Category: the Rant Board
Hi, all. So, I've come to the conclusion that I am about the only blind person who has not fallen completely in love with their iPhone. I was warned by almost all my friends who have one that for the first 48 hours, I'd want to throw it out the window, but told that after that, things would start to get easier. As it turns out, the opposite seems to be true. Not that those first couple days didn't have their frustrations, but I wasn't ready to kill the thing until after about the first week.
In short, it's overkill. The iPhone is basically a baby laptop, which happens to have a phone attached. It didn't take me long to come to this conclusion either, and everyone I've talked to also agrees that the phone is the worst part of the device. It is an absolutely lousy phone, in pretty much every way a phone can be lousy. Unfortunately, that's my primary need for having it. When I first got it, I thought I would like and use the apps more, but as it turns out, I'm finding I really don't have much of a need for them. they are more annoying than anything. Doing the simplest and most basic tasks with this phone feels like it has more steps than any government red tape. Why waste my time looking at bank info on there, for example, when i could do it in under a minute on my computer? Same with Twitter, Facebook, and just about anything else. When I am away from my computer, there's never been anything so urgent that it can't wait a couple hours till I come back to it.
I'm trying to look at this as objectively as possible. I understand that I've only had the phone for a week, and am not used to it yet. That's probably why I feel the way I do about things taking so long. The longer I have it, perhaps that will change. I am also aware that the other reason I may not be feeling the need for using the phone's other features is my living situation. I am in a place where I cannot travel independently, am nearly always around a regular computer, and rarely need a reader for things. Perhaps if I were still in Denver, or had been able to go out to New York, I would have had more need of these apps, and more desire to use them. So, maybe when I live back out on my own, that will happen.
That line of logic, plus a lack of options, is the only thing keeping me from returning this thing to Verizon tomorrow morning. On most of their phones, Verizon has a 30 day return policy, but on the iPhone, it's only 14 days. That means I only have til Sunday if I want to change my mind. I'd change it in a heartbeat, if I had anything useful to get in its place. Android phones are just as bad. The accessibility is worse than the iPhone, and I'm told that it, like the iPhone, is a baby computer with a lousy phone thrown in for good measure. Plus, I have many blind friends who know how to use the iPhone well, and only one who uses an Android. The only other accessible option would be the Haven. I'm actually very seriously considering it. Right now, it would suit my needs just fine. The problem, as I said, is down the road. Whatever phone I go with, i'll be stuck with for two years. In two years, will I have more need of the iPhone's features than I do now? I don't know. Not to mention that these problems are only going to magnify as time goes on. As technology progresses, you can't just get a phone that's not a laptop computer all in one. So either I'm going to have to deal with this shit now, or in two years. I hate feeling this lack of options.
But for the time being, I can't stand it, and even more, can't stand that I blew approximately 200 dollars on a device I hate. If I'm going to spend that kind of cash, I'd at least like it to be on something I enjoy and make full use of. If I do keep this phone, I'm going to have to blow even more cash to make it halfway tolerable. Again, almost all my friends who have iPhones have advised me to get a bluetooth keyboard, as well as a nice headset. The one Apple gives you with the phone hurts my ears. So, if I've not returned it by Sunday, a keyboard and headset are on the horizon for me. Ugh.
So, has anyone else here felt anything remotely similar regarding their iPhone? As I've said, every blind person I've talked to just loves theirs, and has no idea what they'd do without it now. Am I the only one who doesn't like mine? All right, rant over.
for one, what apps have you tried for fb and twitter? for another i think your issue is the vzw phone. my AT&
T one i have is absolutly amazing, is so much easier to use than any phone i've ever used. Stop thinking it's a laptop with a phone attached as then you'll focus on the computer abilities of it instead of seeing what the phone can do. also knowing why you think the phone part is so bad might shed some light on your issues
Honestly, it just sounds like the device wasn't quite what you thought it would be, and it doesn't really best fit your needs. Nothing wrong with that, in my opinion.
Personally, I mmannage to get alot of quick tasks done faster like checking the weather, or my bank statements or my phone bill with my iPhone, but fact is, its not the type of thing for everyone.
Who knows, you might end up finding more uses for it. I guess its good to know VZW has one alternitive that you could switch to.
Good luck. If you have any questions, just ask.
