Laridian PocketBible for Smartphone

With the rapid expansion of the Smartphone market, application developers have equally as rapid set forth in making applications available for them. One of these developers designing their applications for Windows Mobile Smartphones is Laridian, the makers of PocketBible.

Like the Pocket PC version, PocketBible for Smartphone gives you a rich experience of reading, searching and studying the biblical text without having to carry a printed copy of it with you. Given that most people have their Smartphone with them constantly, PocketBible allows you to carry a Bible with you anytime you have your phone with you!

PocketBible is installed via ActiveSync and the application itself needs only 600 KB of storage. It is important to remember that this is the Bible “reader” only. The Bible texts themselves – which there are 15 available – need from 2-4 MB of storage and can be stored on a storage card if you have on installed on your Smartphone.

Once installed and started, PocketBible gives you an intuitive and clean interface which is easy to navigate and to view the text (Figure 1). The two navigation keys on the display provide two functions: One is to allow instant access to the verse navigation (Figure 2) and the other allows access to PocketBible’s menu (Figure 3). Using the verse navigation is simple and all you need to do is use your Smartphone’s D-Pad to scroll between the different boxes and select the book, chapter and verse. Once selected, select the Done key and the verse will be displayed (Figure 4).


Figure 1: PocketBible’s Interface	Figure 2: The Book, Chapter & Verse Finder

Figure 3: PocketBible’s Menu

Figure 4: The Bible Displayed

While in the Bible text itself, you will note that some phrases and notes that are hyperlinked. By using the D-Pad on your Smartphone, you can scroll to those phrases or notes then press the Action button (press down on the D-Pad) to bring up the information related to that phrase or note (Figure 5). For phrases, this will open up the back matter of the Bible while notes on verses will be brought inline to the text itself (Figure 6)


Figure 5: Back Materials Notes	Figure 6: Inline Notes

One of the best features of PocketBible is the Find feature. By using the alpha numeric pad on the Smartphone, you can type in a word, phrase or number to search for within the open Bible. This search can also be refined to search the entire Bible, the Old Testament or the New Testament (Figure 7). When the search criteria is complete, tap the Done soft key and the results are displayed (Figure 8). From here, you can scroll down the list using the D-Pad and press the Action button to bring up the selected verse. The Find feature is outstanding in PocketBible and functions much like the Windows Mobile Pocket PC version.


Figure 7: The Find Tool of PocketBible	Figure 8: The Find Results Display

Like the Pocket PC version of PocketBible, the Smartphone version allows users to input Bookmarks. These are created by selecting Bookmarks from the Menu soft key (Figure 9). There is no theoretical limit to Bookmarks within PocketBible although you will be bound by the amount of memory available on your device.

Figure 9: Adding a Bookmark in PocketBible

Finally, PocketBible for Smartphone is highly customizable to make it easy to use and more personalized. These Options and customizations include the ability to change the size of the font including if Christ’s words are in red, use the T9 function of the Smartphone, and various navigation features (Figure 10). With all of these adjustments available, PocketBible for Smartphone is strikingly similar to the Pocket PC version.

Figure 10: Some of the optional settings of PocketBible

Overall PocketBible for Smartphone is nothing short of impressive. The range of features, ease of use and customizability of the application make it stand out. It should be a must-have application for any Christian Smartphone user.

The support for the application is provided via email and when test messages were sent, the response time was always within 12 hours. The support team, as could be expected, were courteous and more-than-willing to help resolve any issue.

Along with the great support, the price of PocketBible for Smartphone is an outstanding $10 (US). The various biblical texts available range from no cost to $24.99 depending on the version you purchase. Most are available for under $15. These fees are essentially to help Laridian pay the associated licensing costs.

For purchasing information and a list of all of the Bible versions available for PocketBible, visit Laridian at http://www.laridian.com and select the Smartphone menu.

Clinton Fitch

Senior Editor

Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! (http://www.clintonfitch.com)

HPC:Factor (http://www.hpcfactor.com)