worldmate

Travelers don't always get to do their homework about restaurants and nightlife before they leave, and you don't want to be stuck relying on the advice of someone who winds up sharing different tastes than you.

That's the theory, anyway, behind WorldMate's latest update to its travel app for BlackBerry. WorldMate 3.0 for BlackBerry now features a local dining and entertainment search option powered by Yelp.com. Utilizing the phone's GPS, WorldMate, via Yelp, can suggest establishments nearby or near airports. Clicking to see more details takes you to Yelp's mobile site; we … Read more

A visual upgrade is part of what makes WorldMate's venerable travel companion app especially appealing on the iPhone, but it's the local weather information, currency converter, and flight lookup and itinerary information that make it an indispensable tool for frequent business travelers. Users can create and track travel itineraries including flights, hotel reservations, rental cars, and appointments. Doing so ahead of time from a WorldMate Web account is an easy way to go, but you can also e-mail flight confirmations and itineraries to a special address.

A $20 yearly subscription to the WorldMate service slashes the ads and … Read more

WorldMate, the popular travel planning and organizational service, has expanded its mobile reach onto the iPhone. The two different versions of the app, which were released late Tuesday night (one free, and a premium version that costs a hefty $19.99), give travelers tools to create and track travel itineraries including flights, hotel reservations, rental cars, and any appointments along the way.

The two versions of the app offer identical functionality for core parts of WorldMate's service, like a flight search tool, world clock list, currency conversion, and a heads-up display on what's on your schedule. However, the … Read more

On Monday, WorldMate released an update to its travel app for Nokia and Samsung S60 third and fifth edition smartphones. Called WorldMate 2009, the application refreshes the look of previous versions with a new dashboard screen that tells you the local weather and time of your current location, and that sums up your flight and itinerary info if you pay the subscription fees for the pro version.

Aimed especially at international business travelers, WorldMate 2009 for Symbian operates on the freemium model. As with versions for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry phones, WorldMate 2009 gives you a handful of features as … Read more

If you use WorldMate Live on your BlackBerry, (hint: the free version comes pre-installed on some models, like the Bold) you may notice something different. On Tuesday, WorldMate Live, a traveler's resource that helps track itineraries, directions, local time, currency conversions, and flight status, made a tiny tweak to the mapping portion of its application for BlackBerry phones: it added Google Maps. Google Maps is now one of four options for plotting points of interest from the traveler's itinerary to whichever third-party mapping app you've set as your default. On BlackBerry phones, those apps include BlackBerry Maps, … Read more

WorldMate Live has most everything the business traveler would want or need to smooth out the logistical bumps that befall every trip. The application itself is free, and so are the world clock, weather service, currency converter, and mapping functions, which sync in real time between the device and WorldMate's servers. Users will have to upgrade their subscription, however, to take advantage of the true trip-saving qualities: flight alerts and meeting reminders that are pushed to the phone, directions, a travel directory, and anytime customer support.

The application has become more attractive over time. The same can't be … Read more

Woeful is the international business traveler who bolts across the airport to make it to a changed gate and who arrives to a meeting an hour late because of travel-addled math skills. WorldMate Live, reviewed here for BlackBerry, smooths the journey with comprehensive itinerary and flight status updates, weather reports, directions, and unit conversion tools.

The strong Web component is one way that WorldMate Live--for Windows Mobile phones and BlackBerry--differs from past and still fully functional versions of the WorldMate application for multiple platforms. Based on the information you enter on your online itinerary, the program alerts you of changes … Read more

Last November, MobiMate revealed WorldMate Live for BlackBerry. A large stride ahead of its traditional business-class travel software, WorldMate Live got some souped-up features, including online management tools and functionality to push flight status alerts and scheduling reminders to the phone.

In a few more weeks, WorldMate Live will come to Windows Mobile phones, the number two platform pick for businesses, and therefore frequent corporate jetsetters. I got a preview today at the CTIA Wireless conference, and it looks good. By "good" I mean nearly identical to the BlackBerry version of WorldMate Live, with perhaps one or two … Read more

I liked previous iterations of WorldMate, a travel organizer best suited for power business travelers, at least in theory. The app grouped valuable travel information in one place, but pricing made it impractical for most casual users. WorldMate Live for BlackBerry is an app I can get behind, with its clean, friendly interface; fully synchronized Internet maps and alerts; and a more congenial pricing model that assumes basic, free usage and provides frequent, but never obnoxious, opportunities to upgrade.

The revamped WorldMate Live adds more value with a brand new on-app itinerary section for inputting flight, hotel, car rental, and meeting details to go along with a corresponding Web app, where you can also input information. All trip data is stored on WorldMate's servers and synced in real time when the app opens and auto-connects online. Maps, powered by Google on your online account and by BlackBerry's native map on the device, are another new addition.… Read more