Oh, and to the poste above me, her complaints would really be no different whith an AT&T iPhone.
You know Alicia, The very first thing I've told anybody when being asked about the iPhone is that unquestionably, the phone part of it is the worst part of it. It should be said that the phone is a lot better if you're happy to use headphones with it, but if you'd rather not do that then it can only be described as poorly thought out.
For starters you lose voiceover while in a call unless you're using headphones which makes hanging up problematic. I've heard different people suggest different ways around this problem but the interesting, if unfathomable thing is that there doesn't appear to be a universal fix for this troublesome quirk. Some apparently can use the lock key at the top of the phone to end calls. This has never worked for either Shan or I. The only way we can end calls is to hit the home key and then double finger double tap the screen. That works but is hardly what I'd call convenient.
The other thing I find strange, and I can't really understand how this problem never seems to have occurred to the good folks over at Apple is that the phone is a touch screen phone. So if you hold it up to your face as you would a normal phone you're bombarded with clicking sounds as your skin comes into contact with buttons on the touch sensitive screen. So you have to hold the phone at what feels like a very unnatural angle in order to avoid this. I should confess however that my wife doesn't have this problem, or so she tells me, so maybe the problem is with me rather than the phone, I don't know.
But certainly I can understand your sense of disgruntlement if you bought the iPhone primarily as a phone. Fortunately I didn't, indeed I dislike phones intensely, as anybody who knows me well will attest too. So I actually do love the iPhone, but for all the bits that have nothing to do with the phone!
Dan.
The reason your wife would not have the problem would probably be because she doesn't have VoiceOver enabled? The clicks are from VoiceOver.
Alicia, while I do not have an iPhone: my i device is an iPod Touch, what many find attractive (blind, sighted and otherwise) is the apps ecosystem which is now available to average, non-geek consumers.
Unless you jailbreak it, it really is a computing appliance.
I actually don't use iTunes with mine except to update the firmware: I have simply got everything cloud-synced via Google and other services, have multiple calendars in one view (which looks like your Braille calendar) which has been amazing.
Also, apps like oMoby for product identification are amazing leaps forward for us in particular. I will neither defend nor detract from good ol' Twinkle-toes in Cupertino, CA: Said fruit-named company can either stand, or sachet, as the case may be, on their own two legs.
But the apps ecosystem holds a lot of promise for a lot of people. As an example, I helped a construction worker friend get a leveling app whose hardware, sold like blindy hardware as an elite small-service market, used to cost $300. His app using the accelerometer ( the tilt / shake sensors) only cost him $0.99.
I know pilots in the Coast Guard who use apps that reduce their needs for expensive equipment. The point I'm making, ditch Twinkle-toes if you wish, but don't write off the apps ecosystems that are coming up, be it Android, Microsoft Marketplace, Apple or whoever comes next.
Personally, as I have occasion to look at graphs and charts for the Coast Guard, the touch interface makes a lot of sense rather than a bunch of keystrokes to do it. But I never navigate using my Bluetooth keyboard, doing that is just slow.
I am not in love with the platform, so much as currently impressed by its stable performance and the apps ecosystem it supports. Trust me: there are times I want to go to Cupertino myself and smack them around. Who would make a device in the modern world that would not let you attach files to emails, send group messages, etc.? There are apps for the group emails but try sending a staff update that includes a forwarded PDF? Yup: Go to address book, select your group if you have them, then *ONE AT A TIME!* ADD CONTACTS. What dumbass thought that was ever a good idea?
Things like that do frustrate me, and if it weren't for the apps ecosystem in place, I could not have solved some of the problem by creating categories, or what they call groups.
Ooh yes and let's not forget you can't do as you can on Windows or Mac Mail or any other program out there: create one contact that is just a group contact, where you can select and send to a whole list of people? Again, dumbass award to the kiddies who forgot or didn't think that was important.
But dumbassery aside, I can now use a standard device, the same device my shipmates are using, or a variant thereof, I can do more with it than I ever have any mobile device previously.
As to the apps that do basically what the websites do? Yes, it is to a limited extent duplication, except it's much quicker usually, and the interface isn't always changing. So for efficiency I find my bank's app, or the Amazon app, or many others, tend to mean I can look things up very quickly. Even the Yellow Pages and similar apps do this.
