[access-uk] Re: (BrailleSense)Re: Re: Sight Village - my review

To add to Graham's post regarding Braille notetakers, it is indeed a minority 
in a minority market.

I hope there is room for more than one of these though.  I always hope that a 
degree of healthy competition is good.  When any company gets a large share of 
the market then abuses surely set in around pricing, support, or lack of it, 
and sometimes derisory trade-in prices for hardware that's out of date.

Its worth saying that many of such devices go to ATW funded people where the 
sort of prices that can be charged - and got away with - go unnoticed and too 
often uncommented on.  Its individual buyers, if they afford to buy such things 
out of their own pockets, who are the losers in such a situation.
Ray

Personal emails:  Email me at
mailto:ray-48@xxxxxxxx

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Graham Page" <gpage@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>


> Hi adrian.  I have come to this list a little late so maybe this has already 
> been made clear but do we have distributors in the UK for the Optilec 
> easyLink and the Braillesense notetakers?
> 
> this is something we certainly need to watch though I am not sure how much 
> room for real competition there really is in the notetaker arena 
> particularly at the expensive end consisting of devices with Braille 
> displays.
> 
> Many worthy attempts have come and seemingly gone.  what was that device 
> called sold by Professional Vision Services that had a Braille display and 
> wirked on the Linux Opperating system?
> 
> I think that generally a product has to either work when it is first or, 
> like the PAC Mate, it can be released full of bugs but it can be ground 
> breaking, or marketed as such, and so get away with it.  I should say at 
> this point that, from what I can gather, the PacMate is quite stable now.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Graham
> 
> 
> 
> Graham Page
> 
> Mobile: 07753 607980
> Fax:  0870 706 2773
> Email: gpage@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> MSN: gabriel_mcbird@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Skype: gabriel_mcbird
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Ray's Home" <rays-home@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 4:42 PM
> Subject: [access-uk] (BrailleSense)Re: Re: Sight Village - my review
> 
> 
> Another useful SV review.  Pity that Adrian didn't stop long enough to look 
> at the BrailleSense properly, beyond its appearance.  That is surely quite a 
> subjective thing.  Don't know that I am impressed or much taken with the 
> appearance of any of the Braille notetakers!  This one is certainly no 
> worse.
> 
> For a start, it runs under Windows 2003.  For another thing, the Braille 
> output is good.  It has excellent audio facilities too.Uniquely, as far as I 
> am aware, it has the little LCD display which to be frank is too small 
> really, but would allow, I daresay, a sighted person to take, say, a phone 
> number straight off it once (you) had found it.  Also, though, it has video 
> output for a monitor.  Many blind people's reaction will be, "I don't need 
> that", and 'It puts the price up.'  Etc, etc.
> 
> A little imagination would tell you though that using such a device in a 
> mixed environment, such as education for example, would certainly be an 
> advantage.  Not all blind people inhabit an exclusively blind world.
> 
> As for the price, it might just be competitive as far as these things go, if 
> the usual currency conversion handicap doesn't kick in that is.  So I'd say 
> all the more reason to consider it alongside the Mpower.  Either of these 
> has to be a better alt than the FS offering.
> Ray
> 
> Personal emails:  Email me at
> mailto:ray-48@xxxxxxxx
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Adrian Higginbotham" <adrian.higginbotham@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2005 3:23 PM
> Subject: [access-uk] Re: Sight Village - my review
> 
> 
> Cheers for that andrew, and for comments from others.
> 
> I made it along on Thursday and here's some thoughts and comments on 
> specific products.
> 
> What was particularly noticeable this year is that there are 3 very 
> different approaches to provision emerging each which balance ease of use 
> and cost in different proportions.  The easiest most powerful and flexible 
> products on offer are the most specialised and the most expensive.  The 
> opposite is products which offer access to mainstream products and these 
> tend to be the lowest cost solutions.  In the middle and this is the area 
