.KEYWORD pocketbible
.FLYINGHEAD POCKET PC LIFE BOOK CLUB
.TITLE The Good Book gets even better with PocketBible
.DEPT
.SUMMARY While God might work in mysterious ways, Laridian’s newly updated PocketBible works in a variety of highly functional ways. Stephen Borchert reviews the holier than thou application that lets you keep the word of God right there alongside your contacts, notes, and appointments.
.AUTHOR Stephen Borchert
In our current high-tech world, we’re inundated with gadgets that are always giving us one more thing to carry. It’s nice to know that the Pocket PC is finally allowing us to reverse that trend. With Laridian’s PocketBible for the Palm-sized PC, Handheld PC, and the new Pocket PC, it’s possible to carry a Bible in your pocket.
What? You can already do that, you say? True, but now that you’re carrying a Pocket PC, you can leave the paper copy at home. Besides, it’ll let you deflect some of the criticism that says your pocket computer is merely a toy. PocketBible is loaded with features normally found only in desktop Bible study programs. PocketBible lets you carry around a Bible that takes advantage of the digital age by allowing you to instantly search for a particular chapter or verse or search for every occurrence of a particular word or phrase.
.H1 Installation
When I purchased PocketBible (formerly known as PalmBible) from the Laridian Electronic Publishing Web site at http://www.laridian.com, I was surprised to find they assigned me a unique user number. This allows me to download any of the products I’ve purchased whenever I want, in case I lose my copy. I purchased the PocketBible Reader and the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) Bible.
Other Bible versions available include the KJV (King James Version), KJV New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs, the NASB (New American Standard Bible), the NIV (New International Version), NKJV (New King James Version), and the NLT (New Living Translation).
I installed both the PocketBible Reader program and the Bible to the storage card to save memory, though either or both can be installed to main memory. The NRSV Bible is 2.91MB, and it has everything in it but the kitchen sink.
.H1 Features
Having used PalmBible (the previous version) for a while, I expected the Pocket PC version to be merely updated for the new Pocket PC interface. I was pleasantly surprised to find the PocketBible program to be not only an update of the previous versions, which are capable in their own right, but also expanded with additional capabilities. It also makes use of Microsoft’s new ClearType to display the Bible in a format similar to that of the Microsoft Reader program.
.H2 User interface
The user interface has been carefully engineered to be functional and unobtrusive at the same time. A simple tap on the double-arrow icons on the bottom row brings up the tool bar and/or the status bar, and another tap hides them from view. See Figure A for an example.
.FIGPAIR A PocketBible’s use of screen real estate is well organized and efficient.
.H2 Navigation
You navigate through the Bible by selecting Laridian’s ingenious Go To Verse keypad, pictured in Figure B.
.FIGPAIR B Navigation is made simple with the Go To Verse keypad.
The icon has a hand pointing to an open Bible. The calculator-like pad appears, and you can scroll through the books listed on the left-hand side. After selecting one, you tap on the keypad on the right-hand side of the box to enter the particular chapter.
.H2 Copy and Paste
Now, let’s say you want to quote from a section of verses for a paper that you’re working on. Select Copy Passage from the Edit menu (or Control-Y on the Handheld PC). In the example in Figure C, I selected John 3:16 using the pad.
.FIGPAIR C The book I’m viewing is automatically selected.
Of course, for a single passage, it’s easier to merely highlight the text and select Copy under the Edit menu. But, let’s say you want to select a range of verses. As a test, I selected a range at random, Job 3:15-4:21, and the whole thing was copied to the clipboard. I find it much simpler than trying to cut-and-paste into documents.
I then selected Psalm 38:19-21 with Footnotes checked. The notes are appended at the end of the passage.
.H2 Multiple Bible viewing
The PocketBible program also allows me to view two different Bible versions simultaneously, as seen in Figure D. If the additional Unger’s Bible Dictionary is purchased, you can even look up names and obscure references and then return to where you started.
.FIGPAIR D Here, the KJV and NRSV Bibles are shown simultaneously.
.H2 Find features
The rapid Find feature will find every occurrence of a word in the Bible, including any front matter from the publisher. For me, this eliminates the need for an exhaustive concordance. The optional Instant Find feature lets me highlight a word in the text and tap on the search icon.
.H2 Attachments
An additional feature, sure to be popular with students and Bible scholars, is the ability to attach your own notes to passages, which can even include some HTML tags! The program also has some built-in helpers to format your notes the way you want to. You can also view your own text and HTML files in PocketBible. Bible references in your files will automatically link to the Bible verses!
.H1 Bookmarks
What Bible software would be complete without bookmarks? By selecting the icon at the end of the toolbar, the bookmark window appears. I had to tap on the Help icon, which directed me to tap on the Add tab. Although you can’t name the bookmark (it uses the chapter and verse you select), you can create categories to file the bookmark. The listing can then be filtered by category.
.PAGE
.H1 Conclusion
Although the PocketBible program is re-designed for the Pocket PC, users of the recent Palm-sized and Handheld PCs aren’t left in the cold. To view two books simultaneously, I merely open multiple copies of PocketBible on the Handheld PC. Then I can switch between them using the ALT+Esc key combination. Since I installed the Power Toys from Microsoft, I can also use ALT+Tab.
If you’re going to be carrying your Pocket PC anyway, why not let it serve as a handy Bible reference tool along with its many other functions?
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on PocketBible, visit http://www.laridian.com/ce/catpocketbible.asp.
For more information on Laridian, visit http://www.laridian.com.
For more information on Microsoft’s Power Toys, visit http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/downloads/default.asp.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO Stephen Borchert is trying to look busy while synchronizing his Windows CE handheld computers. He may be reached at sjborch@pacbell.net.
