[tabi] Re: Apps For The Blind And Visually Impaired: iPad/iPhone Apps AppList
- From: "Allison and Chip Orange" <acorange@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 20 May 2012 15:45:49 -0400
Hi Jim,
Since no one else replied on list anyway, I'll give you my guesses, as well
as another point of view.
A friend of mine owns an I-phone, and pays around $100 per month. You could
probably take a lower data plan (less bytes per month), and less minutes,
and get it down somewhat, but I doubt you'll get it under $80 per month. If
you buy any apps which price themselves as a service with a monthly fee, of
course that will add more. Almost all of the apps (the really useful ones
which do something with analyzing data) do require a data plan, as they send
the image or the sound of your voice back over the data link to a server,
where it's processed, and the result is sent back to your phone; so you
can't get away with buying a voice plan only. There's also the cost of the
phone initially, and you'll have to sign something like a two-year contract;
getting out of the contract will cost you almost as much as finishing out
the contract.
You asked about which model of I-phone; from my reading (I don't own one) it
sure looks like the 4S with its speech recognition capabilities would be the
preferred phone.
Here's the other point of view part: every one I know says "I love my
I-phone (or smart phone)", so you all don't need to write to tell me that, I
know it from other times when I've presented this point of view. My point
is that, especially for someone who has to live on SSI or SSDI, these phones
are far too expensive; selling you "coolness", but coolness at too high a
price. And when your contract is over, unlike if you had purchased a
talking GPS or a talking barcode scanner, you have nothing. To continue
having OCR or GPS capabilities you have to sign another contract.
Therefore, I think most blind people who live on such restricted incomes,
would be better off using one of the prepaid phones (which cost around $80 a
year, instead of $1200 a year), and then consider purchasing OCR devices or
software, barcode scanners, laptops, etc. instead. They don't have the cool
factor I know, but you often can buy such devices refurbished or used, and
of course you own them. More than just own them, you're under no contract
to continue to pay for them; if you need your money for something else, you
don't have to keep paying it every month to a phone provider; you are much
more in control of your financial world.
Note that this is not a discussion on how nice the smart phones are, or what
they can do; only that financially I believe you have better choices. I
also have reservations that blind people who can afford these phones, are
encouraging those who cannot, to buy them. Even to the point of encouraging
others to get rid of their household landline.
Once you feel you can easily spare $1200 a year and not miss it, then go
for it and enjoy! (but then I'll argue there are few people who can really
afford to spend $1200 a year and not miss it, there's always a stronger
argument for saving that money).
I hope you received some off-list replies at least to your question (I was
surprised not to see any answers), but I thought this issue was important
enough to be raised on the list.
Good luck,
Chip
_____
From: tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of K4NKZ Jim
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2012 4:46 PM
To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [tabi] Re: Apps For The Blind And Visually Impaired: iPad/iPhone
Apps AppList
thanks! for all this info!
questions:
1, which apple phone is the best for us to get?
2, is their one for OCR?
3, what would be the monthly cost for the Apps and phone use?
Have A Nice Day, From, K4NKZ Jim B.D.T.B.
On 5/19/2012 2:52 PM, Lynn Evans wrote:
This may be useful, I hope.
http://appadvice.com/applists/show/apps-for-the-visually-impaired
Other related posts:
