I blogged recently about Olive Tree‘s BibleReader software for mobile devices, including their relatively new iPhone application. The kind folks at Olive Tree took notice, and graciously invited me to beta test their upcoming Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia module for iPhone. I used to use an Olive Tree BHS on my PalmOS device before I switched to iPhone, so I jumped at the chance. Olive Tree has a very generous policy regarding reviews—they have given me (and other participants, naturally) carte blanche to talk about the features we’re seeing in the beta.

As I previously mentioned, Olive Tree makes your entire library available to you, no matter what platform you used when you made your original purchase. Of course, they can’t supply you with modules that don’t yet exist for your current platform. Other than that, though, you enjoy complete portability of your BibleReader library. You can synchronize your iPhone with your online library just by logging in; any available modules will download to your device.

By the way, if you bring up the latest release of BibleReader on your iPhone and compare an English text to the BHS screen shot above, you’ll notice a slight difference in the ribbon at the top of the screen. In the version currently available in the App Store, the translation abbreviation appears in a button; when you press that button, you go to the Library. But that really doesn’t conform to iPhone application UI standards; a button should tell you where you’re going, not where you are. I mentioned this to Olive Tree in the beta feedback loop, and they changed it within hours of receiving my feedback. That’s the fastest turnaround time I’ve seen on any beta suggestion, ever.

By the way, BibleReader works in landscape mode, too:

As always in BibleReader, you navigate through the text by scrolling or by using the verse chooser. At first glance, you might think that you’d prefer to type in references, but you’ll quickly realize that you can get to any biblical text in BibleReader with three taps on the screen.

The third screen would present you with verses in the chapter you selected on the second screen. Inexperienced iPhone users may wonder how to choose Psalm 85 or higher; you use a two-finger swipe to bring those chapter buttons into view. This problem only arises with the psalter; other books have few enough chapters not to require swiping, though you’ll also need to swipe to get to the final verses of very long chapters like Numbers 7.

Can you feel my enthusiasm for this application? I was glad when Olive Tree first got its app onto the iPhone for English Bibles, but I’m positively ecstatic about having the BHS on my iPhone. For those of you wondering: yes, Olive Tree programmers have plans for the Greek New Testament, too. In fact, the Greek New Testament presents fewer challenges, because the programmers don’t have to worry about right-to-left issues in searching. Yes, I said “searching.” But that’s for another post.