Don Tolson
11-07-2005, 05:00 PM
<img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-sept05-lexi-starbanner.jpg" /><br /><br /><b>Product Category:</b> Reference Encyclopedia<br /><b>Manufacturer:</b> <A HREF = "http://revolution.cx/Lexipedia/Lexipedia.htm" target = "blank"> Revolutionary Software Front</A><br /><b>Where to Buy:</b> <A HREF = "http://www.handango.com/brainstore/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=165793" target = "blank ">Handango (affiliate)</A><br /><b>Price:</b> 19.99 USD (or 17.99 or 14.99 or 13.99 – see review)<br /><b>System Requirements:</b> 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 <A HREF = "http://revolution.cx/Lexipedia/LexipediaDown.htm" target = "blank "> SmartPhone version</A> is also available from their website.<br /><b>Specifications:</b> 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.<br /><br /><b>Pros:</b><li>Extensive collection of over 550,000 articles (either abridged or complete, depending upon version selected) from the Wikipedia Foundation;<br /><li>No cost difference for abridged vs. full article version;<br /><li>Fast response time to searches;<br /><li>’Sounds Like’ technology allows you to find things, even if you don’t know the spelling.<b>Cons:</b><li><i>Significant</i> amount of storage space required for articles (but what did you expect?);<br /><li>Longer articles in the abridged version simply cut-off mid sentence;<br /><li>Use of plurals can sometimes limit responses;<br /><li>No way to update the material (currently, but they are working on it).<b>Summary:</b> Using the open source <A HREF = "http://www.wikipedia.org" target = "blank "> Wikipedia Encyclopedia Project</A> 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.<br /><br />Read on for the full review!<!><br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Introduction</b></span><br />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.<br /><br /><span><b>Installation</b></span><br />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 <i>must</i> 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-sept05-lexi-demo.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 1: Main screen of the demo version of Lexipedia.</i><br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Getting Your Money’s Worth</b></span><br />I don’t remember <i>ever</i> 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 <A HREF = "http://www.revolution.cx/Lexipedia/LexipediaBuy.htm" target = "blank "> Revolutionary Software Front</A> 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 <A HREF = "http://order.kagi.com/cgi-bin/store.cgi?storeID=32&&" target = "blank "> KAGI </A> 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.<br /><br /><span><b>Look-Up / Search</b></span><br />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’.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-sept05-lexi-fullversion.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 2: Main search screen of Lexipedia (full version).</i><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-sept05-lexi-mispell.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 3: Here’s what happens when you don’t get the spelling right.</i><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-sept05-lexi-boxers.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 4: I was thinking of underwear!!</i><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-sept05-lexi-boxer2.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 5: Taking out the plural gives a more complete response.</i><br /><br /><span><b>Article Content</b></span><br />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!<br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Customizing the Display</b></span><br />Lexipedia also provides limited options for customization of the display.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-sept05-lexi-options.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 6: Options available for customizing Lexipedia’s display, available from the Tools menu.</i><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-sept05-lexi-largetype.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 7: An example of the largest typeface available.</i><br /><br />There are also four options for Display Styles.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-sept05-lexi-styleselect.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 8: Selecting a display style in Lexipedia.</i><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-sept05-lexi-stylea.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 9: Lexipedia’s Style A (or C).</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/don-sept05-lexi-styled.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 10: Style D (or B).</i><br /><br /><span><b>Upgrades/Updates</b></span><br />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.) <br /><br /><span><b>Conclusions</b></span><br />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.<br /><br /><i>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. :-)</i>