PocketBible 3 Launched, And Reviewed

[Ed Hansberry]

Laridian has launched Pocket Bible 3.0 for the Pocket PC. They have made a ton of improvements to the application. Just a few enhancements are listed below:<br /><br />• Color highlighting<br />• Continuous synchronization<br />• Categorized Book Chooser<br />• Context-sensitive tap-and-hold menus<br />• Find your notes<br />• Continuous text - no more page/chapter breaks. <br />• Gesture-based navigation<br />• DailyReader features have been combined into PocketBible 3<br />• Open more than two books at once <br />• Windows Mobile 5 softkey support and much more.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.ehansberry.com/pages/laridianpb3review/figure6a-findmenu.gif" /><br /><br />It supports Pocket PC 2002 and above. Once you buy it, if you already have PocketBible 2, you'll need to redownload all of the books you have purchased in the new PocketBible 3 file format. You don't have to repurchase books, just the PocketBible program. You can find out <a href="http://www.laridian.com/ce/catpocketbible.asp?ref=apwzwtzws">more about PocketBible 3 at Laridian's site</a>. Finally, you can read <a href="http://www.ehansberry.com/pages/laridianpocketbible3review.htm">my PocketBible 3 review here</a>.

[crimsonsky]

Yes, yes! Happy happy joy joy! This is fantastic news. Thanks for the review on this one Ed. I've been using Pocket Bible 2 forever it seems and have been impatiently awaiting an update and it looks like this version addresses all my concerns with Pocket Bible.

Off to Laridian to buy....

[that_kid]

Wow this is great news, I've been using Pocket Bible for years and this is a welcome update.

[Craig Horlacher]

I've been using pocket bible for probably at least 5 years and waiting for a lot of these features! I can't wait to upgrade!

Thank you Laridian! Thanks for the heads up Ed! Laridian hasn't emailed me about it yet.

[Paul Martin]

Got my e-mail and upgraded yesterday. Two thumbs up in my brief run-through.

[Craig Horlacher]

It looks like I can get it for only $10? Could that be right? I guess I'll find out. That's nice since I've spent loads of money on tons of bibles and reference books from them.

It looks like there is no "upgrade" price but honestly if it's only $10 I don't really care:)

[Paul Martin]

It looks like there is no "upgrade" price but honestly if it's only $10 I don't really care:)

You should get an e-mail with special upgrade pricing. It was $10 for both ($7) pocketBible and Memorize ($3). Double check your bulk mail folder just in case.

[that_kid]

On the site it said to make sure you select that your an existing customer, I did that and it showed all my information but I didn't get the $7 upgrade price. No biggie though, it's still a great program and worth the $10 price if not more.

[crimsonsky]

I get my Gmail forwarded to my .mac email and I'll bet the notification from Laridian went in my spam bucket. And I bought the program right after reading Ed's review. Shucks. Oh well - $10 is hardly going to break the bank. The reader is always cheap - the books are what cost (I have as many as Ed).

It's fantastic that they've combined Daily Reader and Pocket Bible though. This is one of the things I thought should have been added to the program and they did!

Now if only they'd add some Spanish(or any foreign language) language stuff. I still have to maintain another program (Pocket eSword) for my Spanish language Bible.

[ironguy]

I've been waiting for Laridian to come up with a toolbar icon to sync all Bibles. Instead, they took it a step further and put in AutoSync.

I'm happy! :D

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Great review Ed! :way to go:

I'll definitely be upgrading today.

[azhiker]

Wow! Real time synchronization, color highlighting, and really appreciate the additonal more options for scrolling.

I do miss the scroll bar though because I could go through fast to find a verse in a chapter, instead I need to use the navigation button. But it is good they put most navigations needs on the main PPC button!

Have not yet figured out how to make the multi-book view vertical instead of horizontal.

A great update!

One thing I did not like in the old and hope they solved in the new... if I ever had to reinstall the reader program, I lost my current progress and there was no way to adjust the settings to begin where I left off.

[GadgetMan]

I am very happy to see a new major release of Pocket Bible after all these years of waiting. Indeed it appears to be a very well designed and much more useful than the previous version. Well done Laridian!

I am still in early stages of using the program (and reading Ed's review), but so far I have a request and question.

Request:
I use Tahoma font. Size 1 is too small and I find size 2 to be too big . This may be due to the fact that my device has a large VGA screen. I would appreciate if Laridian could either slightly increase size 1, or better yet add another size half way between 1 and 2. Another option would be to allow users to choose fonts size same way we do it in a word processor.

Alternatively, can anyone recommend a font I could install on my Pocket PC that would look a bit smaller than Tahoma, when set to size 2?

Question:
I have several reference books as separate HTML files. I created these books myself for Pocket Bible 2.0. I was able to open them in Pocket Bible 2.0, read them there along open Bible book and jump to appropriate Bible location when tapping on Bible verse links placed in those custom books. These books are not notes on individual verses, but rather collection of references and articles, therefore they are not compatible with Notes feature of Pocket Bible. These documents are quite valuable to me and I would want to be able to continue using them with Pocket Bible 3. How can I do that? Is there any way to convert them to Pocket Bible 3 format? Is Laridian planning to release a tool that will allow us to do that?

Cheers,

[d-roC]

Hey Ed, great review of PB3. I had been mulling how to do a review of Laradian for WM since I am a Treo 650 guy (and many people who visit Mobile Ministry Magazine (http://mobileministrymagazine.com) use WM devices). Your review is quite comprehensive and I have added it to the postings today.

In addition, PB3 actaully looks like it works a lot better than Bible+ (http://palmbibleplus.sourceforge.net) does on the PalmOS (my personal high watermark). I wonder about the format of Bible modules. It would be nice if all the Bible readers used the same format and the reader itself was the differing factor, but that just isnt the case (silly to me).

[paschott]

Got the e-mail last night - bought and installed shortly after. Biggest problem I had was the need to rename the PB 2.x folder in order to do the install. For some reason I couldn't just upgrade in place even after uninstalling and soft-resetting. Second problem was needing to download and re-install my bibles due to the new version.

Been playing with it some and I'll say that this really makes the product friendlier to use and much more enjoyable. I spent some time last night going through the book of Proverbs and highlighting various passages for future use as I came across something profound. I also played with the auto-sync while doing such as I came across some passages that just didn't make sense at the time - it was awesome!

Adding notes - much easier, especially for formatting for those of us who aren't particularly HTML savvy. Footnote display - great use of the in-line footnotes.

I'm hoping that the bug in 2.x for the lockups in standby are gone. That started happening somewhat regularly if I forgot and either put the device in standby or it just turned off while PB was running. Had to soft-reset to get it back with 2.x.

Does anyone have some tips on how to make the best use of the highlighting? I know there are practices out there, but never really paid much attention as Laridian didn't support it and I rarely use my paper Bibles anymore. Laridian - if you're reading this and have some suggestions, perhaps a link and/or special mailing with some suggestions would be a worthwhile investment. Now that you've given us the functionality, some "best practice" pointers would be great.

Summary - this is a great release. Kudos to Laridian for a job well done.

[azhiker]

The new version still does not allow installing to Built in Storage on my Axim, so I had to copy the books over from my SD card.

I do not seem to be able to search for any words! It tells me all searches results are empty! What is the problem there?

[ironguy]

Did you download all your books? They need to be re-downloaded.

[azhiker]

I downloaded only the latest versions for PB 3, and only those books for PB 3, installed only those... but search does not work at all.

[paschott]

Just did a quick test on my HTC Wizard - search seems to work just fine there. Have you tried a soft-reset after installing? Uninstall and re-install of the Pocket Bible software? Are you definitely pointing at the v3 books? (is it even possible to point to an earlier version book - I don't think so, but worth checking)

-Pete

[barky81]

Do you really think Laridian's is better than the Olivetree readers (http://www.olivetree.com/handheld/WinCE/)?

(I was a Scripture user back before Laridian bought it...)

I think Olivetree's bible bundles are more attractive, too...

[Godsongz]

Do you really think Laridian's is better than the Olivetree readers (http://www.olivetree.com/handheld/WinCE/)?

I do, but I actually use both. I keep several bibles loaded in Laridian, but I must have an NAB translation as well. Since Laridian doesn't offer one, I have to have Olivetree loaded too. The two icons are side by side on my today screen. Kinda silly I know, but I've asked Laridian several times over the last 4 years to consider releasing an NAB, and I think I've only ever received one robotic reply.

[Craig Horlacher]

I'm hoping that the bug in 2.x for the lockups in standby are gone. That started happening somewhat regularly if I forgot and either put the device in standby or it just turned off while PB was running. Had to soft-reset to get it back with 2.x.


I've talked to Laridian about this and my understanding is it's a windows mobile bug. The same thing will happen with other programs too, I have it happen.

The only way around it is to install pocketbible and the books you use to the main memory (root\program files) location of your pocket pc. This is because of the way windows mobile handles the storage cards and lets programs start running before access to the cards is restored when the pda is powered on.

I have the same thing happen in pocket word and excel if I'm working on files on a storage card and pocket streets.

We apparently need a microsoft fix for this one.

[Ed Hansberry]

We apparently need a microsoft fix for this one.
AKU2 fixed this on both the K-jam and JasJar. I don't know if MS fixed it, iMate or HTC, or whether the bug was in Windows Mobile, the OAL or the storage card driver.

[sebringal]

I'm anxious to download the new version and updates of all my Bibles at home later tonight---sounds great!

One question, though----on Laridian's site, my account shows the updates available for things I've previously purchases, and for the NIV it shows 2 choices: NIV and NIV with cross references. Is the cross-referenced new? What is it like? I'm going to need to decide which to download---or do I need both?

Thanks!

[Craig Horlacher]

We apparently need a microsoft fix for this one.
AKU2 fixed this on both the K-jam and JasJar. I don't know if MS fixed it, iMate or HTC, or whether the bug was in Windows Mobile, the OAL or the storage card driver.

I did a quick search...it looks like AKU2 was an update from microsoft that oem's would have had to embrace and customize for their devices. I've checked Toshiba's site and haven't found any updates:( I wish there was some version of it just for that problem that would work on any windows mobile 2003se device.

Thanks for the post Ed. I had never heard of AKU2 before. That gives me a glimps of hope.

Anyone out there with a toshiba e830 who has found a fix?

[Craig Horlacher]

I'm anxious to download the new version and updates of all my Bibles at home later tonight---sounds great!

