Laridian PocketBible for Smartphone

With the rapid expansion of the Smartphone market, many Windows Mobile developers have ported their Pocket PC software over to the Smartphone. One of the first to do so was Laridian, which quickly introduced a Smartphone version of their popular Bible program.

Like the Pocket PC version, PocketBible for Windows Smartphone is a feature-rich application that lets you read, search, and study the biblical text. And given that most people have their Smartphone with them constantly, PocketBible allows them to carry an electronic copy of the scripture with them wherever they go.

PocketBible is installed via ActiveSync, and the application itself on occupies 600 KB of storage space. The Bible documents themselves—there are 15 available—occupy from 2-4 MB. You can conserve internal memory by installing them on storage card.

Intuitive, easy-to-use interface

Once installed and started, PocketBible presents a clean, intuitive, and easy-to-use interface (Fig. 1). The two navigation keys at the bottom of the display provide two functions: The right key lets you access PocketBible's menu. The left key pops up the verse finder (Fig. 2). Use your Smartphone's D-Pad to scroll between the different boxes in the verse finder and to select the book, chapter, and verse number. Then, select the Done key and the verse will be displayed (Fig. 3).

Fig. 1: PocketBible's user interface is clean and easy to view.

Fig. 2: Select the left soft key at the bottom of the screen to open the book/chapter/verse finder.

Fig. 3: Enter book, chapter, and verse number to display the verse.

Note that some phrases and notes in the Bible text are underlined and in blue ink, indicating that they are hyperlinked (Fig. 3, see "One and Only Son"). By using the D-Pad on your Smartphone, you can scroll to those links and then press the Action button (press down on the D-Pad) to bring up the information related to that phrase or note (Fig. 4). For phrases within the biblical text, this will open up the back matter (an expanded notes section at the end of the Bible) while notes on verses will be displayed "inline" as part of the text you are reading (Fig. 5).

Fig. 4: The "back material" notes associated with a Biblical phrase or word.

Fig. 5: An alternative reading of a verse is displayed "in line" when the * link is selected.

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. When the search criterion is complete, select the Done soft key and the results are displayed in list form. From here, you can scroll down the list using the D-Pad and press the Action button to bring up the selected verse.

Like the Pocket PC version of PocketBible, the Smartphone version allows users to bookmark passages. These are created by "pressing" the Menu soft key and selecting Bookmarks option. Theoretically, you can add as many bookmarks as you like. However, you will be bound by the amount of memory available on your device or memory card.

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 font size, displaying Christ's words in red letters, using the T9 function of the Smartphone, and more. With all of these features available, PocketBible for Smartphone is almost as powerful as the Pocket PC version.