Category: the Rant Board
Okay this rant spond from a friend of mine whose co-worker wants a phone that will run moble speak and no touch screen from t-mobile. Okay, lets say this for the last time!, windows mobile is dead! and simian is headed to the grave too!. So reach out, give a touch screen or a touch screen slider keyboard a hug and smile!. You can screen, pitch a fit but even CF has moved on to another OS "android" either way its best you except touch screens now. I am not speaking from a apple drinking coollade fan, I am speaking from someone who has used windows mobile even when it went to a touch screen OS. I do not have a Iphone some would say I am a android fan. Kay rant over but please consider what I am saying before you ask fore a phone with out a touch screen.
I think if a person wants a phone with touch screen or not, should be their own choice. I would prefer something that doesn't have a touch screen, it sounds complicated, doesn't matter if it's the rage. I think it's a matter of choice, and what you feel comfortable with. Just my thoughts.
yet I ask, its not the rage but what your phone company is willing to cover in the insurance policy if that phone brakes. Over here in the us if you go to a t-mobile store you will not find a phone with out a touch screen. Also for get about trying to find a windows mobile phone its not happening. So food for thought, I can impithise with those who do not want a touch screen but its not a rage its what we have on the market. Yes I understand touch screen's can make you screem but please learn to work with one sooner then later.
Really, what do you people find so bewilderingly challenging about a touch screen? Its a screen, you touch it, where's the challenge exactly? Its not brain surgery or lion taming, its a screen which you touch. take your finger, then take the screen, and touch your finger to the bloody screen, what is so mind blowing about this action?
It's because there are no physical buttons so in their inds no means of knowing where you are. I was a member of tat crowd until I got my hands on one of those display IPhones at my local AT&T store. It only took half an hour if not less for me to realize that they are in fact usable.
I think the problem is that people fear that because it's a touch screen, they will inadvertently press all sorts of buttons. Also, people are so used to something and they're comfortable with it, they can't wrap their head around using the opposite. Once I played around with the iPhone, I knew it was for me.
As has been said often, bluetooth keyboards are cheap, so a person can buy one if they're not a fan of the touch screen on the iPhone. I tried the bluetooth keyboard, but I sent it back because I got it before I knew much about my phone and the touch screen. Then I was blessed with a Braille display, which is sexy! I especially use it for e-mailing.
Unlike what many on this site seem to fantasize or imagine, this is *not* a blind thing at all. I use a touch sreen fine, but I know several sighted people who to date refuse, and all for the same reasons, 'I don't want to bump something and have it go off', etc. And with us, with the voice on Apple anyway, that is impossible. But for them it is possible to do just tthat.
People did a lot by feel which we blind people can because of the voice, but a sighted person basically cannot anymore, using a touch screen. The common complaint I hear is 'I can't just poke the button to answer the phone, I have to look at it!'
Truth is, for us, with Apple anyway, we have it easier than the sighted population in many ways. And blind people are far from the only ones who struggle with this. Only on a site like this would people fantasize and imagine blind people were the only - or even the most vocal - sufferers.
I, for one, have learned it, use it, because it's there. My daughter of course uses it, being that age, but it was quite an accomplishment for my parents-in-law to start successfully using their iPhone. And they are far from computer-illiterate: they were both in education, and have had computers for 30 years. Truth is, it's entirely new and different, and the population at large has a lot of muscle memory for doing things automatically when the kids are crying, the phone is ringing, etc., and it's been a challenge for a great many people.
Only people on this site, or people under 25 staring ogle-eyed at the Apple store, or teenagers pulling on the parents' sleeves begging for the nice sleek new Android phone in the store would imagine most of the world is on touch screen devices. Probably they will be in a few years, but it's a shift, and most people want to be able to remain productive with their new device. I wouldn't have done it, frankly, had I not had two weeks of vacation to just knuckle down and learn it.
My, My, how your opinions have changed...
What I want to know is where do people get off saying that keyboards won't be around forever. Maybe phones with keyboards built in won't be, but what about bluetooth keyboards? Do you think they're just going to drop off the face of the earth? Not likely. What about devices like Braille displays that can interface with the device, therefore providing a keyboard for you to use? I don't see them going anywhere either. So while I'm not opposed to the idea of getting an IPhone anymore, I do think people need to get their heads out of their asses about viable alternatives and stop screaming from the rooftops about how we, the cloistered minority of the blind community who refuses to accept change, the minority within the minority if you will, is deliberately halting the progress of technology. Sorry, but no group, small or large, specialty or otherwise, can do that unless it's an overwhelming, and I do mmean overwhelming majority. I must admit that I'm looking into the IPhone, but I won't lie, I'm also looking to get a bluetooth keyboard to go with it. Call it training wheels if you like, but that's my way of getting used to it.
