Category: accessible Devices
Hey I am thinking about getting an excessible phone and I was wondering what program you all recommend?
If you have talks is there only 1 type of phone you can have the talks software on?
If you have a phone with GPS and moblespeak and gps does the moblespeak read the gps also?
I have also seen phones with out a screen and am wondering if anyone has those and if so what do you think of them.
Thanks for any help anyone can give me.
OK, you have a few questions here, and I'll try to cover them the best I can.
Talks will work on any phone that runs the symbian OS, or at least that's the idea. Most of these phones are made by nokia, though there are a few that are made by other companies.
Mobile speak is actually an umbrella term for a few different producs. The original mobile speak (at least I'm pretty sure it came first) is a product that will run on symbian phones like the talks software. Second is mobile speak for smart phones, which runs on the smart phone OS, which is sort of a trimmed down version of mobile speak pocket. The smart phone OS is specifically meant for phones, and are like light PDA's I guess. if someone else can explain this point better, have at it. The third product under the mobile speak umbrella is the formentioned mobile speak pocket, for windows pocket pc which is now referred to as windows mobile 6 in it's current version.
As for the phone without a screen, it works, and I know people that like it. However, my understanding is that it is a bit more limmitted than a normal phone. (at least I assume you're speaking of the one that was made specifically for the blind, or at least it's been marketed that way from what I've seen.)
To pick a device, you're going to have to figure out what phone company you want to go with, what kind of network they have, and match that with your options.
As for the GPS question, the answer is ... I'm not quite sure. If you get a phone with GPS built in, my understanding is that the current phones with this capability aren't as accurate as a standalone GPS (most that want gps with their phone get a bluetooth GPS unit.) AS for the software to use the GPS data that the GPS receives, I've heard of 2 possible choices. One is a piece of software called loadstone. It's free, but it's user run. For example I just downloaded the maps for my area that they have. They seem to have all of the roads, but nothing beyond that. So if you're wanting poi's (points of interest, such as restaurants, stores, etc.), you'll have to make them yourself, or wait for some other user to do it. Your other option is a program called wayfinder, and it's sister product, wayfinder access. Wayfinder was made for anyone's use. It has some POI's and shows roads and the like. Also shows a visual map if you want it. You need to have a data access plan so it can download it's maps though. Wayfinder access was made for visually impaired people in particular. It has a much larger database of Poi's, as well as more speech output. Oh. I should've mentioned this before, but I think all of these only run on the symbian OS, at least at the present time.
I hope this helps. If you have more questions, feel free to ask.