[Blindtlk] [nabs-l] notetakers: are they worth buying anymore?

[T. Joseph Carter]

I don’t think they do, or at least I think their lifespan is limited.

First, there’s very little that can justify the cost of an Apex these 
days.  It just costs too much.  Second, I don’t know how many times I 
have heard the excuse from our chapter secretary that his BN crashed 
and he needs someone else to get him a recording or produce minutes 
or something.  Both it and the PAC mate have a solid reputation for 
being about as stable as a house of cards in a tornado.  During an 
earthquake.  While a volcano is erupting.

And while the PAC mate is supposed to be so great because it can run 
"standard" software for the platform, most of the software doesn’t 
actually work with it properly and the platform has pretty much taken 
a back seat to iOS and Android at this point.

At the beginning of the PDA revolution, there was Palm.  (Actually, 
there was Apple with the Newton, but I’m talking successful PDA 
revolution here…)  Then Handspring came along and produced a Palm 
that was better than the Palm.  There were accessories the people who 
made it never intended, including a folding laptop-style keyboard 
called the Stowaray, and suddenly there was no need to lug a laptop 
in to a meeting to take notes.  Plus the thing was SO COOL, and it 
cost a small fraction of what a laptop did that wasn’t as fast or as 
convenient to the task!

Of course, none of this is accessible.

Fast forward about 15 years or so and today sighted people likely use 
an iPad or Android-based wannabe tablet for the same purpose.  They 
may or may not use an external Bluetooth keyboard.  They could use an 
iPhone (or wannabe) for the same purpose, but the sighted like having 
big screens that are easy to see, so the preference is the iPad.

But the blind can tell you that the iPhone is just as useful, and 
perhaps more so because you can’t stuff an iPad into a pocket (unless 
you’re wearing a Scott-E-Vest which is just comical and not really 
the point.)  There are flip-out keyboard cases for the iPhone 4 
(which are a great idea for any blind user) and small Braille I/O 
devices that are much more comfortable to ear than the brick-like 
note taker of yesteryear.

And accessibility is improving, in general, on the iPhone.  Even the 
Android platform is starting to see some movement in that direction.  
At some point either platform will be viable to the blind, at least 
as effective as a PAC mate, probably as easy to use as a BrailleNote, 
and cheaper than any of the above.

If anybody has a future with the form factor of the traditional note 
taker, it’s LevelStar, which figured out that having their own custom 
software just doesn’t make sense anymore.  They’re building on the 
proven interface of the Icon (their own software) and putting it into 
Android itself giving you the ease of a BrailleNote and the function 
of an Android device.  And if the guys at LevelStar stay true to 
form, they’re going to bring it to you for a lot less than HumanWare 
does.

Neither iOS nor Android is ready to replace KeySoft IMO, but KeySoft 
is still the same program HumanWare has been schlepping for decades 
now with big ticket upgrade fees for small, incremental feature 
additions.  In fact, I remember the "major" upgrade (with SMA usage 
or paid outright) for KeySoft 7.5 to add RFB&D book support to my 
little PK less than six months after I bought the thing!  More than a 
year ago, I read a blog article from the CEO of Serotek about the 
"blind ghetto" technology.

He was talking about Freedom Scientific and HumanWare specifically, 
and how neither company seems to truly innovate.  Why should they?  
So far they’ve been able to foist minor evolutions of products that 
are becoming less and less stable for exorbitant upgrade fees, or 
make minor revisions to a product while maintaining an existing price 
point.  The exceptions for HumanWare were the Apex and the Victor 
Reader Stream, the former of which saw a massive cost increase that 
isn’t going down anytime soon, and the latter was made some five 
years ago.

Meanwhile new players are filling the market with devices that are 
better than anything any of the big players has to offer at a 
fraction of the cost.  Companies like LevelStar, HIMS, SeroTek, and 
even GW Micro has dipped its toes in the water here and there.  They 
are still making blindness-specific products, but they’re taking a 
fresh look and realizing that if they can’t deliver products that are 
better or cheaper or both than the legacy dinosaurs (and each other), 
they will die out.

The BrailleNote will die off because people will move on.  There are 
still people out there using Braille 'n' Speaks, but not many these 
days.  The BrailleNote will follow suit.  The PAC mate is halfway 
there already, if you ask me.

Joseph - KF7QZC


On Sun, Jul 24, 2011 at 10:01:57PM -0400, Chris Nusbaum wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>I don't have a set opinion on this matter as of yet, but I'd like to 
>initiate the discussion.  I'm noticing a trend in the blindness 
>technology field: PC's can do most everything a notetaker 
>(BrailleNote, BrailleSense, PacMate, etc.) can do, with some obvious 
>changes and differences, and in some cases can do and support more 
>than the notetaker.  This is also true with the ever-improving 
>accessible smartphones and tablets: the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, 
>(the semiaccessible) Android phones, the KNFB Reader, etc.  Yes, the 
>notetakers have built-in Braille displays, but you can also install a 
>stand-alone Braille display on a computer to display what's on the 
>screen, or you could just buy a screen reader (text-to-speech, not 
>text-to-Braille) as a replacement for the Braille display...  that 
>is, if you think it is in fact a replacement for refreshable Braille.  
>That's another question for all of you in this discussion.  So, 
>here's the question: with all the advancements and capabilities of a 
>computer and screen readers or stand-alone refreshable Braille 
>displays, is it worth it, in your opinion, to buy a notetaker 
>anymore? What, given all the things a PC can do, is the real purpose 
>of the notetakers now? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
>
>Chris
>
>"A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities motto)
>
>The I C.A.N.  Foundation helps visually impaired youth in Maryland 
>have the ability to confidently say "I can!" How? Click on this link 
>to learn more and to contribute: www.icanfoundation.info or like us 
>on Facebook at I C.A.N.  Foundation.
>
>Sent from my BrailleNote
>
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