One question, though----on Laridian's site, my account shows the updates available for things I've previously purchases, and for the NIV it shows 2 choices: NIV and NIV with cross references. Is the cross-referenced new? What is it like? I'm going to need to decide which to download---or do I need both?

Thanks!
I had the same situation. What happened was I bought NIV when I bought pocket bible. Later they came out with a newer NIV that also had cross references. I bought that. I actually emailed laridian about this but what I think it means is we have one legal copy of the regular NIV download and one regular copy of the NIV with Cross References. I also have the same situation with NAS and NAS Exaustive Concordance (forgive my bad spelling). They both include the same NAS. One is a superset of the other adding the concordance. I also asked Laridian about this.

What I plan to do is install those two books (both versions without the extras) on an old pocket pc I have with pocket bible version 2 - since I apparently bought the full version (not an upgrade) of version 3. I asked Laridian about this and will post when I get an answer.

[sebringal]

What you said about supersets was pretty much what I was thinking might be the case....I think I'll try downloading just the NIV with cross ref, since it's available on my list---the version I'm currently using does have the cross-referencing footnotes that are lettered, so maybe that's what I'm using already without knowing it.

[PPCRules]

Do you really think Laridian's is better than the Olivetree readers (http://www.olivetree.com/handheld/WinCE/)?
I've had both installed for years, but used PocketBible more because I had more money invested in it, and because it's the only place I had NIV. I've been using BibleReader often lately (whenever I didn't need NIV) because PocketBible has been feeling very clunky lately. But from the list of changes, it looks as though most of my biggest irritations with PocketBible have been addressed, so with this new version, I'd suspect I'll conclude it's "better" than BibleReader.

But it seems they are also seeking a price premium for that percieved "better" (with content being considered).

[MacPPC]

We apparently need a microsoft fix for this one.
AKU2 fixed this on both the K-jam and JasJar. I don't know if MS fixed it, iMate or HTC, or whether the bug was in Windows Mobile, the OAL or the storage card driver.

I did a quick search...it looks like AKU2 was an update from microsoft that oem's would have had to embrace and customize for their devices. I've checked Toshiba's site and haven't found any updates:( I wish there was some version of it just for that problem that would work on any windows mobile 2003se device.

Thanks for the post Ed. I had never heard of AKU2 before. That gives me a glimps of hope.

Anyone out there with a toshiba e830 who has found a fix?

Turns out this is a problem with a number of 2003 and 2003SE devices that can be fixed with a registry setting. The discussion at http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=27614 describes it. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\PNPUnloadDelay was set to 4096 on 2002 devices. My iPaq had it set to 1500 which works fine while on the e830 it was only 800. Changing it to either 4096 or 1500 solved the problem.

[MacPPC]

Question:
I have several reference books as separate HTML files. I created these books myself for Pocket Bible 2.0. I was able to open them in Pocket Bible 2.0, read them there along open Bible book and jump to appropriate Bible location when tapping on Bible verse links placed in those custom books. These books are not notes on individual verses, but rather collection of references and articles, therefore they are not compatible with Notes feature of Pocket Bible. These documents are quite valuable to me and I would want to be able to continue using them with Pocket Bible 3. How can I do that? Is there any way to convert them to Pocket Bible 3 format? Is Laridian planning to release a tool that will allow us to do that?

They released a tool last year for this very purpose. It's called BookBuilder &lt;http://www.laridiansales.com/order/productpages/BBPPC002.asp> and is much more capable than the old ASCII file system with limited HTML. With it you can build books that look and function just like those sold by Laridian.

[GadgetMan]

They released a tool last year for this very purpose. It's called BookBuilder &lt;http://www.laridiansales.com/order/productpages/BBPPC002.asp> and is much more capable than the old ASCII file system with limited HTML. With it you can build books that look and function just like those sold by Laridian.

I knew about this product, but was not sure if it was updated to work with the new book format introduced with Pocket Bible 3.0. Based on the information on Laridian web site, it looks that it now has a new version that supports the new file format!

I will check it out. Thank you very much!

Cheers,

[Ed Hansberry]

Question:
I have several reference books as separate HTML files. I created these books myself for Pocket Bible 2.0. I was able to open them in Pocket Bible 2.0, read them there along open Bible book and jump to appropriate Bible location when tapping on Bible verse links placed in those custom books. These books are not notes on individual verses, but rather collection of references and articles, therefore they are not compatible with Notes feature of Pocket Bible. These documents are quite valuable to me and I would want to be able to continue using them with Pocket Bible 3. How can I do that? Is there any way to convert them to Pocket Bible 3 format? Is Laridian planning to release a tool that will allow us to do that?

You want Bookbuilder. http://www.laridiansales.com/order/productpages/BBPPC002.asp?order_platform=ce

Does anyone have some tips on how to make the best use of the highlighting? I know there are practices out there, but never really paid much attention as Laridian didn't support it and I rarely use my paper Bibles anymore. Laridian - if you're reading this and have some suggestions, perhaps a link and/or special mailing with some suggestions would be a worthwhile investment. Now that you've given us the functionality, some "best practice" pointers would be great.

I have mentally assigned (ok, I wrote them in Mobile Word so I'd remember ;-) ) categories to the colors. I hope PB3.x will eventually allow you to rename the colors as categories. For example:

• Crimson - lack of faith/belief/knowledge
• Lime Green - Creation accounts (reserved for those not in Genesis 1-11)
• Light Blue - Kingdom (our home)
• Yellow - General interest

When I find a verse that matches one of those and is of particular interest, I highlight with those colors. The danger is highlighting too much. Highlight everything and you've highlighted nothing.

The new version still does not allow installing to Built in Storage on my Axim, so I had to copy the books over from my SD card. Yeah, but as long as you know how to do it, that works. When you think about it, there are no devices made anymore with built in storage like that. They are all ROM based, so it is either device or a card.

As for your search problem that comes up empty, I suggest using the support links at Laridian. That id definitely not normal and I never saw such behavior in the beta.

Hey Ed, great review of PB3. I had been mulling how to do a review of Laradian for WM since I am a Treo 650 guy (and many people who visit Mobile Ministry Magazine (http://mobileministrymagazine.com) use WM devices). Your review is quite comprehensive and I have added it to the postings today.

Thanks! Great site. I just added your RSS feed to NewsBreak on my device. Keep up the good work.

I did a quick search...it looks like AKU2 was an update from microsoft that oem's would have had to embrace and customize for their devices. I've checked Toshiba's site and haven't found any updates:( I wish there was some version of it just for that problem that would work on any windows mobile 2003se device.

There is a registry hack for Wm2003SE devices that usually works. See the fix at http://laridian.onlinesupportdesk.net/index.php?_a=knowledgebase&amp;_j=questiondetails&amp;_i=937 which will actually take you back to a Pocket PC Thoughts thread. :mrgreen:

[Craig Horlacher]

We apparently need a microsoft fix for this one.
AKU2 fixed this on both the K-jam and JasJar. I don't know if MS fixed it, iMate or HTC, or whether the bug was in Windows Mobile, the OAL or the storage card driver.

I did a quick search...it looks like AKU2 was an update from microsoft that oem's would have had to embrace and customize for their devices. I've checked Toshiba's site and haven't found any updates:( I wish there was some version of it just for that problem that would work on any windows mobile 2003se device.

Thanks for the post Ed. I had never heard of AKU2 before. That gives me a glimps of hope.

Anyone out there with a toshiba e830 who has found a fix?

Turns out this is a problem with a number of 2003 and 2003SE devices that can be fixed with a registry setting. The discussion at http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=27614 describes it. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\PNPUnloadDelay was set to 4096 on 2002 devices. My iPaq had it set to 1500 which works fine while on the e830 it was only 800. Changing it to either 4096 or 1500 solved the problem.

MacPPC dude you Rock!

That worked! I can't believe it! That drove me nuts. I had myself pretty well trained to tap the screen before it would power off when I was using it and exit pocketbible before turning it off. This is awesome! Thank you!

[Craig Horlacher]

I'm anxious to download the new version and updates of all my Bibles at home later tonight---sounds great!

One question, though----on Laridian's site, my account shows the updates available for things I've previously purchases, and for the NIV it shows 2 choices: NIV and NIV with cross references. Is the cross-referenced new? What is it like? I'm going to need to decide which to download---or do I need both?

Thanks!
I had the same situation. What happened was I bought NIV when I bought pocket bible. Later they came out with a newer NIV that also had cross references. I bought that. I actually emailed laridian about this but what I think it means is we have one legal copy of the regular NIV download and one regular copy of the NIV with Cross References. I also have the same situation with NAS and NAS Exaustive Concordance (forgive my bad spelling). They both include the same NAS. One is a superset of the other adding the concordance. I also asked Laridian about this.

What I plan to do is install those two books (both versions without the extras) on an old pocket pc I have with pocket bible version 2 - since I apparently bought the full version (not an upgrade) of version 3. I asked Laridian about this and will post when I get an answer.

I got a solid "Yes" relpay from Laridian. So in my case, I can now put pocketbible 2 on back on my old casio e125 which still works along with the basic NIV and NAS Basic and not have any less content on my current device with pocketbible 3!

[Craig Horlacher]

There is a registry hack for Wm2003SE devices that usually works. See the fix at http://laridian.onlinesupportdesk.net/index.php?_a=knowledgebase&amp;_j=questiondetails&amp;_i=937 which will actually take you back to a Pocket PC Thoughts thread. :mrgreen:
Thank you too Ed! I missed your reply at first.

I spent a lot of time looking for a fix but it's been over a year since then. Maybe it came out since then or maybe I just didn't look in the right places. I'm glad I can stop worring about that! Changing mine from 800 to 1500 fixed it for me!

[Craig Horlacher]

1500 must be borderline for the e830. I'm trying 4096 now because I just want something that works. 1500 did a little:) 800 always failed. If 4096 works maybe I'll try 2048 or something later.

The difference could be the e830 has the 500MHz processor and the HP 4700 has the 600MHz I think. I'm not sure if that would explain it or not.

[paschott]

Quick check on that registry change - is that only needed for 2003 or 2003SE devices? I haven't run into any issues on my HTC Wizard (Cingular 8125), but have really gotten in the habit of shutting down my PB program before my device has a chance to standby.

Wish I'd known about this hack. Laridian didn't when I contacted them for support a (long) while back. Would have helped my 2200 (still might if I get around to re-installing my apps since the battery drained).

