Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Capacity Focus, 26: What about Bible Study apps for the Android mobile operating system?

The envisioned educational computing platform, a cradled Android Tablet, with keyboard and wireless web access, will need to have local Bible Study software. "Apps" as such application programs are called in this context.

The Word and eSword do not seem to have been ported to Android as yet, though these remain the recommended freeware applications for PCs. (Macs are almost irrelevant in the Caribbean.)

It seems the two best alternatives are Olive Tree's BibleReader 4.0 (the KJV version is free) and CadreBible, which seems to be similar in philosophy to The Word and eSword, hosting multiple versions and resources.

Youversion seems to be a good Bible reader with a nice set of versions.

A cluster of screenshots from CadreBible is:

CadreBible screenshots
In addition the ColorDict app, which imports and sets up a collection of dictionaries, should be a useful Bible Study and general reference app.

Obviously, these should all be seen as complementing other Bible study tools and resources, including of course, Bible reference web sites. (Cf the NCSTS resources page, here.)

So, we have adequate resources for Bible reading and research, and over time this situation will improve as the Android Tablet and the Android Smart Phone become "hot," widely used, and popular personal computing platforms. END
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F/N: HT, Bible and Tech, and ChurchMag.

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