I can use Google directions online, yes, but the Maps app is pretty efficient and fast, plus it's there with me so if I save the content offline, stuff the device in the uniform pants pocket, show up someplace and let someone see it who needed it, I just maximized my productivity output by leaps and bounds, no printing off paper copies, etc.
Personally, I'd like to see more apps ecosystems come online, maybe Windows Phone to get more apps (and improve the architecture), though I realize at this point for us it is unusable. But the real issue here is not everybody's love of Apple, Steve Jobs or Justin Bieber, but a device which largely works like no other device has. And I'm not talking accessibility here: I'm talking doesn't have potential spyware as does Android, can be made reasonably secure if you carry around government or other secure info, and most important for most users, doesn't freeze up / need you to take out and replace the battery.
To that end, you may be happier with an iPod Touch for this sort of thing, and get a phone phone. I'm on T-Mobile and have a 5-year-old Winblows Mobile phone, nice 'n' slow but all I ever do with it is call and the occasional text.
All I'd encourage you to consider: get whatever phone you need / fits your budget, but don't write off the apps ecosystem or a pocket device as a concept, because I really think these things are here to stay. Not because they're new: I was one of many who laughed at the lines of people Jonesing for an iPhone 1 in 2007. But what we've seen in the past five years is really a revolution on how product and service gets delivered. "An app for that" is inarguably trendy, but in many cases it is equally efficient. Trendy and efficient is an unusual vortex, to be sure.
I definitely like my iPhone, but I do find the putting it up to your face part very annoying. the only ap I installed separately is the one for skype, which I like, but it has the same problem when I call someone, or answer a call, I have to hold it a certain distance away from my face so I can actually find the speaker button, but if I hold it far enough away from my face, I can't hear voiceover. However, apart from that little annoyance, and the fact that I really don't like typing on the touch screen itself when texting someone, I quite like it. I definitely prefer to use my headset when talking to someone if I have it handy, and I definitely plan on getting a bluetooth keyboard as soon as possible, but for now, I'm managing.
I'm actually going to go on a vacation where I won't have my computer handy at all for over a week, so here comes the true test if whether I really think the iPhone is convenient for all its mobile aps. However, when I'm at home, I always find the computer to be better for what I need to do.
The problem is, there are not that many "phone" phones being made out there anymore. Most of them are being discontinued and all of the major phone companies are shifting to phones that function as pocket organizers and/or laptops. This has been going on long before Apple entered the phone market. People will have to accept it sooner rather than later or start learning how to do without a cell phone within probably the next five-ten years.
This includes touchscreen too. All phone companies are now making touchscreen phones, because consumers seem to prefer it. They'll probably become the new thing within a short timeframe as well.
Rat, these guys are right. These things I wrote about would be issues no matter what company I got the phone through. With the exception of a few very minor quirks, they work exactly the same way.
Ather is also right. That's why, much as I hate the phone, I'm probably not going to return it. I'm going to have to make this adjustment sooner or later: now, or in two years. It's just the way technology is going, and I have to roll with it.
Dan, I know what you mean about ending calls. It's a bitch sometimes, especially when leaving voice-mails. The thing about holding it to your face seems to be a proximity sensor issue. I can hold the phone by my face and have no problems. Voice-over doesn't do anything, even if my cheek is against the glass of the phone. To do anything with the phone, I have to take it totally away from my face, usually hold it out in front of me, and then do whatever I'm trying to do while I'm on a call.
Yeah, bluetooth keyboard and headset are likely getting bought this week. Hopefully that makes things a bit more tolerable.
I haven't seen an IPhone, but I've seen one of the older IPod touches, and I fell in love with it. I've heard though, that the cameras on the touch aren't as good as the cameras on the phone. Is this true? If so, will the touch's camera still be good enough for OCR and currency recognition and the likes? The ITouch I saw didn't have a camera or microphone. If the newer IPod will let me use its camera effectively though, I'll put it on my list. I think I could get use to it.
I have honestly not had anything but great luck with my iPhone. The only minor annoyance is the occasional difficulty with finding the speaker button. And, not all app vendors take the care to make their apps accessible with VO. Other than that, I think this has leveled the playing field in a huge way for visually impaired users who previously had no out-of-the box options.
