Yeah I think that's a good point. A braillenote or voicenote is a pretty hefty investment, especially considering what you get. (other than a braille display on the braillenote which is clearly a huge value)
It's always more cost effective when you can use off the shelf hardware but Mikes points are also good ones. The interface is the key. While I'm sure I could use my winders device:) it's probalby true that with the optimizations that are blind specific Sindero can do things in that fixed environment more cleanly and with a less involved development process. It's a trade off. I'm quite sure if Mike and his team feel that there's a market in win mobile and further more if they can produce a solid product they will. On the flip side I respect Mike's position that he needs to preserve the quality of his products and isn't going to just jump off the deep end in to new unfamiliar waters.
It's a trade off but I'd have to say it's a well managed trade off. While I haven't made the leap yet (probably when I get back from vacation) honestly at this stage I wouldn't consider another product unless it's vastly less expensive and then I'd still buy Sindero and use other devices in conjunction. (redundent systems are always a good idea) You have to say one thing by reading this list and that's the product is well received, has a good solid development / support cycle and clearly user input is valued. What more could you ask for. Spending the extra money in this case at least returns equal value.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Armando Maldonado" <armando_maldonado@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 6:21 PM Subject: [gps-talkusers] Re: ASKING THE WAY - YOU MUST BE JOKING!
Well, I do agree with all of you, with the exception that bulky devices for the blind, such as notetakers and gps are quite expensive, especially when repairs are needed. This is why I can care less for any notetaker for the blind. I look at things from the sighted point of view and find it cost efficient to replace items such as a cell phone that runs gps, whereas notetaker prepairs can be costly. This is why I started the thread of having gps run on something other than a notetaker for the blind, but yet user friendly.