I tink you could still get Nokia N or E series phone, definitely of Craigslist, probably for a very reasonable price. Those phones are keyboard phones, with a few accessible apps, and work just fine. I have an N95 that I use in Europe (since my iPhone is locked up with aT6T), and I quite like hitting a button to reply. In fact, I did send feedback to Apple Accessibility, asking them to use one of the dedicated buttons on the side to enable people to answer and hang up phone calls, no reason this is not possible, and I believe that extra button would help a lot.
If demand for keyboard continues, and I think it will, the phones will be made, especially Android. We are often enclosed a bit in a very tech savvy, top of the line, world, and there are tens of millions of people in the developing world that could not afford these types of phones, so I would not be to worried. I do worry that Microsoft is letting us down, because selection is good, and we want accessibility across the board, not a hastily arranged marriage with Apple. If I choose an iPhone I want to do that because I think it's great, not because it is the only phone that has any type of accessibility for me. We have to continue giving feedback, complaining and pointing out accessibility issues with phone we want to use, regardless of how accessible they are at the moment.
slap me in the face! if you will but I will say android slider phones are not going away. That is just my 2 sense. I do not have a slider its a fully touch screen phone with 4 hardware buttons and a track pad. Well speaking of that I am going to go and play with a golf game.
to answer the question of what some people find problematic about touch screens, speaking only for me, at least, I have an additional disability that makes it a hell of a lot more difficult to use. that isn't to say I'm opposed to them or won't adapt when need be; not before then, though.
besides, I still fail to see why some of you have such a cow about this. if people wanted to or were able to change phones, they'd probably do so. also, if the particular phone an individual has works for them, why try and talk them into something *you* feel is better? and, who the hell are you to say what's best? ever heard the saying "what works for one person, may not work for another"? maybe take it to heart, instead of being so uptight.
Its not that I am beeing up tight, its that I feel fore those who want a new phone, but do not want a touch screen. This person wanted a phone from t-mobile that is a current one. He wanted to run moblespeak and guess what! e-bay "yappers" will bee the only way he will get a phone because of the android OS taking over the t-mobile line of phones. Yes to bee fare Iphone will bee throne in to that mix soon if they get it. This is what started it all for me. It sucks, touch screens can make a person screem, probly want to smash it against the wall, yet its not going away for those who wnat a new phone. yes honestly my deepest understanding of why they do not want a touch screen goes out to them. yet truethly there quite screwed until the braille/phone tablit comes out. Thank you to all who have posted here, your comments are refreshing!.
At first i was against touch screens, but getting a i pod has shifted my prospective. apple still has the best touch screen accessablity
Wel, the Braille PDA, if you are referring to the Orion, will not cost you anything under $3K, compared to buying a $150 Nokia N series of the internet .. it's a bit of cash, for a phone .. so, I don't see that solving the current situation.
I'm with Dark Sapphire. I was against touch screens simply beause I couldn't comprehend how one could be made blind accessible. That was before I got my hands on an IPhone at my local AT&T store. Not long after that I purchased an IPod Touch and it didn't take me long to figure out how to use it. Do I use every app included? No, but I do use a lot of them, particularly Youtube and the Weather App. And after exxperiencing the IPod Touch I was able to determine that I wanted an IPhone when the time came to upgrade. And this wasn't merely because I was no longer willing to pay extra for a third-party screen reader.
Certainly it used to be that they were inaccessible, but can you really tell me that there is a person on this site at least who does not know that the IPhone and IPods now exist? Clearly, inaccessible touch screens have become the past. Why do we continue to cling to that dogma?
So, why the dogma anyway. Touch controls / gyroscopes / accelerometers just make up a fuckin' interface, one of many.
One I personally have found to be quite useful, but I embrace nothing and few people.
Well there was a time at which touch screens were virtually inaccessible to totally blind people. I say virtually because screens for personal use could always be labeled. However, public screens, such as ATM's or the like, could not, and thus were inaccessible. But we're not talking about that, we're talking about phones. Clearly, the days of fearing that we would not be able to find an accessible phone are over. We should be rejoycing at the fact that we live in a world and at a time when this is possible, not be cursing it for having a time, money, and labor saving interface.
