11-07-2005, 05:00 PM
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Thoughts Media Review Team
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 749
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The World in Your Pocket � Lexipedia 1.1 for Pocket PC
Product Category: Reference Encyclopedia
Manufacturer: Revolutionary Software Front
Where to Buy: Handango (affiliate)
Price: 19.99 USD (or 17.99 or 14.99 or 13.99 � see review)
System Requirements: Pocket PC 2002, Windows Mobile 2003, and Windows Mobile 2003 SE. There�s no specific mention of VGA support, but it seems to work fine on my Axim X50v in a QVGA mode. A SmartPhone version is also available from their website.
Specifications: Lexipedia needs about 500K of memory to work. The �standard� version of the encyclopedia will require at least 225Mb free on a storage card. An �unabridged� version is also available, which will require 650Mb.
Pros:- Extensive collection of over 550,000 articles (either abridged or complete, depending upon version selected) from the Wikipedia Foundation;
- No cost difference for abridged vs. full article version;
- Fast response time to searches;
- �Sounds Like� technology allows you to find things, even if you don�t know the spelling.
Cons:- Significant amount of storage space required for articles (but what did you expect?);
- Longer articles in the abridged version simply cut-off mid sentence;
- Use of plurals can sometimes limit responses;
- No way to update the material (currently, but they are working on it).
Summary: Using the open source Wikipedia Encyclopedia Project as its base, Lexipedia provides over 550,000 articles which have been clipped and compressed to fit in available storage for most Pocket PCs. If you�re the type of person who likes to have good quick-reference material close at hand, this may be just the thing you�re looking for.
Read on for the full review!
Introduction
Ever wanted to have to have an encyclopedia at your fingertips? Maybe it was to one-up the guys (or gals) around the water cooler at the morning discussion of world events. Or maybe it was to answer that tricky question in Trivial Pursuit� or Jeopardy�. Well, Revolutionary Software Front has now brought the world�s largest free encyclopedia, Wikipedia, to the Pocket PC. Whether it be Early American Cubism or Goth Invasions of the 5th Century, you can now have the combined knowledge and expertise of the Internet community right in your pocket.
Installation
Downloads of Lexipedia are available directly from Revolutionary Software Front�s website. It�s a big download (over 215Mb for Pocket PC), so be prepared to wait a while. Over the cable modem Internet connection I have at home, it took about 12 minutes for the download to complete. The installation routine is the standard Microsoft Activesync routine and includes a warning that the application must be installed to a storage card with at least 225Mb of free space so be careful not to accept the Install to the Default Location? option. It took about the same amount of time for the abridged version to be copied to a run-of-the-mill 512Mb SanDisk CF card. As mentioned above, an unabridged version is available which needs about 650mb. The entire content and search engine must be installed on a single card. They cannot be split.
A demo version of Lexipedia is available which is the same as the abridged version (225mb), but it�s not fully functional. In it, you can�t specify any search criteria. Instead, Lexipedia displays an article at random each time you tap on the Go button, but the internal links within the articles still work fine. If you decide to purchase the full version after installing the demo, Revolutionary Software Front will provide an unlock key which will release the full functionality, so you won�t need to re-download the content again.
Figure 1: Main screen of the demo version of Lexipedia.
Getting Your Money�s Worth
I don�t remember ever doing this before in a review, but I felt the variation in pricing available for this product was worth mentioning. As noted above, the purchase price for Lexipedia is 19.99 USD from Handango ($17.99 if you�re a Handango club member). On the Revolutionary Software Front website however, if you are willing to use a Visa or Mastercard you can pick up Lexipedia for 14.99 USD. And, there is a link provided on the same page to another e-commerce vendor called KAGI who will sell it to you for 13.99 USD. I�m all for competitive pricing, but I was kind of expecting there to be a least a bit more consistency, especially for links provided by the developer.
Look-Up / Search
Searching for information from the database is simple and easy. Just type in the area of interest in the box at the top of the screen and tap �Go�.
Figure 2: Main search screen of Lexipedia (full version).
Depending upon the precision of your request, you�ll be presented with a list of articles from which to choose. If you�re not sure of the spelling, just provide something that is relatively close, and a �sounds like� algorithm employed within Lexipedia�s search engine will take its best guess.
Figure 3: Here�s what happens when you don�t get the spelling right.
The search engine is not quite as forgiving as Wikipedia�s. As shown below, typing in �boxers� provided a relatively short list of articles, focused mainly on people involved in the sport of Boxing.
Figure 4: I was thinking of underwear!!
Performing the same search in Wikipedia retrieved articles about underwear, Chinese Rebels, and a breed of dog (to name a few). The solution was to simply remove the plural and change the search to �Boxer�. This time Lexipedia retrieved the exact same material as Wikipedia.
Figure 5: Taking out the plural gives a more complete response.
