I got on the beta tester list for Olive Tree’s iPhone/iTouch Bible Reader app.  As such, I’ve been able to play with the software as it morphs from it’s initial app store release.  I’ve been impressed at the changes that have been made, but I didn’t want to write another review until one of two things happened:

• Olive Tree set it up so users could have their own library of books.
• Greek and Hebrew support went “live” for the beta testers.

Well, I can happily say that personal libraries are now present beta release, and I was privileged to be shown a screen shot of what Hebrew support is going to look like on the iPhone/iTouch.  Folks, you will be pleased, I am literally drooling over how Hebrew looks in the screenshot.

The new version’s UI differs some from the current release in the App Store, apparently from some work the gang at Olive Tree did with Apple’s “UI Evangelist.”  The browser-like bar is gone from the top of the screen, which has been replaced by two buttons – one for selecting a book out of your library and the other to open the verse chooser (which has remained unchanged from earlier releases).  The three dots at the bottom of the screen have been replaced with a typical “i” button to open preferences.  One of the nice things is that this preference button is easy to access, I don’t know why but I seem to have problems with that button in a lot of apps).  The ability to placebookmarks in the current book is also accessible from a button at the bottom of the screen, which is found next to the search button. The improvements to the UI are well done, though I’m lookingfoward to see how Olive Tree implements the excellent “split screen” function that is common to their app on other platforms.

The app does take a bit to load, I’m looking forward to seeing load times drop as bit as code continues to get tweaked.  On the other hand, while there still is no auto-scrolling, the responsiveness of the app to swiping seems to be much more responsive.  Olive Tree is also implementing some advanced search features in the app, which I have yet to play with.  I am confident that I will play with the search features, however, as developers have smartly included search documentation along with the application.  It’s a move I appreciate.

One question has been nagging me since the Bible Reader has been released in the App store with the “bundle” concept, “How are they going let users who purchased bundles keep using those Bibles when personal libraries are activated?”  It’s a good question, and I’m glad to say that Olive Tree have made sure their users aren’t left out in the cold.  In the preferences, users are able to set up their olive tree user account.  Once that’s done, they need only to hit the “register books” button to have their bundled Bibles be activated in the new version.  The way I read it, the Bibles will need to be downloaded from Olive Tree before they are usuable – but it’s a nice touch and I appreciate it.

This is an app I actually look forward to using, and I can’t wait for folks to get their hands on it.