SymbianBible

Latest version (including for Symbian 5th edition, Nokia 5800/Nokia N97) can be found at :
http://trac.es/bible/

(should work for Symbian^3 devices) Info for UIQ (e.g: Sony Ericsson P800/P900/P910/M600/M600i/P990 is here

Symbian OS Bible Reader for Series 60 and 80

Symbianbible is a bible reader for devices (mobile phones) that uses Symbian OS Series 60 and 80.

The file access engine is ported from the well known bible reader for Palm: Bible+ , so you can use many bible files that are already available for the Bible+. Starting from version 0.98 the file compatibility is quite good. The current version of this program only supports latin text, Hebrew, and Greek, non latin text such as Chinesse, Japanese is not yet (fully) supported (see notes on Chinese text at the bottom of this page).

Donation

Google Groups (mailing list)

If you want to follow the development of this program, get update on new version, ask questions, or help other users, you can join the Google Group (it's a mailing list with a web interface), by visiting this url: http://groups.google.com/group/symbianbible.

Supported Phone Models

Except for Nokia 7650, any Series 60 phone should work (including 3rd edition phones). Here are some of the supported models: Nokia 3650, Nokia 3660, Nokia 6600, Siemens SX 1, and Nokia N-Gage, N70, Nokia E50, Nokia E61, Nokia N73).

Any Series 80 devices (Nokia Communicator) should work (which includes version 1 and 2): Nokia 9210, Nokia 9300, Nokia 9300i, Nokia 9500.

News

Changes in Version 0.98.1
-------------------------
- Fixed Goto Verse Dialog

Changes in Version 0.98
-----------------------
Feature Improvement:
- Port to S60 3rd edition
- SVG icon in S60 3rd edition
- Zoom in S60 3rd edition
- You can now open bible commentaries (the verse limit has been increased from 2kb to 16 kb)
- Quickly select bible using the center/fire key
- You can use Chinese Big5 bible files if you have the required font
- It is now possible to display long book name. Some bible translation has a very long name for
the title (e.g: "The Apostles" is "Kisah Para Rasul" in Bahasa Indoneia), and might get truncated
if long book name is selected if the screen size is not wide enough.
- Lower memory usage
- Book title, chapter title, and description text are now displayed

Bug fix:
- Fixed memory leak in the bible engine
- Fixed Error in handling byte shifted PDB files
- Scroll up and down is now consistent

Download

Symbianbible can be downloaded from this link (you can download it directly to the phone):

Note, I am rebuilding this site, please download latest version from: http://groups.google.com/group/symbianbible/files

Version Main Site Alternate site
S60V1 (e.g: Nokia 3650, 3660, Siemens SX1, etc) s60biblev1-0.98.sis s60biblev1-0.98.sis
S60V2 (e.g: Nokia 6600, 7610, etc) s60biblev2-0.98.sis s60biblev2-0.98.sis
S60V3 (e.g: Nokia E61, E50, etc) s60biblev3-0.98.sis s60biblev3-0.98.sis
S80V1 (e.g: Nokia 9210) s80biblev1-0.98.1.sis s80biblev1-0.98.1.sis
S80V2 (e.g: Nokia 9300, 9300i, 9500) s60biblev2-0.98.1.sis s80biblev2-0.98.1.sis

Not sure which one to download? You can try each version (just the SIS files please, you don't need the source code if you don't understand) and see which one works. Here are some hint to narrow your selection:

  1. If your phone doesn't have a full QWERTY keyboard (only numbers) then it is definitely not Series 80.
  2. If your phone has a QWERTY keyboard and is foldable, then it might be a Series 80.
  3. If you feel that your phone is old Symbian model, then it might be S60 version 1.
  4. If you just bought the latest Nokia model, then it might be S60 version 3.
  5. You can use S60V1 installer on the S60V2 devices.
Additional files:
Version Main Site Alternate site
ClearlyU font cu.gdr cu.gdr
Source code symbianbible-0.98.tar.gz symbianbible-0.98.tar.bz2
Language file (if you intend to translate it) symbianbible.en symbianbible.en

Current Translation

The user interface language of Symbian bible will follow the current phone language. You can translate this program to your language by downloading the symbianbible.en file and following the Instruction in the file. You could ask me if anyone has started a translation for a particular language.