-Pete

[ChristopherTD]

I may be missing something really, really obvious, but on my JasJar PB3 seems to display the text on a pale browny yellow background. I can't for the life of me find a setting to get plain black on white.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[Ed Hansberry]

Quick check on that registry change - is that only needed for 2003 or 2003SE devices?
yes. doesn't work on a WM5 device.

[Craig Horlacher]

I may be missing something really, really obvious, but on my JasJar PB3 seems to display the text on a pale browny yellow background. I can't for the life of me find a setting to get plain black on white.

Any ideas?

Thanks
No, I agree with you. A "pale browny yellow" is a good way to discribe the background color on my e830. I would prefer white also. It's an easy way to improve contrast and on a mobile device every bit can help.

Has anyone noticed the scroll speed to be really slow? I can work with it, it just makes me scratch my head. Most of the time I use page down which isn't as hard to work with for me as line by line.

Can I get any votes here for moving the "options" menu down to the bottom with "edit" and "view"? I'm going to be hitting "view", "options" a lot. I would think this would be an easy fix.

Also, someone mentioned about the font sizes...I agree they could be looked at. I use 1 and on my 4" vga screen that is perfect for me but it is a big jump from 1 to 2 and I could see a size of &lt;1 being readable on this screen.

If you're reading this and haven't bought it, don't let these things scare you - just buy it now! PB3 is Awesome! These are minor things.

[maximum360]

I like the new features. The only downside I've noticed so far is that scrolling is slower than I would like and using the directional pad to go from page to page is slower than the previous version of Pocket Bible as well. I didn't find any options to adjust this.

Any ideas?

I have the PPC6700.

[Craig Horlacher]

I like the new features. The only downside I've noticed so far is that scrolling is slower than I would like and using the directional pad to go from page to page is slower than the previous version of Pocket Bible as well. I didn't find any options to adjust this.

This probably tops my list of things I would like to see changed but I'm guessing it would be one of the harder things to fix.

Does the scrolling seem normal or fast to anyone? Maybe it's normal or fast on some devices.

I'm going to try to just think more slowly:)

[ChristopherTD]

Scrolling seems slower to me, and more jerky than before. There is a small, but noticable pause before the next page starts to appear. Not enough to be a show stopper, just slower than V2!

[GadgetMan]

I am running Pocket Bible 3 on my HP iPaq hx4700 with Windows Mobile 2003 SE and the scrolling (I have it set to one page at a time) is instantaneous. My Pocket Bible and all books are installed on 2.0 GB SanDisk Ultra II secure digital card.

Cheers,

[Craig Horlacher]

I am running Pocket Bible 3 on my HP iPaq hx4700 with Windows Mobile 2003 SE and the scrolling (I have it set to one page at a time) is instantaneous. My Pocket Bible and all books are installed on 2.0 GB SanDisk Ultra II secure digital card.

Try line by line, I think that's almost more noticable. You can tap near the bottom of the screen. I can almost watch it paint the next line from top to bottom.

I'm also running off a 2GB sandisk ultra II sd card. So, you've got the 600MHz processor right? I think you also have an ati graphics subsystem. I've got the pxa272 intel graphics chipset and a 500MHz processor:( So I wonder if it's the graphics, the, cpu, the drivers, or what if yours is faster. My page down is definitly not instant.

Thanks!

[GadgetMan]

Try line by line, I think that's almost more noticable. You can tap near the bottom of the screen. I can almost watch it paint the next line from top to bottom.

I switched scrolling to line by line and I must say it is a tiny bit slower - maybe it takes 1/4 of a second, i.e. just enough time to "push" the page one line up (or down, depending on scrolling direction). In other words, it is almost no different than scrolling page by page, virtually instantaneous.

So, you've got the 600MHz processor right? I think you also have an ati graphics subsystem.

I have PXA270 CPU running at 624 MHz, as well as ATI Imageon video chip.

At one point - before Pocket Bible 3.0 came out - I actually "upgraded" my hx4700 to Windows Mobile 5. After that the system got painfully slow (even after applying all the tricks and tweaks I could find), had serious probems reading CF card and was noticeably less stable than WM2003SE. So, after about two weeks of pain, I returned to ultra fast and very stable WM2003SE. I may try WM5 again, but only after HP releases a new ROM image fixing all the issues. Otherwise, I will stick with WM2003SE.

Cheers,

[CESkins]

I also find scrolling slower than the prior version (or competing products) on my Loox 720 even with the CPU speed @ max setting.

[crairdin]

Sorry I'm late to this thread. Some quick replies:

I do miss the scroll bar though because I could go through fast to find a verse in a chapter, instead I need to use the navigation button. But it is good they put most navigations needs on the main PPC button!

Scrolling within a chapter is a little slower. Remember that the new version has continuous text. There are no page breaks. With PocketBible 2 we only loaded one chapter at a time. With PocketBible 3 we're dealing with the entire Bible (though obviously not loading it all in memory at the same time).

Consider a couple things:

1. You can change what happens when you tap up/down/left/right and you can change your d-pad buttons. Go to View | Options | More Options | Navigate.

2. Look at the options for going to a verse when you just write or type its number. Type chapter:verse to go to a verse in the same book. Type chapter: (just the colon with no verse) to go to that chapter. More info on that in help.


Have not yet figured out how to make the multi-book view vertical instead of horizontal.

We follow the orientation of your device. If you have a portrait-mode display you get windows top-to-bottom. If landscape, you get left-to-right. Change the orientation of the device and everything in PocketBible changes. (Same as was in version 2.)


if I ever had to reinstall the reader program, I lost my current progress and there was no way to adjust the settings to begin where I left off.

Progress is now in the same database as your notes, bookmarks, and highlights and it survives program uninstall/re-install.

I use Tahoma font. Size 1 is too small and I find size 2 to be too big .

I spent a lot of time tinkering with this. The smallest size is equivalent to 8 points, which I found to be the smallest readable type on a Pocket PC. According to the HTML spec, the values 1-7 should get 20% biggger with each increment, so that's 8, 10, 12, 14, 17, 20, and 24 (rounding to the nearest whole number after multiplying by 1.2 each time). That gets way too big way too fast. So PocketBible uses 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17. The idea was to give you a tiny font, then lots of fine adjustment in the 2-5 range, then a couple big sizes.

Since all of this is a matter of taste, we're probably stuck with it. If I change it for one person then 100,000 people will complain. :-)

It would be nice if all the Bible readers used the same format and the reader itself was the differing factor, but that just isnt the case (silly to me).

Been there, done that. (Think STEP.) Too political. It won't happen. You end up with a design-by-committee format that everybody uniformly hates.

Biggest problem I had was the need to rename the PB 2.x folder in order to do the install. For some reason I couldn't just upgrade in place even after uninstalling and soft-resetting.

Haven't heard this complaint from anyone else. Not sure what's going on there.

Second problem was needing to download and re-install my bibles due to the new version.

The cost of the new features is a completely different format. If you think PocketBible 3 is slow now, you should have seen it when it still read the old books. Very bad.

I do not seem to be able to search for any words! It tells me all searches results are empty!

Make sure you don't have any bookmark categories or colors selected.

I've asked Laridian several times over the last 4 years to consider releasing an NAB, and I think I've only ever received one robotic reply.

We don't comment on what we may or may not be working on. Consider the fact that the original release schedule for PocketBible 3 was sometime in 2003. Had we pre-announced it back in 2003 we'd be in a real mess. So we just don't talk about whether or not we're working on stuff. We could release the NAB tomorrow and I wouldn't tell you here. Or we could never release it.

But it seems they are also seeking a price premium for that percieved "better" (than Olive Tree -- CR)

Don't get me started on this. Free software is killing software quality and we won't go down that path. Take away our ability to feed our children from our work and while we may be motivated to produce Bible study software we just don't have time after working a full-time job. When all software is free, all software will suck. End of story.

Free software isn't usually free because of the high moral principles held by its authors, it's because of their lack of business knowledge and lack of confidence in the product. That is, it's "too hard" to sell stuff, and besides, if you charge people for it, they'll expect it to perform.

We charge a more-than-reasonable price as witnessed by all those at the beginning of this thread who paid full price knowing there was a 30% discount available, and who aren't complaining.

on my JasJar PB3 seems to display the text on a pale browny yellow background. I can't for the life of me find a setting to get plain black on white.

This seems to vary by device. The background color we chose was very, very pale and almost indistinguishable from white on every device we viewed it on. What we find is that on some displays and to some peoples' eyes, it's much darker.

I hope to add something to make both the background color and the link highlight color selectable in the future. Don't quote me on that, or hold me to a schedule, though (remember: PocketBible 3 = 2003 release).

Can I get any votes here for moving the "options" menu down to the bottom with "edit" and "view"? I'm going to be hitting "view", "options" a lot. I would think this would be an easy fix.

There's two menus because Windows Mobile 5 only supports two. It was either that or drop support for "old" versions of Pocket PC. Complain to Microsoft about their backwards progress in user interface design and see if they respond here in this forum. ;-)

Hope this helps.

Craig Rairdin
President
Laridian, Inc.

[GadgetMan]

I spent a lot of time tinkering with this. The smallest size is equivalent to 8 points, which I found to be the smallest readable type on a Pocket PC. According to the HTML spec, the values 1-7 should get 20% biggger with each increment, so that's 8, 10, 12, 14, 17, 20, and 24 (rounding to the nearest whole number after multiplying by 1.2 each time). That gets way too big way too fast. So PocketBible uses 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17. The idea was to give you a tiny font, then lots of fine adjustment in the 2-5 range, then a couple big sizes.

Since all of this is a matter of taste, we're probably stuck with it. If I change it for one person then 100,000 people will complain. :-)

Craig,

I was the one who originally noted that there was too big a jump in font size between size 1 and 2. Based on your answer it seems that size 1 corresponds to standard size 8, and size 2 corresponds to 10.

Would it be possible to add an in-between size, one that would correspond to standard font size 9. I think that would solve the problem, at least on VGA devices.

As to satisfying 100,000 people, you would not have to :-) Those who do not like the new size 9 would simply choose a different size.

Another issue:

I am going through NIV Reference Edition with NIV Study notes right now. I noticed in several places already in the study notes (for 1 Kings) that there are large gaps in text of the study notes.

I scroll one page at at time, so as I read to page bottom in study notes I tap bottom of the screen (or press down button) and am presented with the next page that is blank, instead of seeing text that was supposed to be there. Only after I hit page down again (or sometimes twice) I get to the subsequent text. I also noticed this problem in Unger New Bible Dictionary.