Article Content
No pictures or graphics are included in the articles to keep the overall size of the product to something that is manageable and usable. As stated on their website, Revolutionary Software Front has included just the summary sections, or the beginnings of articles in the abridged version, in order to make Lexipedia a manageable size. This means that typically, articles will include between 3 and 4 paragraphs of information, highlighting the major points. Unfortunately, in some of the longer articles, they will simply stop mid-sentence which is a bit distracting, to say the least!
Customizing the Display
Lexipedia also provides limited options for customization of the display.
Figure 6: Options available for customizing Lexipedia�s display, available from the Tools menu.
As shown on the screen shot above, the size of the display text can be altered through three pre-determined sizes and the user can select whether to use Microsoft�s Clear Type technology or not.
Figure 7: An example of the largest typeface available.
There are also four options for Display Styles.
Figure 8: Selecting a display style in Lexipedia.
Options A&C provide white text on a black background, while options B&D provide the reverse. To be honest, I couldn�t see any difference between A&C or B&D.
Figure 9: Lexipedia�s Style A (or C).
Figure 10: Style D (or B).
Upgrades/Updates
The support pages at Revolutionary Software Front unfortunately focus on Lexionary, one of their other products. While some of the general material (downloading, installation) relates to Lexionary, there is no specific information provided on problems installing or running Lexipedia. There is also no mention of upgrade or update policies or procedures for getting the latest version of the articles. (Update -- in an email from RSF, the original plan was to provide quarterly updates to the content, but apparently Wikipedia changed the format of their extracts. They hope to have the first of the quarterly updates available soon.)
Conclusions
As a snapshot of the current combined expertise of the Internet community, Lexipedia provides a very workable and concise package. The applicaton is big, but not unwieldy, and the search capabilities are complete and fast. As with any Internet content, you have to be careful about the source but the Wikipedia Foundation is quickly establishing a reputation for consistency and accuracy at least as good as any of the major encyclopedia vendors.
Don is an Associate Director of Project Management and System Development with Fujitsu Consulting. When not catching up on �Goth Invasions of the 5th Century�, he�s often helping out with 6th and 4th grade Science and Social Studies projects. :-)
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11-07-2005, 05:41 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,041
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Looks like a pretty good deal to me. With the price of 2GB SD cards at a reasonable price and 4GB on the way, I don't have a problem with it.
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11-07-2005, 06:05 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 454
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Hm. But for $22.50, you can buy TomeRaider, then get the Wikipedia (with or without images), and a lot of other public domain documents as well (e.g. all the works of Shakespeare, the IMDB, the CIA World Factbook, &c).
Admittedly, searching through the whole Wikipedia on Tomeraider isn't always the most convenient. Maybe this is streamlined for that purpose. But I prefer multifunction apps; for instance, instead of using a dedicated wallet program, I use Fann Software's amazing TreNotes for a number of different types of outlines, including a password-protected wallet.
Just some options.
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11-07-2005, 07:24 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 38
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I tried this for a while, but with most ppc devices connected to the internet (and with my purchase of a converged device with gprs) I found it much more practical to just connect to the wikipedia whenever I wanted to use it. This way I know I am always getting the most up to date info.
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11-08-2005, 10:22 PM
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Thoughts Media Review Team
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 749
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by superfaron
... but with most ppc devices connected to the internet (and with my purchase of a converged device with gprs) I found it much more practical to just connect to the wikipedia whenever I wanted to use it. This way I know I am always getting the most up to date info.
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Unfortunately, I can only 'dream' of this much available interconnection out in my neck of the woods. I'm not sure even the local Starbucks have installed wi-fi hotspots. Certainly, the only one in my neighbourhood is the one in my house! And the office hasn't even considered the possibility, since the techies believe it's too insecure. Ah well, for those of us 'unconnected' bodies, at least we can still get something that is updated at least once a quarter.
__________________
/drt
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11-09-2005, 06:24 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 125
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is there a way to get one portion of wikipedia onto your PDA, i.e. the medical section for example???
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11-09-2005, 03:33 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 6,305
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It works well on the 6515. I had to use the alternate download method though. The regular installer just would not work.
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09-02-2006, 05:59 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 702
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I have a 4gb card, and recently tried upgrading from the abridged version to the unabridged version. I can't get it to work at all. I sent an email to the folks at revolution.cx, but haven't heard back from them yet.
After taking the time to download a 700MB file then transfer that file to my storage card, I can't get one article to open up. When I open lexipedia and do a search all the articles pop up, but tapping on one gives a blank page with the usual gnu licence info that is normally at the end of each article.
Anyone have the full unabridged version and have it working properly?
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09-02-2006, 06:01 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 702
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Muntasser
is there a way to get one portion of wikipedia onto your PDA, i.e. the medical section for example???
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I don't know the answer to that, but my guess would be no. There are, however, many medical encyclopedias to choose from. Do a search for encylopedia on Handango or Pocketgear.
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09-25-2006, 02:51 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,079
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What's the most current version of this app?
How up to date is it with Wikipedia?
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Linear Mode
