Bible study on the iPhone just keeps getting better. I am blessed to get to play with some exciting products on the iPhone, PC and hopefully soon the iPad. One of those products is from one of the smallest of the companies producing Bible software for iPhone, Mantis. But they are also one of the most creative. And is named as one of my top four Bible apps for the iPhone.

The company just released 4.7 from the Apple App store with a few really nice improvements.

Text to Speech

The first addition of note is the Text to Speech capability using one of five optional voice add-ons. The voices can be purchased either in the app or through MantisBible.com for only 1.99. I tested them out reading from 1 Peter.

Of the five voices, I liked the Ryan voice the most. It is an adult mail voice and is clear and easy to listen to. If you prefer a female voice you can choose Heather or Laura. The Heather voice was my personal favorite. Two of the voices are children’s voices and they are not as good, but your kids might prefer them. The Kenny voice actually sounded a little more like a girl to me.

You first must install the voices from the library menu by tapping the book name in the top left corner. Tap the Media tab and scroll down to see the voice names. Purchase them by tapping and the next screen will give you the option. If you purchased them online, you will have to tap the Check for updates in bright red at the top of the screen to have them in your list of available content. They take a little while to download, so be patient.

While in a reading window, tap on the Tools button in the top right to reveal the toolbar. The button directly next to the larger white Options button is a sound icon. It reveals the reading toolbar at the bottom (pictured below). From there you will see the toolbar at the bottom of the text with the close button to turn off the voice, a long slider, the voice chooser button in white and the play button to the right. Tap the white box to choose among the installed voices. Hit the play button and it will start reading to you.

I am not sure what the slider is used to adjust. It thought it was for the speed of the voice or the volume, but it seems to do nothing right now. Also you cannot switch voices on the fly; you must first pause the voice and then tap the voice selection box. Not sure if this is by design or a bug. I wish it would automatically stop the voice and take me to the screen where I can choose another voice.

While choosing the voice you can adjust the volume and speed of the voice (see the above screen shots – the lower left screen shot shows the voice selector with volume and speed sliders).

This will be a nice feature while driving or exercising. You can do your devotional “reading” while on the go. Aside from the minor annoyances, it works great!

Verse Memorization Module

There are verse memorization apps in the Apple App store, but it makes so much sense to have one in your Bible app. When reading your devotions or listening to someone teach on a verse you can quickly add the verse to the memorization module and come back later to learn it.

You access the module from the menu that appears when you press and hold the verse number. For example, if you want to add Romans 3:23 to the memorization list, top and hold the 23 in Romans 3:23 and the menu will appear. If you have used Mantis for awhile you will recognize this as the way to access the inline translation chooser, commentary chooser, and other functions like adding notes or highlights. The inline study Bible as they like to call it is one of the greatest plusses of MantisBible. Now there is a Memorize button with a heart over the word.

After adding the verse by tapping the Memorize button, you access your list of verses by going to your notes. At the top you will see folders. If you have no other folders of notes it will be the only one there. Otherwise find the Memorize folder. Tap on the verse you added and the Memorization module screen appears. From there you can work on memorizing the verse. Hit the Question mark button to learn about how to use the module as it is not obvious, but once you are told it is quite useful and easy to work with.

The way to memorize is by repetition. You read and re-read the verse over and over. You then start tapping words to remove them from the verse (see right below). After awhile the entire verse is gone but you are saying it from memory.

At the bottom of the screen you see [RESET VERSE], which you tap so you can see the original verse. When you think you know it, tap the test  button at the upper left (see above pictures). There are two test styles. With the Scrambled button selected, when you tap the Test button it puts all the words of the verse in the bottom half of the test screen all scrambled in the wrong order (see left below). Tap the words in the proper order to show that you have it memorized. The alternative test type lets you type out the words. When the 1st Letter button is selected prior to tapping the Test button, a keyboard is placed in the bottom of the screen (see right below). Start typing the first few letters of a word to make it appear above to test your memorization.

Advanced Search

The final new feature in this release is the Advanced Search function. I won’t go into a lot of detail here. But from the MantisBIble.com forum, here is what they developer is saying about it.

New Search Screen (allows you to search across all installed volumes at the same time, select specific books of the Bible to filter the search, and allows you to view the entire verse for each "hit" and drill-down to strongs numbers, etc., all in the search screen.)

The search feature is much improved and will give you more control over finding content.

MantisBible just keeps getting better. The text to speech and memorization modules are very nice additions. As per my custom of rating using the App Store model, I give Mantis a definite five star rating. After reading some of the reviews about stability issue in the App store reviews, I was surprised. I think that one caveat iPhone software users should consider is that if an app is buggy or crashing ask yourself two things.

