Bible.Is is a new iPhone Bible app that reads the Bible to you. It is not like many of the Bible apps that have introduced audio. Instead of computer generated Bible reading, it uses dramatized Bible readings. They get the audio from Faith Comes By Hearing, a ministry that supplies the Bible in 400 languages and free for download. Thanks to Bible.is you get it on your iPhone or iPad. It is also available on other platforms, like Android and hopefully Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Symbian OS in the near future. Until then you can subscribe to the SMS version which sends a text message with links to the MP3 of that day’s reading. They say it will take you 40 days to listen to the entire New Testament.

I really like the iPhone app and think it is well worth the price, which is Free. But it would be worth it if it costs even more. Below is a video of the app reading from 1 Kings.

As you can hear it is high quality dramatized Bible reading. But that is not all Bible.is can do. You can of course read from a few different translations, including the ESV, one of my favorites. It doesn’t have as many modern translations as some apps, but it is free.

The app also lets you highlight text, take notes, and bookmark your favorite verses. Notice from the screen shots below that you can listen to the Bible by simply opening to a verse and hitting the play button. You choose to read from several English translations including ASV, BBE, CEV, ESV, KJV and NRSV. The audio is available only for some translations and sometimes only for the NT.

Dramatized Available: ESV OT & NT, KJV OT & NT, NRSV NT only

Non Dramatized Available: KJV NT only, NRSV NT only

These will have to be downloaded via the More option in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen (see bottom left row of screen shots).

If you want to get through the NT in just 40 days there is an audio listening program available for that (see above right).

You can search the Bible and add bookmarks, highlights, and notes. To add these just tap and hold the verse and the screen above center will appear. Tap the first icon on the top toolbar to add a bookmark. The center icon brings up the highlighting color options. And the third icon is for sharing the verse on Facebook. I wish it had Twitter, but maybe in a future release.

Once the verse is highlighted it will look like the upper left screen shot. The bookmarks list is in the center above and the right is for changing the text size or the language.

Below you will see the More screen options. Share is for sending verses via email. The settings screen is the one on the upper right. Download is for adding translations and audio Bibles. Support and About are what you would expect. The screen shot below on the right is for changing the toolbar icons. You can change the default to include other things as you wish.

I think Bible.is is a great Bible listening app. My only complaints are that it doesn’t have my favorite translations, the HCSB and it doesn’t share via Twitter.  Other than that it is a wonderful app well worth your time to download and use to listen to God’s word. I plan to listen to the program on the go via my car stereo (cassette adapter).

As some of you may know, I wrote an article for iPhone Life that was released earlier this year. They are offering a free issue of the magazine this summer which you can get by clicking the icon.

Instead of writing a review, I decided to give you a little video preview. The first three minutes I explain how the iPad fits into the Logos ecosystem. I did not show the Library.Logos.com site that much, but remember that it is part of the ecosystem.

The videos are in two parts.  Here is the first videos:

And here is part two:

 Pros:

• Potentially large library
• Works with Logos desktop application
• Syncs to other devices
• Advanced Bible study
• Reading plan tracking
• Bookmarking

Cons:

• No night reading mode
• No notes
• No highlighting
• No split screen mode
• Have to be online for many features

Wanna see what PocketBible is going to look like on the iPad? Me too! Thanks to a post at the Laridian blog, you can.

Feel like a kid in December waiting for this one to get in the app store. They waited to test their app on the actual iPad which will hopefully result in a much more stable release. I like PB on the iPhone, but with the new ability to open multiple books at once it is going to be a killer iPad study tool!

Aside from split pane view, you will get notes and searching of notes. Some of what is being added on the iPad will work in the iPhone app.

“I don’t want to sound like an Apple zealot or iPad fanboy, but I’m starting to think the iPad is the platform for mobile Bible study. I know, I know — you’d like to make that decision for yourself. We’re getting close. It will be worth the wait,” wrote Craig Rairdin of Laridian. Welcome to the party! You’re just now “starting to think” that? He’s right. It is a great tool for mobile Bible study and I think PB looks like it will be a great weapon in that arsenal. Can’t wait to see if I’m right.

But not right away.

Today, Craig Rairdin, the head honcho at Laridian, posted on their blog that they have had a lot of requests for an Android version of PocketBible. He said that they have plans to offer a version for Android, but explained that since they are working hard on other priorities and are limited by having only two full-time programs (himself and Jeff Wheeler). When you consider all they are doing, that is pretty good output for just two guys.

He said their priorities are the iPhone OS devices followed by Android. They are partnering with other entities to work on Blackberry and WebOS versions. The will not be devloping a Symbian version and are taking a wait-and-see approach to Windows Phone 7. Palm and Windows Mobile don’t have much promise going forward and he seemed to suggest there won’t be much done on those two platforms.

So be patient and be looking for PocketBible for Android. Just not tomorrow!

Olive Tree’s excellent Bible Reader for the iPhone is growing up as the iPad is about to be released. And the folks over there are showing off what is coming with some screen shots on their web site. Obviously, it will be interesting to see what the “little guys” in Bible study software can do with the extra screen real estate. I hope they don’t forget the creativity they have required to make top quality software on the small screen. But these shots are promising. Can’t wait to see more from my other favorites.

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!

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.

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.

With Gizmodo reporting over 1,000 apps in the iPhone app store devoted to the Bible, it could be hard to figure out which one is best. I did an in depth review of Bible apps in Christian Computing Magazine before I joined the Notebooks.com team. In that review I found that the three best were Laridian PocketBible, Olive Tree Bible Reader, and Mantis Bible.

As with most iPhone apps, the development cycle is swift so some of what I reported is already out of date. A new app released since that review is from Logos Bible Software and deserves a spot on the list. The most popular is YouVersion, but it does not have all the features and study tools available in the other four. All four of these are free to try. All except for YouVersion have very advanced tools for studying the Bible as well as ways of helping you set up reading plans.

Currently I am using Logos for daily reading, OliveTree for taking notes when I am in worship, and I use Mantis and PocketBible when I want to use the books I have purchased for those apps that are not available on the other two.