> which is pretty new is specialist add-ons to highstreet products which 
> introduce ease of use at a lower cost.  These type of division can bee seen 
> in various product types, mobile phones, PDAs, and to some degree screen 
> readers.
> 
> Mobile phones:
> Vodafone seem to be virtually giving away Talks if you buy it from them 
> including via any highstreet Vodafone store for exampel you can get a nokia 
> 6600 on a pay as you go contract including Talks for £130. Talks is a 
> screenreader allowing access to whatever features are on the given handset 
> thus in the first of those categories identified above.
> 
> The most specialist offering inthis arena is the Oacis available from RNIB 
> and the middle ground products are those such as mobile speak, e.g a 
> proprietory solution installed on a highstreet handset but which only allows 
> access to the softwares own features.
> 
> Note takers - andrew as you say, this is probably the area of most 
> development in recent years and looks likely to be so for a while to come.
> 
> Dolphin are continuing to work on Pocket Hal, a screen reader for PDAs which 
> use the Pocket PC operating system. It's still in private beta with no date 
> as to when it will be on sale and there are still a few real fundamental 
> problems to get over such as if the hoste PDAs battery runs flat the 
> screenreader will need to be re installed when the machine is re charged and 
> switched back on. This can be done via the PC so doesn't necessarily require 
> sighted assistance although when the PDA is switched on the display has to 
> be set-up which does require use of the touch screen and may be something 
> which can only be done with sighted assistance although this isn't yet a 
> finished product so we'll have to wait and see. Like other touch screen 
> devices this one is dependant on text in via a bluetooth keyboard and voice 
> output.  The touch screen isn't disabled but rather is rendered difficult to 
> accidently disturb by filling the active area with the screenreader 
> application window which i
> s touch insensative. The logic been that if 95% of the screen is the pocket 
> hal window which doesn't respond to touch you are unlikely to cause any 
> unintended action by accidently touching the screen.  If you do one feature 
> of pocket Hal is an alt tab like app switching function that can get you 
> back to where you wanted to be.
> 
> In specialist offerings, the new Braillenote mPower is basicly the latest 
> update to Braillenote with anew name. some useful new features but basicly 
> in the same old box.  Interesting but not all that exciting.  Personally I'm 
> not a fan of braillenote or paqmate as they're all too big and ugly and use 
> proprietory software which you need to learn too many new keystrokes to be 
> able to use effectively.  The Braillenote PK range is basicly the 
> braillenote in a smaller package which I find more flexible and attractive 
> but still not quite enough to make me want to buy it. Not yet anyway.
> 
> The HIMs note taker, I think that's the one called Braille sense but might 
> be confusing 2 different products I thought was the most plasticky bulky 
> ugly "special needs" product I've seen in a long time and I didn't wait 
> around long enough for a demo of what it can do.
> 
> New, to me at least was the caretek nanno notetaker which is smaller in size 
> than a bar of chocolate all be it lindt chocolate which is considerably 
> larger than something like say a yorky or galaxy.  No bells and wistles 
> here, notes input via the braille keyboard are stored as plane text (txt) 
> files and transferred to the pc by a hardwire connection I think serial 
> although certainly it wasn't the 32 pin variety.  The unit can also be used 
> to record voice notes which too can be transferred to the pc.  Output is 
> audio, synthetic for navigation keyboard echo etc and also playback of audio 
> notes.  Memory is farely limited with I think 8mb of onboard memory and no 
> support for additional memory but for around £300 it's an excellent pocket 
> sized instant on device.
> 
> Optilec easyLink note taker is another offering for highstreet PDAs but this 
> one is a proprietory package e.g it allows you access to the function built 
> in to itself not the features of the hoste PDA. Input is via the braille 
> bluetooth keyboard and output is audio.  Similar issue to pocket hal above 
> although the PDA used in the demo had a flip lid over the touch screen so 
> less of an issue there. The software isn't infact installed on the PDA 
> itself but rather auto runs from a memory card so that issue too is 
