Category: accessible Devices
PR Newswire, via CNNmoney.com, USA
Monday, December 17, 2007
AT&T and Code Factory Launch Two New Services to Support Customers With Disabilities
By Press Release
December 17, 2007: 09:41 AM EST
SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AT&T Inc. announced today two new applications that will increase usability for wireless customers who are blind or have low vision. AT&T is partnering with Code Factory to offer Mobile Speak and Mobile Magnifier, both for Windows Mobile and Symbian Series 60 operating system devices.
"At AT&T, using technology to increase mobile accessibility for all individuals is a priority," said Carlton Hill, vice president of Product Management for AT&T's wireless unit. "We work closely with organizations that are committed to serving seniors or people with disabilities to help us better understand the unique needs of our customers. AT&T is excited to offer more mobile options that make it easier for all individuals to enjoy a digital lifestyle when they're on the go."
"Code Factory strives to create programs that make it possible for visually impaired consumers to access the most advanced mobile technology," said Eduard Sanchez, CEO of Code Factory. "We are very pleased to partner with AT&T to continue to help people with low vision live independent, active lives."
Mobile Speak is a powerful, full-fledged screen reader with an easy-to-learn command structure, intuitive speech feedback in several languages and Braille support, which can be used with or without speech. Unlike other screen readers for mobile phones, Mobile Speak automatically detects information that the blind user should know, just as a user with sight would easily find highlighted items or key areas of the screen at a glance.
Supported applications and functions include:
-- Speed dial, call lists and contacts
-- Text messaging
-- Calendar, tasks, notes and calculator
-- Internet browser
-- Word, Excel and PowerPoint
-- Voice Recorder, Media Player, voice speed dial and voice command
-- Phone/device settings, profiles, alarms and ringtones
Mobile Speak is offered with a choice of three Text-To-Speech engines, Fonix, Acapela or Loquendo, allowing the phone to speak English, Spanish or both.
Mobile Magnifier is a flexible, full-screen magnification application that supports low- and high-resolution screens and can be used with or without speech feedback. Magnification software is compatible with a wide range of mobile devices. Unique features include:
-- Magnification levels from 1.25x to 16x
-- Font-smoothing for easier readability
-- Three different layouts: a full-screen, split and distributed view
-- Different color schemes, including inverted color
-- Automatic panning and cursor-tracking
-- Automatic zoom function that detects areas of interest on the screen
"There is a real need for more wireless options for Individuals who have vision loss," said Paul Schroeder, vice president of Programs and Policy, American Foundation for the Blind. "We value AT&T for its leadership in addressing the needs of this community."
These new products are currently supported on five AT&T phones: the Nokia N75, Nokia E62, Cingular 3125, Samsung BlackJack (Windows Mobile version 5), and Pantech Duo (Windows Mobile version 6). Additional compatible devices will be available soon.
Mobile Speak and Mobile Magnifier are each available for a one-time charge of $89, which is billed directly to the customer's credit card. For additional information or to obtain a 30-day software trial, contact the National Center for Customers with Disabilities (NCCD) at 1-866-241-6568 or place a TTY call to 1-866-241-6567. The NCCD is available from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET.
For more information about wireless product or service offerings for those with disabilities, visit http://www.wireless.att.com/about/disability-resources.jsp.
Note: This AT&T news release and other announcements are available as part of an RSS feed at http://www.att.com/rss.
About Code Factory
Code Factory is a software company committed to the development of products designed to remove barriers to the accessibility of mobile technology for the blind and visually impaired. Noted for innovation and responsiveness, Code Factory is the leading provider of screen readers, screen magnifiers, and Braille interfaces for the widest range of mainstream mobile devices including Symbian-based and Windows Mobile-powered Smartphones as well as Pocket PC phones and PDAs. Further, Code Factory is the only accessible software provider to support close to two hundred different phone models working on the GSM, CDMA and WCDMA networks. To learn more about Code Factory and its mission of bringing complete accessibility to mobile devices, visit http://www.codefactory.es.
About AT&T
AT&T Inc. is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation's leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com.
(C) 2007 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. For more information and detailed disclaimer information, please review this announcement in the AT&T newsroom at http://www.att.com/newsroom.