Another, related problem I encountered in these books is that sometimes new page will only have a word or two of text in the top line and the rest wil be blank. I have to scroll to the next page to see remainder of the text.

Other than missing font size 9 and the odd formatting issue described above, I am VERY impressed with this new version. We had to wait an enormous amount of time for it, but it was worth it! :-)

Question: Will Pocket Bible 3 be able to handle graphical content, like Bible atlas? How about using BookBuilder to create document that would contain maps and other graphics? Would they be embedded in the book, or just link to external jpeg or gif files?

BTW, I absolutely agree that you should charge money for the reader. $10 is VERY reasonable and fully justified, IMHO.

Cheers,

[Craig Horlacher]

crairdin:

Thank you for the replies to all the questions.

I'm very happy with PocketBible 3 and the many valuable reference I have availabe in it! I've only had a little time to play with it but I love the new note taking and highlighting features. I never really used the notetaking in 2 - it just didn't work in a way that made it very usable for me. In pb3 I will be using it! Some cool related feature are the fact that I can see a list of things I've highlighted, all or by color! Also, being able to see a list of all my notes is awesome! I know so many people with paper Bibles who would love to be able to aggregate their notes and highlights in this way. It's also great the way I can put these in any Bible and they show up in all of them!

Although the scrolling speed concerned me at first it doesn't bother me so much because the new ways to go to verses are so much better than before. I'm glad I tried the three tap selection - this is quick. I also love the way I can just start "typing" a book or verse and hit "enter" to go to it! That was a great idea! Kind of like text searching in firefox!

Possibly my favorite new feature is the catorgories in the book chooser and the full names for the books! This is great! Now it's easy for me to find my books. Before, it was tough looking throuh my list of 30 or so. Now, *BOOM* I'm in the boook I want before I know it!

I can't believe anyone mentioned price. I felt like a theif paying only $10! I think your prices are very fair and the discounts you often ofter customers are generous.

Almost forgot to mention - the way the entire Bible loads and you can just keep reading is awesome! I never dreamed you do that. What a great idea! That is worth slower scrolling to me!

Oh, I keep thinking of other things. I was very happy with the ability to syncronize all my bibles in version 2. I was blown away by the fact that I can now be looking at 4 bibles (very doable on a vga device) and as I scrolling in one the others will scroll along! Sweet!

Since you don't comment on new features I don't expect a reply to this but in the back of my head I have to wonder if this version was designed with the possiblity of offering a Bible Atlas in mind:) I'm hoping to buy some Bible Maps from you for Pocket Bible 3 some day!

Thank you Craig and Congratulations to the whole team at Laridian for a job well done!

[Craig Horlacher]

Wow, gadgetman! That's funny! I didn't see your post until I was done with mine!

Well, that's two votes for an Atlas:)

[Ed Hansberry]

I am going through NIV Reference Edition with NIV Study notes right now. I noticed in several places already in the study notes (for 1 Kings) that there are large gaps in text of the study notes.you mean the NIVBSN? I am not seeing that problem. have a specific verse/chapter, or am I not talking about the same book you are?
Question: Will Pocket Bible 3 be able to handle graphical content, like Bible atlas? How about using BookBuilder to create document that would contain maps and other graphics? Would they be embedded in the book, or just link to external jpeg or gif files?
PB3 only handles .BMP files with the IMG tag, at least in your notes. I too would love to see maps and diagrams too. :)

[T-Will]

I just bought version 3, the only thing that is a small annoyance to me is the scrolling speed. It's odd though, because if I select the text and move the stylus to the bottom of the screen, it scrolls down through the pages extremely fast, so I'm not sure why single line scrolling with the d-pad is so slow. :?

[Craig Horlacher]

I just bought version 3, the only thing that is a small annoyance to me is the scrolling speed. It's odd though, because if I select the text and move the stylus to the bottom of the screen, it scrolls down through the pages extremely fast, so I'm not sure why single line scrolling with the d-pad is so slow. :?
Wow. same here! That's really strange!

[baker]

:D

[GadgetMan]

I am going through NIV Reference Edition with NIV Study notes right now. I noticed in several places already in the study notes (for 1 Kings) that there are large gaps in text of the study notes.
you mean the NIVBSN? I am not seeing that problem. have a specific verse/chapter, or am I not talking about the same book you are?

Yes, it was NIVBSN. I started looking for those large gaps again (there are only a few of them I noticed so far), but I could not find them... I am starting to wonder that maybe this is not a formatting error, but page scroll glitch...

I will keep an eye for them and note down the exact chapter/verse location and report it to Craig.

Cheers,

[drizzle70]

Ed, I read your glowing review of PocketBible 3 and many of the replies on this forum. It was a great review about everything good with the latest upgrade to PocketBible from Laridian. But you failed to warn us about two of its key evils: loss of speed and usability. :?

A few others have commented on this but I wanted to share my personal experience so that others can be warned before purchasing/upgrading to PocketBible 3. On paper the specs look good, but put PB3 through its paces for a while and the frustration mounts and the program falls flat. My first impression of PB3 was that it reminds me of other bloatware products I have bought in the past from other software vendors. The first issue is loss of speed. All the new features have come at a huge loss in speed when searching, doing look ups, and paging down. These were once a pleasant experience. Now I seem to be constantly waiting for screen redraws while searching. It's especially painful when paging with two or more Bibles open and synchronized. When I buy new software I expect it to be faster than the previous version. Not run at half its speed!!! :evil:

Second, adding insult to injury is the new interface used by PB3, it's unwieldy. The loss of the scrollbar is huge. Gains in screen real estate aside, the scrollbar allowed for fast and accurate screen movements. Its been replaced by a new screen based navigation that has been implemented poorly. The X-screen based navigation zones are a poor substitute. In comparison to PB2 which was slick and accurate, PB3 is sloppy and frustrating to use. It needs a lot of refinement and improvement to be once again a pleasant user experience. :evil:

The last issue for me is a personal one. The loss of the two toolbars rows took away my favorite and most commonly used shortcuts. I guess that this compromise was made to be Win Mob 5 compatible. But why not allow users to choose their own icon set in the preference menu? I now have to spend endless frustration time delving into the menu's or contextual menu's to do the most basic functions that previously were only one tap away. I realize some functions can be assigned to the D-pad, but not the ones I want. Some are in the contextual menu I know but not all of them. I want my favorite shortcuts onscreen as icons. :evil:

For me PocketBible 3 is simply a retrograde not an upgrade. There are other minor frustrations, but PB3's two crucial flaws are unforgivible in an upgrade. For me its three strikes and you’re out when considering a purchase. Laridian needs to improve many of the new features so that they are implemented as slick and refined as were PocketBible 2 features. PB2 was the fastest Bible software out there for the Pocket PC. It has now slipped for me behind its competitors. Its only saving grace is that I paid only $10 for it. I personally have deleted PB3 and gone back to PB2. I'm now left with a sour aftertaste. Until Laridian makes some major improvements in these key areas. It's not worth the upgrade. :)

[Craig Horlacher]

I am going through NIV Reference Edition with NIV Study notes right now. I noticed in several places already in the study notes (for 1 Kings) that there are large gaps in text of the study notes.
you mean the NIVBSN? I am not seeing that problem. have a specific verse/chapter, or am I not talking about the same book you are?

Yes, it was NIVBSN. I started looking for those large gaps again (there are only a few of them I noticed so far), but I could not find them... I am starting to wonder that maybe this is not a formatting error, but page scroll glitch...

I will keep an eye for them and note down the exact chapter/verse location and report it to Craig.

Cheers,

I also looked, starting at the beginning of the notes for 1 Kings in NIVSBN and going through into 2 Kings but didn't find any gaps either.

[Beezer1]

I have some issues with version 3 also:

I was halfway thru a one-year reading of the NT; upon installation of the new version 3 reader, bible, and the reading plans, it appears I have to manually go through every daily reading and mark it "completed" from the 1st day's reading to the current day's reading -- I can't find any way to start the reading from where I left off.

Regarding the yellow-brown highlight-style background on a white background...I don't understand why ANY color other than white was used, since that's the way version 2.x was. On my Dell X51V, it's extremely noticeable and disconcerting. It's as though all the text was highlighted -- very obtrusive. If ALL of the background were yellow-brown, I don't think it would be so bad as it is now...

[Ed Hansberry]

drizzle70, I can appreciate some of your senitments, but not most of them. I too would like to be able to customize the tool bar, but my review was mainly to highlight how PB3 was different from PB2, so I didn't spend much time on things neither have. I also find myself turning the toolbar off unless doing a lot of book turning and studying. usually I am reading with some link clicking, so I turn the toolbar off to gain screen real estate.

as to the rest, I find it infinitely MORE usable than PB2. I wouldn't consider turning back.

as to speed, it has been interesting to read this thread. on my K-Jam and JasJar I have noticed the GoTo dialog is way faster than PB2 was, and occasionally see some minor slowdowns on paging operations. it *is* minor to me, but obviously others in this thread aren't happy with it on their device. I can't speak to that, only to the device I used for my review.

on your expectation that a new more feature rich app is faster than its predecessor, I want to buy what you buy. every bit of software I get seems to run more slowly with the new features on the same hardware than did the old version. doesn't make it right, but you and I clearly have had different experiences.

and the scroll bar? good riddance. how many ebook readers have a scroll bar? I clearly highlighted this and just about everything in your post in my review - speed being the exception, as explained above, so I am unsure how you can accuse me of failing to warn you of "two evils" when one I don't perceive and the other I strongly disagree with.

is PB3 perfect? no. are there improvements i'd like to see? sure. would I change one word of my review or give it two seconds of consideration going back to PB2? no way, not on your life.

[Craig Horlacher]

Hello drizzle70. Everyone is going to have their own opinion on software so if this is yours I can't say your wrong but for what it's worth, I'd like to comment on some of your remarks.

Ed, I read your glowing review of PocketBible 3 and many of the replies on this forum. It was a great review about everything good with the latest upgrade to PocketBible from Laridian. But you failed to warn us about two of its key evils: loss of speed and usability. :?

Loss of speed is an issues. Keep in mind here, their manipulating the entire Bible here!!! It's not all loaded in memory at the same time but it's acting as if it was. To me, that's a valuable feature. I really like not having to switch "pages" to go to previous and next books. I've never seen a Bible application do this. To me that's amazing.

I really have to question your opinion of lost usability. In my opinion - it's been greatly improved. I'll touch on the more later. It does require a little learning because it is very different.