Face it people, touch screens are cheaper to make, easier to maintain, and longer lasting. Touch screens of the kind found on the IPhone hardly ever wear out unless physically broken, they are not effected by material on the screen, they have no snags to get caught on something, and they create a slim profile for the device they're on. That is why they use it.
Buttons, on the other hand, are easily broken, extremely effected by outside material, difficult to construct, and have a limited space. A touch screen is refreshable, so they can display as many or as few graphics as necessary. they were constantly having to find new ways of navigating the screen when using buttons, because there is only a certain amount of buttons that can be put into the front plate of a phone. That is why so many phones nowadays which use buttons, have four or five different uses for the same button. That is not necessary with a touch screen.
The basic point is that your argument is antiquated. No longer are touch screens, at least in the arena of phones, an inaccessible piece of technology. So stop clinging to the past, go out and actually try using a touch screen, and realize that soon, everything will be touch screen, and you will either have to live with that, or live without a phone. Phone companies are phasing out push button phones, save for the elderly.
Here's hoping that the more touch screen phones become accessible the more likely we'll see those ATM touch screens made accessible. It's extremely frustrating when I go to the grocery store and go to scan my debit card only to find out the machine uses a touch screen. So I have to get my mom to do it. But thanks to the IPhone we know they could be made accessible.
Many of the ATM's for bank of america and a few other banks are already accessible; just keep a set of headphones with you.
I've seen those. Wha makes no sense to me, even under the ADA is why drive-up ATM's need to have braille on them. After all we can't drive and nor will we ever be able to more than likely.
You don't need to drive in order to use any ATM. For the ones you drive up to, you can reach through a window, get out of the car, or even walk up to it and use it. Honestly.
Its for people who are in taxis. You don't have to be driving the car to use the drive up ATM.
The real question is why they have the buttons labelled, yet don't have a way to read what's on the screen. Now that is nonsensical.
Its odd! I was helping a lady of a wise age with her "droid 3" using a slider keyboard at least for me was very slow. I got frustrated and just closed the keyboard and used CF's vertual keyboard to finish helping her. My phone does not have a slider keybaord and the only thing I would want it for is fore gaming.
Some ATM's do have such a means (I think it's mostly Bank of America), but you need a pair of earbuds or other headphones, in which case being in a car at a drive-up ATM might be a problem. The cord to the headphones more than likely wouldn't reach you unless the taxi pulled far enough forward that the machine was at the back window. And unless I'm mistaken it seems to me you would be too close to the building if you didn't drive right into it. Seems to me a van would be at serious risk of that happening, and some taxis do use vans. I've had to ride in such on occasion. So the braille on the drive-up machine wouldn't mean anything.
Trust me, its no problem for them to drive straight up to the ATM, and to pull forward so that the ATM is level with the back window. I've had it done on countless occasions, even in vans. Its just a matter of pulling up about three or four more feet.
Okay let me take this topic in a different direction for a minute plese. What if you had to use a keyboard on a phone, how would it feel after using a touch screen so long? I will say it feels odd to the point I so do not like it.
It took me a while to get used to it when I got my old Nokia out yesterday just for the hell of it. It doesn't have a sim card in it so I couldn't use it anyway but I remembered I still had it so I thought I'd dig it out.
People people! Touch screen or not touch screen is not a religion! lol. Well, it can be I guess: they've got the church of Elvis where ice cream and hot dogs are deemed divine, so why not.
But seriously: I have an old Winblows phone because it's what I have at the moment: that is what I text upon. Not that big a deal switching back and forth between the Pod and the phone. Only downer on the keyboard is that with the touch screen on iOS anyway, as you move your finger it tells you before you lift up. Many of us are still getting used to data entry on a tiny device to begin with. It's all in the implementation and what it does.
More than having a keyboard, the thing I notice about my old phone is just how *slow* the thing is: count seconds before the contacts or sms apps come up, at least with the reader.
Kiss and hug your tempered glass touch screen, or bow to it, if you like: I shall simply continue using mine for the tool it is.
*bemused by the freedom-fighter-stance of some on here*
LOL. Ya wanna pass me some of that 'ere ice cream? Thankyou. Thankyouverymuch lord.
