Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Laridian has released a number of new books for their PocketBible program in the last month or so.


New Living Translation Bible Study Notes

Here is a quick rundown:

• New Living Translation Bible Study Notes - This book weighs in at over 32MB and contains maps, over 25,000 notes, illustrations and more. It will work with any installed translation, not just the NLT. Just use the Sync to Verse function to keep your favorite translation sync'd with this reference book. It is $14.99.
• New International Readers Version - This is geared towards younger readers, so if you have any children that you've passed down one of your Windows Mobile devices to, they might enjoy this translation. $14.99, and roughly 3.5MB is required.
• Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Matthew/Mark Vol. 11 - This is part of an 18 volume series on the Bible. $19.99 and needs roughly 1.3MB of space. You can read more about the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary at Tyndale's site.
• Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Romans/Galatians Vol. 14 - Another book in the Cornerstone series. $19.99 and about 1.3MB.

Be sure to check the system requirements for each of these before buying. I believe they will all work with the most recent releases of PocketBible 3 and PocketBible 4, but confirm that on the product page if you have a Smartphone (non-touch screen device) or PocketBible 3 on the Pocket PC. I know they all work with PocketBible 4 for Windows Mobile. If you haven't upgraded to PB4 for Windows Mobile yet, you should. You can read a review of PB4, released earlier in 2008, here. If you are just getting started with PocketBible on your mobile device, consider some of the bundles available at the top of this page, which will give you substantial discounts on a lot of content.

Today Laridian released PocketBible 4 for both Windows Mobile Standard (Smartphone) and Professional (Pocket PC) devices.



There are a number of new features, some specific to the Standard or Professional platform. There is a single installer which will determine which type of device you own. Some of the new features include:

• Maximize Windows - Open multiple windows/books. Maximize any window for full screen reading.
• Flick Gestures while Maximized - Swipe across the screen to switch to another open book (commentaries will stay synchronized with the Bible text). Swipe up or down in a book to go to the previous or next page.
  
• Auto-Scroll - Set a book to auto-scroll for easier reading. Increase or decrease the speed of scrolling to match your reading speed. Great for public or devotional reading.
  
• View in All - View a verse in all Bibles. View a reference in all commentaries. View a word in all dictionaries. Parallel study has never been easier!
• Customizable Toolbars - Sixty different functions available to be included on your toolbar. Put the features you use most, literally, at your fingertip. Choose "Large icons" never use the stylus again!
  

There is a full review of PocketBible 4 for the Professional/Pocket PC platform at eHansberry.com. The upgrade price is $7 and the full price is $10 if you aren't a current owner. All of your books should work just fine, but if you should run into an issue, just go to your Laridian download library and redownload the version designed for PocketBible 4.