The first issue is loss of speed. All the new features have come at a huge loss in speed when searching, doing look ups, and paging down. These were once a pleasant experience. Now I seem to be constantly waiting for screen redraws while searching. It's especially painful when paging with two or more Bibles open and synchronized.

Do you know of another Bible program that will let you view more than one Bible at a time on the Pocket PC? I don't. I was stoked when I realized it could do more than 2 books and syncronize - even keep then synced live if you want!!! Again, to me this gain in effeciently compensates for loss of scroll speed to some degree. Also, since I'm talking about multiple Bible display - how about the thin blue border around the active book? I was wishing for that on the last version when I could only see 2 books. Also, I'm doing less paging and scrolling since they have improved the other ways to goto other place. For instance, turn on the "3 tap selection" and you can quickly go to another location - much faster - at least for me, than the old way. Also, you can just type in where you want to go to for instance "john 3." to go to John 3:1 or type "john 3.12" to go to John 3:12. You can use different delimiters (period is a simple double tap in jot) and you can also use abreveations. Again, I'm saving more time here with finding things than I'm loosing with the scroll speed.


The loss of the scrollbar is huge. Gains in screen real estate aside, the scrollbar allowed for fast and accurate screen movements. Its been replaced by a new screen based navigation that has been implemented poorly.

I thought it was at first. Now, I'm glad for, and prefer having, the added screen real estate. It give me a significant increase to my view area if I'm viewing four Bibles.


The last issue for me is a personal one. The loss of the two toolbars rows took away my favorite and most commonly used shortcuts. I guess that this compromise was made to be Win Mob 5 compatible. But why not allow users to choose their own icon set in the preference menu?

Ok, I guess you used that allot so I can't really comment. I'm not missing the old toolbars. I love the new sync button. I love the hot find display on the Bible status bar. I wish the options menu could have been with view and edit but it can't do to a stupid microsoft wm5 compatibility thing and I'm used to the position already.


Its only saving grace is that I paid only $10 for it. I personally have deleted PB3 and gone back to PB2. I'm now left with a sour aftertaste. Until Laridian makes some major improvements in these key areas. It's not worth the upgrade. :)
I can't believe you haven't mentioned the new tool for switching between books. Catagorizing the books was a great way to make it easy to find them. The fact that it displays the full book names (and that's configurable is great! Maybe you only have 2 or 3 (which is fine) but I have around 35 and it was almost unmanable before. Now switching to any book is quick and easy.

You also failed to mention that for $10 they're including the bookreader tool for the devotionals!!! I didn't own that before but did use some of their devotionals. The price was amazing and I feel it's a great product.

At one point (I must have cut it out) I think you said pb2 was the fastest one out there for the pocket pc. I think you're very wrong there. Have you tried CE Bible? That's what I used to use but I wanted Bible's and references that PocketBible offered. CE Bible was much faster (on my casio e125 in fact) then PocketBible 2was on my e125 and still faster then PocketBible 2 on my e830. If you want speed so much try that. Just don't get mad at them at the lack of features. You'll have your speed. http://www.slsoftware.com
I hope you find Bible software for you PocketPC that you're happy with. I'm very happy with PocketBible.

[Craig Horlacher]

The loss of the scrollbar is huge. Gains in screen real estate aside, the scrollbar allowed for fast and accurate screen movements. Its been replaced by a new screen based navigation that has been implemented poorly. The X-screen based navigation zones are a poor substitute.
I forgot one thing I really wanted to point out about this comment. Think about how usefull a scrollbar would be with the entire Bible being manipulated. Besides being slow you would sure have a tough time finding most books. Think about the physical distance of bar movement to book/chapter/verse ratio. That just would never work. It actually made a lot of sence to ditch the scrollbar which would be absolutly useless in this scenairo for the tap system to line/page up/down as needed. I think that was a creative and useful choice. Does it take some getting used to? Absolutly! I mapped my up/down to page up/page down since I use my jog dial (call it what you'd like) for that and do this most often (even in pb2). I pretty much never use the dpad for navigation. I mapped the screen to left/right for page up/page down and top/bottom to line up/line down and I really like these mappings.

[CESkins]

Do you know of another Bible program that will let you view more than one Bible at a time on the Pocket PC? I don't. I was stoked when I realized it could do more than 2 books and syncronize - even keep then synced live if you want!!!
The answer to the question you asked is yes, it also keeps the Bibles synced, and is very fast (almost instantaneous) when scrolling or doing lookups (much faster than PB v3). I own both this bible software &amp; Pocket Bible as both have their pluses &amp; minuses. Trying to decide at this point which to keep on my PDA. :)

[Craig Horlacher]

Do you know of another Bible program that will let you view more than one Bible at a time on the Pocket PC? I don't. I was stoked when I realized it could do more than 2 books and syncronize - even keep then synced live if you want!!!
The answer to the question you asked is yes, it also keeps the Bibles synced, and is very fast (almost instantaneous) when scrolling or doing lookups (much faster than PB v3). I own both this bible software &amp; Pocket Bible as both have their pluses &amp; minuses. Trying to decide at this point which to keep on my PDA. :)
Does that program load the whole book though? I'm guessing you *need* to change "pages" in some way in order to change chapters or books. I think that's a notable difference.

[GadgetMan]

Talking about some users wanting to see toolbars in PocketBible 3:

I personally reverted back to WM2003SE on my iPaq hx4700, so I have all the toolbars right there, although of ocurse I can turn each of them on and off.

WM2005 be default does away with toolbars, but this does not mean that a given application cannot allow users to have them. While running WM2005 on my iPaq I noticed that quite a few applications (most notably those from Resco and PhatWare) allow users to optionally enable WM2003 style toolbars, even overlapping the two soft key menus.

Based on that experience, I am sure that Laridian could make similar feature avialable in PocketBible 3. Just give users the choice of either using WM5 style menus or pre-WM5 style toolbars. And the problem will be solved :D

Cheers,

[CESkins]

Does that program load the whole book though? I'm guessing you *need* to change "pages" in some way in order to change chapters or books. I think that's a notable difference.
I do believe it loads the whole book.

[CESkins]

PB 3 is pretty solid apart from the relatively slow scrolling. What I would like to see in some future update are:
1. User configurable 2nd icon bar w/ icons for highlighting on/erase toggle; highlighting style
2. Option to display the currently viewed bible abbreviated name, book, chapter, &amp; verse in the titlebar instead of the program's name (that would allow for turning off the book status bar to gain more screen real estate)
Hopefully #2 will make its way into the next point update. #1 would be great to have in a future update/upgrade. Craig has done a great job with this PB release.

[crairdin]

Would it be possible to add an in-between size, one that would correspond to standard font size 9. I think that would solve the problem, at least on VGA devices. As to satisfying 100,000 people, you would not have to Those who do not like the new size 9 would simply choose a different size.

HTML defines 7 sizes, numbered 1-7. I think 3 is the default. There's not a way to get a size 1.5.

We fight a battle between the people with large screens who think they might be able to read 6 pt font and think 8 pt is too big, and those who think we waste too many sizes for small unreadable fonts because 5 is the smallest size they can make out on their device. If we make 1 bigger or 2-7 smaller then the guy who was using 1 complains that it's now too big and 7 complains that it's now too small.

We could let you set the sizes yourself but then we're adding another options page to a product someone here already referred to as "bloatware". You have to draw the line somewhere.

I noticed in several places already in the study notes (for 1 Kings) that there are large gaps in text of the study notes.

I scroll one page at at time, so as I read to page bottom in study notes I tap bottom of the screen (or press down button) and am presented with the next page that is blank, instead of seeing text that was supposed to be there. Only after I hit page down again (or sometimes twice) I get to the subsequent text. I also noticed this problem in Unger New Bible Dictionary.

I haven't seen this happen. It's not in the text as others have mentioned. It's most likely an out-of-memory condition that we're not capturing and reporting. This would be related to heap space (program memory) not storage memory or the size of memory cards installed. But that's just a guess. The only way the window can be empty is if the program doesn't think there's anything there to display, and the only way that can happen is if there's not. If there's not and there should be, it's because something that's supposed to be there isn't. That leads me to believe there's an out-of-memory condition that's causing the loss of some internal data structures.

If more than one person can make this happen repeatedly under controlled conditions so we can reproduce it here, that would help us track it down.

All the new features have come at a huge loss in speed when searching, doing look ups, and paging down. These were once a pleasant experience. Now I seem to be constantly waiting for screen redraws while searching. It's especially painful when paging with two or more Bibles open and synchronized. When I buy new software I expect it to be faster than the previous version. Not run at half its speed!!!

Searching and lookups (I assume you mean "going to a verse") use exactly the same code and internal data structures as PocketBible 2. Search results take fractions of a second longer to display on a reasonably new machine (say HP hx4700) than they did in the old version. Going to a verse is often faster on identical hardware because there's no need to load the entire chapter as PocketBible 2 did. We load the paragraph containing the target verse, then enough additional paragraphs to fill the screen. That means you might need to only load 8-10 verses instead of 30 (rough average chapter size).

Keep in mind that one of the constant complaints about PocketBible 2 was that it was slow to go to a verse and to move around in the text. Now all of a sudden PocketBible 2 is the standard by which other software is to be measured for speed?

Admittedly, PocketBible 3 is not a speed demon. Generally what we've found is that if you compare it to other Bible software for your Pocket PC you'll give up something in exchange for speed. I remember looking at a competitor's reader and admiring its display speed. Then I realized there was absolutely no formatting of the text whatsoever -- no bold, italics, large headings, anything. And the files were large and the searches were slow.

It's like the situation with people who think all software should be free: If it's not free, it doesn't matter what features it has, they don't want it. If you decide that you absolutely need to be able to scroll through the entire text of the Bible in 10 seconds (even though that's pretty useless in real life) then you can dismiss PocketBible without looking at it.

The loss of the scrollbar is huge. Gains in screen real estate aside, the scrollbar allowed for fast and accurate screen movements. Its been replaced by a new screen based navigation that has been implemented poorly. The X-screen based navigation zones are a poor substitute. In comparison to PB2 which was slick and accurate, PB3 is sloppy and frustrating to use. It needs a lot of refinement and improvement to be once again a pleasant user experience.

Others have addressed this very well. The old scrollbar let you scroll around within a chapter pretty fast. But the old paged interface was clunky and "unwieldy" IMHO. The new continuous text is the way it should've always been.

