Category: The Rave Board
I wasn't sure whether to put this here or cell phone talk, but since there's a board for positivity, here we go.
So, on Thursday I recieved my new Iphone 6S Plus from Apple. Took about a month to get here and cost more than a decent laptop, but it's pretty fantastic. Keep in mind I upgraded from the Iphone 4S. I expected quite a change, but honestly, I haven't found much of a learning curve.
First thing's first: I love how big it is. In an age where the world's apparently trying to make everything smaller, the huge upgrade in screen size is a breath of fresh air. It's so much easier to watch videos, even while I still can't see minute detail. By far my favorite reason for having it so big is due to the many magnification apps on the iphone. I haven't settled on my favorite yet, but there are a couple with which I can view objects at very far distances. FInally, I can keep an eye on my daughter when she's playing without having to be all up in her business. I must also say that the clarity of reading magnified text also surpasses many of the actual video magnifiers I've used.
On the heels of that, I finally had the opportunity to use both Voice, and KNFB reader for OCR, something which was impossible on my 4S. My results here are mixed, and never mind that the KNFB reader purchase made me cringe. Often I see errors in scanning with both apps, but I haven't figured out if it's just user error. I was a bit disappointed to learn that scanning big blocks of text on a computer or TV screen also doesn't yield great results. It does work, but not reliably. Again I'm wondering if that might be due to my misunderstanding, since the text I've chosen to read can very easily be read when I take a screen shot and put it into Kurzweil 3000. Even using the KNFB reader and voice, enough text is recognized that it makes me thinkit IS possible.
I'm underwhelmed by the braille input keyboard so far, but there again, I may simply need to get used to it. I've also heard there is a way to use Flexy as a keyboard type. Does anyone know how to do this? I haven't figured it out, though I also haven't looked online for the solution yet.
The fingerprint reader, something I didn't have before, is fantastic. So much easier to unlock my phone at a pinch. The "Hey Siri" feature is also helpful, all be it a little creepy if you think too hard about it.
I must say that I am pleased with apple music. A flat price for all the music you could ever want seems like a great idea, and the reality is proving to be worth it. I listen to a lot of european artists, as well as music from around the world. So far everything I've looked for, I've found. Very happy. I also really like the idea of "connecting" with artists. My only displeasure is the initial set up of the "just for you" tab. It asks me the genres I like, which is fine, but then before I can get any further, it asks me to choose from a list of artists. Problem is I either don't care or haven't heard of any of the selections they give me. So I haven't gotten any further in that department. I do need to determine how artists get paid for the music I pstream. Especially artists who aren't well known.
Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase. I'm by no means an apple fanboy, nor do I always need the latest and greatest tech. But this was a worthy investment so far.
If anyone has any suggestions about anything I've mentioned, or if you've got further questions, please let me know.
Choosing artist doesn't limit you to the list. It just helps them get started on suggesting music is all.
You don't have to do it, and can skip it.
I just got my iPhone 6S last tuesday and yes I love it!
I was quite happy with my 6 and wasn't intending on upgrading but my 6 kinda fell in the toilet Lol. :)
Honestly, I'm not overly fond of the stock braille apple keyboard. I recommend you look for something called mBraille, which is easily findable on the app store. Download it, and then purchase the option to make it a third-party keyboard. That option is like, 9 or so bucks maybe a bit more, but the best investment you'll ever make for an amazingly responsive and robust keyboard.
With KNFB reader, that sounds like user error. I recommend continuing to experiment with it more until you figure out the best way of using it. It's a pretty amazing app.
With me personally, I have an iPhone 6, and felt no real inclination to upgrade to the 6S. I definitely don't want the plus models because I don't want the bigger screen, but to each their own preferences. Anyway, this year, there just wasn't anything in the 6S series to make it worth the upgrade for me.
BG, I'd be curious what magnification apps you've used so far that you have enjoyed. I have tried several and haven't found anything that my clients agree on as a good hand held replacement.
