Category: Cell Phone Talk
Hi,
I need apps for my iPhone4S which will assist me with the following
tasks:
1. Getting from point A to point B.
Right now I need hours of training to ensure that I can get to and from
my home to only one or two new locations, and I need this each and
every time. Ariadne GPS gives a map of the streets around me but
completely leaves out landmarks such as buildings. I was unable to
figure out how to get GPS Drive to give realtime walking directions.
The built-in Maps app gives a list of walking directions, but that
feature is in beta, and I see some big problems with it. For example,
what does walk 51 feet to such-and-such street, then turn right mean?
Does that instruction mean cross such-and-such street and turn right,
or just turn right? Which side of this street has sidewalks? I cannot
tell how far is 51 feet.
2. Keeping organized.
I am a messy Computer Science student who has just discovered I can tell Siri to create a reminder to tell me to perform an event
at a certain time. But what if I need to jot down/record a note or
phone number right now, and what if I want to organize all these notes
so that I know what needs to get done and when? Is this built into the
phone, or is there a good app for this? Also, Voiceover is very quiet
when I am on the phone. If I pull the phone away from my ear to take a
note, I need it to speak up.
3. Are there any neat apps which allow fast texting? I've had no luck with dictation. What about texting using Morse code or Braille finger tapping combinations instead of having to fish for keys?
Any help with these requests would be greatley appreciated.
All GPS are going to give you the same directions, so you'd need to figure out your place. You'll just get near, but it won't say "you are now at the door of 1200 first Street." It doesn't work that way. Smile.
Once you are near ask someone.
The other one I don't know.
As for texting, I have touch typing enabled. this means that all you need to do is find the letter you want to type, then lift your finger. No need to double tap the letters. This only works for the keyoard, though. You will still need to double tap to select menu options and such. It won't be the difference between slow typing and lightning fast, but it will help a bit. if you want a free dictation app, (and I'm not talking about the one already on your phone), try Dragon Dictation. it's free in the app store, so you really have nothing to lose. I've had a lot of luck with it myself. You can even connect it to your twitter and facebook if you're into that. the only other option I can think of is to get a bluetooth keyboard. Admitedly, I don't have any experience with the pocket-sized ones. I use the standard Apple bluetooth keyboard when I'm at home, and I just type on screen when I'm out. I believe that particular keyboard is around $70 or so. But don't worry. there are cheaper ones, and some of them work really well.
There is "text expander", which basically allows you to asign a three or four letter code to words you use often. For example, you can use "OMW" for "On my way", "STIT" for "stuck in traffid", ETC. You should try to use letter combinations that aren't already words, of course, so you can avoid the frustration. It's much like using internet shorthand, but it can be useful. I haven't messed around with that feature much because I always seem to forget that I can use the shorthand. But it's another option to make it easier to type really long phrases.
As for Voiceover getting really quiet when you pull the phone away from your ear: Much like any other phone, the iPhone has the speaker phone feature, or the earpiece, but it automatically switches between the two depending how far away the phone is from your face. If you pull the phone away from your ear, but still have your hand close to the screen, the phone will not detect that it needs to switch to the loudspeaker. I love my iPhone, and I'll freely admit that little quirk gets annoying sometimes. the only way to get around that really is to move your hand away from the screen until you hear voiceover coming from the loudspeaker, or use a headset whenever you talk on the phone.
If you're a relatively new iPhone user like me, you might want to consider ordering "Getting Started with the iPhone and ios 5 for blind users." I have found that it is a really useful guide and it will probably provide you with most of the answers you're looking for.
Good luck. *hugs* all the best. I use the maps app. and it works fine for me.
Actually you can turn the feature Ocean Dreams is talking about off. It is called lift to talk and is located under settings, general, and phone. You lose the feature, but it is easy to switch from speaker to earpiece or use Siri by pressing the home button.