None of those who ask for a scrollbar have been able to describe how it would work without getting "unwieldy" themselves. Consider that if you have two Bibles open you have about 250-275 pixels in height on a 480x640 display. That means the smallest increment you move the scrollbar will equal about 125 verses, or about 5 chapters. You'll miss entire BOOKS scrolling that way. You won't be able to scroll up from anywhere in Genesis, as the one-pixel-high scrollbar "thumb" will be too close to the top to allow you to accurately tap above it. Same for scrolling down in Revelation.

The use of a scrollbar for navigating the Bible is just a bad idea. There's no two ways about it. Navigating a chatper, sure, but there we are getting clunky and unwieldy again.

The last issue for me is a personal one. The loss of the two toolbars rows took away my favorite and most commonly used shortcuts.

Just so we're all on the same page, let me clarify to the group what was lost when we changed the toolbars:

* Previous/Next Find Result
* Previous/Next Page
* Show/Hide the Toolbar
* Show/Hide the Status Bar

To continue...

I now have to spend endless frustration time delving into the menu's or contextual menu's to do the most basic functions that previously were only one tap away. I realize some functions can be assigned to the D-pad, but not the ones I want. Some are in the contextual menu I know but not all of them. I want my favorite shortcuts onscreen as icons.

OK so now we can narrow down the functions you consider to be "most basic" and "your favorite shortcuts" -- the ones you spend "endless frustrating time" to activate. It's not next/previous page or next/previous find result because those can be assigned to the d-pad and you said those aren't the ones you want. You want:

* Show/Hide the Toolbar
* Show/Hide the Status Bar

Neither of these are in the context menu. Both are now three taps instead of one tap. I haven't met a user yet who has told me that the most frequently used and favorite feature of any program was the ability to hide the toolbar in one tap instead of three. So now I've met one. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Thanks for registering for Pocket PC Thoughts just to make this post.

For me PocketBible 3 is simply a retrograde not an upgrade. There are other minor frustrations, but PB3's two crucial flaws are unforgivible in an upgrade. For me its three strikes and you’re out when considering a purchase. Laridian needs to improve many of the new features so that they are implemented as slick and refined as were PocketBible 2 features. PB2 was the fastest Bible software out there for the Pocket PC. It has now slipped for me behind its competitors. Its only saving grace is that I paid only $10 for it. I personally have deleted PB3 and gone back to PB2. I'm now left with a sour aftertaste. Until Laridian makes some major improvements in these key areas. It's not worth the upgrade.

To review, you're frustrated by the speed changes but didn't really quantify them. I've pointed out that some operations are actually faster, others are fractions of a second slower.

You're frustrated by the loss of the scrollbar but don't offer any alternative. Scrolling through continuous Bible text is "clunky", "sloppy" and "unwieldy", but scrolling through text that is broken into chapters and requires alternating between the scrollbar and the next page toolbar button is "slick", "accurate" and "refined".

You're also frustrated that to hide the toolbar and status bar now requires three taps (each) instead of one. You spend "endless frustrating time" turning the toolbar and status bar on and off.

OK. Got it. I'll add these concerns to the suggestion list for the next update.

I was halfway thru a one-year reading of the NT; upon installation of the new version 3 reader, bible, and the reading plans, it appears I have to manually go through every daily reading and mark it "completed" from the 1st day's reading to the current day's reading -- I can't find any way to start the reading from where I left off.

This should not be the case. PocketBible 3 will look for reading progress first in your version 3 database. If it doesn't find it there (and it won't when you first run the program) it will look in the system registry, which is where DailyReader kept its progress info. It will then move that information to the new database. If you haven't already mentioned this to tech support you should, so we can have a programmer look at what's going on.

WM2005 by default does away with toolbars (on the menubar -- CR), but this does not mean that a given application cannot allow users to have them. While running WM2005 on my iPaq I noticed that quite a few applications (most notably those from Resco and PhatWare) allow users to optionally enable WM2003 style toolbars, even overlapping the two soft key menus.

Based on that experience, I am sure that Laridian could make similar feature avialable in PocketBible 3. Just give users the choice of either using WM5 style menus or pre-WM5 style toolbars. And the problem will be solved

We opted to use the same menus for WM5 as for older Pocket PCs for two reasons.

1. The documentation is easier. Tech support and the built-in help can refer to doing things the same way regardless of which OS you're running.

2. The program has fewer options and is therefore easier to use. If you let the user choose to configure the program to work different ways you create a documentation problem and also make it harder for people to use.

Quick programming lesson: To target a particular platform (Pocket PC 2003, WM5, etc.) you have to compile your program with a particular chunk of code provided by Microsoft called an SDK. For the most part, newer Pocket PCs will run code designed for the older Pocket PCs, but since the old Pocket PCs don't know about the features on the newer machines you can't use new features when you build with an old SDK.

We use the original Pocket PC 2000 SDK when we build our app. This allows our program to run on all Pocket PCs. The latest version of the Microsoft development environment for Pocket PC only supports Pocket PC 2003 and later, so we have to run the older development tools.

The price paid by current WM5 users is that we can't use any features that are "new". So if WM5 provides a way to put a little toolbar in between the two buttons, we have no way to access it. In fact, the only reason we can even use the two buttons is because Microsoft made it so if your app's menu has only two items, they turn into those two buttons.

We think it is a good thing to support old devices for as long as possible, though effective with this release we no longer support Palm-size PC, Handheld PC, Handheld PC Pro, and Handheld PC 2000. These pre-date the Pocket PC and while they were very cool, they didn't catch on.

2. Option to display the currently viewed bible abbreviated name, book, chapter, &amp; verse in the titlebar instead of the program's name (that would allow for turning off the book status bar to gain more screen real estate)

We discussed doing this but dismissed it because there's not enough room in the titlebar for everything we would need to put there.

We talked about having each window have a small titlebar but that actually takes MORE realestate and the idea is to take less.

Thanks again for all your comments, positive and negative.

Craig Rairdin
President
Laridian, Inc.

[captgoodhope]

Craig, one thing I don't see is a way to move to the first or last pages in a search list, which was possible in version 2. Am I missing something? To get to the beginning of a long search list, we have to page one screen at a time?

[crairdin]

Craig, one thing I don't see is a way to move to the first or last pages in a search list, which was possible in version 2. Am I missing something? To get to the beginning of a long search list, we have to page one screen at a time?

After doing a search, go to Gen 1:1 and the list will scroll to the top. Or go to the vicinity of the Bible where you'd like to start looking.

If you have a suggestion for handling this particular issue, let me know. It was an unforeseen side-effect of the changes we made to the search results window. The degree to which it bothers a person is related to how they study and how they employ searching.

[captgoodhope]

How about the 'Previous Chapter, Reading, or Page' navigation setting jumps to the beginning of the list, when the search results has the focus. This button or gesture doesn't scroll by book now, only by page. Similarly 'Next Chapter' jumps the end of the list.

Maybe the 'Previous Book' setting should behave similarly.

[Chriswalley]

I think PB3 is a great improvement. What I would like to know is whether a PC Reader is in the offing. There are a lot of good commentaries and resources here for PB and before I buy them I would like to know I had the ability to read them on my PC as well.

Any comments?

Chris Walley

[paschott]

Biggest problem I had was the need to rename the PB 2.x folder in order to do the install. For some reason I couldn't just upgrade in place even after uninstalling and soft-resetting.

Haven't heard this complaint from anyone else. Not sure what's going on there.

Second problem was needing to download and re-install my bibles due to the new version.

The cost of the new features is a completely different format. If you think PocketBible 3 is slow now, you should have seen it when it still read the old books. Very bad.

Craig Rairdin
President
Laridian, Inc.

Craig, I posted on the above. If my largest problems were the need to rename a folder and re-download/install my existing Bibles, you've done pretty well. I'm pretty sure that the first problem was something with WM5. The second is just an inconvenience. By no means should these be taken as major flaws with PB3. I really like the new format better than the 2.x version. Takes a little getting used to at times, but it's better overall.

Some other comments - perhaps a dead area on the screen where we can tap just to re-activate the backlight and not turn a page? I've noticed that when I tap somewhere, it almost always moves me around. One other thing I've noted on my HTC Wizard, when I switch between Pocket Informant and PB while using FITALY, the FITALY keyboard is often left open after the switch. I don't know if this is a PB thing or a WM5 thing, but wanted to bring it to your attention in case this is caused by something inside of PB.

Thanks.

-Pete Schott

[crairdin]

Craig, one thing I don't see is a way to move to the first or last pages in a search list, which was possible in version 2. Am I missing something? To get to the beginning of a long search list, we have to page one screen at a time?

We just released an update (3.039) that has a fix for this. The tap-and-hold context menu for the List Window now has "First Item" and "Last Item" for quickly navigating to first and last. Thanks for the kick in the head that got that done. It was easy.

BTW if you want to be notified of all the little bug fixes and updates that we post, you can sign up for our tech support list at http://lists.laridian.com. We use this just to announce updates. No marketing emails. It's a read-only list. No posts by users.

I think PB3 is a great improvement. What I would like to know is whether a PC Reader is in the offing. There are a lot of good commentaries and resources here for PB and before I buy them I would like to know I had the ability to read them on my PC as well.

Good idea, but as you probably know we don't talk about what may or may not be under development here. One thing that relates to your concern is that we now allow you to install the books and Bibles you buy on any of the platforms we support. So if you buy the NIV for MyBible for Palm OS then you switch to PocketBible for Pocket PC, you can install your NIV on your Pocket PC. The caveat, of course, is that you're not giving your Palm with MyBIble and the NIV to your spouse, in which case you're creating a second copy of the NIV and need to buy an additional license.

The point is that we're trying to make your library more secure by saying that as PDAs and smartphones and other platforms evolve, your library will move along with you.

Some other comments - perhaps a dead area on the screen where we can tap just to re-activate the backlight and not turn a page? I've noticed that when I tap somewhere, it almost always moves me around.

I've had one other user make a strong case for this. The problem is that there are still all those hyperlinks that could show up in the dead area. And if you're trying to turn the backlight back on, it's possible you won't be able to see and avoid those hyperlinks.

My solution to this problem is always to tap on the top title bar to reactivate the backlight. Even if I happen to hit the Start menu or one of the other tools up there, it's usually innocuous. And it doesn't matter what app I'm running, this is always a good idea.

when I switch between Pocket Informant and PB while using FITALY, the FITALY keyboard is often left open after the switch.

Like all good Pocket PC apps we only dismiss the SIP if we were the ones that put it up. If you put it up before launching our app or if it was invoked while in another app and you switch back to our app, we assume you want it left alone.

It should also be the case that in dialogs where we put the SIP up, we put it down when we're done with it. And if it's already up when we enter the dialog, we leave it up when we're done with our dialog. Last I checked that was required of well-behaved Pocket PC apps.

Craig

[Craig Horlacher]

Some other comments - perhaps a dead area on the screen where we can tap just to re-activate the backlight and not turn a page? I've noticed that when I tap somewhere, it almost always moves me around.

I've had one other user make a strong case for this. The problem is that there are still all those hyperlinks that could show up in the dead area. And if you're trying to turn the backlight back on, it's possible you won't be able to see and avoid those hyperlinks.

My solution to this problem is always to tap on the top title bar to reactivate the backlight. Even if I happen to hit the Start menu or one of the other tools up there, it's usually innocuous. And it doesn't matter what app I'm running, this is always a good idea.

I've been using the area at the bottom between view/edit and the text entry activation. This works well for me and doesn't do anything other than turn the backlight back on. Otherwise I need to tap again, if I activate the start menu, to close it.

[Ed Hansberry]

Some other comments - perhaps a dead area on the screen where we can tap just to re-activate the backlight and not turn a page? I've noticed that when I tap somewhere, it almost always moves me around.

I've had one other user make a strong case for this. The problem is that there are still all those hyperlinks that could show up in the dead area. And if you're trying to turn the backlight back on, it's possible you won't be able to see and avoid those hyperlinks.

My solution to this problem is always to tap on the top title bar to reactivate the backlight. Even if I happen to hit the Start menu or one of the other tools up there, it's usually innocuous. And it doesn't matter what app I'm running, this is always a good idea.

I've been using the area at the bottom between view/edit and the text entry activation. This works well for me and doesn't do anything other than turn the backlight back on. Otherwise I need to tap again, if I activate the start menu, to close it.

I just tap on a soft key twice to turn it back on. The menu dismissed quickly enough.

[Ed Hansberry]

BTW if you want to be notified of all the little bug fixes and updates that we post, you can sign up for our tech support list at http://lists.laridian.com. We use this just to announce updates. No marketing emails. It's a read-only list. No posts by users.
Cool. Have you considered an RSS feed for this, or multiple RSS feeds, one for each platform?

[azhiker]

1. How about an icon or some other quick way of looking at bookmarks, similar to a hardbound Bible, so I can look up somethng quickly. Or it could be a tap and hold for the bookmarks. Right now it takes four taps to get to my bookmarks. One to view, one to list, one to bookmarks and one to the bookmark I want.

2. How about a group of icons on the edit/view bar, for toolbars, reading bar, and book status. It would be so much easier than tapping through two menus to find them.

3. How about the book status to appear in that same edit/view bar?

4. Lastly, how about having the option of horizontal or veritcal multy book views?

[ChristopherTD]

Craig

Is there a way to get a simple white background? I don't like the murky yellow at all!

If this isn't configurable, could we please have an option added into a future release? Please?

Thanks
Christopher

[crairdin]

1. How about an icon or some other quick way of looking at bookmarks, similar to a hardbound Bible, so I can look up somethng quickly. Or it could be a tap and hold for the bookmarks. Right now it takes four taps to get to my bookmarks. One to view, one to list, one to bookmarks and one to the bookmark I want.

This actually argues for a reconfigurable toolbar, a task we didn't choose to bite off in this version.

2. How about a group of icons on the edit/view bar, for toolbars, reading bar, and book status. It would be so much easier than tapping through two menus to find them.

3. How about the book status to appear in that same edit/view bar?


WM5 doesn't support a group of icons on the menu bar.

4. Lastly, how about having the option of horizontal or veritcal multy book views?

Do you have a square screen? If you have a screen capable of being either landscape or portrait, we follow your preferences.

A common thread through these suggestions (and they're good ones) is the proliferation of lots of options. It's been really hard to keep the app simple yet provide flexibility to power users. There's a million things we could do.

Craig

[crairdin]

Craig

Is there a way to get a simple white background? I don't like the murky yellow at all!

If this isn't configurable, could we please have an option added into a future release? Please?

Thanks
Christopher

Not in the current version and we don't comment about the future.

I'm disappointed to hear the various descriptions of this color. On every device I've seen it on, it is a luxurious cream color; just slightly off-white. It looks like expensive stationery or parchment. There must be variations of displays that affect the elegant beauty of this gorgeous background color.

Craig

[ChristopherTD]

I'm disappointed to hear the various descriptions of this color. On every device I've seen it on, it is a luxurious cream color; just slightly off-white. It looks like expensive stationery or parchment. There must be variations of displays that affect the elegant beauty of this gorgeous background color.



Clearly it is close to your heart, but all of the books on my shelf have plain white paper. Coloured stationery is great for letters, but IMO gets tiring and distracting after a few pages in a book. :cry:

Please do consider making it an option, even one hidden on the Advanced options.

Regards
Christopher

[Ed Hansberry]

Clearly it is close to your heart, but all of the books on my shelf have plain white paper. Coloured stationery is great for letters, but IMO gets tiring and distracting after a few pages in a book. :cry:
Go hold up a sheet of white copy paper to your books. I think you'll see the sheets in your books are not color code 0,0,0. ;)

On my K-Jam it looks fine, however, I was a bit shocked when I posted the images in my review. Converting from 16 bit color to 256 through a GIF really darkened it up, and I can definitely understand some of you would see that dark color on your Pocket PC. I didn't play with PB3 on my JasJar until I was writing the review and it doesn't look as good as my K-Jam from a color standpoint. Could be something VGA devices are causing to stand out.

[captgoodhope]

I have a Loox N560. With a split screen, the top window is the cream color and the bottom is white. That really looks funny!

[ChristopherTD]

Maybe the background colour does appear "stronger" on VGA devices, certainly most folk who have posted about it seem to have VGA PDAs.

If I have a moment I might install it an old iPaq 5550 that I have and do a side by side comparision.

It just doesn't look quite right to me, but I shall say no more!

:D

[crairdin]

I have a Loox N560. With a split screen, the top window is the cream color and the bottom is white. That really looks funny!

The List Window is light blue, not white.

Craig

[crairdin]

Maybe the background colour does appear "stronger" on VGA devices, certainly most folk who have posted about it seem to have VGA PDAs.


It looks great on my VGA HP hx4700.

Craig

[dpeace]

I am sufficiently impressed with the improvements in version 3 to have upgraded, and the program working splendidly on my JasJar (although I'm noticing the minor scrolling delay - am I correct in understanding that every book in my library is synchronised, regardless of whether it is open or not? And if so, would it not be less thirsty of resources to synchronise only active books? Am I missing something fundamental?).

I'm looking covetously at the Bookbuilder application, and wonder if the XML output the BEST program

http://www.dnspad.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9

yields from e-sword freeware bible and commentary files is compatible with the code that Bookbuilder accepts. This would be excellent, as I could then migrate my e-sword library to the much more satisfying PocketBible environment.

Does anyone have experience of such things?

Darren

[crairdin]

I am sufficiently impressed with the improvements in version 3 to have upgraded, and the program working splendidly on my JasJar (although I'm noticing the minor scrolling delay - am I correct in understanding that every book in my library is synchronised, regardless of whether it is open or not? And if so, would it not be less thirsty of resources to synchronise only active books? Am I missing something fundamental?).

When you turn on synchronization, all your books are kept synchronized even if they're not open. However, when a book is not open the only thing we do is store the location to which we want it to go when it does finally open. So you have the appearance of it being synchronized when closed, but really it doesn't do anything other than remember where you want it to go when it does open.

Based on our timing tests here, for a library of around 90 books the time to synchronize the closed books is hardly noticeable. Try it yourself: Turn off synchronization with only one book open and see if you notice the difference.

I'm looking covetously at the Bookbuilder application, and wonder if the XML output the BEST program yields from e-sword freeware bible and commentary files is compatible with the code that Bookbuilder accepts. This would be excellent, as I could then migrate my e-sword library to the much more satisfying PocketBible environment.


It's my understanding that this program takes textual input and produces e-Sword modules. I didn't think it took e-Sword modules and produces XML. In either case, the output is not compatible with the BookBuilder program. The tagging format used by BookBuilder is documented in the program. You can access the documentation by going to the product dscription for BookBuilder on our site and scrolling down to near the bottom of the page and there's a link to the complete docs. It's best to look at the BookBuilder Pro docs because they contain the docs for the other versions of BookBuilder so everything's all in one place.

Craig

[colinchiamk]

Hi,
It seems like some complain about the software speed in getting to the next page.
I'm using a HX4700 and initially after I install the Windows 5.0, the paging was only at a reasonable speed, less than a second.
I realised that some tweaking was required. Hence I bought myself the Sktools and

0) Formatted my SD Card (Specs says it runs at 120X Speed) to Sector size of 512bytes, Fat32, Cluster Size of 512bytes, backup of FAT as NO. This speeds up my reading and writing of data from the card. Hence I installed ALL my books into SD Card and the Pocket Bible 3 to the main memory.
1) Font Cache Size to the max ie 131072
2) File system Cache to 2048
3) Change PIE cache location to \SD Card\Temporary Internet Files
4) Change PIE cookies location to \SD Card\Cookies
5) Change PIE history location to \SD Card\History
6) Temporary Folder for some Application \SD Card\Application Data\Volatile
7) Alternative model of memory management to YES

After doing this, I find that the paging of the pages are instanteneous and faster.
I find that Laridian has written an excellent program. The user interface is simple, fast and well thought of. The speed has improved from ver 2 since now the loading of a page does not load the whole chapter which takes more time. I like very much the History function where we can go back or forward to where we were.

It is my observation that other Bible software does not present the text as professionally as Laridian does. The presentaition is like what we see in a hardcopy Bible. That's why even though I was not too happy with Pocket Bible ver 2's speed, I continued to use it until now. With Pocket Bible version 3, the speed of paging has improved tremendously. I wonder why many posts complains about the speed. Maybe it is a combination of the hardware and Operating system used. Maybe the tweaking I did may help.

I like take this opportunity to congratulate Craig for giving us, the consumers a worthy Bible software that is easy and excellent to use daily.

Thank you for hearing our comments and implementing them. I do hope more improvements will come in the very near future. I'm sure most of us hope for another great improvement.

