Written by tjchan on Monday, March 5, 2007

Review: PocketLight – PocketPC Bible for the Everyday Reader

PocketLight Verse

Being a student in Bible college, it is very important for me to be able to have an electronic searchable Bible. I used to use my Franklin Electronic Bible, however it consumed batteries at an incredible rate and would not last me more than 2 weeks on a pair of button batteries. This got to be quite expensive. I started looking around for a Pocket PC solution and one of best ones that I ran across was PocketLight which caught my attention with its quick search capabilities and its unique Bible verse memory game.

PocketLight is available in 4 different translations – King James Version (KJV), New International Version (NIV), English Standard Version (ESV), and New American Standard Bible (NASB). After purchasing one of the above translations, you may download additional translations. Some of the other translations are free while some are not. There is no demo available.

Note: If you decide to purchase the NIV, ESV, or NASB Bibles, you can get the KJV add-on translation for free.

The core PocketLight engine works the same for all Bible translations. You can read the Bible, play the memory game, take notes, search the Bible, and track your reading progress. Unfortunately, there is no support for commentaries, dictionaries, or maps. This downside limits the potential of this great program, but what it can do, it does extremely well.

Installation and Registration: Installation is simple. Just download and run the ActiveSync installer or the CAB file to install. It finishes in around 30 seconds. There are no registration keys to enter.

Bible Reading: Clearly designed with readers in mind, PocketLight lets you tap in the verse quickly. First just select Old or New Testament, then tap the book and the chapter. Then click "Goto Chapter" or "Goto Verse" in which case if you selected the latter option, you’ll get to tap which verse you want to go to for a maximum of 6 taps to get to any needed passage! This is better than most titles that I’ve come across which require many taps to reach a particular passage. A small quirk with this program is the ability to select a nonexistent chapter in a given book at certain times (hmm…the 150th chapter of Genesis….) which will result in an error during the final steps of passage navigation.

By choosing a chapter to read, you can also have it automatically log your progress in the "Reading Record" (see below for more info on this feature); or use bookmarks via the "Cmd" menu which becomes really helpful when jumping back and forth between verses.

PocketLight Verse 2

Notes: This is perfect for taking notes over scripture and thoughts. You can create as many categories as you want and as many notes as you want per category. Just tap on each note title to access that note. Notes can be created when reading the Bible by selecting "New Note" in the "Cmd" menu. The new note can then be assigned to the chapter that you are reading and it will show up as a little file icon next to the chapter which can be tapped to access the note. Copy and paste directly into notes by using the "Edit" menu should the need to include specific passages of scripture arise.

PocketLight Notes PocketLight Notes 2

Memory Verse: This little game will help you memorize verses in a fun way. We all like games and memorization shouldn’t be a chore. Just like the days when I taught summer Bible camps, we played this same style of game using flash cards. Just tap the correct sequence of the words and PocketLight will let you know if you got the order correct. If you missed the correct sequence of words to complete the verse, then what you did get right will remain, and all the words that are out of sequence will be returned to the word bank. There is no need to click on "Verify" if all the words in the word bank get used as PocketLight will provide feedback automatically. However, if you wanted to check a word or a group of words immediately without using the whole word bank, then click "Verify" and it will beep at you if there is an error or remain silent if the sequence up to that point is correct. This method works for most people. I loved it as a child, and still find it to be a fun and exciting learning method as an adult. Go through each verse about 10 times and you will have it memorized for sure.

PocketLight Memory PocketLight Memory 2

Reading Record: The reading record keeps track of which chapters of which books in the Bible you have read. This is just good to have as you can see the percentage completion for each book. I find it fun and encouraging to watch the percentages increase as you try to finish the Bible at least once during the year. You can manually check the boxes of each chapter read off or check the box "Add to Record" when you are selecting which chapter to read which will cause the passages that you read to be automatically checked off as you read the Bible and jump from chapter to chapter.

PocketLight Reading Progress PocketLight Reading Progress 2

Subject Index: This is perfect for those times when you just need an index to verses in regards to various everyday life situations. Clicking on any primary topic will take you to a list of more topics which are under that category. In this example, I tapped on the "Love" section under "Relationships" and this is what I got.

PocketLight Subject 2

Search: This is definitely one of best searches that I’ve seen. You get results within 2-3 seconds after entering your search terms and as soon as results are displayed (it displays the results as it searches) and you can select the verse with your results just by tapping on the search results. One odd quirk with this program’s search is that when searching for a term in both Old and New Testaments, the results always show New Testament results first before showing the Old Testament results which, to me, seems backwards. Nonetheless, PocketLight search is quick, easy to use, and user friendly.

Conclusion: PocketLight is a fantastic lightweight Bible reading software that is easy to use. It is definitely meant for the everyday Bible reader and not the Bible scholar due to its lack of expansion resources. PocketLight performed very well in search speed and allowed one to quickly navigate to desired verses. The reading record that keeps track of percentage of each book read and the unique memory game of "Put the verse in order" are sure to keep you reading and memorizing scripture while staying motivated and having fun. If you are looking for a solid and easy to use Pocket PC Bible, PocketLight may be your answer.

Vital Statistics:

Name: PocketLight
Version: 3.3.5
Developer: AcroDesign Technologies

Platform: Any Pocket PC 2002/2003, or Windows Mobile 5 device
Supported Resolutions: 240×320 & 640×480
RAM: 1.6MB. PocketLight NASB and KJV (Old and New Testaments).
RAM: 2.2MB. PocketLight NIV and ESV (Old and New Testaments).

Available From: AcroDesign Technologies
JAMM Store (ESV and Add-on Translations are NOT available here.)

Price: PocketLight Engine included: NIV $34.95, NASB $24.95, ESV $19.95, and KJV $9.95.
Premium Translations as add-ons: NIV $24.95, NASB $18.00, and ESV $14.95.