Category: accessible Devices
Whenever I think I know about all the blind-related devices out there, someone mentions something I've never heard of and then I feel "behind the times" all over again. Anyway, I'm looking to purchase a braille notetaking device, and am wondering what to go with. Who makes the braille sense plus? is it small? qwerty keyboard? how does it compare to products like the packmate and braille note?
I'm looking for something primarily for notetaking and calendar purposes, and not much else. Still, I want something that's current, and that isn't known for losing all its memory, or needing to be reset before it dies or what have you.
Thanks in advance.
Braille sense is made by GWMicro, and the braille plus is made by Levelstar. FOr your needs I'd say go with the braille plus, but that's just me. I think the BP is cheaper, but I could be wrong.
To see how the Braille Sense compares to the BrailleNote and the Packmate, you can go to:
http://www.gwmicro.com/Braille_Sense/Comparison_Chart/
There is a comparison chart of all kinds of features there. I'm hoping to get a Braille Sense myself; never used one, but on Friday I'll get to try that as well as other notetakers out. What convinced me to look at getting a Braille Sense, is that it apparently has a lot of memory storage and a removable battery, and the rest is just because I don't need too much of extra things to do, like I don't plan to use it for playing games or anything like that. Besides the removable battery, lighter weight, and plenty of information storage space, all I need it for is for the Braille display, taking notes and recording.
I have a question though. What speech synthesizer does the Braille Sense use? It probably doesn't mater since I'm already considering asking for that notetaker anyway, but just asking. *smile* I know the Packmate uses Eloquence, and the BrailleNote uses another synthesizer (not sure on the name). But what does the Braille Sense use?
Of the devices on the market currently, if I were to get a blindness specific note taking device, it probably would be the braille sense. Though the icon is pretty cool too. But IMO, the braille note and pac mate just aren't as good anymore. The apex that just came out (braille note) is a bit more expensive, for the pretty much same set of hardware, and an overlay OS (keysoft) that hasn't been updated in a long time. Those are my rambling thoughts on the matter.
HI, honestly, the only useful tools I can come up with for purchasing a blind oriented note taking device are a Braille display, long battery life, and the ability to play Daisy formatted books.
If these are not the primary functions which you are looking for, I would suggest considering a mainstream device, as you could get those very same features for a fraction of the price.
These are $06000 devices and I hardly think they are worth half of that.
The synth for the BN is Keynote gold.
Thanks for your replies, everyone.
The reason I don't want to just purchase a braille display is because I don't want to have to carry additional attachments to things everywhere I go. And, since I have access to a bursery at the moment, the price isn't my biggest concern. So the braille sense plus is small, then? do people like the calendar feature?
Braille sense plus is not made by GW Micro, it's simply sold by them in north America. The sense products are mad by Hims in Korea. I love mine, but would be interested in the comparison with the new BN Apex.
I've heard that the apex is just the Appex's predisesor with a few minor things changed and nothing special.
Apparently the braille sense is made by gw micro and uses the synsthesis that is what they use for window eyes. I can't remember because I haven't seen one for a while, but it seemed pretty cool when I did.
That's cool. I just tried out the Braille Sense Plus, BrailleNote mPower, and PACMate earlier yesterday, and all were pretty interesting even though I only got to see most of them briefly. I also got to try out the QWERTY versions of both the BraillNote and the PACMate ones. It was almost a hard choice between the QWERTY PACMate and the Braille Sense. The QWERTY version of PACMate is almost like a laptop keyboard, and the PACMate itself is very easy to learn to use; it actually feels similar to using a regular computer almost. But I still am going with the Braille Sense because it is much less bulky than the PACMate and BrailleNote (which is important to me because my shoulders have been getting sore easily), and because I still like the removable battery thing. Although this was my very first time using the Braille Sense ever, the menus remind me somewhat of the BrailleNote's, so I think I will be able to learn it pretty easily. I can't wait to own my own one of these! *smile*
My word! DOn't feel too bad Skyla, I'm quite sure I'm further behind in the blindness-related technology than you are. If not for a friend of mine who seems to buy every piece of blind-related technology out there for the sake of just having it, I wouldn't even know about half this stuff. As it is I've heard nothing what-so-ever about this device, though I can see that many do. I'm happy you've gotten the answer you needed.
I think my main concern with this piece of equipment would be its synthasizer. Honestly, the only one I've found that I can stand is eloquence. Perhaps that's just because I've used it the most, but it seems less "obviously" artificial. Some of them try to sound human but have this obvious synthetic quality...Whatever, I'm rambling.
While you can make the synth in the Braille Sense sound somewhat like Eloquince, it has it's own synth. Sorry, I don't know that it has a name. I would highly recommend the Braille Sense Plus over any other note taker on the market right now. When I tried the BS plus's gps package from Sendero though, it seemed like there were a few bugs that needed to be worked out. That's not much of a surprise, given that the package is fairly new. I understand the need to have the display as part of the unit, although a net book with a braille display would be well worth the inconvenience to me. You would save several thousand dollars. Daisy books can be played on a netbook, since you can install the free FSReader from Freedom Science Fiction.
the BSPlus gps software is written by the same guys who write for the BN and other similar gps systems, so it shouldn't have that many bugs you'd think.
the BSPlus also uses eloquence, which means it can also be crashed by stupid people with all the known crash words.
The packmate is made by freedom Scientific who also makes Jaws. Gwmicro also makes window-eyes. But the braillesence sounds like it is speaking in the eloquence synth.
I know the BP uses Via voice as its synth.
Thanks again, everyone.
I'm actually not very worried about the voice synthesizer, because I'd only be using the braille display feature. But people seem to be conflicted as to which synth is being used? does anyone with a braille sense know for certain if its ellequence or something different?
it's a version of eloquence, I know because I tested it with the eloquence crash words, and believe me, it crashed. lol
Wonder if its viavoice like the BP's is. I haven't tried the crash words on my BP though.