Oh, I don't dispute that it's leveled the playing field for us in a major way. I'm not bitching about Apple itself. I'll admit, it was great going in and buying a phone that needed no additional software. It's nice to know that my sighted aunt, who has an iPhone, has the same exact thing as me: that I could go over to her phone and, by turning on one setting, use it as I would my own. The iPhone has definitely helped us take a huge leap forward.
Mostly it's about my own personal preference. For me, the phone feature is the main one I use. I just don't seem to need/want the rest like I thought I would. And, as much as Apple has helped us take a huge stride forward, I still wish we had other options. It's still frustrating to know that if a sighted person did not care for their iPhone, they could take it back and easily find a replacement that better suited their wants and needs. In our case as blind people, we don't have that option. It's either the iPhone, or something like the Haven. Not that I'm dissing the Haven either, but I think you get my point. It's one extreme or the other.
Hi
I do not like my iPhone's phone abilities (or lack thereof), and I think they use the existing keys on the device extremely poorly. There should be a dedicated call/hang up button, and it could easily be one of the existing buttons on the side that could have this purpose while on a call.
Similarly I am not a big fan of typing on the touch screen, and have mixed feelings about the phone in general.
I use a Nokia N86 right now, I am outside the U.S. so had to dig up my old and unlocked phone, and find the phone/sms part of it so much more convenient than the iPhone approach.
It is something you may want to do, to get a Nokia E or N series phone, especially if you have Mobilespeak, or you might be able to get such a device inexpensively from someone oving to the iPhone world. Then you could get an iPod Touch for the cool Apple apps and learn to use them.
I am not as convinced as many that the only way the phone is moving is towards becoming a mini computers, and phone phones will disappear. We could not have predicted this 5 years ago, not really, and there might be a backlash and effects from putting open source text to speech engines, such as eSpeak, into low cost and simple phones. There is a project in Europe that aims to do that, for developing nations and to give people more choices.
If you get any unlocked phone you can get a Verizon phone card and use it without locking into a deal. Then you could look at the iPhone 5 or a better Android phone in 6 months to a year and see if they suit you better.
It is one option for sure.
In answer to Anthony's questions:
Object recognition - the technology used to identify money using LookTel or to identify products using oMoby works wonderfully with the iPod Touch.
OCR does not. And no, I do not have what the specialists call a problem with spatial orientation: I understand where the camera is located, in a basic technological sense how it works, and am reasonly fit when it comes to measuring distances. Those are the arguments you will hear from people when you say you struggle with OCR on these devices.
The camera on the iPod is definitely inferior to that of the iPhone, which is inferior to most Nokia phones' cameras, or even my daughter's Samsung Behold.
The reason Object Recognition works and OCR does not is that Object Recognition matches the dot patterns which make up the entire picture as a whole, rather than attempting to decipher text. So if you get what we call pixel noise - the visual equivalent of static - object recognition will get it while OCR will not.
Imagine you're listening over a crackling radio. You hear the sound of a cast iron skillet being scraped. You could identify that with an amazing amount of static, and your biology is not nearly as good as technology when it comes to identification.
Now, over that same static, if you were to attempt to write down a paragraph from somebody, you would definitely get distortion, maybe understand nothing, maybe confuse words, etc.
This in a most basic sense is what makes object recognition different from OCR. I will no longer buy OCR apps for my iPod Touch. If someone sends a picture of an image, I can OCR it fine on there but not take its picture. However, the distortion really doesn't affect object recognition at all.
Sorry to make that post so long, I didn't know how else to explain this.
WB, I think a low-cost ESpeak-based / NVDA or whatever-based phone would be a great option. I wish there were more dumb phone choices for sighted people: My wife couldn't find one at the t-mobile store except for the Nokia we got her. It has signal problems and, ironically, she found the LG platform easier for her to use as a very basic user. LG doesn't make any GSM phones though.
So it looks like this problem is definitely here and should be interesting to see how it gets solved.
Just to answer your query above Leo, my wife is also completely blind so yes, she does use Voiceover too.
Dan.
