Bible 360 Review and Giveaway

Immersion Digital, the makers of the Bible 360 app is hosting a giveaway for a premium version! Be sure and scroll to the bottom to enter.

We are a church-going family and as such, there are occasions when we are called on to give a talk or teach a Sunday School lesson. Because I am not always as organized as I would like to be, I sometimes find myself staying up late the night before I have to teach to finish my lesson. I used to try to keep my HUGE bible in the car, so that when I found myself waiting somewhere (school parking lot, Dr.’s office) I could take advantage of the time to work on my presentations. But carrying that thick tome around became cumbersome and awkward and my bible was getting kind of beat up during the transit. I had looked at different scripture apps and even downloaded a few to my phone. Some were better than others, but most pretty much limited functionality to reading and maybe highlighting and that was it. Lucky for us, there’s a new Bible app in town. And let me just say, this isn’t your Grandma’s bible!

Bible 360 is a new app that brings the text of Scripture to life through video, interactive technology and social media. Created by Immersion Digital, Bible360 can be downloaded to iPhones and iPads, as well as PCs or Macs. It’s a full-service app that serves as a state of the art, portable study guide for anyone wanting to have a more in-depth understanding of the Old and New Testaments.

The first things I noticed when I opened the program were the amazing graphics. The design is beautiful and easy to navigate. Sometimes designers cram so much into their apps that it’s almost overwhelming to look at, let alone find what you’re actually looking for. Not so with Bible360. The application is set up so that everything is accessed through “lenses”. Each lens houses a variety of easily accessible information.

Click on the “Bible” lens and the entire bible will open up on a very easy-to-read screen so that you can go directly to the chapter you want to read. Verses are linked to relevant resources, including media.

The “Atlas” lens allows the user access to over 130 satellite images of the various biblical locations, which are linked to scriptures and media, so the reader can quickly identify the area in which events they read about have taken place.

The “Me” lens gives readers personal tools to use during study sessions, such as an online journal, reading plans to help keep you on track with your reading goals and the ability to connect with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, so friends/family can share verses and media links from the Bible.

My boys love the “Media” lens that opens up a host of videos, photos and virtual tours that help bring the bible stories they read about to life. The visuals they get, along with the information in the virtual tours, helps reinforce what they already know and gives them new insights and information about subjects that may not be as familiar. This particular feature has done wonders to eliminate the fights over family scripture reading, as the boys now have something to help hold their attention while we read. Another by-product of the Media lens is the increased communication we have with our boys. They are much more inquisitive about what we are studying than they were in the past and it has been great to sit at the dinner table and have family discussions about how people lived in biblical times.

Things we like about Bible360:

• Beautifully designed – lots of great visuals that help bring the Bible to life
• The ability to journal and create presentations/lessons within the application
• Maps that help the kids identify the locations of events we read about
• Portable scriptures allow me read and prepare for lessons while waiting in places like school parking lot or Dr.’s offices.

Things we wished were different:

• Not yet available on the android market for people without iPhones or iPads.

As far as Bible applications go, Bible360 really is the most comprehensive, functional scripture app available on the market right now. Immersion Studios has done a fantastic job of integrating “The Word” with various other functions to make this application a useful addition to your digital library. Bible360 is fun, interactive and offers tons of resources that make reading the scriptures much more interesting and thought provoking.

There are two versions of the application: The “Lite” version is absolutely free and offers the full NIV Bible text, along with select media samples. The Premium version (available as an in-app upgrade for $34.99) gives you full access to 5 different Bible translations, over 3500 pieces of media, as well as other amazing features and resources not available in the Lite version . Plus, an upgrade allows you to put the app on up to 5 devices including Mac, PC, iPhone and iPad!

Enter to win

One reader will get a premium version of Bible 360. To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment letting us know how you would use the Bible 360 program.

This giveaway will end on February 14th and announced in our weekly Around the Blogosphere post.

Disclosure:  I received the Premium version of the Bible360 application in order to facilitate this review.  I was also compensated for this post, however my opinions are always my own.

Geri Chase is a freelance writer, blogger and mom/wife to two fantastic boys and a humorous husband.  She is currently sifting through her new app to figure out exactly how many colors were in Joseph’s coat.  When she’s not obsessing over new software, Geri blogs about her life and family adventures over at I Am Boymom.

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Jennifer is the Advertising and Communications contact here at 5 Minutes for Mom. When she is not busy answering emails here, you can find her sharing about her life on her own blog at www.jennifersikora.com. You can also find her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jennifer_sikora or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jenandherfinelife.

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