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Cell Phone For the Blind?
Posted by
Soulskill
on Sun Sep 07, 2008 09:22 AM
from the can-you-see-me-now? dept.
from the can-you-see-me-now? dept.
brigc writes "Here's one that's got me stumped. A friend of mine who is blind asked me for help tracking down a cell phone for him. He's interested in a flip phone with well-defined separations between the keys, and as much voice control as possible. Battery life is the only other thing he mentioned. Preferably something that would work on AT&T's network in the US. We spent part of the afternoon in a local AT&T store checking out all the flip phones they had and didn't find one he really loved. Anyone have any ideas?"
There was a story some months back about a phone that would read to you by interpreting pictures from the built-in camera, but it doesn't have much information about usability. I'm sure it'd be handy to have some sort of text-to-speech option for common cell phone features like caller ID and text messaging, or even just reading menu names.
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EyePhone? (Score:4, Funny)
Sorry...
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
On an Apple forum there was a guy who posted about how to best set up an iPhone for his blind wife.
Check web for partially-sighted people's orgs (Score:5, Informative)
Why Not Jitterbug ??? (Score:3, Interesting)
Why not Jitterbug. It doesn't work with AT&T but it does have large well separated buttons and is relatively easy for people to use. I don't think your friend wants a "complex" phone -- more buttons and more potential for error.
Here is the linky : http://www.jitterbug.com/phonesDial.aspx
Good luck....
^Seconded. (Score:3, Informative)
My Grandmother is legally blind.
She LOVES her Jitterbug flip phone because she can open it, hit one button (which is easy to find by feel) & tell the Jitterbug Operator which of her contacts she wants to call.
The phone can be programmed with contacts in a "Speed Dial" arrangement, so she can do it herself, but if she can't remember which Speed Dial Number someone is, it's literally one button to get that info read to her by someone who seems to enjoy being a help.
As she put it, it is THE best birthday p
Here's a possibility (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.screenlessphone.com/ [screenlessphone.com]
Re:Here's a possibility (Score:5, Informative)
And here's an article from the American Foundation for the Blind. It's from 2004 but it mentions the above phone as well as two others: http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw050406 [afb.org]
Parent
Re:Here's a possibility (Score:5, Informative)
Here's another link with 4 phones with large buttons.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/technology/2008/07/29/4-cellphones-for-seniors.html [usnews.com]
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Along those lines, I had listened to an NPR snip about this very thing quite a while back. There isn't much more information than this but, well:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18504117 [npr.org]
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
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Backlight consumes about 40%, so just turning that off will make a big difference
Backlight can be turned off on most phones, as it is useless anyway for blind people.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Here's a possibility (Score:4, Insightful)
Effective January 2007 the retail price of the Owasys 22C in the United States is $549.95.
WHAT IN THE HELL?!
No. This is wrong. Subsidize this mother fucker.
SPECIAL PRICE OFFER! Receive your Owasys 22C at the special low price of just $249.95 (plus a $10 charge for your SIM card and a shipping and handling charge) when you order your ScreenlessPhone from Capital Accessibility with a TWO-YEAR T-Mobile service plan
Still wrong. Fail. Bad. NO.
These people are already blind. Do we really have to rape them?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
sadly, $250 off the retail price with 2 year commitment is standard for all the wireless carriers. and i mean all of them. ironically, for 1 year commitment you get about $200 off, so most phones are priced just over $200 or more, so that the 'basic' phone is free, the slightly better model free with 2 years, and the premium phones cost $$.
and a phone designed for the blind is a 'premium' although the phone probably runs linux, just like most of the other cell phones out there, blind users need something
Motorola F3 (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I think the Motofone is meant to work for illiterate people, but not for blind people. It can read out the menu options, but I think it can not read out phone book entries. However, the phone should work well for sight-impaired people as all text is large and easy to read.
did you search? (Score:3, Informative)
Check out http://www.codefactory.es/en/ (Score:4, Informative)
Check out http://www.codefactory.es/en/
I have a blind daughter and she uses an Nokia N95 and it works verey good, i also know that there is some OCR software for Nokia N82 coming up soon which can read a photo, that could be an even better choice.
Re: (Score:2)
flip phone with large keys (Score:3, Informative)
He might find this meets some of his needs:
Jitterbug [jitterbug.com]
However, it looks like you have to also buy service through them.