Regards,
Colin Chia

[Ufdah]

I have to echo what Colin just said. I am very impressed with the improvements made in version 3 and really believe that I will be using this software more than I ever have due to it's increased usability and functionality. Also the speed seems to be faster to me as well. Opening a specific passage in a large chapter is sooo much faster and paging is instantaneous. The only thing is line by line scrolling and on my device it is still very usable, just a little jerky. I don't know if some of the problems may be due to memory card speeds since both Colin and I both have high speed cards and are both experiencing relative quickness in the program. Overall I say bravo!

Now for a small feature request... :wink:
I use the Life Application Bible Notes a lot and find it somewhat tedious to click "View > Add Book... > LAB Notes > OK" just to bring up the commentary. It would be great if you were able to add "View Commentary" to the verse number tap-n-hold context menu. (Although I do realize that it is pretty big already.) Then you could add a Preferred Commentary to the Prefs tab in options.
If this was not very feasable then I would absolutely love the ability to minimize open books. Actually I would prefer this feature over the first. I envision either a "Minimize Book" option in the tap-n-hold menu right above "Close Book" or clicking in the lower left corner of the book to minimize/restore it. When a book was minimized it Would shrink down to one visible line of text allowing the other windows to divide up the remaining space accordingly.

As you know these are only sugguestions and I'm aware of your limited time and wanting to keep thigns simple. I guess more than anything I just wanted to bring it up if you hadn't thought about adding a Preferred Commentary and a way of easily accessing it. Keep up the good work and thanks for supplying the tools that make us more effective in our call.

[Craig Horlacher]

1) Font Cache Size to the max ie 131072
2) File system Cache to 2048
3) Change PIE cache location to \SD Card\Temporary Internet Files
4) Change PIE cookies location to \SD Card\Cookies
5) Change PIE history location to \SD Card\History
6) Temporary Folder for some Application \SD Card\Application Data\Volatile
7) Alternative model of memory management to YES

Steps 3, 4, and 5 should not make a differences since pb3 doesn't use pie.

I want to try upping the caches, great idea. I also noticed my sd card is formatted as fat16 so I'll try changing that as well. I recommend turning on the backup fat. It shouldn't affect performance. My other settings are the same as yours.

Is alt mem model (#7) only for wm5? Thanks!

[Craig Horlacher]

Now for a small feature request... :wink:
I use the Life Application Bible Notes a lot and find it somewhat tedious to click "View > Add Book... > LAB Notes > OK" just to bring up the commentary. It would be great if you were able to add "View Commentary" to the verse number tap-n-hold context menu. (Although I do realize that it is pretty big already.) Then you could add a Preferred Commentary to the Prefs tab in options.
If this was not very feasable then I would absolutely love the ability to minimize open books. Actually I would prefer this feature over the first. I envision either a "Minimize Book" option in the tap-n-hold menu right above "Close Book" or clicking in the lower left corner of the book to minimize/restore it. When a book was minimized it Would shrink down to one visible line of text allowing the other windows to divide up the remaining space accordingly.

What I've found that works well for me, and I really like, is you can set the left most button on the tool bar to add a book rather than change. Then if I want to change a book I can just tap and hold in the window I want to change it in. If I want to add a book I can just use the toolbar button. This is nice because I don't have to go through the menus at the bottom and I don't have to worry about which book (part of screen) has focus when I do a change. I tap and hold the second I want to change it in. When you add a book, focus doesn't matter. For me, I don't think I'd like one line of a book taking up screen room. The way things are, it's as if all the books are minimized. They all hold their place unless you sync them and you can change to whichever one you would like.

[Ufdah]

Thanks for the tip Vector. I've now got mine setup like you mentioned and it's definitely better. You also convinced me the minimize the window thing isn't the greatest. But, I still would love to see a "View Commentary" item on the popup menu. The thing I don't like about the "Add Book" screen is that it has all of my books listed (19 of em) and it makes finding my favorite commentary more laborious and time consuming than is necessary.

[Craig Horlacher]

Thanks for the tip Vector. I've now got mine setup like you mentioned and it's definitely better. You also convinced me the minimize the window thing isn't the greatest. But, I still would love to see a "View Commentary" item on the popup menu. The thing I don't like about the "Add Book" screen is that it has all of my books listed (19 of em) and it makes finding my favorite commentary more laborious and time consuming than is necessary.
Well, I've got around 35 books but they're a good mix betweent the four different groupings. I have 7 commentaties and on my vga screen that's not bad to work with in the change/add book screen. I do like the idea of being able to select a default commentary like you can with the dictionary, Bible, and devotional. That would make it quick to get one up from a context menu or something. I'm just glad I'm not scrolling left and right forever trying to decypher book names from 3 or 4 charachter abreviations anymore:)

[bwrobins]

It is nice to see responses from actual Laridian representatives here. I am extremely happy with many of the new upgrades. However the two noticeable changes on my PDA are a unreadable background color and a slow scroll speed. Since the slow scroll speed appears to have been made known and it is even something I could deal with, I will focus on the unreadable text.

The upgrade of my Pocket Bible has made the text unreadable through the selection of what customer service calls a "fresh" light yellow. I believe that while you may have selected a good color for the PDA's you personally own at Laridian, you failed to acknowledge a well known fact in the PDA world. Each device displays a color different, depending on the spec and manufacturer of the LCD. Read through any new device critique and commonly noted is the warm/cool coloring of the screen, not only that but each device can differer greatly on certain colors. While this is an understandable mistake I am very suprised by the company stance on the issue. From both customer support and the response in to a prior post in this thread you have stated that you might make the background color user configurable in the future, however you are not giving any timeline. What you have just done is alienated a large fan base of your product because they have purchased from you an upgrade that is unusable. You have also left a large number of people stuck in v2.0, unable to use their v3.0 of the product because of the device they own, awaiting a v4.0 before they will be able to use the other upgrades they purchased in the unusable v3.0.

If Laridian continues their STONEWALL approach of "take it or leave it", I strongly suggest releasing a beta version of your product to a larger audience next time(thus different types of devices), therefore being able to gather feedback PRIOR to release and dissapoitment of customers like myself.

I myself will continue to use B&amp;W v2.0 for the time being...

[Craig Horlacher]

It is nice to see responses from actual Laridian representatives here. I am extremely happy with many of the new upgrades. However the two noticeable changes on my PDA are a unreadable background color and a slow scroll speed. Since the slow scroll speed appears to have been made known and it is even something I could deal with, I will focus on the unreadable text.

I myself will continue to use B&amp;W v2.0 for the time being...

Wow, dude you've got some funky pocket pc. I'm one of the people who mentioned the off-white background color. It's not hard to read at all and looks fine. Anyone glancing at it would think it was white. The text black and colors show up fine on it. There is no problem reading it at all on my device. If I were you I'd look for a way to adjust your contrast. I'm going to guess you have an older pocket pc with 256 colors intead of 65k. That could explain why pb3 looks so bad on your device. I do agree that making the background white would have made sense and I have no clue why they chose otherwise but I can't complain about it on my device.

The speed is pretty bad. On my device I reformatted my sd card and that made a little improvment - not reformatting it but with different settings. Before I had formatted it in my digital camera to optimize it for that. This time I used what seem to be better pocket pc settings and it is a little faster but still kind of slow. However, to me the interface changes make up for the speed loss. It's far from unusable and I'm very happy with pb3. I have a 2GB Sandisk Ultra II sd card formatted with 512byte sector and cluster sizes and the backup fat.

[ChristopherTD]

I was one also who commented on the background colour. I have a new Pocket PC with VGA display, and while the text is readable in PB3 I just don't like it. I was a little surprised that the background was not configurable and even more suprised that we were effectively told to like it or lump it. That isn't how most PPC developers operate.

[bwrobins]

Wow, dude you've got some funky pocket pc. I'm one of the people who mentioned the off-white background color. It's not hard to read at all and looks fine. Anyone glancing at it would think it was white. The text black and colors show up fine on it. There is no problem reading it at all on my device. If I were you I'd look for a way to adjust your contrast. I'm going to guess you have an older pocket pc with 256 colors intead of 65k. That could explain why pb3 looks so bad on your device. I do agree that making the background white would have made sense and I have no clue why they chose otherwise but I can't complain about it on my device.

My title says it all... HP4150, so I have 65k. My wife and I both have one, and we have a spare. All three seem to have the same problem. While I say unreadable, I should clarify that the off grey and black colors stress my eyes (I am only 25, this doesnt usually happen) making it unreadable, the actual words are still discernable.

Lucky for me a nice representative of Laridian informed me of a 30-day return policy which I did not know existed, and I might be taking advantage of soon.

[Brad Adrian]

Lucky for me a nice representative of Laridian informed me of a 30-day return policy which I did not know existed, and I might be taking advantage of soon.
I'm glad to read that you contacted Laridian directly to see if something could be done to resolve your unhappiness. I happen to think their products are top-notch and require precious few compromises from me. In my experience, Laridian is committed to customer satisfaction, even if that means giving a refund.

As a general suggestion to anybody who is dissatified with a software purchase from any vendor:

I definitely support posting about your concerns in these forums; it's entirely possible that another reader or the developer has suggestions for fixing your problem right away. I also strongly suggest contacting the developer directly before concluding that you're hosed. Most are eager to work things out immediately and spare you as much stress as possible.

One final note: When a developer DOES help you out, consider letting us know about it here, too. Positive feedback is just as helpful as negative feedback.

[Ed Hansberry]

Just a quick FYI to those that are using PocketBible 3. Laridian has discovered a bug that can cause your highlights to be wiped out. They are working on a fix, but for now, the preventative measure you can take is to keep a backup copy of your Laridian data.db file. Directions are at http://blog.laridian.com/?p=31 along with a few more details on the issue. As an owner, you should also get the email from them detailing the problem. I though't I'd post a link though just in case.

I'll be backing up my data, but in a different way. Using Resco File Explorer, I'll just tap/hold on the data file and add it to a compressed archive. Then I'll email that ZIP to myself so my email server can keep it just in case.

Come to think of it, that would be a cool program for phone enabled devices - something that monitors key files on your system and routinely encrypts, zips and emails them for safe keeping.

[Ed Hansberry]

I may be missing something really, really obvious, but on my JasJar PB3 seems to display the text on a pale browny yellow background. I can't for the life of me find a setting to get plain black on white
this has been fixed. http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=53001 You can customize the background and text colors now. :)

[ChristopherTD]

Ed

Thanks for the note - I will certainly upgrade as soon as I can!

Thanks also to Laridian for implementing the change.

Regards
Christopher