Thanks!
I went from the 6 to 6S, but don't find much different that makes it way nicer.
I did it because I got a good deal trading up, otherwise I'd have stayed with my 6.
I also think the + is just to big for me.
A person with some sight will benefit lots though. It's just big taking around, or putting in a bag as I do.
Is MBraille necessary, now that there's the BrailleScreen option built in?
But thanks for mentioning it! If not for that, I wouldn't have Googled, and discovered BrailleScreen, which I mean to play with, as soon as I figure out how to unlock my phone again, after the update. Grr!
Thanks for all your advice everyone. I really haven't enjoyed the flecksy app as a third party keyboard. I remember it working much better before. I may look at that other braille keyboard suggested above, and I hear there is another prodictive text keyboard like Flecksy which may be better. I honestly end up using dictation for most of what I write, but I'd rather that not be my only timly option.
Mad Dog. I've used several mag apps. One of my favorites is vision assist. Almost everything works with voiceover, except hiding the icons. It has options for different types of contrast, as well as the ability to freeze the immage, then zoom into a frozen image and scroll it. What I like to do is screen shot some text or whatever further out, then zoom in and scroll to read it. You can't store the images with this particular app however, but there are many which you can. What I like about vision assist is you can magnify upto 20X, so if you're like me and can't see far distances it can be really helpful. You also have a slider which adjusts contrast. That's really helpful depending on where you are trying to see. And of course there is the ever present torch toggle. You also have the ability to auto focus, and focus lock an image. One thing I really like is, for someone liuke me who uses white text on a black background, many video magnifiers don't do this well. There's always issues with glare or other white visual noise making the image blury. Vision assist doesn't do that. Black background and white text is crisp. And, one other nice thing about the iphone is its ability to invert the colors anyway.
Visor is a more basic one. it only goes up to 8X, but it too has options for contrast. You can't freeze an image with this one, but one feature it does have is, by tapping anywhere on the screen it auto-focuses the image. Rather helpful.
Mag Light is also good for magnification needs up to 6X. With this one you can also capture a screen shot and scroll it. And here you can also save the image for later viewing. It has options for image stabilization, and that really is helpful. This is the one I first purchased on my Iphone 4S.
Super vision is another reasonable one. Very high level of magnification, flash light, locking, and some image stabelization. Personally, I prefer Vision assist for its extra features.
I've experimented with others, all doing slightly different things. These are the ones I recommend. I'd love to hear others' recommendations.HH
Your phone isn't locked. You have to type the password in so the update continues.
Connect it to your computer and it will talk if it isn't again.
Or press the home button.
Those magnification methods sound delightfully useful, post 8!
As for mBraille, it positively shits, for lack of a better term, on the apple braille keyboard. I appreciate them coming out with it, don't get me wrong, and it's certainly an option to consider. However, for me, nothing tops the responsiveness of mBraille.
What exactly is the difference between the 12 dollar and 39 dollar versions of mbraille? They make it sound like the 12 dollar one is the one that works as a third party keyboard.
forereel, thanks. I got it done. the problem was just that I kept swiping, and hearing nothing but foreign languages. finally landed on the correct place to tap to get past that part.
Looking into MBraille. ScreenBraille was a nice idea, but I had to keep erasing last character, and it just wasn't quick enough to surpass using the regular touch-type keyboard, as I hoped.
The $39 version unlocks some other stuff that I can't remember off the top of my head, but yeah, the $12 is the one that you'll probably want for the most part.
The keyboard will take a bit of practice and configuration for you to get use to it. I was admittedly slightly annoyed with it in the beginning, but once I got the grasp of using it, well, let's just say, once you overcome that little minor annoyance of learning to use it, you'll swear by it. I've never been able to type so fast before on a touch keyboard, not even when I had Fleksey's predictive typing system, and well, in the end, we all know what happened with that particular company, so no point in rehashing.
Ah, that VioletBlue
When that happens just reboot the phone. It solves it faster then trying to find it.