I have ATandT and an iPhone. I got it about 3 weeks ago. That being said:
I agree that the phone app is frustrating to end calls I have to scrool all the way through the dial pad and all that to get to end. I use an Apple keyboard for the "big stuff" like major textts, emails, forms... I get VoiceOver when I'm on a call. It's annoying. It tells me the duration of my call when my cheek touches the phone so I turn it off on a call. But the problem I have is that when my face is even slightly away from the phone, it goes to speaker and when's right up against it, it goes to earpiece. Lol. Kinda nice, but kinda not too. I find that my keyboard makes it easier to navigate the various apps and I use it a lot when I'm sitting at home. But I also realize I need to get used to the touch screen if I want to use it a lot in public. Sorry you're so frustrated Alicia. I'm learning the ropes too and I agree it gets a bit maddening at times. Lucky for me I got an iPod Touch beforehand so I could get an idea of what it would be like.
Well maybe you should have researched it before buying it with probably tax payers money since you complain about government red tape. Probably take all the benefits you can get.
Isn't it amazing how people can be so judgemental and assuming? It really says more about the one doing the judging than anything else, so carry on.
Man, this chick is obsessed. actually guys, I think she's putting on a show to get a rise out of people, so that's the last I'll say about it.
Brandi, you shouldn't have to scroll through anything to find the end button. There are usually a series of buttons at the bottom of the screen. One of those is end. I think it's in the bottom left hand corner.
you can also hide the keypad in calls if you like, in fact that's what i do when ever i get a call.
I appreciate the iPhone as it refers to it's laptop qualities, but can't stand it as a phone. As Dan stated in an earlier post, the phone function was quite poorly thought out, and, I believe, thrown together at the last possible second by Apple. However, Ather makes a good point of "phones" not being made for the simple purpose of a device of communication. I may not care for the phone portion of the device, but do appreciate apples screen reading technology.
I don't understand the part about buying a separate keyboard. How big is this keyboard? Is it something you can easily take with you and use it when you need to use your I Phone? I have an IPad and so frustrated with it so I am probably going to sell it, I am fine with a regular PC and until I am forsed to have to use touch screens and I will just deal with it then. Sorry for the stupid questions...
I have to say I don't get this idea of buying a separate keyboard either.
For me the answer is simple - use a headset.
Anyone who knows me knows that I use my iphone a lot. I use it for texting, I use it for twitter, I can't abide qwitter so all my tweets are done from my phone and I now have over 3000 of them to my name. I use it for emails, for grocery shopping, for navigation if needed, for playing games, I have been known to log in here and to other websites from it, and yes, very occasionally I use it as a phone.
And I have never had the urge to use a keyboard with it because as a touch-typest I know my way around the querty keyboard on the phone anyway, and to add a keyboard into the equasion would jusst make it more bulky and intrusive.
But I do use a headset because I A, find the voiceover intrusive especially when using the phone in public, and b the phone works much much better when you use a hands-free as opposed to putting it up to your face.
I agree with ather that we have entered an era where phones are no longer just phones, and ironically I can remember a couple of years ago thinking that surely no-one would want to use their phones to send emails or surf the net or play games or watch video clips, and yet here we are doing just that.
I agree. I thought about buying a separate keyboard but I've gotten used to the touch screen thanks to also owning an IPod Touch. I use the IPhone for Facebook nd, once finances permit I'll probably buy myself a copy of Navigon as well. And while the phone portion does occasionally frustrate me I've gotten more or less used to that as well. The thing that stops me from turning Voiceover off is that I don't want to take the chance on forgetting that I did that. LOL.
I rarely have a problem ending a call. Usually, a two finger double tap anywhere on the screen will end a call. Sometimes, however, I have to look for the End Call button.
I've never had a problem with the two finger double tap to end a call, unless the screen is locked.
I think an external keyboard allows the iPhone to become a PC replacement, at least in an away trip situation. If you are at a conference and do not feel like taking your laptop along, a foldable or rollaable Bluetooth keyboard is a very handy thing to have. It does not even have to physically connect to the phone, so you can keep your phone in a bag or in your pocket with a head set and still use it as a note taking device, to respond to emails, to surf etc. Touch typing is extremely slow and laborious (though it is also my fault for not having practiced more).
I am getting a BraillePen 12-cell braille display to evaluate, and I am curious how well it fnctions. They claim it works perfectly as output and input device with the iPhone, so that could replace a keyboard as well, though Perkins keyboard typing is one of the most boring things I do.
But I'll let you guys know how it goes.
