[access-uk] Re: Telorion New User Review
- From: "Eleanor Martha Burke" <eleanormarthaburke@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 May 2014 13:20:19 +0100
Would be interesting to hear what Jackie has to say about it also.
Eleanor
_____
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Deddajay
Sent: 28 May 2014 12:35
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Telorion New User Review
There has been a lot of interest in the new Telorion phone, and based on
posts here and some additional research, we bought one last week.
This is a review of it's use so far, written from both a blind perspective
and a sighted perspective.
Firstly, we opted for the S4 mini, rather than the larger S3. This is not
only a bit cheaper at £500 against £560, but it is a nice size to fit in the
hand.
The phone arrived well packaged, albeit all the accompanying literature is
in French as it is a European model. However, the English manual for the
phone itself can be downloaded from the internet very easily. The phone is
set up for immediate use and a manual is not strictly necessary but a sim
card is needed, and this may require sighted help to install, which is where
the manual does come in handy.
Once that has been done, the phone just works. The main menu is shown in the
screen at the top, whilst the rubberised number pad fits over the phone
covering the bottom half of the screen. The menu can be accessed by typing
the number item or by using the up and down keys, which are in the top 2
rows of the number pad, along with the menu key, ok button, back button and
correction button. The correction button also doubles as an information key
providing information about network, battery and wireless status. The menu
key also turns on the speech on for dialling, text and email. Another way to
navigate the menu is to use one finger on the screen and move the menu up
and down. When the item is spoken you can select using the ok key. We have
found this to be easier than using the up and down keys.
Depending on which application you are using, the menu key provides
additional options too.
The reason that we chose this phone is that, not only is the user totally
blind, but also has reduced sensitivity and mobility in his fingers. He
tried a normal android phone, but was unable to feel the screen sufficiently
well and tapping was difficult for him. The addition of the keypad means
that he has more to guide him to the right place each time. It has taken a
few days, but he can now navigate fairly quickly. One of the problems we did
find was that to answer the phone you need to press the ok button. In
theory, this is fine for most people but if you are not very quick to find
the right button the caller has rung off before you can answer. Marie at
Telorion was really helpful about this and advised that we could change this
by going into the basic android settings so that we could change the answer
button to the home button at the bottom of the phone, and the cancel call
button to the on/off button on the side of the phone. Telorion are going to
put this as an option into a future update so that it can be done from
within the Telorion menus without having to go into the android environment.
This phone is the easiest phone we have used to date. The radio is great,
the initial selection is limited to the main BBC stations and a couple of
others, but if you use the menu key to access folders when using the radio,
there is another selection of all the UK stations you could possibly want.
There is also the option of adding in your own stations if one is missing
off the list. You can then add your chosen stations to the favourites folder
and make that the default every time you go into radio. The sound quality is
excellent.
News is also very good, although limited to just 3 UK papers at present. We
usually use Webbie to download RSS news feeds, but the Telorion phone seems
to download them faster than on the computer and they are read well. The
downside is that the speech doesn't seem to recognise apostrophes so
pronunciation can be a bit peculiar at times, but that is probably a
limitation of the android speech rather than Telorion itself.
The colour application seems to work reasonably well, the OCR can be a bit
tricky and you need to move the phone up and down to get the best position,
but it is quite accurate when you get it right. It just needs a bit of
practice.
From within the Telorian menu you can access android apps and settings,
although we have found that they are better used from within the android
environment itself. This is easy to switch into from with Telorian and just
removing the number pad makes it a basic android phone with all the usual
functions. Just turning the phone off and back on again returns it to
Telorion.
We are still discovering new things within the menus and exploring more
options and features. More are due to be added as Telorion update the phone
and as these are free, the phone should become even more functional in time.
For basic phone calls it is straight forward and you have the option of
dialling the number into the keypad, using voice to call a contact or using
the contacts address book. Loudspeaker can be turned on and off using the ok
key during the call. Text messages are done the same way. The keyboard is
the old Nokia style rather that querty, but you can add an external keyboard
via bluetooth if you need this. Alternatively, dictating your message is
simple and reasonably accurate. Again, practice makes perfect and it is best
with a clear, precise diction for accuracy.
GPS seems good, although we haven't had the opportunity to try it out to any
great extent yet. Internet browsing seems ok but we are still working this
one out, but it is not a high priority on a phone. We haven't tried emails
yet, but again this is not a priority on a phone and this feature will
probably not be used. However, if it works as well as the rest of the phone
there shouldn't be any problem with it for those who do want this feature.
So far, this phone has exceeded expectations. It is extremely easy to use
and I would imagine that even non technical sighted people would appreciate
the ease of use. It also looks good from a sighted perspective. Classy,
even.
As far as Telorion themselves are concerned, they have been really helpful
with advice regarding one or two queries we had. They are open to
suggestions for features or reporting any difficulties the user may be
having and come back to you with answers very quickly. As a company we are
very impressed with them. This contrasts with Georgie, which was also some
thing we were considering as it seemed to be similar to the old Mobile Speak
which we had used before. There was no one to answer the phone when we
called to speak to them and, despite leaving a message for them to call us
for a pre-sales talk, we are still waiting for them to come back to us 3
weeks later! Sorry Georgie, but you have lost a potential sale and any
confidence that you would be able to support your users.
For anyone considering buying this phone, we would highly recommend it. In
just a week it has made such a difference to someone who had all but given
up on mobile phones.
Cheers
Deddajay
Other related posts:
