[icon-discuss] Re: GPS ??
- From: "John Esak" <john@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "icond" <icon-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2008 20:47:08 -0400
> I am wondering if there are plans for the GPS feature on the Icon/Braille
> Plus in the near future?
Hi Crystal,
My answer to this question is not an answer. I just wanted to make the
humorous comment that "near" to you might be a very different thing than
'near' to someone else. :-) The near future for someone who is say 20
years old could be sometime before they are 23... to someone who is 58 like
me, the near future means the next two months. <smile>
I would only be guessing to stab at any kind of an ETA for any feature in
the Icon, that can only be done by Levelstar and APH folks. But if I had to
place some of the things I want in a prioritized list, it would look like
this.... hey, this might be a good idea for Levelstar and APH to do as a
marketing/development tool. Ask all the users of this list at least, and
maybe all owners of the product what their list of features would be in
order of importance. They could use this list in adjusting their own list
of projects. They may have a very different list based on special
considerations they have as the manufacturers the device. I'm not saying
they change their list around, but knowing what all of us users want first
and next might help them. What they won't do, and shouldn't do is publish
their list of projects or their roadmap. This is always highly counter
productive if it gets outside the company's close control. They might
allude to, hint at, talk up, etc., on any of the items, but promising
anything in a certain time frame in this day and age of instantaneous
technology shifts is death to any company's public relations.
But, we can all make our thoughts and wishes known and my bet is they will
read such things with great interest and consider them as they lay out parts
of their roadmap . Even if this never happens... here is my list.
First to last.... and by the way, the two critical things I wanted first and
second... the docking station and Audible/NLS both happened already and I
can't say how welcome they are. Great job so far. If, over the next year or
two any or all of the following could happen... I would be ecstatic. I know
a year or two sounds like a very long time and not "near" at all.. .but I
understand the exigencies of today's economy and competing in the hi-tech
industry period, so I wouldn't mind even longer than that. Although, of
course, the sooner the better on any of these.
Hardware
1. if the Icon could be a cell phone, that would make my life complete.
<smile>
2. a battery charger external to the Icon and the docking station.
3. GPS would be very, extremely cool.
4. Enhanced Bluetooth support for all sorts of devices, headphones,
printers, the lot.
5. For the hard disk to be replaced by 30Gb (or more) of Flash memory.
6. For the speakers on the Icon itself to be able to go a little louder.
Software
1. Translation of PDF documents
2. Wireless (or just network) based transfer for Audible/NLS downloads as
opposed to needing Disk Drive Mode. Optimal would be a utility like the one
developed for Bookshare.org.
3. Keystroke/shortcut from anywhere to a complete list of all commands. How
this list would be organized, I don't know... but something that could keep
you from having to sift through the Help File to find out how to do one key
command that you don't know or have forgotten.
4. The ability to turn off the audio Player from saying Audio Player when it
plays a song.
5. I would like to be able to back up (or left arrow up a level to the
previous menu choice. Now, in most situations, with the menu option in
standard mode, it forces you to go back to the Applications Menu and then
back to where you were through all the steps again. I could be dead wrong
about this, being the typical dumb user. To be specific, let's say I get
down to the Library Menu , I go down to Bookshelf and play a book... then I
want to be able to back out up through to the top of the Library menu... and
then be able to hit the left arrow and go up to the Music Player Menu...
instead it always takes you all the way back to the Applications Menu.
6. Sleep timer controls nearer the top of the menu structure. Even top level
with a keyboard shortcut. So you could be in the music player or the book
player and immediately set the sleep timer to power off the unit.
Okay, half a dozen wishes of each type are enough for now. To be truthful,
I'll take any enhancement as they come and be happy. All I want is for
Levelstar and APH to keep releasing minor updates to fix bugs as they can in
as timely a manner as they can.. .which they have been doing so far. Like I
say, good work.
Well, sorry Crystal that I used your innocent question about GPS to post
this long response.... but heck, use it yourself. What other things do you
want this marvelous device to do for you? My guess is it will be nothing
like mine... but as I said, finding a commonality from all of us users will
certainly help Levelstar and APH.
John Esak
> -----Original Message-----
> From: icon-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:icon-discuss-
> bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Crystal French
> Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2008 12:19 PM
> To: Icon Discussion List
> Subject: [icon-discuss] GPS ??
>
> Hi,
> I am wondering if there are plans for the GPS feature on the Icon/Braille
> Plus in the near future?
>
> Crystal
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