I just hold my phone buy its sides, and I really like that feature when dialing a number by touch, as she says, because when I lift the phone the earpiece is on. Next if I'm out and want to use Siri lifting the phone allows me to just speak.
A headset makes the I Phone much easier for use to use on the go. Bluetooth is the best type, because you don't have any wires and you can control much with the headset and not have to touch the phone.
I like toucdh typing over tap myself as well.
I use touch typing and am getting pretty fast with it. It just seems like texting could be done more efficiently (and privately) with the technology that is already built into the phone. As far as voiceover being very quiet, I do make sure to keep my hands off the screen and the phone away from my ear. Even when the phone is on speaker, if I am on the phone, voiceover is quiet.
I have a tactile screen protector on my iPhone, which has proven very useful for me. The standard one, which I use and would recommend for you if you want to try one, has dots on some of the controls and all of the letters except f and j. I used the iPhone for about six months without any real problem before getting one of these, but I have found that it makes typing faster and easier.
As for maps I can't help you. And for the notes and reminders you could use the calendar and write your notes as appointments and time them like that. I do have an app called student life which is a calendar designed for students to note down stuff like classes grades assignments and such.
As for typing I know that there are a few apps in the app store that let you type with a braille six key entry. That sounds a bit interesting and even though I haven't got it I know it is there. And of course with these things google is your best friends. I'd advice you to google accessible IPhone apps and see what comes up.
This site has a list of accessible apps but I don't think it's very much updated any more.
http://maccessibility.net/iphone/apps/
While using my phone this morning I noticed I didn't give correct directions to turn on or off the "raise to talk." It is actually a feature of Siri on my 4 S, so I don't know if it is on other phones.
To do it you go settings, general siri and you'll find the feature. I like mine on as I has said, but you can do the same thing by pressing and holding the home button until you hear the sound of Siri starting. You talk and wait. If she doesn't respond right above the home button just a little you can tap or touch and she will say "listen, so you talk again.
There is a very large collection of accessible apps along with reviews on the applevis website. Search on google "apple vis" you will find it.
apple vis is very helpful. You can follow them on twitter as well.
I would really reccomend a blue tooth keyboard. The one I have is a keyboard buddy, and is like a case for my phone, so I'm not carrying around two things. It is small, but easy to feel the buttons, has voiceover control, and I like it a lot. It is made by boxwave if you want to check it out. Also supposedly syndarro has good GPS apps, but I have not used any of them myself. There is a really good but expensive GPS app, but the name is not coming to me right now. DOn't you hate when that happens?
Breadcrumbs from Looktel is coming out, it'll be around $20 so that should be a definite add to the arsenal I think.
What is Breadcrumbs, is it the GPS app from Looktel?
It's a GPS app that allows you to leave breadcrumbs, as the name implies and then you can use the app to figure out where those breadcrumbs are. For example, if I'm walking outside in a park, and I leave a breadcrumb near the entrence, if I have my phone set to look for that particular breadcrumb, when the phone is pointed at it, it will vibrate. Check out looktell.com, it's all over their site. However, there is some sort of hold up between Apple and them I think, so who knows when it'll be out.
As for jotting down notes, why not use the notes app built into the phone? If you want to record notes, there is an app called list recorder that is quite popular with VoiceOver users, or my favorite, dropbvox. Dropvox innerfaces with Dropbox, so the audio recordings are available in Dropbox and do not consume space on your phone. This means you can also listen to these recordings on other devices that have dropbox installed. If you make the public folder your default place for saving your recordings, you could even send a link to the recorded file for others to download. As far as I know, there is no time limit on recordings as long as you have space and battery life.
Applevis is indeed a good place to get info, but I suppose I'm a bit biased in that recommendation since I'm on the staff there.
You could try the new Braille app MBraille for texting. I'm really slow with it but some people like it.
Fleksy is great. predictive text based on you not necessarily hitting the right letters.
I second that. I love fleksi. it's very easy for typing with it's prediction. And it's a free app.
Raaj.