I am about to start a comparison test between the iPhone, a Nokia n95 with latest version of MobileSpeak and Android HTC Desire, running Talkback and Mobile Access Suite from Codefactory.
I want to create a few tests, placing and receiving a call, adding a contact, opening a webpage, buying an app, going on Facebook, sending an email, and will do it on all phones, as well as trying to pair them up with an external keyboard and a braille display.
Baed on this I want to give them a score and write up a short report.
In my experience, Android with a touchscreen phone is simply not accessible, unless you pay for the mobile access suite, and even then it does not come close to the iPhone, so I am still perplexed at the people who say Android is as accessible as the iPhone, sounds like wishful thinking to me.
As for OCR, I've had more than average success with Prismo. I know many say that it doesn't work, but, I do use it to run through the mail daily. THe key I've found is to hold it much lower than one would think. I have used other portable scanners such as the KNFB and intel reader, and I initially tried to hold the iPhone this high to get a decent scann. Once I lowered it to about 5 inches off the paper things were much better. I do agree as a phone there are some things that arn't perfect. One thing I use a lot is the favorites list. If there are several numbers I find my self calling all the time, I add them to the favorites, and I can get to them very quickly. Also, I find it good to figure out relative positioning when possible so as to find things quicker. For example, when I load the phone app, I know in the very bottom left corner is the favorites, while in the very right corner is my voicemail. Just makes things go quicker.
I use the keyboard exactly as Wildebrew explained; because touch-typing is tedious IMO. I have mild CP, and my hands do shake on occasion, particularly when doing things in a hurry. The BraillePen sounds great! I may have to look in to it.
there's lots ot consider when you getting an iphone. such as, what is your main purpose and why. as all the technology, Iphone isn't made suitable for all user. however, it is a great toy for most who is out and about alot, sitting on meetings, and loving the life of portability and the mobility on it.
as someone who own an IPhone for about 6months, i'm pretty much in love with it. for the first 1 or 2 months i have the feeling of selling off the phone since its so inconvinion for me to text in many way. however, after using it for a while, and got familiar with the touch keyboard, my life seems to be more interesting with iphone. and it definitely make some part of my life easier.
just having the weather app that update every 10/15minutes for example, help me to plan my day ahead. being someone in the city that needing to aware of the constent weather changes, i found that is a great bonus with having iphon on hand.
of course, some days, i do feel like throwing it out the window, specially when writing an email and texting people, however, ones i connect my bluetooth keyboard to it, it become part of me.
i'm still having lots of trouble with the phone function itself, i guess Apple has quite a bit to go before make it to be fully accessible with their phone function.
i wonder how many of you guys try the voice memo recording function before, it is quite a great recorder for meeting/lectures purposes.
iphone for me is more than a phone, it is a PDA, a voice recorder, a daisy player, and everything in between.
however, if you are someone using a mobile phone for the reason of simply to phone and text others, iphone might not be your cup of tea
oceandream i do agree with the fact that we won't be able to bring the computers to the convention.
I won't bring my laptop to convention so i'll also have to use my phone in order to take notes and then see if it truely does the job.
I can type pretty fast on it so it's not a problem. the only thing that affects typing speed is if my screen is all sticky, but luckily my friend gave me a microfiber cloth to clean the screen and always have it handy. I can type pretty good on the touch screen and pretty accurate at a reasonable speed but not as fast as a sighted person though. I really used to suck at typing on the phone but now i'm pretty good at it. one of the features i love is the fact it does autocorrection which speeds things up. I think out of all the phones i have gotten, the iphone is a lot better. That's my personal opinion. I would eventually like to get a bluetooth keyboard and a braille display so i can use those on the go and replace my braille light which doesn't do anything anymore except calendar and notes and calculator.
I can't wait to get myself a refreshabraille Braille display to hook up to it & use to control the iPhone. I know that one is one of the cheaper braille displays, but I am a die-hard Braille fan & feel absolutely lost without Braille support. So when my grant comes, that's what I'm investing it in. I also just purchased a tactile cover for it that I hope helps improve things a bit more in the meantime. Due to my cerebral palsy, I find that I screw up quite frequently on texts & such, so I use the keyboard. But I'm trying to be more realistic & am thinking about the future when I wanna go out & get a job & stuff like that. I don't want to be fumbling around with clunky peripherals. So I'm practicing my texting & it does get easier, but it's still hard. I'll have to say however that I'd rather use an iPhone over a Windows Mobile phone with Talks anyday.