> by-assed.  Up side is it's more stable. Down side is that is is more 
> proprietory so has some limits of functionality for example it can't send 
> out email even if the PDA allows it, it can only sync messages with outlook 
> on the desktop machine from where they can be sent.  Software on the memory 
> card and back-up on CD with bluetooth braille keyboard and mains charger is 
> I think around £600. plus PDA of course.
> 
> Other:
> 
> Voice Over, the screen reader and magnifier for the Mac which comes built in 
> to the latest OS was very interesting and and far better in real time than 
> demos I've heard over the Web would suggest although difficult to get a real 
> handle on it in this busy environment.
> 
> Sara is the new reading machine from freedom scientific and is a brave move 
> as it is really a modernised version of the old kurzweil machines. The unit 
> is quite nice, buttons obvious and distinctive without being too bulky, and 
> the ability to play daisy CDs on the unit as well as scan and read books 
> makes it more useful however the inability to save data in a way which can 
> be removed from the unit for later listening is an extremely significant 
> draw back.
> 
> Caretek had a couple of other products as well as the notetaker above which 
> looked interesting but were quite pricy for example a talking 5m tape 
> measure accurate to 2mm for £60 and kitchen scales accurate to 2 grams for 
> £70.
> 
> Donkey of the show for me was the wireless locator beacon, a 2 unit device 
> which activates a buzzer on one unit when you press a button on the other. 
> A slight improvement on the old wistle to find your keys devices in as far 
> as it works on rf frequencies so works through walls and doors etc but to my 
> mind at least £65 for a single pair of units which incidently are pretty 
> bulky, too much so to attach to for example a keyring is very expensive.
> 
> The ultra cane, a white cane with add-on which gives tactiel warning of 
> upcoming obstructions for up to 4m at a quite reasonable price was 
> interesting and they are apparently working on a similar device for 
> attaching to a guide dog harness which can spot over head obsticles, and 
> things that dogs sometimes miss such as chest high single bar barriers.
> 
> With regard to the venue I'd say yes it's better than QAC but still very 
> crouded, which is probably unavoidable but disappointed that there is still 
> no number system for stands and some signs lack signage of any sort making 
> them very difficult to identify.
> 
> Best wishes
> 
> Adrian Higginbotham
> Accessibility and inclusion adviser
> British Educational Communications and Technology Agency - BECTA
> Tel: Direct dial 024 7679 7333 - Internal extension #2287
> Email: Adrian.Higginbotham@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Web: http://www.becta.org.uk/
> BECTA, Millburn Hill Road, Science Park, Coventry, CV4 7JJ
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Hodgson [mailto:andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: 19 July 2005 18:26
> To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [access-uk] Sight Village - my review
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> Since I actually took time off to go to Sight this year - thought I would 
> give you a small review for those who were not able to make it - here are 
> some of the product highlights.  Note I only went round a few sights, and 
> these were mainly ones I had heard about before.  Although Cobolt were 
> showing some new products, I just couldn't get in without a major attack 
> from dogs and people, so didn't bother.
> 
> I did, however, manage to get a quick look at the note detecter, which I 
> found to be very small and compact.  Unfortunately, however, I did think 
> that it would take a bit of getting the note into the device, since it had 
> to go in quite a long way into it.  I had imagined something you could just 
> pass the note through or put the note on in order for it to work.  However, 
> I can really see a target market for these devices, especially if you have a 
> lot of notes you want sorting.
> 
> One of the companies I think we can see some good inivations coming in the 
> next year or two is called Code Factory.  They first came out with the 
> Mobile Accessability package, which is still being sold today, which gives 
> VI people using a series 60 phone a comfortable interface with which to 
> perform specific key tasks.  However, they have now got out a few more 
> products, including Mobile Speak and Pocket Mobile Speak.  These two 
> products are screen readers, mobile speak being for series 60 and pocket 
