Tuesday, May 3, 2011

MySword Bible App for Android

I'm busy grading papers, but I wanted to get the word out about the free MySword for Android. (I have a larger listing of Android Bible apps HERE.) Copying the info I received from them:

Version 1.3 of MySword for Android

The following are the exciting features of MySword for Android:
  • Multiple offline Bibles, Commentaries and Dictionaries
  • Bible version verse comparison
  • Highlighting
  • Bookmarks
  • Type your personal notes and insights
  • Search (concordance) for Bible, Commentaries and Personal notes
  • Strongs number support linked to dictionary for easy access
  • Full screen mode support for more viewable text
  • Support for Morphological codes and link to the Dictionary view
  • The editor for Personal notes uses a simple wiki syntax for easy formating of your notes
  • Copying of current verse, all text and custom selection of text in all views (Bible, Commentary, Dictionary and Personal notes) including the Search results which is very useful for Personal notes editing
  • Resizeable text (custom text size for easy viewing)
  • Allow fine adjustment of text size
  • Page history navigation (back and forward)
  • Verse link in Commentaries and Dictionaries to the Bible view.
  • Links between documents, e.g. Commentary reference to Bible passage
  • Download of modules (Bibles, Commentaries, and Dictionaries)
  • Backup and restore of settings, highlights, bookmarks and Personal notes
Some quick observations/comments after briefly using MySword for Android.
  • The app is not available in the Google Android Market or the Amazon Appstore. You need to go to the website and download it from there. (See below for a QR code to get you there quickly. The developers hope to have it available in the Android Market in June.)
  • Once you install the program, you need to download modules. Choose wisely and don't just allow the default. (For now, there isn't a built-in option to uninstall modules. UPDATE: See here for info on manually uninstalling modules.)
  • There is a fine selection of free English Bibles for download. Check them out HERE. Beyond the usual (KJV, ASV, NET...), do note that you can get the Lexham English, but it is only the New Testament. 
  • There are quite a few non-English versions, but there is no Hebrew module.
  • For Greek, you can get the LXX including also "The Analytic Septuagint" which provides both analysis and links to Strong's (though words in the LXX not occurring in the NT will not be linked). For the NT, the only option is "Textus Receptus (1550/1894) Greek NT with Strong's Numbers and parsing info." Note that the Greek is unaccented, and where there is accented Greek in the Strong's you will get font irregularities.
  • The usual batch of public domain commentaries: TSK, JFB...
  • The usual batch of public domain dictionaries: Strong's, BDB, Thayer, Nave's...
As for performance:
  • Display is attractive and works fine in either landscape or portrait.
  • Navigation is very easy for getting around the Bible.
  • It does have a verse compare feature so you can see multiple English versions or Greek/English, but you can't choose which versions to display. You get all the versions that are available.
  • As noted above, Search, Highlighting, Bookmarks, Notes all work as one would hope.
All in all, a fine implementation, and you can't complain about the price. (Donations are appreciated.) Rather than having to enter the URL on your Android browser, I generated a QR code to jump straight to the download page. (I'm assuming you have installed a barcode scanner or QR reader on your device. If not, why not?!)
BOTTOM LINE: I'm keeping this on my Android primarily because of the "Analytic Septuagint" module which is not available elsewhere that I see. (I still need some help getting through the LXX...)

2 comments:

  1. you are doing good I love having the WORDS of the LORD in my pocket Bless you michael taylor

    ReplyDelete
  2. For free MySword modules, visit http://www.myswordmodules.com

    ReplyDelete