I actually hate autocorrection personally. I've ad it screw me up more often than not, particularly when you type names and things it can't recognize.
Maybe you know this already but when it's suggesting something you don't want, swipe down or rather flick down and it will say 'double tap to cancel ...' and do that to eliminate the autocorrection. I actually find it quite helpful most times, especially now that I've learned to do that. I just wish you could flick through a couple choices as the typing would even get faster that way.
I suppose I should have known. If you change the time settings on the alarms by swiping up or down it would work for other stuff.
SisterDawn,
I fully agree with you.
I hate the thing!
Hi i really enjoy my Iphone. a lot. it's getting easyer to tipe on the tuch. screen. but i'm hopeing to buy a blue touth. keybord. then i could tipe faster. it's awesome. i'm learning more about it every day. my favorite apps. are the weather. and message. one. and the other apps too. i'm getting more apps possibially soon. the
I wish I had had mine around the time this post was made.
Yes, a headset is the best method of dealing with it, but many of the keyboard woes and be managed by changing from tapping to touch. Touch makes it faster, but not perfect.
You can fix the issue of raising the phone and changing it from speaker to earpeace, bye turning off "raise to talk." I turned this feature off for a bit, but found I like it actually, so put it back.
I do admit for the first 2 3 days, a week I thought about returning it as well. That touch screen after having keys just got my goat, until I learned you could change how it responds.
A read of the Manual along with playing with the phone is highly advised.
My other advice is to connect that baby to a real speaker, most will do, so you can place it flat on a table or desk, listen to it easier while you learn what make it tick.
A headset is good as well, but if you are working from Manual on your computer to phone you'll like the speaker option, or a spliter so you can hear both at once.
Last, the option to add braille to it makes this phone fantastic. Put the braille on and you can use it without hearing it.
No, it has not changed my life, and I do wish it had a keyboard, but it is neat. The way you have it set, landscape, or I can't remember the other screen layout off had makes a differents in your texting and reading. Landscape is like laying the phone sidewasy instead of up and down. If feels better and more like a regular keyboard.
The 4 and the 4S change some of these issues as well.
I’d like to set my record a bit.
I do not see the iPhone as perfect! I do agree the phone part could use some quality improvements, like the sound of call quality. It is acceptable, but not good, and I am talking from ends, what you get when someone calls with one, and what you get when you are calling someone on a different type phone.
This is one thing about the Android phones I like, the call quality with the naked phone. Now connecting, as has been said a headset or something to the iPhone changes that drastically. Maybe Apple intended to get us using headgear, because that could have been improved.
Next you don’t want to be moving it to much when the screen is on, because the focus will change. This is designed for the sighted, but hopefully in the next edition when the Voice Over is on it will stay put unless you desire to change the way it is laid out.
On the go it suffers from ghost, the voice will not sound for a bit, and such things from time to time, so you are fiddling some. My last phone you grabbed it all the time, and you had control 99% of the time, but the iPhone just does whatever from time to time. Maybe it’s the user? Lol
Oh it's definitely not perfect. I'll rant that I've very occasionally had problems with calls. And I'll grant that the IPhone isn't for everybody. What always sets my teeth on edge is those people who rant about Apple supposedly conning the ADA by simply making a touch screen accessible rather than marketing a separate line of phones with physical keyboards but that have Voiceover installed and activated by default. If tey did that then it'd be no different from a blindness specific company that would have to charge a arm and a leg for the product because it was marketed specifically for the blind. And Apple would probably have had to do that if they'd taken that route rather than the one they took. Then the other complaint I've heard was te fact that they had to change the way the touch screen works in order to make it blind friendly. The argument was that why should we ave to double tap an item to activate it when a sighted person simply had to touch it. Of course they had to do something to prevent a blind person from accidentally activating an item when they touched it. Well the naysayers' response was that with physical buttons that wouldn't be a problem, and yes I'll admit that's true. But to be quite frank I've noticed that a lot of things aren't made to last nearly as long as they were when I was younger. I've ad quite a few phones lose buttons or even entire keyboards after a few years of use, and I take very good care of my phones. Not to say a touch screen can never malfunction but from what I've heard and experienced it doesn't happen very often unless someone's the type of person who doesn't take care of their electronics. But it's the Apple's conning the law nonsense that angers me far more than someone just not being able to get the hang of it. That latter I can understand since there have been things I just couldn't learn myself.