Wow, I new this was coming and thanks so much for posting this info! fantastic!!!w
and i just found that att will be still supporting talks as well. they will not sell it but you may buy it and install it on a phone. Now, i have never tried mobile speak. how is it compared to talks? i now run talks 3.0.5 on a nokia 9300 running symbian series 60. one thing about mobile speake i already notice, they only charge 89 dollars. that alone makes me consider it. i paid 300 dollars for talks. thank you for all your help.
This is great news for people who really like being able to use their phones for everything. But people like me, who just want a cell phone for making and receiving calls and not a lot else, more "out of the box" talking features on cell phones would be appreciated.
I'm soooo excited. I'm going to get a new phone with mobilespeak tomorrow.
Oh I hope verizon offers some thing like this.
My associate uses talks and like it on the nokia 6682. I use obile speak and like it as well. one thing about mobile speak is that in the over two years that I have had it all updates have been free and these are major ones not just little patches.
I'm buying my new phone with mobilespeak tomorrow, now the question is, full keyboard, or regular phone? What do people think. What phone should i get?
i love mobile speak and it also works on the new Moto Q bhy Sprint.
ok so i'm really looking at mobile speak next time i buy a phone from att. plus it will save me money in the long run cuz i'd have to pay like 100 or more to get talks on a new phone. now everytime i get a new phone, i can just get mobile speak back on it from att.
I think after i get done with this nokia 9300, i'll post it up on garage sail so look out for that.
I'm not 100 percent sure, but if i do sell it i would ask 200 for it cuz the phone is in good but not excelent contdition. well that's my thought now cuz i'm due for an upgrade next summer.
and btw, the phone would have talks and most everything that came with it except for head set and the cd cuz the head set shorted out and cd is broken and gone.
thoughts on this? I think someone would go for it. now i know this was the wrong bored for this post but i was kinda curious if i have any takers. now, i will post to garage sail went i'm completly done with the phone. thank you.
My contract with Nextel runs out in April. I'll have to give this serious consideration. Thanks.
Lou
Go lou! you'll love it.
I'm going to be getting MobileSpeak too. What phones do you all use with it? Suggestions? Try to make it simple for me...I'm dense.
:-) Caitlin
I think that the motorola Q9M from Verizon Wireless supports Mobile Speak. I know that the Motorola Q does--that phone is a smartphone as well. I wanted that as a new phone for my birthday but instead I got the LG 5300. I might be giving my mom mine because her contract is up now and she is using the LG 4650. So I might be getting the 8350--I'm not sure yet.
Macy
Ok AT&T users, how is the coverage across the country?
I have good coverage with AT&T and use a Cingular 8525 with Mobile Speak Pocket--wonderful software, great phone, CF is great!!!
Shanda
a wonderful phone that is. same as the one I use just a different name on it. excellent.
I just moved a couple of months ago. Not more than 2.5 miles from my old place and now my signal is really bad. From a strong 100% all the time to anywhere from 1 to 57% with lots of dropped calls at any given time. I have an HTC TYTN with MSP. I'm probably going to look into getting some sort of signal booster or something next week. Does anyone by any chance know if signal boosters are even worth the trouble?
Thanks,
Cristobal
Does anybody now if alltell has somthing accessable or psuports anything on here?
I have mobilesmeak smartphone on a cingular 3125 I love it because the phone is small like a razer but its a smartphone. Note that there is a difference between mobilespeak and mobilespeak smartphone. Mobilespeak will work on pretty much the same phones that talks did. Mobilespeak smartphone will work on the following: the Q, Blackjack, cingular 3125, and I think 8125 or something like that.
Just got a Nokia N 75 with mobile speak from AT&t and thought I'd share my thoughts. I went through at&t's center for customers with disabilities. I've only been using the new phone for about 10 daysbut I think I've got it down well enough to give a decent review. I have been using a Nokia 6620 with Talks so I can offer a little comparison as well.