So I went to the AT&T store and bought an Iphone yesterday. I am completely frustrated. If everything was as simple as tap and double tap here or there, I know I would get the hang of it in no time. But the sheer amount of things you can do is overwhelming to me. I shouldn't have to memorize an instruction manual to use a device. And before you all say, yeah well you learned Braille and how to use a computer, didn't you? I did, but I was very young when I did. I was maybe 3 when I first started learning Braille, and began learning how to type when I was 8. So of course I'd be able to soak up the information, particularly when I haven't used any other alternative means of writing.
While I was in the store, the guy was trying to make a quick sale. I stated several times that I would like to try out the Iphone before I bought it. What really happened is that he talked about the contract I would be on (I'm a first-time AT&T user after being with T-mobile for years) and he got me to pay before he would show me the phone. OK so now I'm totally screwed, I'm walking out of the store with this phone whether I want to or not. Then I came to find out he didn't want to show me because he was unaware that voice-over existed, and thought that someone else would be dialing the phone for me and such. So he called over this other girl who showed me the basics, like how to scroll through menus and how to make a call. I couldn't understand how to hang up a call then and I don't now either. So then while she was showing me how to do the stuff I said I don't think I can do this. My dad decided to cause a scene and yell at me in front of all those people and go on a rampage about how wrong it was of me to give up and blah blah. Plus he had been saying for a long time that I need this phone because I explained to him it has a bar code reader that you can download and stuff. So I wasn't going to take being publicly humiliated like that laying down, so I told him "if it's so fucking easy, why don't you try it?" Keep in mind that he hates computers, thinks they're the downfall of society and has trouble mastering even a basic phone. Of course he wouldn't. Then he said if other blind people have used it before, then there's no reason why I shouldn't. I countered that if other blind people jumped off a bridge, should I do it too? He didn't have anything to say to that either. I mean, the least he could have done is try it out for himself before yelling at me, because I hate hypocrites more than anything in the world, they make my blood boil, and anyone who knows me knows that. Well in the end I only took the phone with me because I had already bought it and because that girl did genuinely try to help, and she was very nice and not condescending at all. I took it home and decided that maybe I could figure it out after all.
Well, the first thing I did was try to set up my voicemail. I found the menu ok, entered a password, tried for at least 20 minutes to find the save button, and then, no matter how many times I clicked on it, it wouldn't let me save the password. I know I spent a good hour at least trying to do that, and I'm sorry, but such a basic feature of a phone should never, ever take an hour to set up. I never even did get it set up!
Needless to say, the shitty attitude I got from AT&T (for the most part), the fact I am completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things that can be done with this phone, and my reluctance to even commit to buying it in the first place have led to a recipe for disaster. This piece of shit is going back to the shit store from whence it came. I don't think a phone is supposed to increase my stress levels, but this certainly did. So the first thing I'm going to do is return this phone, the second is I'm going to call the disabilities center and get a phone I can actually use. And you know what? At least I tried a touch screen, I know it's not for me, and until the day actually, and I do mean actually, not hypothetically, comes, maybe 20 or 30 years down the road where there truly is nothing but touch screens, I'll go about my business as I always have. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, and learn it out of necessity. But until then, I don't care if 100 million other blind people have successfully used a touch screen. I can't at this point in my life. Oh, and paying $25 extra a month for a data plan is fucking ridiculous.
Which data plan did you get? Because mine certainly isn't ttwenty-five dollars.
I don't know. The guy said it was the standard data plan.
point 1, trying to learn something while angry doesn't work. point 2 have you listened to any of the podcasts about an IPhone? i take it from the way you'e reacting, no. you really should before bashing AT&T and the IPhone. i used to be like you, woul d never consider an IPhone or anything else touch screen related, i did a little of listening about it got my first ITouch and follow the podcasts, now i'm zipping along. you ca't expect to learn something by the snap of a finger.
Point 3: only learn what you need to to get the job done. People suffer device overload because they think they have to learn every single thing in order to just use the thing. Then, as you need to use something new, you will learn it one thing at a time.
Point four, blaming other people for your short comings is wrong. If the guy in the store didn't know about voice over, its your job to explain it to him, not his job to intuitively know about it. the basic fact of the matter is that those people are not trained on the accessibility features of every single apple device. you should have made the situation clear.
Point five, don't buy things you don't want to. You just dropped several hundred dollars on something you didn't want; why? Why not say, "ok, I'll go learn about this thing, then see about buying it".
