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Mobile Phone for the Blind
Anonymous Coward writes "Owasys - a Spanish company - is launching a mobile phone for the blind next week. No visual display as a speech synthesiser reads everything that appears on the screen out loud. Also speaks the name and number of incoming callers."
Here I thought Mobile Phones couldn't get anymore annoying.
I mean, those guys a must be pretty deep in the hole after trying to market that cell-phone for the deaf... ::ducks::
---- I'll take you in a Hunt deathmatch any day.
Just imagine...at home, wife and kids asleep, when all of a sudden your phone bellows:
:)
"DIALLING QUICKDIAL 1: HOT HORNY HOUSEWIFE LINE"
Or if you're playing away from home...
"Contact MISS PERT BREASTS is calling!"
in front of wifey.
Oh, the possibilities
If you're happy and you know it read my blog
BTexact did something similar ages ago (SMS for the blind, actually).
my blind friend was given tha tlink the other day and didnt quite like it. obviously the competitions good but the best solution at the moment is a nokia 3650 and a program called talx, thuogh its more expensive at the moment it wont be when the phone drops in price. he only got it recently and it made a big difference over having to give the phone to friends to read his smses.
"No visual display as a speech synthesiser reads everything that appears on the screen out loud." The device doesn't have a display because everything is read out via a speech synthesiser...or does it actually have a screen... Poor writing, sloppy editing.
vampirical
"Incoming message: 'Did you know you can increase your penis size overnight? ....'"
Of course then you'd at least be able to prove monetary damages due to the spam, since you lost your job over it....
Funny, but rather scary too.
Actually, my girlfriend is deaf and carries a cell phone. It works pretty well.
She has one of those T-Mobile Sidekick ones where you connect the Internet (web browser, AIM, and even an available SSH client).
It's actually quite useful. She can get her email, AIM and SMS messages in one place. There are even AIM -> TTY services so she can make "voice" calls on the road.
It's still a phone too. So if there's some sort of emergency and a hearing person is there- they could use it.
- SergeWhy is this just making news?
Sounds like a good idea
I have a feeling there may be more of a need than for those who drive around with a cell phone in one hand and a latte in the other.
Subduction leads to orogeny
All consumer electronics devices should be manufactured - at base - with the lowest-common-denominator user in mind.
If a device is made to enable someone with physical challenges, it should be a cinch to use for anyone who isn't challenged.
From there, a device could be addended with options, for those that want them. In fact, devices built this way would have a much higher "cool" factor than most of the poorly-desogned products we see today. Witness all the excitment every time an "easy-to-use" product comes to market...that alone makes my point.
If one considers that virtually all consumers will be physically challenged at some point in their lives (broken bones, aging, etc.), why shouldn't manufacturers be building devices with a "fail-safe" user mode that permits limted, but functional use?
Frankly, this design strategy alone would revolutionize consumer product manufacture in many sectors (auto, electronics, etc), and solve many of the "user-unfriendly" problems that plague consumers today.
Unfortunately, what we see today is engineering-driven design that frustrates all but the most determined users, and even those face barriers to seamless use that simply should not exist.
What? I don't think it's THAT unreasonable for manufacturers to assume a certain level of physical ability when they design a product. Think of all the disabilities a person could have; deafness, blindness, broken bones, no legs, no arms, cerebal palsy, how the hell can you design a car that's able to be driven by someone with any disability?? It would need to be virtually mind-controlled, unless you're suggesting that cars should be able to be driven by those in a vegetative state.
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
Last time I used one, phones used sound as a means of communication. You dial a number on the very position-standardized keypad (so even those with functional eyes can usually dial a phone without looking), and speak into the handset. The person you called then uses their end to do the same, and you can both hear each other.
It would seem that no one else has noticed this seeming absurdity yet...
"Normal" phones do not significantly hinder the blind! Wake up, people! This has no obvious purpose other than yet another way to bilk medicaid on another very expensive specialty device that actually has less functionality than a normal version of the same product (no screen? That probably halved the cost to the manufacturer).
And for those who would mention SMS or caller ID, I have a friend who already has an ordinary cell phone that will read those to him (no idea on the model, but nothing special). So even those two functions don't discriminate against the blind.
Although this is undoubtably a good idea, the article doesn't mention whether the phone will translate "TXT talk", as used by just about everyone today, into actual speech. IE "HI M8, R U GONNA GO 2 the pub l8r?" etc. Hopefully the phone doesn't just spell out the text in this format...
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
Bigdog is a hero of the people. I think that cell phones are moving in the wrong direction, they should be made of wood.
--Goat
CEO, Goat Software
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