Category: accessible Devices
Wooh-Hooh! The next mobile device to have talks on it is the HTC Ozone via vzw! This is brilliant and exciting!
$149 if you are eligible to upgrade!
I've got a friend that has it and he said that it does the same thing that mobilespeak does on the q which means it doesn't work on a call
Let me fix my earlier post. I got the phone for $49!
I guess for that amazing price, I'll forego the accessibility during a phone call. It is still a huge step up from a semi accessible phone. I'm so excited!
Oh my, my excitement has faded. I would sure enjoy talking to folks that have accessible phone experience. I don't want to make a hasty decision, but I am leaning towards going back to my env2.
First and foremost, I am finding this phone becomes sluggish. Is this normal with a smart phone? Normal with a speech application added into the mix?
In order to keep this phone I need to pay the extra $20 each month for the data plan. I'm just not sure it is worth it. I don't really see myself surfing the web on my phone. Everything seems to take so long. Navigating the phone, it has such a lag response time.
I'd appreciate some feedback or advice. I'm so disappointed that I'm not happy with the experience. *Smile*
Polka dots, are you using the Phone with the Talks software.
I've seen many folks over on the MSS list raving about how much they like the device.
I'd be hezitant about buying the talks at this point for windows smart phones as they are relatively new to the smart phone game, and the Moto q experiment from all I read was a disaster. Maybe consider trying a demo of MSS on the phone. After all if you decide you like that combo of software you could always use the Mobile payment plan from handytech..
Big dog, thanks for the reply. Ok, how would I go about trying the mobile speak trial? I would of course have to disable talks, yes? Lol, I'll definitely need guidance with this one!
Thanks all! *Grin,* getting excited again!
I'm not sure on the particular version of Talks if there is an easy way to disable talks but surely there must be.
The link to download MSS is
http://www.codefactory.es/en/downloads.asp?id=43#version_0_87
Find one you'd like to grab English of course and download it. In the package there is a great quickstart and instalation guide, if you need further help. Le ME know.
Big Dog, thank you again. I have downloaded the zip file to my pc and unzipped it. I chose US-English Heather.
Here are my questions...*smile*
Which do you recommend, install on my storage card or on my main phone? I always assumed the storage card, but someone said it may run more slowly on the card.
My sd card is 512mb, is that large enough? I do have a gig one, I'd just have to get some stuff off of it.
Lastly, where on my sd card? Just the root directory? That was one thing that surprised me, no default folders were created on my card when I first inserted it into my phone.
Thank you, I appreciate this. BTW, you are a verizon wireless customer, do you ee me having any issues trying out this software on the phone. Will VZW block it or anything?
Personally, I've always installed on my device, and while I know most don't reccomend this, I"ve been doing it like this for 4 years.
Is the HTC Ozone still the phone that Verizon sells with Talks?
If so, did you order your from the Verizon website?
Does Talks come already installed?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Yep, the ozone is the one that comes withtals. ordered it from the website, it arrived within 2-days and talks was preinstalled.
Definitely keep us posted on how it goes.
For my 2 cents, or 20 dollars, wouldn't it be better for you to buy your own phone rather than upgrade to the data plan, which comes to 480 dollasr over two years (assuming extra $20 a month for 24 months), I know I am a hhuge Craigslist advocate but you can get a Nokia E or N series off of there very cheaply now, $200, even less, because so many people are upgrading to IPhones, sure you'dhve to pay for Talks or MS yourself, probably, and it is $300 so you end up with similar cost, but the difference would be that you own your own piece of software and can use it with any phone in future.
Eithe way, just a thought, but I find it brutal to pay $20 a month for a data plan if you don't need it, if you like 3G access, that's cool, but if not, well you might as well spend the $20 on something better right?
Anyways, keep us informed, I'm happy to see companies beside Nokia offer something, although I am just not a big fanof Windows Mobile in general, think Symbian did good and can't wait for Android from Google, especially since I have heard it will have accessibility built in for the next version, it may just be a rumor but I like good rumous.
Well, I have returned the phone and gone back to my env2.
I did install the trial of mobile speak, and it did not seem to slow down the phone like talks. Also, I quite liked the flexability of mobile speak. It came across as a more in-depth program. Though, I'm keeping in mind that talks on a windows mobile device is in such early stages.
Although, I'm very tempted to go the ozone plus mobile speak route, I just can't bring myself to do it yet. That darn $20 each month irritates me! *lol!* I have little desire to surf the web via my cell phone. I can't help but feel like I am being charged for full accessibility.
Aw'well, it sure was fun to play around with. If anyone is thinking of the htc ozone, I do recommend it. Once I got use to the keyboard, I quite liked it. Very well laidout. I also liked the added bonus of microsoft voice command. It is cool how that program lets you phrase the same command in a few different ways.
