Category: accessible Devices
I’m looking for an accessible phone with mobile speak, or talks. I don’t know much at all about aquiring such a device, and am a student, with almost no money.
I don’t put this out here for pitty, but am looking for suggestions on what I should purchase, if I can, at a reasonable price?
I’ve always wanted one, but unfortunately my carrier does not feel the need or the importance to provide me with one. Any help would be deeply appreciated!!!!!
cordially
What provider are you using.
Different providers can support different phones.
your provider won't provide you with an accessible phone, you have to purchase the phone yourself most of the time. Only orange in the UK provided phones with talks, as they insisted on closing down a service used by many blind people and there was an outcry.
and in the US, as far as I know, I think only T-mobile and cingular support those types of phones, though I think there is a verizon phone that supports mobile speak, but I'm not sure.
hi, I am also looking into a phone that can talk but have no idea what to look for, what to get, or how to get it; all I really know is that some cell phones can talk if they have Talks or mobile speak pocket so I now I am real stuck on that.
All carriers now provide phones that can be made accessible through Talks or the various versions of Mobile Speak. Cingulare/AT&T and T-Mobile both are on the GSM network, and Talks and the standard version of Mobile Speak work with a variety of phones provided by these companies. Sprint and Verizon are CDMA networks, but both carry the Motorola Q, which works with Mobile Speak Smart Phone, as well as a few other phones that work with Mobile Speak Smart Phone (I only mention the Q because that's the phone I have, and I like it quite a lot). Both Talks and Mobile Speak list phones that the software is compatible with on their websites, and Mobile Speak even does a nice breakdown by phone manufacturer and service provider. However, most of these options are not cheap, and it is your responsibility to purchase the phone and software. (I think AT&T still has the deal with Talks going on, though, so if that's your carrier, you might want to look into that.) Mobile speak is made by Codefactory (www.codefactory.es) and Talks is made by Nuance (nuance.com/talks). Hope that helps...
I bought mobile speak last year and payed 290. Then I bought my Nokia 6682 off Ebay and payed 123 for it. Everyone discouraged this but my phone is excellent and the person I got it from still lets me email him if I have any concerns.
wow thats real neat, but what yould you recomend as a kind of cheep solution (i.e. cheepistt phone)? Because... You know.
Thanks
Andy
Ha, there is no cheap solution if you want a completely accessible phone. LG makes some supposedly accessible models, (5300 and 8300 are the models currently in production, I believe), but these phones use voice recognition rather than a mobile screen reader (you talk to your phone, aka, "Call someone", and voice prompts guide you through the rest of the process). A few other phones offer similar technology, but the LG models get the best reviews and are the best I've seen.
The 6682 is a nice phone. I use the TyTN by HTC which is a PDA/phone combo. Probably the cheepest way to go is with either a smart phone and mobile speak for smarphones or a simbian based phone with mobilespeak as well. PDA phones tend to be on the more expensive side.
Thanks for the info!!!!!
As sprint is my carrier, I'll check to see that they have that particular phone!!!
cordially
I bought a q today. I absolutely love it so far. I'm paying more than I'd like, but I have a data plan which is pretty snazzy.
I have an lg 350 and I like the voice features. Although sometimes it can get annoying.
I was going to get an lg, but I'm spoiled by having all my text messages read out to me. having a q is a new experience. it runs windows, so there's a lot it can do and things that can go wrong. I do really really like the phone though.
I understand that the lg 9900 alouws you to hear text and receive text messages .
Pocket PC is the way to go. I've used a variety of accessible phones and they are all made for a different target audience. If you are just looking for a phone with mild accessibility, then LG is probably the way to go. If you are looking for one step up with a lot more access and a more or less simple interface, then a simbian phone running Talks or Mobile speak for simbian is the way to go. If you are a bit more adventurous, and you want to explore the world of off the shelf ease of access, then your route should be smart phones and Pocket PC phones. Currently Mobile speakc developed by code factory allows access to a variety of smart phones as well as pocket PC phones. Another alternative in screenreading access for your smart phone or PC phone is Pocket Hal, which is being developed by Dolphin.
There you have it. Just my thoughts.
Most mobile phones with talx software on them are really expensive. I have already written about this on a few of the boards already.
i use talks phone. it works good. lol.,
I have a Q as well that I'm running with Smart Hal that I've had for close to a year, and everybody who's commented on that is correct, it's not cheap by any means. However, if you're willing and/or able to shell out the extra cash for it, in my oppinion it's well worth it.
