I really thought Fizz Weather did a fantastic job presenting the information, which is critical in a weather program.

Remember that native iPhone weather program?  It had a single screen with essentially a list of forecasts comprising a 6-day forecast.  Now let’s take a look at Fizz Weather.  The main screen in Fizz Weather is comprised predominantly with a large graphic displaying the current conditions.   Hang on, let’s just take a look at the native Weather app and Fizz Weather side by side.

Obviously, that is the native app on the left and Fizz Weather on the right.  Although there is no fun animation like my HTC Touch Pro, I really like this display because I can get the information I need immediately at a glance.  To the left is a more detailed look at the current conditions, with the highs and lows for the day, and plenty more.  Heck, it even gives you the sunrise and sunset information (and wow, sunset was at 4:52 pm today…Yikes!)  across the bottom are five large weather icons.  Yeah, that is the five day forecast.

The last component of the main screen are weather alerts.  These are unique weather conditions, such as flooding or severe weather, of which you should be aware.  If there is a weather alert in place, then Fizz will place a hazard symbol on top of the current forecast.  Tap that to view the full alert.

Now, one other thing you may recall was that earlier I set up multiple cities.  So, how do you access the other city’s forecasts?  no problem.  Just swipe your finger across the screen to scroll to the next city.  The only thing I did not like here was that this was not a continuous list.  In other words, you cannot scroll from the last item back to the first. 

I thought this  main screen was fantastic.  Like I said earlier, a little more customization through skins (or at least background colors) would be nice, but is not necessary to my enjoyment of the program.  Almost everything I needed was right there on the main screen, which is perfect for a weather program.  You almost never need to leave the main screen at all.  But when you do, you are in for some treats.

Additional Views: In addition to this main forecast, Fizz Weather also provides you with a few additional ways to access the information, depending upon the level of detail you need.  Two day view breaks your days into quarters (morning, afternoon, evening, and night).  It will show you the four quarters comprising the next 24 hours (or, if you need it, you can also view the 24 hours after that.  This can be very useful if you are tracking the changes to the weather if, for example, you are getting ready to drive to Grandma’s house.

The second view is Now.  This is kind of a nice feature, especially if you are a pilot.  It allows you to scroll through all of the weather stations in the area, viewing the weather data for each one individually.  This gives you a much more precise look at the current conditions, and can really help if you are trying to track the weather patterns.

Finally, is the airport view.  This is a simple, but effective feature.  With this, you can scroll to any airport in your area and instantly determine whether there is a delay.  Green check means all clear, red x means a delay.  Pretty simple.  The only thing I did not like, though, was that the red x is the same image that is used when weather data fails to download.  As such, this could lead to some confusion.  This is a case where a different skin could make a huge difference

Maps: Probably the most impressive feature of Fizz Weather has always been the maps.  This is just incredible to find in a handheld device.  From the maps screen, you can view the weather forecast map for your region,

check out animated satellite images,

or check out the full radar. 

Now you can watch that storm approach as you race for the basement.  Heck, you can even hit Google in order to check out the Google maps view of your location.  Really, this is pretty impressive.  I never get tired of watching the satellite loop on my iPod Touch.

Conclusion: As I said in the beginning of this article, I have been using Fizz Weather almost as long as I have been using Windows Mobile.  It is a powerful application, and offers an incredibly accurate forecast.  As much as I like it, though, I have to admit that the interface and menus in the Windows Mobile version have never been the most user friendly.  Fortunately, with this iPhone version, Fizz has completely redone the user interface.  Gone are the unintuitive menus and confusing navigation screen.  Now, you can access virtually every feature of the program from any screen.  Talk about accessible!  In the end, feature for feature, I thought the iPhone version of Fizz Weather was among the best weather applications I have used…on any platform.  All that, for just $4.99!

What I Liked:

• Great interface
• Easy and intuitive controls
• Find location by Zip Code
• accurate forecasts with weather alerts
• Overall, a fantastic program

What Needs Improvement:

• Check weather by GPS location would be a nice feature
• skinnable icons and different background colors would be nice’

Developer: Fizz Software

Price: $4.99

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