> mobile speak being for any pocket PDA.  Mobile speak comes with some extra 
> tools, and there are add-ons which can be purchased, which include a colour 
> detector/light probe, as well as a product which allows you to use your PCs 
> keyboard as a phone keyboard.  They also have a user friendly installation 
> system, but I didn't see this in operation.  The Pocket PC version works 
> with any PDA, as long as you have a bluetooth keyboard for input.  A company 
> called Optilec also do a bluetoo
>   th braille keyboard, which certainly works with the Mobile Speak product, 
> but I didn't use it with the PDA product.  I certainly think it's a good 
> thing to have a good competition in this area, especially since Pocket Hal 
> was the only PDA product which worked on a _standard_ PDA, and Talks was the 
> only product you could get as a screen reader for a mobile phone.
> 
> Code Factory's site is at http://www.codefactory.es/.
> 
> I also looked at the new media system from Portset.  Now those who remember 
> the teletext systems they did and loved those will love this product.  It is 
> a talking audio described freeview receiver, which speaks the EPG facilities 
> (including 7 day EPG) as well as providing a hard disk recorder (and live 
> pause), time record facilities and also talking teletext.  The product is in 
> a prototype state at the moment, and as such I couldn't really explore it. 
> It also has a DVD drive, although this facility is not working currently due 
> to accessability of DVDs.  I must say a few things about this product, 
> because I think Portset have been very brave in designing a product which 
> [A] replaces the old teletext reader, [B] provides a modern equavilent of 
> the television receiver (where no license is required) and [C] gives a VI 
> person a small box with all these features installed.  They have a battle 
> with teletext currently, since in the Freeview world each operator has 
> really their own c
>   hoice over how things are done, and there is no standard in making these 
> accessible or presentable to anything other than a standard Freeview box.
> 
> If you were going to Sight Village this week, I would definitely give this a 
> look.
> 
> I also met up with Blazie who explained about the new version of the Pacmate 
> software, and they were updating current units whilst there (although I was 
> very early in the morning, and it was very quiet in the stand). 
> Unfortunately I did not have my unit with me, and when trying to download 
> update from FS direct, it told me my serial was not allowed!!  Will need to 
> get that sorted.
> 
> At Steve's stand I looked at the new System Access from Freedombox, which I 
> was very impressed with.  There are two versions available for portable 
> use - one on a CD and one on a USB key.  The USB key version I think came in 
> at just over £300, including all the software.  I am not sure whether you 
> need to keep a Freedombox subscription up with that as well yearly.  I was 
> very impressed with the plug in, use it, remove it and no trace being left 
> approach, which unfortunately is not the same with the Dolphin Pen (although 
> the Dolphin Pen has magnification, and needs no yearly subscription).  The 
> system also has a recovery option, which means if the contents gets damaged, 
> you can re-install the contents if you have an active Internet connection. 
> Unfortunately, due to no connection being available, we were not able to 
> look at the Freedom Box itself.  I have downloaded a copy, but am only able 
> to look at the desktop bit, and not System Access, so can't say how well the 
> screen rea
>   der performs.  There was also the GW Micro notetaker there, but 
> unfortunately I got so swampt with notetakers today, I didn't get to 
> memorise what the specialities with this one were.
> 
> I also saw the Oacis (spell) mobile from RNIB, which although has only basic 
> features, is smaller than any series 60 phone, and the battery also lasts a 
> lot longer.
> 
> This had been my first Sight at the new venues, and overall I found them 
> slightly better than the old stuffy venue of QAC, however, I think that 
> companies like Cobalt would do a lot better with larger stands, where they 
> could get more people in.  I certainly think that notetakers will be an 
> interesting development over the following years, with even bets on whether 
> we loose the specialist models for blind people approach and go with 
> standard PDAs with bluetooth accessories, or wether these go altogether.
> 
> Thanks.
> Andrew.
>

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