Wildbrew, am I understanding you correctly? If I purchase someone elses ozone, I may be able to avoid the data plan? I know on at&t, if you buy an unlocked phone, you can use the cheeper data plan.
Lol, I want to eat my cake and have it too. Now is the time to buy the phone. I want to buy it and activate it one more time, then change my mind, but just don't return the phone. *Grin,* this way maybe down the road, I'll purchase mobile speak and have a data plan.
Don't think I'll get away with such a crazy idea. *lol*
I believe it is only t-mobile these days, that don't require the data plan.
Yes, the phones I've been looking at are all unlocked, even if it is locked with the carrier you desire that's no problem. You will have to get the software separately and, you are right, you are being charged for accessibility by being forced to buy the data plan.
Do a search for the phone on Craigslist in youar area, make sure it is either unlocked or locked to T Mobile. Then look at buying your own copy of MS, saw someone was selling one on here for $300, not sure what the list price is, may be there is nigotiation room.
Cheers
-B
Here is my question. What does Verizon say about the Talx being sluggis? Next I understand if all you want to do is get your email you can add 5 dollars on and avoid the data plan of the extra 20. For the extra 20 you get unlimitede text, web, and email, but for 5 more I can get email access, keep my 500 Text messages which is good enough for me I've not gone over them yet, plus install say MSN and use messenger?
How about it? I'd hate to get the phone then have to purchase Mobile Speaks, that I understand has a lockup issue from people I know that use it. They claim it locks up and you have to restart the phone and start over lots. I've got the inV2 now and it never locks up, so. I mean the lady talks and talks. Lol
I was hoping the inV3 would open up the email feature as far as speech, but I've not been able to get an answer on that, but the keyboard is a bit nicer, so. Let me know?
If you insist to vzw that you won't use the data plan they can put the data block on your phone which will allow you to use the internet on a pay per use bases I've done it on three different devices. Because VZW doesn't use a system like T mobile or att, the unlocked thing really isn't an issue.
Hmmm, this is getting interesting. I have not seen the plan to only add $5 email access. Also the $20 plan I saw had nothing to do with texting, it was only email and web surfing, not downloading anything.
VZW didn't have much to say about the sluggish. Unfortunately, there is really no tech support for the talks side of things. Nuance sends you to the reseller and vzw tech support doesn't seem to know anything about talks. From my playing around, it definitely seemed like a memory issue.
Big Dog, you speak to vzw over the phone or in the store? They'll truly block the data and charge you per usage? When I spoke to them on the phone, that is not what they were saying. They kept informing me that the ozone requires a data plan.
Sheesh, talk about a yo-yo. It is possible I'll purchase the phone again. A friend of mine may be selling there mobile speak smart phone and give me a good deal.
Overall, I quite liked the phone. My biggest complaints were the sluggishness and sometimes the volume. Gall, occasionally, it felt like a phone for a deaf/blind person. *smile*
As a side note, I'm going to need someone to teach me how to remove the battery cover more gently. I'm afraid if I remove it too much to place the sd card, it'll eventually break.
Volume should be adjustable, speech rate, so maybe that is a setting? That was one of the things I liked about it, sense it seems I can't adjust the speech volume on the in V2 so have to not hold it to close. Lol Sure you can say you want a cheaper plan even though this is a smart phone VZW has several ways to adjust your services, so tell them what you need and ask them how cheap you can get it done. Sometimes if you take more air time, or a plan that is more money you'll get services added on. For the 20 your suppose to get unlimited everything except text, but I believe some comes with. My current plan is the lowest air time at 39.95, then I pay 10 for the text messages at 500 per month, and that means picture or whatever, then the government, that feature I keep insisting I don't need, but, so my monthly bill is 58, so if I started at 39.95, kept the current text package, I understand for 5.95 more I could get my email, but okay I didn't get it setup, so maybe after the fact it be more? Now it seems to me if your wanting data and such it is cheaper to take a larger airtime plan that includes it, and sometimes if your paying say 70 or more you get stuff like the friends and family thing, data, text and such, so go asking. Smile.
wildebrew suggestions of an unlock phone or purchasing a used phone off craigslist wont work here as you are a verizon subscriber and no matter where you get your phone from you will have to contact verizon to activate it. The reason you can get away with it on ATT and tmobile is because you can just switch your sin card and not have to inform the carrier that you switched phones. And yes unfortunately as far as smart phones go you do have to pay for a data plan on all smart phones now. There are a few you may be able to negociate your way out of but those are probably older end of life smart phones. So if you don't want data plan you will have to go back to a non smart phone ala the ENV series of phones. Fortunately for me i did manage to snag the one nokia phone that att offered that wasn't a smart phone , and well i probably wont get another phone from att and just get my smart phones unlocked for as long as i can so i can use the cheap data plan with out that pesty 5GB bandwith limit or the extra charge for tethering.