THE BIBLE AT YOUR FINGER (OR STYLUS) TIPS
Written: Jan 30 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy access to the Bible, easy navigation.
Cons: Limited to Protestant canon.
The Bottom Line: MyBible provides easy access to the Bible, with excellent search capabilities and effortless comparison between translations, all in the "Palm" of your hand.
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| sylvanb's Full Review: MyBible |
If you want to have the Bible at your fingertips, MyBible for the Palm PDA should please you. Laridian, the software publisher, has created a flexible and easy-to-use application which lets you search and navigate easily within the text, insert bookmarks, and jump between versions without losing your place.
The MyBible CD is available at “most Christian bookstores,” according to the publisher, with a list price of $59.95. It is nicely packaged and installs painlessly. Documentation and license agreement are written in simple, straightforward English. E-mail and phone support is
personal and responsive. (See below for more detailed tech notes). The software can also be purchased and downloaded from Lardinan’s website(http://www.laridian.com/palm/default.asp). On the website, you would purchase the basic program for $10 and your choice of translations for $19.99 -- $29.99, depending on the version(s)you choose.
My copy of MyBible came with two versions, the New King James Version, and the New Living Translation, and you can install either, or both, or portions of each. A fair selection of additional versions is available from Laridian. The advertised “Bonus” program, “Prayer Partner,” was not on the CD; Laridian responded promptly to our inquiry and provided a code to download it from their website.
A brief and simple “Tips” screen let me begin using the program immediately and painlessly. For the user with even moderate Palm experience, navigation is intuitive, using both stylus taps and Graffiti shortcuts. For example:
● Bookmark current verse with two taps.
● Go to any book (from the dropdown list) with two taps.
● Go to chapter in current book by writing the chapter number.
● Page up or down with a tap, next or previous verse or chapter with a single Grafitti stroke.
● Find with Grafitti “F”.
● Copy/paste into the search field.
One of the most powerful uses for a computerized Bible is the ability to search the text, and MyBible does this well (one caveat: you have to get the punctuation right). “Find”
returns up to 500 matches, you can search the current book, the entire Bible, the Old or New Testament, and logical groups such as Pentateuch or Gospels. Search options include: ignore case; find exact/any/all; wild card (*) for endings; wordA/wordB for either A or B in phrase.
PRAYER PARTNER
The bonus application, “Prayer Partner,” has three very simple organizing tools: a categorizable list of prayer requests, a basic phone book for “prayer partners,” and a “journal,” with neat little side tabs for switching among them. “Prayer Partner” is straightforward and potentially useful if one wants to keep this information within one application.
THE TRANSLATIONS
The New KJV and the New Living Translation are both written in contemporary English. The goal of the publisher of the NKJV, Thomas Nelson, was “…to maintain the lyrical quality of the King James Version while being sensitive to the late twentieth century English idiom and adhering faithfully to the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts.” The New Living Translation is published by Tyndale, which describes it as a “dynamic-equivalence translation.” “Entire thoughts, rather than just words, were translated into natural, everyday English.” A significant omission, which limits the usefulness of MyBible for a large portion of Christendom (Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Anglican), is the unavailability of the so-called Apocrypha.
THE PROMISED TECHNICAL DETAIL
● Program: MyBible v. 2.6, NKJV and NLT translations.
● Packaging: Attractive and simple; high-quality and durable folding CD case with positive latch for CD and clips for notes inside cover.
● Available versions and translations: King James Version; New American Standard; New International Version; New King James Version; New Living Translation; Revised Standard Version. All include only the Protestant canon (no "Apocrypha".)
● Free memory requirements: About 1.6MB for program and one translation; about 3.2MB for full NKJV and NTL translations; under 8MB for four translations.
● Platform used for evaluation: IBM Thinkpad T23 (Windows 2000 SP3) – Palm M105 (Palm OS 3.5.1).
● Online registration: Straightforward. Had to supply account password twice, a minor bug. Subsequent logging-in to the website (for download) requires third-party (tracking)
cookies. Clearly written and reasonable privacy policy.
● Online support: Fair-sized FAQ with option to e-mail or call for questions not answered in FAQ.
● Install: Completely painless. Instructions simple and clear, license written in plain English. HotSync took a while as there was more than 2MB to sync.
● Documentation: Simple and easy.
● Program operation: Simple and easy.
● Bugs and Features: Italic doesn’t display so the translators’ interpolations aren’t distinguished from the text. Find command requires matching punctuation. No provision for taking notes; online FAQ documents a method to toggle between MyBible and Memo Pad or similar, by assigning buttons.
Recommended:
Yes
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sylvanb
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Location: Providence, RI
Reviews written: 16
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