# Braille Pen or other display with iPhone

Category: Cell Phone Talk

## Post 1 by Leafs Fan (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Tuesday, 05-Jun-2012 13:06:24

Hi there. I am looking for a Braille input device to type text messages etc. in Braille on my iPhone. The Braille Pen seems to be the cheapest option I can find. Does anyone have any experience with it? Would it be wise to wait for the new displays Freedom Scientific is coming out with this summer? any other general thoughts on this subject? Thanks!

## Post 2 by KC8PNL (The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.) on Tuesday, 05-Jun-2012 16:12:48

If you are willing to pay a bit more money, it may be best to wait for the new Focus 14. Unlike the Braille Pen, it will have cursor routing buttons, whihc in my opinion, save a lot of time and effort. The price for the Focus 14 will be $1295. But for the extra couple of hundred bucks, you'll get a couple more sells and the aformentioned cursor routing buttons. According to FS's website, it will begin shipping in July.

## Post 3 by KC8PNL (The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.) on Tuesday, 05-Jun-2012 16:14:27

However, the new Focus 14 may not yet be compatible with the iPhone. I'd suggest contacting FS to find out if it will be. If they're using the same braille drivers, it should, but who knows? Their website doesn't say.

## Post 4 by Leafs Fan (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Wednesday, 06-Jun-2012 11:07:25

Thanks. I wondered about the drivers for iPhone. The news release seemed fairly vague in that regard ... it sounded like they were being specific about not mengioning Apple.

## Post 5 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Wednesday, 06-Jun-2012 12:39:30

I agree with Scott on this: The cursor routing buttons are absolutely invaluable. I use them all the time to move around in the window when editing. Using the flick up and down commands are really slow and with the Braille display anyway, I keep the rotor setting on Vertical Navigation.
I opted to not do a Braille Pen because there were no cursor routers or touch cursors or routing buttons, whatever term a manufacturer may use. They're really important. Especially if you're like me an like the fact you can give the Voiceover a hot cup of shut the f up.
With a set of cursor buttons also, what I do is take a finger and slide it aroundd on the screen with one hand and have the other hand on the display, and when I'm on what I want, just tap the router button on it. Thats quicker when you know what you want is positioned somewhere on the screen, but you don't want to do that slow crawly flick thing where you just move one item at a time to get up or down to it.
Until the Braille pen, I didn't know they ever made displays without those cursor buttons. You'd have a real tough time of it trying to use it without them.

## Post 6 by BigDogDaddy (Help me, I'm stuck to my chair!) on Wednesday, 06-Jun-2012 15:39:36

I'd be very surprised, if the focus 14 blue didn't support IOS...

## Post 7 by maddog (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Thursday, 07-Jun-2012 10:20:12

Actually, based on freedom scientific's most recent podcast which discusses the new line of smaller braille displays (yes, I do listen to freedom scientific's podcasts), the new focus 14 braille display is not yet compatible with the iPhones. However, according to what they said in that same podcast, they're hoping to get apple to add it to their system with the next IOS update. So I'd wait until the release before I would preorder it myself, just to make sure that apple did manage to add it in.

## Post 8 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Thursday, 07-Jun-2012 10:52:17

Ah. I too follow their podcasts when it's real product info and not testimonials and 'inspirational' tales about people. Nothing against that: I know it's popular and got a lot of market value. But to the topic at hand, I'll have to check out this latest one since it covers their new product.

## Post 9 by KC8PNL (The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.) on Saturday, 09-Jun-2012 21:24:13

Honestly, I'm waiting for the Perkins Mini or the braille edge to become available on iOS. those displays also have built in note taking functionality, which is a huge plus for me. The Braille Edge is a bit expensive, but it's also a 40 cell display. My only issue with the Refreshabraille is the way the USB plugs in. great idea in theory, awful idea in practice. Also, when you get down to about 5 hours of battery life, this annoying battery low message pops up over and over again. No matter what you do, you can't get it to go away for about 10 seconds.
Leo: the podcast essentially is a testimonial about how well the new display is designed. I really don't think it's a huge leap forward either way, since it has no internal memory or any further advanced functions. They talk about how typing in contracted braille is nearly instintanious, but we've had that for years.

## Post 10 by season (the invisible soul) on Saturday, 09-Jun-2012 21:39:54

BrailleEdge itself is compareable with IOS, untill the recent update IOS5.11, for some reason, Apple choose not to support the Braill input capability. Apple does acknowledge it is their problem, and they are looking at ways to fix it.
I'm not sure about other Braille displays, but the new IOS5.11 definitely not working fine with all the Hims products, e.g. Braillesense, and BrailleEdge.

## Post 11 by Lisa's Girl forever (Help me, I'm stuck to my chair!) on Wednesday, 01-Aug-2012 8:12:56

I would like to use the braille pin. and see if i like it.

## Post 12 by TechnologyUser2012 (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 01-Aug-2012 12:11:06

I have the refresh-a-braille 18 display from the American Printing House. It works great with the iPhone.