I love the fact that I can have all the functions of my phone read to me now, and can program my own information into it without having to ask for help with it.
what's the difference between smart phones, and simbien (totally spelling that wrong)
Smart phones and pocket PC phones run on a windows based operating system. simbien I believe was developed by Nokia. windows mobile phones will have stripped down versions of the apps you know and love such as internet explorer, outlook which supports contact and calendar, internet explorer and windows media player. I would say that you will find more companies making windows based phones then simbien phones. hopefully users of both will write here and share some of there experiences. I use a pocket PC phone with mobile speak pocket and like it. I've surfed the net, used contacts and calendaring and of course windows media. pocket pc phones also have pocket word and excel so you can read word documents and deal with spreadsheets.
So all smart phones have full key boards? Is the nokia N 75 a symbian phone?
No all smartphones do not have full keyboards. The n75 is a simbian based phone. go here to see the specks.
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=1064
would you reccomend a n 75? is it a good phone?
Not having used one I can't recommend it. Nokia has a good track record and makes excellent phones. My associate at the office has the nokia 6680 and loves the thing.
also if you don't care so much about power, there's the owasys from capitalaccessibility.com. there's a review4it on blind cool tech, but that's from a couple years ago hopefully they've upgraded the processor and given it more voices since then.
no they haven't. I have one of those phones.
Wow! this is really confusing. So here's my dilemma. I have a landline and only need a cell phone for emergencies/traveling. So, what's a good acceble one that works with a pay-as-you-go plan? Thanks.
To the last poster I have verison and I use an lg 350. The plan thatI use i called easy pay. It's kind of like a cell phone plan without a contract. You pay 54 dollars a month. You get 750 any time minutes. 1000 niht and weekend minuts starting afte 9 pm and free moble too moble calling. I don't remember how much the phone was. Hoes this helps.
As for an accessible phone that is compatible with prepaid services, I use LGVX4650. But I don't know of any others outside of the LG's.
Hey everyone. I am using a T-Mobile Dash or also known as the HTC Excalibur, and I love it. It is a T-Mobile ssmartphone manufactured by HTC. I'm running it with Mobile Speak Smartphone. I know that someone is looking in to getting an accessible phone. Yes, it is true, money can be a big issure when it comes to making things accessible for people like us. But I guess we gotta deal with it. I don't know if this info is still use full. But, I know that mobile speak smartphone usually cost about 290 or 295 or somewhere around there, but I baught my license for for mobile speak smartphone for only 236. I know that's not much differnce, but it did make a big difference for me. The site that I baught mobile speak from is Eto Engineer.. They only have a limited amount of license, so I can't garantee that they still have any left. but the website is,
http://www.etoengineering.com/vision.htm
LG is not the only way to go with Verizon anymore. It's not just a clear-cut, "Ok, it's either an lg or the Q," with Verizon, either. I went into my local Verizon store and found a Samsung U550 that I really like, because it does all the same things my old, dying lgvx4650 did. I notice with some of the newer LG phones you can't add your own contacts, so when it came time to pick a phone, that was my last choice, but when I saw the Samsung phone mentioned above, it does allow you to do that, in the same way the LG phones do. Not all of us are made of money and can shell out $500 for a phone and the accompanying software, as much as we'd love to. The Samsung U550 was $69 with a two year contract, and does everything the lg phones do, with a few very subtle differences, from what I got to see. I'm hopefully getting my phone tomorrow (if I'm lucky), and can then provide more information if it is desired.
Don't forget the rather excellent deal from AT&T that allows you to purchase a phone with mobile speak with msp being about $85.
No, the voice on the owasys phone hasn't changed and sometimes it doesn't pronounce words properly. I was told today that if you go to the vodaphone website, you can pay £150 for the phone and they'll put talks on it for free. I might also be buying a phone with talks on from someone in my class later on if he can find it.
Does anyone know of verizon phones that work with mobile speak? I looked on the website, and there were only seven. Please tell me they're are more than that to work with?
do you mean 7 phones or 7 phones that work with mobile speak? If you mean 7 choices that work with speech software that's not bad at all.
I mean seven phones that work with mobile speak, but none of them are the flip phones with the qwerty keyboard in them. That's what I mean.
