Nic, I installed it as soon as I saw your message in the list. I think it's a good start. I'm not sure what version of the iPhone hardware you have, so my comments are coming from someone with the second version of the hardware (3G). Overall, I love the app! It really is well built and solid. I like the Lights Out view, very easy on the eyes, and I like having the ability to select fonts and font sizes.
Firstly, the application is slow to load. All apps seem to be slower for me than for other people I know, leading me to wonder if perhaps my phone has hardware issues, but your app seems to take even longer than most. I'm stuck looking at the CrossWire/PocketSword logo for a good 15 or so seconds before the app brings me to the Bible text I have opened. After start-up, most things are fast, with the exception of changing to a new reference in the Bibles (Commentaries seem fast, and going between Bible and Commentary tabs is fast). I've used two other Bible Software applications on the iPhone (YouVersion.com's Bible and Olive Tree's BibleReader). PocketSword is by far the slowest to bring up a passage... and YouVersion.com was always pulling its chapters off of the web before rendering! I don't know if that is your application or SWORD or the way you're using SWORD. On the upside, rendering isn't so slow that it is annoying, it just seems like there should be room for improvement there. The selection of feature settings like font size also require about 5 seconds of the UI graying out with the circling gif in the center of the screen with "Loading". I'm not sure why that is necessary while in the settings UI, but it was rather annoying. Secondly, your passage selector is good (better than YouVersion's was) but not great. I had languished in my mind for a while how a good verse selector could be made on the iPhone while I was working on an iPhone site and also using the YouVersion app. I never could figure one out until I saw OliveTree's BibleReader. I highly suggest you take a look at their app and see if you can take some ideas from their passage selection tool. If, for instance, I want to quickly jump from my passage in Exodus to a reference in Hebrews, scrolling through 50 or so books to get there in the drop-down is slow and cumbersome. BibleReader's selector allows me to hit just about any book instantly with minimal, if any, scrolling. Their new full-screen text display I'm not so happy with, I prefer your version with the UI visible all the time, but it might be a feature you could give in a future version as well for people who like that. I'll be sure to ping you if I notice any bugs, but so far it looks like a very solid, excellent application. Thanks for all your work! I look forward to future updates. --Greg On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 2:04 PM, Nic Carter <niccar...@mac.com> wrote: > > Just a quick status report, PocketSword was made live on the App Store by > Apple this morning (well, "morning" for me!), so we now officially have an > iPhone app :) > > http://itunes.apple.com/app/pocketsword/id341046078 > > It was "approved" by Apple 2 hours ago and is slowly making it's way to the > various App Stores around the world (well, I know it's available in Australia > and the US right now). > > I'm still on holidays for a couple more days, so I'm now going to switch this > laptop off & continue my (short) holiday :) > > > ybic > nic... :) > > _______________________________________________ > sword-devel mailing list: sword-devel@crosswire.org > http://www.crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel > Instructions to unsubscribe/change your settings at above page > _______________________________________________ sword-devel mailing list: sword-devel@crosswire.org http://www.crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel Instructions to unsubscribe/change your settings at above page