First, the phone: It's a flip phone which I prefer over the candy bar style phones. It feels sturdy and is a nice size for slipping into my pocket. The battery cover seems a little flimsy, but hopefully it will hold up. The buttons on the number pad are flat but large and after getting used to them are pretty easy to feel. The 2 soft keys, whose functions change depending on what you are doing with the phone, and the send/end keys are easy to feel. It took me forever to find the menu key, clear button and the edit key that is used for some of the mobile speak commands. Now that I have it figured out, it's ok, but those buttons are not very tactile friendly. The battery life on the phone isn't great. I don't use my phone all that much and I have to charge it once a day. So, if you talk a lot, this isn't the phone for you unless you want to schlep a charger around. The operation of the phone is pretty intuitive. It basically works like every other Nokia I've ever had.
One interesting thing about the phone for those of you who just want to make calls and don't need a full screen reader, the N 75 has a built in voice assist feature that lets you use the address book and add contacts as well as a message reader that reads text messages. I turned it on for giggles and the speech was very clear and surprisingly useful. You can also set the phone to say a caller's name on incoming calls. This is all out of the box stuff that has nothing to do with mobile speak and it's pretty cool.
As for Mobile Speak, I like it just as well as talks. They basically do the same stuff. I think the speech on talks is easier to understand but maybe I was just used to Talks. There are 9 voices to choose from on Mobile Speak which is mildly amusing but they all have a little bit of an accent that took getting used to. After a couple of days, the speech didn't bother me anymore and I was able to kick the speech rate up to full speed. Full speed on MS isn't as fast as Talks but it's close. There are a lot more settings in Mobile speak to tinker with and customize the software to your liking than with Talks which I found useful.
Finally, here's some stuff at&t doesn't tell you that you might want to know. First, they don't send or have any accessible users manuals for the phone, or at least not my phone. They told me I could order a Braille manual from Nokia, but I didn't want to hassle with that. I've used enough Nokia phones that I was able to figure this one out just by exploring menus and using the help files on the phone. They also don't sent you any instructions for mobile speak, butI had no trouble finding manuals on the code factory website. Rest assured that I gave at&t an earful about not having accessible documentation. One more wierd thing - initially you get a trial license for mobile speak. It's not the one that only works for 30 minutes. It's supposed to run just like a full license, although, in my case, there is some sort of glitch where my phone kept asking me to register mobile speak and I would have to restart my phone. When I called at&t about it, they told me that it was a glitch they were aware of an working on. They had me do a reset on my phone by removing the battery while it was on and then power it back up. Since I did that, I've only had the registration screen pop up twice in about 10 days. Kind of annoying but not the end of the world. I was told that someone from Code Factory would call me just before my 30 day trial period ended to give me a full license number. We'll see how that goes. I really think I just should have been given a full license from day one considering I've already paid, but whatever. I told the at&t chick I didn't need 30 days and that I had already decided to keep the phone but she said she couldn't give me the full license and I had to wait for Code Factory to call. It's frustrating but what can you do?
So, I think that's the gist. I'll answer any questions as best I can. Hope this helps.
ok. i know i posted to this bored months ago. and i have done what i said i would do. i switched from the nokia 9300 to the motorola q and never have regreted it. i like mobile speak better than talks. simply because your user key is assigned to your name not the device. it's real cool. and yes you have to wait a month to get the full version of mobile speak but it is worth it. I love the q. it's a bit wider then the 9300. it has way better reception the 9300 could ever dream of having. i love it.
I have an LG from verizon, and I can send/reciev messages, edit contacts, go through a few minues, and add ringtones to different contacts. For some of us who don't have ATNT, an LG is the best. I have the new env the env 2 to be exact. It is a bit smaller than the original env wich is nice. I just wanted to send and recieve text messages with out paying five hundred dollars for phone and software.
Do you think I could get the env 2 from verison and then use it for alltel?
I really don't know. I'm not sure.
I don't think I can, but I'm going to ask the alltel rep anyway.
replying to post 23 faithful angel. I completely agree with you. I have the original env from verizon and I love it. I just wanted to be able to send and receive messages without having to pay for accessibility.
well, thanks to this first post in this topic, I now have a windows atnt smart phone, the pantech duo with mobile speak, I just finished with the trial version and put in an order for the full liceonce. and in the past month I have not regreted this change at all and think it was the best thing I ever did!! I just now have to restart my phone every 10 minutes to keep the thing from sounding like a broken record, but still.
That's cool.