1. Have I reset my iPhone since upgrading? That usually fixes problems I have had with a cantankerous app.

2. Have I been updating for so long that it might be time to do a fresh install. The iPhone OS keeps all your preferences when you simply upgrade. After a few point releases it is a good idea to delete the app and reinstall from scratch either from the App store or by syncing with iTunes on your desktop.

I have had no issues with buggy behavior with v. 4.7. Nor has it crashed once. YMMV!

Logos has just announced at BibleTech the Biblia.com API. The “API provides Web, mobile,  and desktop applications with access to Bible text through web services." (http://api.biblia.com/docs/) This will allow people to produce Bible applications using this API. An API is an Application Programming Interface. So Logos is allowing others to make software that will interface with their Bible texts on the web.

If you are an app developer and want your app ready for the April 3rd ship date, then you will have to get yours in today. The question is this: Do you want to release an app you have never actually used on the device on which it is designed to run? That takes either great confidence in your coding ability or great stupidity. At least one Bible developer has decided to wait. I personally think this is a wise idea, but as a consumer I am disappointed; the faster the better. But what would you prefer, a working product or a product quick to ship?

The iPad will run your apps for the iPhone. But will they look good? Will they enhance the experience or make it less than perfect. My hope is that the Bible app developers will not merely port their iPhone/iPod Touch apps to the larger screen, but utilize the benefits of a bigger device. It looks like Laridian is planning just that, according to their blog post announcing they won’t be shipping on launch day for the above reason. As one of the best iPhone Bible apps out there (and the very best prayer tracking app) I expect them to do a good job. I’ve been a long time Laridian user and have been very satisfied with their software for the most part. The other iPhone OS Bible app developers will hopefully have great Bible apps for the iPad. I will likely be doing a review of them for either my April or May article in Christian Computing Magazine.

Also check back to get my impressions of the iPad itself after I get my hands on it next Saturday. I will do a Ustream video.

I have a book recommendation for you. My editor, Steve Hewitt, at Christian Computing Magazine, wrote this book.

Windows PCs in the Ministry is a book well titled since it is about what it says. Kind of like Snakes on a Plane, there is not confusion here.

Here is the description from Amazon, where it is available for about $20 (sadly, not on the Kindle).

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Use your Windows computer to its full potential in your ministry!

Church leaders know that ministry demands time, energy, creativity, passion, and commitment. Windows PCs in the Ministry helps instruct time-constrained ministers to better and more efficiently use a tool you already have: your computer. The book provides tips and direction on:

• Preparing your sermons with online tools and Bible software.
• Creating presentations and accompanying visuals with multimedia tools.
• Publishing your sermons and blogs online and on DVDs.
• Connecting with your congregants and other colleagues in ministry.
• Using Social Networking, such as Twitter, for more dynamic community outreach.

The ministry of the church has not changed over the centuries, but the methods and tools to accomplish ministry have. Windows PCs in the Ministry shows readers how to harness the programs they already have while making recommendations on new resources, helping church leaders in nearly every aspect of their ministries.

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As I said in my Twitter post, I especially like the content on preparing sermons with digital Bible tools from the Internet or Bible software.

I am studying for my Sunday sermon (Mark 11, just after the Palm Sunday Triumphal entry account where Jesus curses the fig tree, cleanses the temple, and then sees the cursed fig tree and says, “You gotta have faith to move this mountain.” I use a number of Bible programs, but what I really love is the theological conversation that occurs in my mind as I study.

My method of study is as follows:

1. Read, reread and observe writing observations in the notes feature of on of my study software programs.
2. Do word study in Greek/Hebrew looking things up my software and recording findings that are significant in the notes feature again.
3. Look up words in dictionaries to gain understanding of their meanings. Also consult other reference works for information on historical background, geographical background, etc.
4. Look up cross references in other passages.
5. Finally, I go to my large collection of electronic commentaries and record any significant ideas they have that I have not already discovered. Sometimes this corrects some misunderstandings I have had. This step does more for correcting my study and making sure I have not left anything out.

Through this process there is a bit of a conversation that goes on. I ask questions and the reference works answer them. The various commentaries through up objections or alternative views and I try to get them all to come together to a coherent, systematic, theological interpretation.

For most people who study the Bible, you will not find this that earth shattering or monumental. But for those of you who study the Bible regularly, you are likely giving a knowing smile and nod of the head. You get it. For the rest of you, just be glad if your preacher goes through this process as it will likely result in a thoughtful, more comprehensive understanding of the text. For those of you who teach or preach the Bible who do not go through this process, why not? It’s great fun and really necessary. Maybe your system is slightly different than mine. But you must have something somewhat like this.

In my review of Logos 4 for Christian Computing Magazine, I was critical of the move away from the traditional Reverse Interlinear. In 4.0 they replaced them with a new format. As you can see below there is a big difference.

