The Apple Core

Jason D. O'Grady & David Morgenstern

Encyclopedia: Offline Wikipedia viewer for iPhone

By | November 12, 2008, 8:19am PST

Summary: If you’re a fan of Wikipedia and own an iPhone or iPod touch check out Patrick Collison’s Encyclopedia (US$7.99, iTunes Link). After launching the app you can download a complete copy of Wikipedia to your iPhone for offline viewing. It’s great for people that fly a lot or otherwise would like to search the venerable [...]

If you’re a fan of Wikipedia and own an iPhone or iPod touch check out Patrick Collison’s Encyclopedia (US$7.99, iTunes Link). After launching the app you can download a complete copy of Wikipedia to your iPhone for offline viewing. It’s great for people that fly a lot or otherwise would like to search the venerable online encyclopedia without a data connection.

To keep the size of the data file manageable it doesn’t include images, references and user files.

Set aside about an hour to download the 2GB data file over a Wi-Fi connection and make sure to set the Auto-Lock Setting to never. If you interrupt the download (i.e. by hit the home button), it can safely be resumed.

If after resuming you don’t see the download speed and the amount remaining under the status bar, hit home, launch the App again (confusingly called “Wikipedia” on the iPhone) and resume again. I had to interrupt and relaunch it a couple of times before eventually completing the download. Although that it may work over 3G, don’t waste your time. Download the file over a Wi-Fi connection while connected to power.

It’s fun to have a complete copy of Wikipedia on your iPhone and you can now settle a bar bet without having a data connection. It’s also great for iPod touch users that are away from a Wi-Fi connection.

It’s mildly disappointing that Dictionary costs US$8 (it really should cost US$5) and that it’s not much faster than the online version of Wikipedia. The user interface could also use an overhaul but right now it’s the only game in town.

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Topics

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve
  • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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RE: Encyclopedia: Offline Wikipedia viewer for iPhone
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Is this a joke?
Poptech 15th Nov 2008
Wow so you can now get all the misinformation on your over priced, over hyped and worthless iPhone?

The Anti Wikipedia Resource
http://www.populartechnology.net/2008/11/anti-wikipedia-resource.html
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RE: Encyclopedia: Offline Wikipedia viewer for iPhone
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 11th Oct
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