Personal experience (Score:5, Insightful)
I volunteer in an NGO that helps blind people in various ways, and is also my passion, privately.
I am VERY happy this question appeared here on /. for once, because last time I mentioned MP3 players that would be just as functional for blind as for seeing people, I was derided. But the truth is, making MP3 players and mobile phones with a user interface that is usable for blind people does NOT detract anything from the usability for seeing people. In fact, I'd argue that it makes them more usable for the seeing people as well - allowing for a whole new area of use cases.
The trend is, however, unfavourable for the blind: touch screens and the related user interfaces make it impossible for blind people to operate such gadgets, unless they have a voice feedback.
And now, to the point of the question, and related to voice feedback: there are plenty of Nokia phones with software designed to make it possible to be operated by a blind person. Such software would announce who is calling or whose call you just missed, who is the sender of an SMS and read the SMS to you, or give feedback on your commands. Nokia phones in general (especially the slightly older ones, say, 2006, 2007 generation) have a user interface that is more suitable for blind people than most other. I am just now trying to teach my visually impaired mother how to use a certain Panasonic mobile phone (only one extra phone in the house at the moment), and I notice how the UI emphasizes using the same button for several functions. Like, locking the phone requires two pushes on the same button. Unlocking it requires three pushes on that same button, and the only feedback you have is visual. WTF? Total rubbish.
Re:Personal experience (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
I volunteer in an NGO that helps blind people in various ways, and is also my passion, privately.
I am VERY happy this question appeared here on /. for once, because last time I mentioned MP3 players that would be just as functional for blind as for seeing people, I was derided. But the truth is, making MP3 players and mobile phones with a user interface that is usable for blind people does NOT detract anything from the usability for seeing people. In fact, I'd argue that it makes them more usable for the seeing people as well - allowing for a whole new area of use cases.
And now, to the point of the question, and related to voice feedback: there are plenty of Nokia phones with software designed to make it possible to be operated by a blind person. Such software would announce who is calling or whose call you just missed, who is the sender of an SMS and read the SMS to you, or give feedback on your commands. Nokia phones in general (especially the slightly older ones, say, 2006, 2007 generation) have a user interface that is more suitable for blind people than most other. I am just now trying to teach my visually impaired mother how to use a certain Panasonic mobile phone (only one extra phone in the house at the moment), and I notice how the UI emphasizes using the same button for several functions. Like, locking the phone requires two pushes on the same button. Unlocking it requires three pushes on that same button, and the only feedback you have is visual. WTF? Total rubbish.
You've made a good point - clean efficient interface design helps everyone. Unfortunately, it's not the norm amongst designers.
It's frustrating for a person to push 3 buttons whether or not they have 100% vision. Personally, I think UI designers should be forced to use their device for month while wearing gloves, eyeglasses with petroleum jelly smeared on them, and cotton balls in their ears.
I think you'll slowly see more devices designed with physical impairments in mind as the boomer generation ages whil
Re: (Score:2)
Being a geek with 20/20 eyesight, I also hate the fact that I couldn't dial without looking at my Dopod phone. (I would pass about the voice feedback, I don't like the idea of announcing who I am dialing to to the people around me, and my low usage of phone don't warrant me to buy a bluetooth handfree)
Sometimes when I am going from indoor to outdoor and when it's sunny day, it's also a pity to have to turn the screen backlight to full before I could dial.
I hope someday programmable tactile feedback would co
Re: (Score:2)
Both apple and nokia have been doing research into touchscreens with tactile feedback.
Working with the people (Score:3, Interesting)
I do not at all make claims to understand a blind person's needs, but I have spent some time trying to understand a blind person's requirements as part of work
What about the Jitterbug (Score:3, Informative)
I know nothing about this phone,
http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/samsung-jitterbug-dial-sph/4505-6454_7-32115117.html [cnet.com]
but see it recommended often for older folks and those with poor eyesight. A real barebones phone, with limited features, big keys, and decent battery life.
hth,
jeff
HTC with Windows Mobile (Score:5, Informative)
pointless (Score:5, Funny)
Re:pointless (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Voice Dialing (Score:2, Informative)
Have the blind person try the phone himself (Score:2, Informative)
A couple of weeks ago I helped a blind guy, with a service dog, board a commuter train. I watched as, later, he whipped out a phone and called his party to let them know that he's on the way.
