Monday 24 September 2012

Gadgets and gizmos a-plenty - James

JamesI've been investing in visually impaired friendly technology recently, which is a whole new world for me having relied mainly on analogue magnifiers for years. I've bought Zoom Text software for my laptop, which I discovered last year at the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford and fell in love with. It doesn't work 100% perfectly on my laptop, but I think that's more to do with my graphics card or something which is pretty useless so there are times when my operating system seems to go into frame-skip slow motion, but that’s not Zoom Text’s fault. Oh well, I just need a newer, better laptop.

I finally invested in a Kindle which has changed my reading life completely. I wasn't sure whether the black on white screen would be good for me (I prefer white on black) but I'm getting used to it. Sometimes you just have to make do, but perhaps in the future they'll develop a colour change setting. It's a shame you can't increase the font size on the menu screens too, which I have to read using a magnifier. Quite why they give you the option to increase the font size in the actual books but assume your eyesight goes back to 'normal' in the menu is beyond me. But there you go.

I've bought the Optelec Compact 5HD portable video magnifier which produces an exquisite image but is slightly cumbersome and not quite as portable as I'd have liked. I might keep that one for in the flat when I'm reading and buy a more lightweight and aerodynamic one to put in my satchel for when I'm out and about. I bought one of the second hand CCTV magnifiers that the SRSB had on sale in their foyer, which is a godsend. I needed a television anyway and since this had one connected rather than an inbuilt 'brick' monitor it seemed like the perfect choice. One scart lead splitter later and I was using it for reading magazines and watching DVDs… killing two birds with one stone is what that's called!

Oh and my favourite gadget (next to the Kindle) which came last week is the Doro PhoneEasy 615 mobile phone. Fantastic! The last few mobile phones I've had I've needed to look at using a magnifying glass, which tends to look odd when you're sat texting in the pub. But with the Doro I can see the screen really easily, especially with its versatile colour options. I've not tried it out much in broad daylight yet, which is where screens often elude me completely, but I'm sure that'll be tested soon. The only annoying thing is that although it accepted the SIM card from my last mobile phone (a Nokia) it doesn't seem to be able to access the address book and photos. I might give Doro a buzz and see what they say. There's probably something in the settings I've missed.

I'm thinking about trying out an iPad in the near future in the hope that it's inbuilt zoom and colour settings might make browsing the internet easier for me, but being a touch typist I'm not quite sure how I'll cope without a keyboard. I guess a trip to the Apple store is in order. Can anyone reading this recommend them?

Anyway, onwards and upwards!

9 comments:

  1. Steve Hambleton, SRSB25 September 2012 at 09:19

    James,
    Great article thank you. Reference the iPad you are thinking about have a word with Jacqueline in SRSB's Equipment Centre. We have have an Android based tablet that has accessibility software included (large fonts, different colour options, speech etc, all user configurable)and Jacqueline can give you a demo of it. We also have a Samsung smartphone running the same software.

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    1. That's useful to know about the tablet and smartphone. Really need a new phone, can't read mine anymore and you can't change the fonts or anything on it.

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  2. Hiya, looks like we've got a few things in common, I prefer white writing on a black background to and I'm a touch typer. I think I'd find it really hard typing on an ipad to.

    The thing you've got for your laptop sounds really good. I can zoom my internet in a lot on my pc so that's fine but can't seem to get the menus and things anywhere near big enough.

    The phone sounds great to, where did you get that from? If you don't mind me asking. I really need to get a new phone. Got a smartphone for Christmas which I could read at the time but then I started having problems with my eyes and now I can't read the net on it or text messages and there aren't any options to change the font size or anything. It's a great phone but the setting options are rubbish!

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    1. Hiya Amy, thanks for replying!

      I get the feeling that the iPad is more for people who like browsing and looking at the internet but not actually contributing much to it. I tend to write stuff for blogs and forums so it might not be for me. I’ll have to pop up to the SRSB and see what they have on site to demo. Still, I think I’m just going to have to get a decent laptop with a proper graphics card, this one’s definitely on it’s last legs/motors.

      Zoom Text makes life a lot easier because before I was having to laboriously do screen prints and paste them into Microsoft Paint and invert the colours… but now I just roll the mouse and it’s there. It’s really helpful when I’m using iTunes because, apart from the menus, the Store and music library won’t let me change the colours at all as far as I can tell. I found out that Zoom Text shouldn’t actually work on my version of Windows, which explains the problems I’ve had with it, but due to some Microsoft updates (correcting compatibility issues, I’m guessing) it now seems to work if slightly at the mercy of my slow operating system. I’ve got a very weird and rare version of Windows XP that no other human being or piece of software seems to know about, which is just my luck… eek!

      I bought the Doro mobile phone through the RNIB website, here’s the link…

      http://www.rnib.org.uk/shop/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?category=mobile_phones&productID=HM3801

      The Doro is really great if you just want to call and text people, but if you like using the internet on your phone then it won’t be any good as it can’t access the internet at all. I’m quite happy with it for now as I’m not a mobile net user yet, but maybe in the future I’ll need something more versatile. A friend who’s got the same eye condition as me uses an iPhone so I’m going to ask him how he finds using it with his visual impairment and if he says it’s useful then I might invest… we shall see.

      James

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    2. Hiya James

      I wasn't really a mobile internet user until I got my smartphone and then I did really get into it and loved having Facebook on my phone. Recently though I've not been able to read it anyway so got used to not having it again, I'd be really happy with a phone I can see to texdt on at the moment never mind the itnernet. My Mum's swapped phones with me because her phone is quite a bit easier to read so that's good, but it's still not mine. Still need to try and find another one I think. You've got me thinking about the iphone as well now though... not sure I'll ever have iphone money though so that one might not work lol.

      Thanks for all your advice xx.

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  3. Steve Hambleton, SRSB25 September 2012 at 18:01

    Hi Amy,
    I'm sure James will respond as well but if you want demo's of Zoomtext or a phone with larger than standard text etc then please call in to our Mappin Street Centre if you are able. We have a number of staff with visual impairments who can demonstrate equipment and give you advice etc.

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    1. Thank you Steve. I will call in one day. It all sounds really useful. Do you actually sell these things or do you have to go somewhere else to buy them? It would be good to look at some of these things so I will definitely come some time.

      Thanks for your help.

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  4. Steve Hambleton, SRSB27 September 2012 at 12:53

    Hi Amy,
    Yes, do call in - we're open 8:30am to 4:30pm Monday to Friday. More info about SRSB on our website at www.srsb.org.uk.

    We sell all the items we have for demo although we won't necessarily have every item in stock for sale but if it's not in stock we can usually order and have delivered within a few days. As regards mobile phones you can see and try a full range before you buy, including the one that James refers to. Look forward to meeting you at some point.

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    1. Oh that's good that you actually sell them. Had a feeling you were going to say we get to have play with them but have to go to the other side of England to actually buy them lol.

      You'll definitely find me in there sometime soon then. Thanks for all your help xx.

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