Point six, complaining that something does too many things is idiotic, the problem is not that it does too many things, but that you cannot make it do any of them. If the problem were that the thing were trying to do everything it can all at once, and it got overload, that would be different. However, failing to be able to set up your voice mail because you can't find the button is called operator error, IE your fault.
I would suggest you calm down, get a tutorial on the IPhone, and try again. Try searching for a solution, rather than just giving up and saying you can't do it. No one ever got anything done by saying they can't do it.
Oh, and to end a phone call, double tap with two fingers; a fact which has been said on the boards several hundred times at least, even on this board once or twice I believe.
It still should never take that long to do something I ordinarily could do in 2 minutes. If I can set up my voicemail in 2 minutes on a standard phone, I absolutely should be able to do it in 2 minutes with this device too. I should be able to access my voicemail the same way I would any other time, through the phone itself, not through some ass backwards menu system. Second, even if I do have to use a menu system, there is no reason why I should type in a password, which I know I did right, find the save button, double tap it, and have either A. nothing happen at all or B. by the time I did get it to work once, it asked me to retype the password, so I did, but then it ended back up in the same edit field. It just kept taking me back to the same spot, so sorry, but no way am I going to sit around going around in circles for hours when I know what I clicked on. I may not know a lot about the Iphone, but I'm not retarded, so I do know what Voiceover was telling me.
As for device overload, there's flicking, tapping, double and triple tapping, shaking, and God knows what else. I don't really think all that is necessary, but that's just me. If you have to tap one finger on the screen to do one thing and use 3 fingers for another, that's stupid. That's like saying that for each program on our computer, we have to use a different screen reader for it. All that switching back and forth and remembering which screen reader goes with which program would be pointless.
Third, I'm not blaming that guy that he didn't know about voiceover. What I am blaming him for is saying that I could try out the phone before buying it, then turning around 10 minutes later and saying I had to pay before I could test it out. That wasn't right, and I call that shitty service. Fourth, the way you're all reacting is making one thing clear: you all know what you're doing, and I don't. That's ok, but it doesn't mean I should be forced into it either. Fifth, I plan on staying with AT&T, as I said. I'm ordering my new phone tomorrow since I'm not sure they're in on a Sunday. I took the Iphone back to the store today, but they said they couldn't cancel it without cancelling my whole account, unless I bring in the device I want to use, and that's what I intend to do, whether you all think it's right or not. Fuck all of you. I don't know you anyway.
Well to the last poster you're possibly right, and my wife and several others who aren't blind would share your sympathies: she had the same complaint about her Nokia. Fortunate for her she has me who downloaded and read through the manual, mislabeled graphics and all so I could help her. I think in today's world it's probably very difficult for someone to be both blind and not tech savvy. I think this is a problem we will end up solving societally sooner rather than later, but it's not just a problem for the blind.
Actually, the proper analogy for having to use one finger for one action, and three fingers for another action, would be having to use one key command for one action, and another key command for another action; which, in fact, you do, so what are you complaining about? Just sit back and look at how many combinations of keys you can make on your computer, do you think that is too many? If you'd taken the time to read a simple tutorial on how to do all these things, you wouldn't have had that problem.
Now, I can understand your dislike of shitty service, you should never have to pay for trying it out, and your father yelling at you is totally unnecessary, I feel your pain there. However, a lot of the problems are your fault, and are easily fixed if you'd taken time to find out how, rather than just totally giving up on the phone.
Also, yes, we know what we're doing, but we obviously didn't know what we were doing at one point. We have been exactly where you are now. We all bought the IPhone, and had to figure out how to use it. The difference is, we didn't just give up because it was too challenging.
Lastly, if you didn't want people to comment on your situation, you shouldn't have put it up on the boards.
I didn't say I didn't want people to comment. I just don't really think it's necessary to be so goddamn condescending. And, to be fair, you toned it down quite a bit on your last post.
