Reviews
160
Pounds in Your Pocket?
Not if you get an electronic dictionary
Why
anyone would not pack a dictionary in his/her Pocket PC when it
doesn't weigh anything is beyond me, especially when you consider
that you can pay up to $2700 for a dictionary, and this one only
costs $19.95.
What
do you get for your $2700? You get a sagging bookshelf with four
feet of books that weigh about 160 pounds. You get tree books
that smell bad after a while. And of course the tree book version
is obsolete the minute it goes on your shelf.
In
contrast, the WordBook electronic dictionary takes up no shelf
space, weighs nothing, and is totally hyperlinked. That means
you can look up any work in the dictionary. Have you ever looked
up a definition only to find that you didn't understand the words
being used to define the word you looked up? If this happens to
you in WordBook, just tap any word you don't know, and the definition
pops up. This feature is called WordPicker. Just highlight a word
and tap the WordPicker eyedropper icon in the bottom tray, and
the definition comes up on the screen.
If
you think that's pretty cool, this feature is not limited to internal
lookups. WordBook allows you to look up any word from any application
at any time on your Pocket PC, even from Webpages and from any
eBook reader. All you have to do is highlight the word, and if
WordPicker is active, tap on its icon in the upper program bar
and up pops the definition.
This
feature alone can save you bundles on other dictionaries. Most
eBook readers come with their own proprietary dictionaries, which
you usually have to buy separately, meaning that you would have
to purchase a dictionary for every reader. Then it only works
within the environment of that particular reader. Those proprietary
dictionaries will not look up words in other applications, but
WordBook will.
I've
used WordBook for years now, and it has been my favorite when
all is said and done, but it just keeps getting better. There
have been many improvements including full VGA support and screen
rotation. WordBook is Windows 2005 ready, but will work with earlier
editions.
You
are not getting some paltry dictionary with the limited vocabulary
of a Neanderthal here. WordBook is a robust lexicon with 150,000
entries and 3000 new entries containing close to two million words,
which is equivalent to an 1,800 page book. The Oxford English
Dictionary consists of 20 volumes and 1,900 pages, and that's
the one that costs $2700.
The
most exciting new feature is that it is now a self-pronouncing
dictionary. Simply tap on the speaker icon and the word will be
pronounced for you. The Speech Engine was developed by Carnegie
Mellon University, and an American accent voice module is used
with it. But, it is a computer-generated voice, so it can be a
bit difficult to understand once in a while, but not usually.
Some
of the user interface has been re-designed for more user-friendly
operation. WordBook is now available for Windows Media Smartphones
as well, but it does come with quite a footprint (about 12 Megabytes),
so you will probably want to put it on a storage card, not in
main memory. I'm planning to do a separate review of WordBook
and report how it operates on my Motorola MPx220.
Let
me emphasize that WordBook is not just an ordinary dictionary,
as you may have already gathered, but there's more. Tap on the
magnifying glass icon and a whole world of words opens to you.
Having trouble with a crossword puzzle? Tap on the Puzzle tab
and get help using wildcards for missing letters. Remember the
game of Anagrams? You can get anagrams with WordBook and find
out how many words you can spell by re-arranging the letters in
any word you type in the dialog box. The Wildcard feature allows
you to search for words using ? * [] () {} syntax. Or, if you're
not quit sure of the correct spelling, use the Phonetic feature
to find the word.
Whenever
I need to come up with a clever name for a new business or Website
or a title of any kind, I use the wildcard feature, and the results
are amazingly helpful.
Another
nice feature for vocabulary building is that WordBook displays
the word of the day, an arbitrary word that you can store in the
build-in Study List or Favorites List. WordBook also remembers
your most recent look-ups for quick reference and can be easily
accessed from the home screen along with other functions such
as random word picker, Study List, and Favorites.
Looking
up a word is easy and convenient. From any place in the program,
tap on the keyboard icon at the bottom of the screen and the lookup
screen appears. Tap in the word and it appears in a scroll list
on the right. Tap
on the word you want in the list and the definition(s) appears
along with synonyms and usage examples that help you avoid using
the word in an awkward construction. Note that the synonyms are
all hyperlinked to their definitions, which makes this dictionary
an excellent thesaurus as well, for most thesauri do not give
usage examples, just a list of words.
Tap
on the chain link symbol after the definition of a word, and it
will take you to a Word Links page containing synonyms, hypernyms,
derivationally related forms, and category domains with each of
the terms hyperlinked to their definitions.
Under
the Text tab, you can change the size of the text and elect to
use ClearType. The Tools tab offers the following options: About,
Options, Speech Volume, Show Word Picker, and Exit. Suffice it
to say that the program is intelligently designed and easy to
use.
Smartphone
Edition
I believe that WordBook is the first dictionary program to be
available for the Windows Media Smartphone. The program works
just about the same on the Smartphone as on the PPC with the exception
that you must use the keypad, command buttons and menus instead
of tapping icons. Of course, you would probably want to install
the WordBook on a memory expansion card. I must say that I'm delighted
to have a dictionary, especially this dictionary available on
my Motorola MPx220 Smartphone for instant reference. Unfortunately,
the Smartphone edition does not include audible pronunciations.
Bonus
Finally, when you download WordBook for the Pocket PC, you also
get a free PC version for your desktop. Wow, a first-class dictionary
for your desktop or laptop, and it's free! Now that really makes
WordBook a double bargain if you ask me. The only problem is that
it doesn't have that nice WordPicker function. You can get around
it though by keeping WordBook active and pasting any word you
want to look up into its dialog box.
Conclusion:
WordBook is a world-class dictionary with a self-pronouncing speech
engine that also serves as a powerful thesaurus with contextual
usage examples. It functions as a valuable learning tool with
its Study List and word of the day features. It is not only useful
but also fun because of its Puzzle, Anagram, and Wildcard elements.
The depth of its database gives the user a lexicon found only
in the most expensive paper equivalents.
While
WordBook is an excellent dictionary and learning tool with its
Study List and Favorites features, I would like to see it have
a grammar and punctuation guide. Maybe I'll volunteer to write
it for TranCreative one of these days. I would also appreciate
a WordPicker in the desktop version, but I guess I can't complain
because that's a free bonus.
If
words and their meanings have any relevance in your life, you
should not be without WordBook on board your PPC. Not having this
powerful appurtenance on your Pocket PC would be tantamount to
a dentist not having a drill. Don't leave home without WordBook.
Check
out WordBook at www.trancreative.com and see what other treats
lie in store for your there as well÷some of it is free!
÷By
Tim Hillebrand
www.trancreative.com
WordBook Dictionary
ð TranCreative
ð $19.95
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