Quick question, I bought the pantech duel, windows smart phones for those of you who don't know. My complaint is the typical windows crashing, error screens, and sluggish usage, do you get that with simbian phones? I'm in my 30 day phone trial, so I'm tempted to take it back and try something else.
so a few months ago I bought the cue from sprint and love it. I am soon purchasing the easy link keyboard from code factory which will allow me to put in braille commands on a small external keyboard. the phone is great, the buttons are large, and I seriously though pay a lot have an awesome data plan.
I had a few questions about these phones. I noticed that some of the new smart phones have windows mobile 6. If any of you have this i would like to know how well that works with mobile speak. I was also wondering what providers you guys have the q with. I was thinking that the phone application might be different for the different carriers so it might not be accessible but just a guess. Any info would be helpful.
I know Verizon has the Q.
I just got a Nokia N75 on Saturday. I love it. I just wish there was a way to lower the volume of voice aid. It's so loud. It's a great phone though.
Question about voice aid, what is it? Regarding the phone app being different from carrier to carrier I am going to jump out on a limb here and say what you will probably see is the phone app being the same but carriers offering different applications for other things customized to the carrier. I have an unlocked htc Tytn running on wm6 and like the arrangement of wm6 better then wm5 especially trying to find things like the wyfy setings. I haven't played with windows smart phone and can't comment on that. I do like symbian and find that it doesn't crash much at all. My pocket PC phone with mobile speak pocket would crash a bit more but it wasn't horrible. symbian is nicely streamlined and things are easy to find once you get used to it. The help reads well so that is nice to have. Unfortunately, sighted assistance is needed if you install it yourself and codefactory is working on this. I would love to hear more about the n75 and the good bad and ugly. Aparently, the phones AT&T are making available with msp installed vary. A friend found they had the samsung blackjack on sail with MSP installed. There packages are a good deal because it brings msp down to $85 or so.
I can't decide whether I want the HTC TyTN II, or the Nokia N96 when it comes out.
Wow, now that's quite difference in operating systems. I would be inerested to know what you pick. TYTN makes a good product and so does nokia. I look forward to hearing what choice you made and why..
Where are some sites to find mobile speak for a decent price. I really would hate to pay four hundred for it since my phone will be about two hundred by itself.
well i am using a samsung black jack from atnt and i love it with windows mobile 5.
jay the admin of this site, has a link at the top of the page to get it for two hundred fourty some. i can't remember exactly how much. but it's a add at the top of the page. so check there
jay you owe me for advertising for you. hehehehe smiles. shea
I've also recently seen that Independent Living Aids sells it, although I think it's about $20 more than the price advertised on here.
that's probably mobile speak for simbian phones. It's $275. So is MSS (mobile speak smartphone. MSP (mobile speak pocket) is at least $400. I'd like to find somewhere I can get that cheaper.
Do remember one thing: so far Code factory has never charged for an update and I have had the product for over 3 years. It's a good investment and one that keeps on giving.
I bought my mobile speak from visioncue.com
How much was it? Also, thanks guys for the advertisement. 249 sounds pretty good to me.
it was $290 according to her post near the top of the board.
OK, thanks. I'll stick with my 249 deal, but thanks anyway.
To the person above using voice aid on the Nokia N75, you can adjust the volume. It's in the options menu, I think the 4th choice down the list. You've probably figured that out by now, but I figured I'd mention it just in case.
And to the person asking about voice aid, it's a feature built into the N75. It's a self voiceing feature on the phone that allows you to do basic stuff on the phone whithout the need for extra software like Talks or Mobile speak. It reads the address book, call log and speaks the numbers on the phone as you dial. I haven't used it much because I have Mobile speak,but it's ok if you just want to make calls and don't care about getting access to the other features of the phone. There's also a feature on the N75 called message assist. I believe it's like voice aid but for text messaging. I haven't played with that feature so I'm not sure. When I was tinkering with Voice aid, I never could find where you add contacts to the address book. It seems kind of silly to only read existing contacts and not have a voice guided system for adding contacts, so maybe I just missed it. Maybe someone who uses voice aid can describe it better. Anyway, hope that helps.
Wow this is confusing! Does mobilespeak work with alltel? LG phones?
Mobile speak works on any carrier. The codefactory website has a list of compatible phones. This page describes their products and there is a link for supported phones.
http://www.codefactory.es/en/products.asp?id=24