First off to all touch sqreens I don't like them, I've tried them and they arn't for everyone. You have to accept that not everyone is going to like something. We have a right to our preffrance. to post 37 yes yes they should apsalootly know about Moble Speek voice over and accessable phones. If the company has a Disabilaty center they should be responsable for knowing that informationing, and being able to properly help. They are at fault because they didn't help or know what they were talking about. As a sales person you have to know the ins and outs of your product. As a cellphone provider you are selling phones to people with different wants and needs. There for yes they should know about what they offer, and how to help people use the servisses pervided. Next there is a major issue with this topic. "those who have not embraced touch screens" Everyone is in titled to there opinion but it seems like many people don't think so. It's something you have to learn and something you must accept. If a girl doesn't want to dress up and put makeup on she shouldn't be forced to just because most other girls do. If a guy doesn't want to watch Sunday night football and be a sports addic he doesn't have to. Even though that's what the majoraty does. Now to qwote a Green day song. "Cause I want to be the minority I don't need your authority
Down with the moral majority Cause I want to be the minority"
Greenday. We have a right to what we think do and and want, I want buttons and don't want to tap and some of you want touch sqreens. It's how it is this is where it stands and no amount of ranting will change that. To each their own. So you can accept that and move on with your life or be very unhappy because everyone isn't the same.
One more thing I've grone up through the new age of texting. I got my first phone when I was 14 maybe, and because of the iggnerance of sales workers in there products, and the lack of knolladge they had about there product. I did not get a talking phone until last year when I was 19. I grew up with my sighted friends and family texting and I could not. Texting is still big, but it's not as it used to be, now big deal everyone is texting, but I misst out of that new rush. Because people didn't know to help all there customers. Has our genaration onestly become so lazy we can't hit buttons any more? Does it take so much effert to proform a key stroke, or to hit buttons. There is a need for things to happen instently that's starting to have a bad effect on everyone.
hmm, another typicle blind person respond. if one knows i'm blind and interested in products that is accessible they should know how to help me from scratch. blar blar blar.
they are pay for making sales, they not pay for being a tech specialist for all kind of information.
take nokia phone for example, how many of those who sales Nokia phone know if those phone are compareble with talks or not? probably next to none.
you are blind doesn't mean you have the right to have the world work for you just because of your blindness.
i'm sorry but, time to grow up, and be your own educator to the world, not relying on the world to educate you. if they dont know about voiceover, talk to them, tell them. just till this very moment, some of my lecturers, yes, talking about university level lecturers, who hold PHD and so on, still amaze because a blind person like me, know how to use computer, iphone, and all that.
cause of all these disable blind people thinks they are the king/queen of the world, no wonder the society have such miss understanding with us people with vision impaired.
Last thing eye phones and all the new touch squeens the hard wair sucks. I can't even tell you how many eye phones I've seen people go through, I don't even know how many times my brother had to fix his sqreen. My good sweet Nokiea I've dropped it a few times roughed it up a little, and it's working just fine! New technology is made so crappy these days. Teens are dropping there phones in anything from coffie, to toilets, and even oddly enough down a sewor one of my friend clames but that's questionable. For the way people treat there phones 100 bucks for a new phone all the time, is a large chunk of doe. I'm not saying my Nokia would work after dropping it in a toilet but it would be alot cheeper to replace. Also why have a phone be a super computer when we have note takers, computers laptops exetra exetra?
So wait, because a phone can't survive being dropped down a toilet, you think its cheaply made? Here's a little tip, don't drop your phone down the toilet. They're made to make phone calls, not to be dropped down the toilet. You can't claim that the company made a bad product because you don't have the ability to take care of it. My IPhone doesn't have a scratch on it, because I treat it like an expensive piece of equipment.
Second, you can't expect every salesman to know everything about every product. Its not like you have one guy who does nothing but sell IPhones. He sells every single phone in the store, and anything else that isn't a phone. He can't know every detail of every product, its impossible.
Lastly, we're not saying you have to use anything, you can like buttons all you like. However, we can say that buttons are becoming obsolete, and soon you will not have them available to you in a phone.
As for why phones are becoming smarter, its so we don't have to carry around dozens of different devices. Its called compactability.
Um no my point was that they break easely cause people do break them all the time, and paying 100 dollars or more is over priced. Also if a eye phone dropps it is most likely going to break. I didn't drop mine in a toilet it is a example of how phones are breaking all the time. Lastly, we're not saying you have to use anything, you can like buttons all you like. However, we can say that buttons are becoming obsolete, and soon you will not have them available to you in a phone. Your basicly saying we have to use them right there. Yes but a sails person should know the servess they offer and be able to help you and that's why your there. I'm using there serves they should know what they offer so I don't have to spend years in this case getting a talking phone. Touch sqreens arn't for everyone and the writer of this topic sure thinks so. Yes but you have minny computers and other gadgets for that perpus as you said. "A phone is made to make calls. Not to rate restronts, and who knows how many other things you can do with out.