Well I have mine set to touch.I think sighted people benefit as well from the touch and release feature.
I actually tried that for a while but it didn't work as well for me. But again, to each their own.
Sorry, but I have to comment on this Savanna philharmonic person's post, because it really bothers me. Funny how you can be so judgmental and assuming when you don't have the slightest idea about people. I'm sure that Brandy got her iPhone because she wanted to try it out and wanted to experiment with it. And just so you know, if people don't like phones, there is a return policy, so you can take it back within 30 days and get your money back. So quit being so damn judgmental and think about other people, rather than make assumptions about people you don't know about.
Ok, now that I've got that out of the way, I will say that I've had great luck with my iPhone. I do agree that it's not for everybody. I don't have a bluetooth keyboard or a Braille display for it because I can type pretty fast on the touch screen. It all just depends on the person.
I just realized that that post was from last year. lol But I still stand by what I said.
I just realized that that post was from last year. lol But I still stand by what I said.
Since this was originally my topic, and it has gotten bumped up several times, I'll post on it again. First, Michael, don't get too upset by that Savannah's posts. From what I read, the last time she posted was in 2011. I've not seen her on here in a long time, so chances are she'll never see your response.
As far as my phone goes, I've definitely come around to it. I'm by no means an Apple fan-girl, so to speak, but I am glad I have the iPhone. I still say the phone is the poorest part of it, particularly where it concerns call quality. I've gotten used to the rest, and do use quite a few apps. The big thing that makes me happy is my bluetooth keybaord. I am proficient with the touch screen, but I still love my keybaord. At this point, I've gotten so used to my phone that I couldn't imagine not having it.
That's what I tell a lot of people who have trouble with it. They may makethe decision to get a new phone in the end, but there's just as much chance that if they play with it long enough they'll come to like it even without being an Apple fanboy/girl.
I believe if the call quality improves and the voice I'll pay and upgrade to the newest whatever they call it.
I am not brand loyal, so the phone will have to impress meeven more than my current handset. Call quality would be workth the upgrade.
to dispel a mith, single tapping or double tapping works for a blind person, on the android side in icecream sandwige we just single tap an item. I kinda like it because a sighted person does not need to turn off the speach to use my phone. Again, I am not trying to pick a fight with the apple coolade drinking fans here but just saying, single tapping works just fine.
I don't mind double tapping. In fact I prefer it knowing that it's less likely that I'll accidentally activate something while looking for something else.
Well with the single tap if you don't lift your finger you don't write. It is more like reading braille to me, and I read that way all the time. That is probably why I like it.
Turning off the Voice is really simple. Press the home button 3 times Voice Over Off. Press it 3 times again Voice Over on. I've had sighted people get distracted by the voice, so I guess it just depends.
I do tat all the time since my GF's crrently witot a phone of her own. So I let her use my phone for quick calls until she's able to straighten that out.
Sign that girl up on a shared plan. These are really getting goo, and you can always pay out of the contract if she and you split. Lol
I made that mistake once before. Not doing it again.
Smart man, but if you've got the cash to pay out shared plans are unlimited, so she can't mess up. If it has Data you control how much the handset uses and when she up to the limit her Facebook doesn't work. hahaha
She actually doesn't use her phone for that very often if at all. The main reason she's without a phone right now is because she's made the mistake of letting her brother's girlfriend use it and said girlfriend downloaded a lot of crap and stuck Sandy with a huge bill. Granted that's about to undergo a sharp decline since she isn't living with them anymore.
Besides, I wouldn't have the cash to pay out of the contract.The only reason I was able to get out of the last contract was because my mom got tired of the girl never sending me paments like she'd agreed to do and paid the cancelation fee herself. So I'm not going to risk having to go through that again.
I wouldn't risk that either. I'm only responsible for paying my own phone bill. and, that's the way I like it.
Me too. Because I feel more in control of my finances if I don't have to wait for someone else to send me money just to pay one bill without overdrawing my bank account.
Just kidding anyway, but still.... Lol
LOL I know.