I don't remember what model it was, but it looked like a fairly recent phone, with all the usual bells and whistles on it. So, even though I don't know the model, there are definitely some out there which blind people can easily use.
Blind people often have a heightened sense of touch. I'd say you're probably lookin
Windows Mobile and Voice Commander (Score:4, Informative)
Hands down the best voice commands I've ever used in a phone is Voice Commander for Windows Mobile 5. (I believe it's now included with WM6 as standard.) Not only does it do voice dialling of your contacts and numbers by simply saying "Dial 555 1234" but it also gives you control over the launching apps, mp3 playback, reading SMS messages, signal status and time and appointments.
For a full list take a look at the Microsoft website. [microsoft.com]
It also doesn't need any training or any setup you just press and speak and it works surprisingly well.
As for hardware that'll depend on your budget and availability but there are lots of options for Windows Mobile powered phones including candy bars and and flip phones.
RAZR2 (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
I'll second that, the keys aren't "well separated", but I don't think any are on mobile nowadays. They are raised lettering and raised bars between the number strips.
It also lets you manipulate texts using keys on the side, and it can be set to read them out to you, which I imagine would allow a blind person to use texting as well as talk. Battery life is ok, and I understand it will work on AT&T as its a GSM standard phone (obviously you may need an unlocked one)
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Use Talks screen reader on a Nokia S60 phone (Score:5, Informative)
Suggestion (Score:2)
I'm not sure what network AT&T is, CDMA or GSM, but if I were to select something for a blind person, I would get a simple cellphone with very few keys, for example something like this one:
http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_ku990_viewty-2070.php [gsmarena.com]
By the way, the site above has pictures for quite a lot of phones so you should be able to find several easy to use ones.
Re: (Score:2)
Sorry, not that one, I thought those were real keys. But others have well defined keys, like this one, nice big keys and screen that doesn't need much power:
http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_motofone_f3-1794.php [gsmarena.com]
Motorola Razor (Score:2)
I have a motorola razor, and although I'm not a huge fan of the address book functionality, the keys are an etced tin plate with a ruber ridge seperated them and the '5' key has a raise bump. The volume control is a large easy to find button on the side of the phone that can be pushed up or down to adjust the phone's volume. It can also take voice commands (voice button is also an easy to find button on the opposite side as the volume button). Battery life seems pretty solid on it. I toss it on the charger
Pantech Breeze (Score:2, Informative)
Just got my dad a Pantech Breeze from AT&T. It's quad-band GSM, nop gadgety features (like media/mp3/etc), does voice tags, has large buttons, has 3 dedicated speed-dial buttons (actual buttons, not softkeys), has good battery life, and does bluetooth.
It's designed for old people, not blind people, but it has everything you described.
Need better screenless operation (Score:2)
The Samsung Jitterbug and the Owasys 22C (screenless) are useful for this.
Current phones tend to be terrible at screenless operation. For use while driving, it should be possible to do everything important with voice, through a wireless headset. But that's unnecessarily hard with many phones. Reviews don't address this issue well. Things like the speed of voice recognition are important. Samsung phones seem to have voice recognition that takes 5-8 seconds to load, then about as long to recognize a na
AT&T's own page on the topic (Score:2, Interesting)
I work in this area (Score:5, Interesting)
If you're blind and looking for a good phone look at the Nokia 6810... it has a good screen reader and an open source GPS system for navigation called Loadstone (which I did some work on).
For a blind user, bluetooth is a must as it lets you keep a headset with a reader for interfacing. I walked around for a while with the phone talking to me and it freaked people out.
Good luck on the search and message me if you want some more info...
Re: (Score:2)
Cold but simple answer (Score:2)
Because there aren't enough blind people to make it profitable. There are 1.3 million legally blind people [afb.org] in the United States. That's less than one half of one percent of the current population [census.gov].
Complex Problem + Increased R&D spending + Small Market = Few Products
Glad to see there are some players in this niche though.
Re: (Score:2)
There are countries with as few people, but they still sell mobile phones there. Add up all the blind people everywhere, go global and it's possible to make a profit.
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