One other thing, I've been trying to figure out how to hang up a call since I'm still stuck with this damn thing for a few days after all. I've tried triple and double tapping the bottom left corner of the screen, but how the hell am I supposed to cram 3 fingers into that tiny little corner? And before you all start jumping to conclusions, no, I'm not fat, and neither are my fingers, so it's definitely not that.
try hitting the home key once then do a two finger double tap. that is how i hang up a call! you really should go to blind cool teck and listen to there podcasts on iphones and i pod touches. that's what i did when i first got my phone, and it helped tons. I like you didn't think I would be able to handle it. but i stuck with it and love it now! it really is easy to use! it just takes getting use to! the basics are put your finger on the screen and swipe left or right to read different things on the screen. once it reads something you want to select double tap. which means with one finger tap twice!. to type in edit fields double tap when it says edit field then the keyboard will pop up. to change from screen to screen put two fingers on the screen side ways they swipe left or right depending if you want to go to the page before or the page after. those are the basics and should get you far. like i said check out the podcasts, they do a good job walking you through all of it. don't let it get you all flustered. if you start to, put it down and come back later! you will get the hang of it and it does come in handy all the apps you can use!! people do need to get off there high horse! if he don't get it he don't get it. he has the right not to like touch screens just like everyone else. just because you like it and want one don't mean the next person does! get over it!
I agree with a lot of people here. Even if physical keyboard phones never go away completely before too long it's going to become so difficult to find them, much less in good working condition, that people are going to be better off getting with it and learning touch screens. As for IPhones breaking all the time that's the first I've ehard of it. Granted my friend recently broke hers but it was because she dropped it down the toilet and I've never met a cell phone, touch screen or otherwise, that could easily survive a meeting with the toilet. They're electronics after all, and even as sophisticated as they've become electronics still don't have the best working relationship with water. But I hardly think you've giventhe IPhone a really fair chance. As has been stated you shouldn't try learning it while angry because that's definitely not conducive to clear thinking. And while I made the determination that the IPhone was for me in about half an hour of playing with it I in no way learned to use it in half an hour. Nor do I know how to use absolutely EVERY function it offers. As for ending calls I've never had problems with that. You don't necessarily have to get three fingers or even two into the corner of the screen. Actually if I'm not mistaken a two-finger double tap on any part of the screen will do the job. I myself have never tried it (although maybe it's time I did), but it does work for starting and stopping the IPod and it can help if VoiceOver gets a little too chatty while, say, watching a video on YouTube. And if the particular rep at the AT&T store lied to you that's that particular rep's problem. Not acceptable certainly but it hardly makes the entire company at fault for your bad experience. And I agree with Buttercup and others. Salespeople should hahrdly be expected to be completely knowledgeable about what is and isn't blind accessible unless they happen to be working for a company specializing in such products. A cell phone salesman's job is to sell cell phones, not know whether each and every phone is blind friendly. If he happens to know then more power to him, but generally speaking it's rare that you find someone who's actually familiar enough that they can say for certain that a given phone is or is not accessible. But that isn't and has never been part of their actual job.
Lol, I don't think I would use a phone after I dropped it in the toilet anyway. Gross. Anyway, I appreciate the help these last two posts have tried to give me, but I'm not keeping the phone and that's final. As I said, trying to set up voicemail for over an hour is a deal breaker for me. That about killed it right there.
fire and rain, why are you so angry? I'd argue that that's the main reason you're having such a difficult time learning the iPhone. plus, giving up when something proves to be challenging doesn't help matters, either.
As for post 43, I don't think there's anything lazy about using a touchscreen, you still have to press buttons, they're just not tangible.
As for FireAndRain, I hope whatever phone you substitute the iPhone for will serve you well.
The biggest problem with this situation was obviously that you didn't advocate for yourself. No one can force you to pay for anything, and I recommend you don't unless you know what you're getting yourself in to. Before I bought my phone, I didn't consider a touchscreen phone for anaccessible phone. But someone let me play with their iPhone for a week and had me watch tutorials about it and read up on VoiceOver. I went into the practice gestures and had fun with that. I was absolutely fascinated with the technology and immediately decided to get one. I don't have any regrets about it. The thing I hated most was iTunes, but that was because I didn't know what the hell I was doing. Now that I know how to transfer music and ringtones, I'm content.
And I don't have trouble hanging up the phone because I always use the earbuds or my bluetooth headset for phone calls. I'm all for the hands-free tech.
