Category: Geeks r Us
hi,
I'm going to be going to college in the spring, and I'm probably gonna get the new Knfb reader. Not the big one, but the small one that is built into a cell phone. Whoever has it, what do you think about it? What's good about it? What's bad about it? Thanks,
Leslie.
I've got knfb reader on the n82 and I like it. It takes a bit og getting used to like how far away from the page you have to hold the phone, but other than that it's good. I think the best thing for a totally blind person is the "field of view report", which tells you how much of the paper is visible so you can move the phone to get a better picture. I've managed to get it to scan some things I would never have got my big scanner to scan, so that's pretty cool.
knfb reader=a rip off, stock phone with a scam version of a screen reader. go with the iphone if you want accessibility.
depends on what you want to read it for. KNFB is a good alternative, but i'll recommend you get a scanner and a ocr program such as k1000 or such. when you get in to college, it is not the matter of only reading text books and sort, more so for reading pdf files that is not assessable, and i doubt KNFB reader will doing any good in this department. if you worry about reading text books, most time, the publisher will most likely to provide you in an electronic copy, this can be in either pdf or other more assessable format.
but, if you wanting to read things like room number, or notice board and stuff, it may be a handy tools to have.
if you talking about using it to scann writing on the white board, i'm not too sure how KNFB will handle it, haven't seen it been use in hand writing before...
about iphone, i don't see any point of having a iphone in terms of doing what you want to do. perhaps last poster have the very unique perception between assessable and handheld scanning software?
KNFB reader on the phone is handy, especially when some people might not have room for a scanner at home or in college rooms or whereever they live.
If you want a scanner, then get an eye Pal. they are portable. First of all, if you want to scan room numbers to read them, they are usually either raised print or brailled. If all you want it for is a scanner then you are wasting a lot of money. I've seen it and I would not want it as a phone at all. The iphone will do pretty much everything you want. it is not a phones job to do OCR. A phone is supposed to keep you connected with people, the web browser is better, I doubt you can easily use the web on the knfb reader, and can you sign in to all your messengers, Again, it is a stock phone you can get at walmart and a less than adiquit screen reader with a terrible voice put on it for 2 grand. I also hate the nfb, they discriminate against people and their overly complicated philosophy is more than mind boggling. How do I know? Because I'm in a structured discovery training center and hate it, in fact all of here do. I wouldn't buy anything from them anyway, and you know ho the price of AT is nowadays
KNFB reader isn't made for reading web browser and stuff. KNFB reader is for scanning purposes using a mobile phone. you'll have talks come as a package with KNFB reader, Talks and phone itself. talks is the one that use for phone duty, such as web browsing, messaging, phoning, etc etc.
it come to the very question, what exactly you need it for. to scann books, to able you for mobile scanning whever you go, or, to simply make a phone assessable.
Just to scan like small documents. ot for books or anything. I'm getting a Victor reader stream for those purposes.
Leslie
Hi Leslie,
I have had the KNFB reader mobile on my N82 for about a year now. I would have to say that it is the coolest thing I have ever owned.
It can read just about anything clear, quickly and accurately in basically the classic eloquence voice. The only thing it can't read is hand writing or spherical objects such as bottles.
I have not used an actuall scanner with OCR software, but I do know that you have more editing options with a real scanner. The KNFB reader only saves documents as text files.
The phone itself is equipped with the Talks screenreader that works amazingly well. The internet browsing on the phone is so much easier than my laptop running XP with Jaws. There is really no limitations as far as using the internet goes.
One thing I wish it could do is read PDF files. They haven't quite gotten there yet.
the phone also has full messaging capabilities including video messaging. Not that we will ever use that. It also has an am fm radio. So cool.
After losing most of my sight a couple of years ago, this little phone made my life a whole lot easier and way more fun.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me.
scott
Agree with the last post. By the way, I have once or twice got knfb reader to read tins and bottles and stuff as well. I do use all the features of the phone like calling people and texting and stuff. The only thing I don't use is the web browser. It was so cool last night, I managed to get it to read my computer screen when I was in the process of installing windows 7 and there was no speech on my computer at the time! Nice! I wasn't expecting it to work, but it read it pretty much perfectly! I mostly use it for scanning food packages and stuff though. I'd say the only very big disadvantage is that when using the reader, the phone runs out of charge very quickly. If only I had one of those little travel phone chargers that was actually compatible with n82. *dreams* Hahaha.
To farcry88, stop sucking apple's dick for a moment and realize that the iPhone isn't the be all and end all.. at least not yet. KNFB reader is still one of the best reasons to get a nokia phone, and will be till apple installs an ocr package on their phone out of th e box. The advantage of having software like this on your phone is you can hold the phone up to something and scan it and have it read back to you, things you can't necesarily p always lay on a scanner so not even a portable scanner will help you there. And while dorm buildings may have raised numbers and braille, not all buildings do. Or not to mention reading notices and such on public transpertation. That aside nokia makes great phones as well, the n82 and n86 among other phones that run KNFB reader are great phones before you put KNFB on there and are actually alot better than the iphone in some regards. Unfortunately most nokia phones aren't subsidized by a phone carrier like AT&T or others and thus you have to pay the full retail price for one. So yeah the iPhone is a good phone, Its a really great thing that apple includes a great screen reader as part of the package, and i hope they do OCR and other things like that out of the box in future versions of the iPhone, cuz then it creates really good competition and will force companies like talks, mobile speak, and KNFB reader to do something about the prices they charge us. Oh And I too don't agree with what i hear are alot of the NFB policies, but that has no place in this discussion as it doesn't change the fact that this is a useful product to alot of people.
and to Harmony batteries for the n82 and other phones are under $10 on ebay, so you acan alternate between 2 batteries rather inexpensively. Also there are small battery packs that you can use to power the phone as well that work with alot of nokia's blackberrys and iPhones as well that are in the $40 range or so.
Cool. Thanks for that. I had a load of trouble registering with ebay, but will have a look around.