Language Translator
English Yohanes Nugroho
Bahasa Indonesia Yohanes Nugroho
Portuguese alb3530
Russian Величко Михаил (will be released on next version)
Spanish Oscar B (will be released on next version)
Romanian Alexandru Szasz (will be released on next version)
Czech Manas (will be released on next version)
Finnish Jaakko Sadeharju (will be released on next version)

Instalation Instruction

For those of you who already familiar on using and installing softwares on your phone, the short instruction for installing is:

  1. Obtain the s60/s800bible-xx.sis, where xx is the version number
  2. Obtain one or more bible files either by downloading it from the internet, or converting your own
  3. Install the s60/s80bible-xx.sis to your phone
  4. Copy the bible file(s) to your phone memory or your MMC (you can put the file anywhere you like).
  5. Use the Bible >> Update Bible List Menu to let the program search for your bible files.

If the instruction is not enough for you, please read the complete instalation instruction for series 60 1st and 2nd edition and see the special note on installing for s60bible for s60 3rd edition.

Obtaining Bible Files

SymbianBible uses the same bible files that are used by Bible+, no modification is needed to use the bible files. The Bible+ homepage has a link to available bibles on the internet, you can have a look at their bible page.

You can also convert the bible from unboundbible to PDB format using the instruction for converting bible files that has been provided by Nelson Neves. These instrutions are somewhat complicated but at least they work and you can choose from about 43 languages to create your Bible.

Features

These are the current (version 0.98) SymbianBible features:

User manual

I believe this program is already easy enough to use, so I will not update the user manual. Old version of the manual is still available at: manual.html. The original format for this manual was written using OpenOffice and has been converted to html and pdf. I suggest you use the PDF Version of the manual for offline viewing.

You can help

If you are a user, you can help by reporting bugs, giving suggestions, giving donation, writing/maintaining this documentation etc.

If you are a developer you can help on improving this program, I'm just a begineer in the SymbianOS programming, and would really appreciate help from the masters.

FAQ

Q: Does it works on Device X.?
A: It has been tested on Nokia 3650, Nokia 3660, Nokia 6600, E50, E61, Nokia 9300, Nokia 9210, and Siemens SX1, other series 60 and 80 devices should work well.

Q: Does it work on Symbian UIQ or Series 90?
A: Yes.

Q: Why doesn't this application search function?
A: Please wait for the next version. I'm still working on international texts (Japanese, etc), if the task has completed, then I will implement the search function.

Q: Why does the Zoom function doesn't work?
A: It works, but only for True Type fonts, see the note about fonts on the following section.

Note: Chinese text and Greek/Hebrew Font

Important: I don't speak, read, or write Chinese/Greek/Hebrew, so please use English or Bahasa Indonesia to contact me.

If you have a phone that supports Chinese text, then you should be able to read BIG5 encoded bible files without problem. If you don't have that kind of phone, then you can install additional font. Unfortunately, the book list still uses ordinary font (and you will not be able to read the text). Note: I still can't find the source for a good and free Chinese font.

If the display for Greek or Hebrew text is scrambled, then you can install the ClearlyU font or other fonts that contains Greek/Hebrew glyphs.

To install a font globally (visible to all applications), copy the font files to your memory card (MMC/SD/MicroSD/MiniSD) at "\System\Fonts". It is possible to copy the font files to your phone memory, but you will not be able to uninstall it, and it may crash your phone.

To install a font locally (only visible to S60/S80bible), copy the font files to "?:\System\Apps\S60Bible" (for S60Bible 1st and 2nd ed, replace the question mark with C if you install it to phone memory or E if you install it to Memory Card), "?:\System\Apps\S80Bible" (for Series 80), and "C:\Data\Fonts" (for S60Bible 3rd edition, must be in C). I know this is a bit confusing, I wil try to make it easier on the next version

All Symbian versions supports GDR file (such as the ClearlyU) which is a bitmap (non resizeable) font. Series 80 and Series60 v3 supports TrueType font (ttf, vector scalable/resizeable), which can easily be found on the Internet. You can install freetype.sis for Series 60 2nd edition to support ttf files. I don't know any solution for series 60 1st edition to support using ttf fonts.