Also let me add here "I did simpithize with those who have a hard time with touch screens" I know they can bee frustrating. If you think using a android, Iphone is hard, try using moblespeak and its list of commands for a touch screen. I promise you you'll want to throw the phone across the room. I did and it was a slider/touch screen phone. Now I am beyond windows mobile and use a android phone "love it". No, I will never go back to a Iphone even if I was paid too. This is how i feel and no way reflects any one on this board or community.
The main thing that pisses me off is that I didn't buy a phone to completely rework what a phone is, I bought it to go about my business as I normally do. Going back to the computer analogy, if I upgrade to Windows 7 tomorrow, I'll have a good foundation, even though there may be some new features that I don't know everything about, I'll still be able to do everything I've previously done on the computer with little or no difficulty. I used XP for a long time and just recently upgraded to Vista after I bought my new computer a few months ago. I had no trouble at all with the switch because it's still Windows and it's still a computer. Even if I switched to another OS, like Linux, yeah, I'd have to learn it, but it wouldn't be a completely foreign concept like this phone is because it's still based around what a processor can do. I've never had a talking phone before this, much less a touch screen, so it's not even like this is a small step up. So no, I don't like the fact that I have to change everything I've ever known about phones when I didn't even really want to in the first place. If I had my way, I would have played with the Iphone in the store, and I guarantee I would have decided it wasn't for me, I knew it the second I tried dialing a number (which I did later figure out, but still.)
I keep hearing, "its hard", "it was so difficult". Guess what, life is hard, get over it. You will not be able to constantly sit in your little protective bubble and have everything be completely classic and familiar to you. In life, your going to meet new situations and challenges which are going to stretch your abilities and knowledge, welcome to the club.
For now its just an IPhone, which is completely your choice to use or not use, it makes no difference to me. But will you give up on finding a job, cuz I can tell you its not easy to do. Will you give up on getting an education, cuz that's not easy either.
Seriously, whining that its too hard is the reaction of a three year old, and since your writing coherently, I'm assuming your not three.
The difference between keeping an Iphone and finding a job or getting an education is that either way, you have to do those things. At this point, I don't have to use a touch screen. using a touch screen is not a life or death situation, finding a job is, especially if they do in fact stop giving SSI to us. Getting an education, while not mandatory once you're over the age of 18, also has a foundation under it. I know what it's like to sit in a classroom for 8 hours a day. I know how to study. I know how to read, write, reason, and do math, although my skills in that last area are pretty crappy.
You don't have to get a job or an education. There are lots of people who do not have either one of those. You can very easily languish on the assistance of others. Trust me, they're not going to get rid of SSI any time soon. Anyone who tells you they will has no idea about electoral politics. You can't piss off the elderly folk, especially not in this day in age when the baby boomers are just reaching the age where they collect SSI. You deny that to them, and you might get three or four votes in the polls, if your lucky; and that's in total.
So you could very easily not get an education, and not get a job. But you missed the entire point of the post. Let me see if I can use different examples.
Will you have someone else come in and clean your room for you, and make your bed, and lay out your clothes, and brush your hair, and tie your shoes? Will you have someone else cook for you, and make you sandwiches, and turn the TV channel for you?
Granted, none of those things are hard, but its called an example for a reason. Think of mobility, it is certainly not easy for blind people to walk around; it takes years of training for us. Do you never leave your house? do you never go anywhere new because you would actually have to put forth effort to learn the new route?
The problem I see with your argument is that you assume that just because I don't want to use a piece of technology, which, last time I checked, hasn't been mandated to be in every citizen's household, I don't want to do anything else either. Yes, I could leech off the system if I wanted to, but I don't want to, so there's the flaw in your argument. I do things that I want to do, not things I feel I should have to, not even if the majority says I should. I call that being a follower, and, judging by the way you present yourself, I don't hink you would agree that that's a good way to live.
Now, if I got a job, and the employer said, you must use some form of touch screen device in order to keep your job, I would have two choices. Either I leave my job and hope for something better, or I learn the touch screen because it's marketable. In that case I would pick the latter option, because there's a tangible reason, i.e. I won't end up on the street if I take this job and learn how to use a touch screen, no matter how much I may hate it. But, since we're not talking about that, since we're only talking about something I would use for recreational purposes, I believe I'm perfectly within my rights to say I dislike it.
Certainly, I said that two posts ago. My argument is not against your dismissal of the IPhone, is about the manner in which you did it.