You will notice in the above screen shots, the new Reverse Interlinear are displayed in a small window at the very bottom of the screen and far away from the text. The nice thing about this is that when you clicked on a word above the same word in the Interlinear was also highlighted. So despite being far apart you could still easily follow which word above was being referenced below. However, I still like the older version with all the information together in a larger window and accessible at a glance. I say that because in the new way there are only a handful of words on the screen. But in the old way you could see many.

You might, from reading this, think that the above screen shot is of the old Reverse Interlinear. But it is actually of the newest format which is available in the latest beta version from Logos 4.0 (Logos 4.0c beta 1).

In the newest version of the Reverse Interlinear, Logos has made them customizable. Notice below the Display drop down box. Click the different elements you wish to display in your new Reverse Interlinear. I love this. I don’t like having the transliterated versions of the words. I also do not use Strong’s Numbers. So removing those three elements is a big help. Finally, if you want to go back to the simple display of the text, just click on the Default button at the bottom of the menu.

This will not be available publicly until version 4.0c is released. If you don’t mind running beta software, you can get it now by downloading the beta update.

We interrupt the typical Preacher Geek content with a word about one of my sports passions – University of Kentucky Basketball.

Watching Cornell down University of Wisconsin 87-69 and in doing so record their 29th win of the season, makes me nervous as a UK fan. I was glad to watch Wisconsin lose. I have never liked the team from my home state. But Cornell is a Cinderella team and that makes them dangerous. UK should win on paper, but they are a young, inexperienced, emotional team. This could spell doom.

That said, I predict another double digit victory for the Cats. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cornell post its third straight upset.

And now back to our regularly schedule Preacher Geek content.

SwordSearcher, which is another e-Sword clone, has released a new version. It boasts a few new resources, including An Interpretation of the English Bible by B. H. Carroll and Expositions of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren. It adds some new markup features and beefed up search features as well. It also adds the ability to save as many different layouts as you like. There are also many reported usability enhancements.

The regular price is $59.95 for first time buyers or $24.50 if you are upgrading a previous version. There is a trial version available that gives a limited set of resources as well as 30 days to experiment with it and see if you like.

While I am a collector of Bible study software, I look at these programs the same way. e-Sword was the first and is still the best. If it doesn’t add anything that e-Sword doesn’t have, then why bother?

One of the features that it has over e-Sword is the “margin” area of the Bible window. It provides links to commentaries and resources tied to that verse. If you have used Mantis Bible on the iPhone, it has a similar feature. Or imagine the Passage Guide in Logos without having to run the guide – what if all the books were just there? The links popup when you hover over them and open in the other panes when you click them. You can select which resources are shown by clicking the buttons on the Bible panel toolbar. The search results pane also has this margin link area.

As mentioned above, Logos has something called a Passage Guide which finds all the resources about a particular passage. SwordSearcher has a rudimentary version of this, as seen below. You click on the button on the toolbar to open it (see picture – red arrow points to the button). Enter either a passage for a passage guide search or type a subject (as in the picture below) and it finds all the reference tools with entries for that subject.

SwordSearcher does not have a Notes panel like e-Sword does. But there is the capability to add your own content by creating a commentary or a book. In e-Sword you just click the notes tab in the commentary pane. With SwordSearcher you must first click the User menu and and choose either new commentary or new book. If you create a new commentary, you can add notes to verses but only after clicking the “edit this comment” link in the text window of the user created commentary. This adds a number of clicks over e-Sword, but at least it is possible if not ideal.

It is hard not to compare SwordSearcher to e-Sword. The share a common interface style. SwordSearcher has the above features that e-Sword does not have, but the new commentary feature is actually a step backwards from e-Sword, not forwards. I cannot find much else in SwordSearcher to make it worth replacing e-Sword if SwordSearcher was free. But for sixty bucks, that settles it. Give it a try and see if I am wrong. Even if you would not like to download and install it, watch the help videos to compare it.

When I saw this video I thought, iPhone? No more! And all those Franklin Digital Bibles don’t hold a candle to this. The iPad will never be able to do all that this thing does. I give you the iBible!!

You can now order them from me. I am an official reseller and I’m not taking a commission, so just send me $500 and you will get one before Easter.

This week I have begun to write for Notebooks.com. The site is dedicated to mobile news, reviews, and howtos. I will be submitting around 3 or more articles a week focused on news and simple howtos. I have already had one item posted and another is scheduled for today. Along with my monthly column at Christian Computing Magazine, I do this in my spare time (that means late nights and mostly Mondays or the rare Saturday that I am not busy with church stuff. Of course I always put church first and family second, but I enjoy this avocation.