[Blindtlk] Be My Eyes

Sat Jan 17 23:13:11 UTC 2015

Hi,
  In the case of Goggles, since that is immediate info (e.g., there is no wait time for a live human) it may be useful in some cases, especially if you do not have the time to wait. I just downloaded it and tried it out after sending out that email and my wait time was probably only about 30-45 seconds, so actually quite a bit faster than VizWiz but definitely slower than Goggles (note that wait times can vary especially as BAJ had 4-5 min which is much more of my experience with VizWiz). I actually really liked this better by far than either VizWiz or TapTapSee which I  have not really liked as I have had few good experiences from TapTapSee. I liked this better for several reasons than VizWiz:

1)  If the person on the other end does not quite understand what it is you are looking for, you can provide further details.

2)  They can guide you to the best image. I had them look for an expiration date on a box. I would have not been able to get an accurate pic for VizWiz based on the experience. The person on the other end had to guide the camera to get a really clear focus and a  full image of the date. Because it was live, she could say things like move down and to the right, move the camera back... This way, she got a really clear view and had no difficulty being able to give me really accurate info.

3)  They can take the time with you. My person was really patient and also was really friendly. She did not in any way make the experience feel like, oh this poor blind person or wow what a silly question. She treated me with total respect and worked with me until we could get the best image for her to see. She even introduced herself telling me her first name and where in the country she was from. (likely this varies highly from person to person:).

4)  VizWiz usually just gives you short phrases. Sometimes I have found that the phrase provides too little info depending upon my question. This allowed her to give me any additional info I needed.

  What was interesting, was that as soon as she came on the line, her first words were the brand name of the box that was sitting in front of the camera.

  Personally, unless I end up with more apps that I feel I can handle, I will likely hold onto VizWiz and Goggles as well as CamFind as any app has its limits. Thus, there may be limitations to Be My Eyes that I am just not yet aware of.

  By the way, viewers and users can be from anywhere in the  world. My individual was from here in the US where I live but on BAJ it was someone from another country. In the settings you can specify one or I believe more language from a list of many languages.
Have a great weekend all!
Chris

________________________________________
From: Kerri Kosten [kerrik2006 at gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2015 5:23 PM
To: Szostak, Christine; Blind Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Be My Eyes

Hi Chris:
I have been hearing about this app. With this app being out now,
should I delete apps like Vizwiz and Goggles? Do you all plan to
delete those other apps?
Thanks,
Kerri

On 1/17/15, Szostak, Christine via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> HI All,
>   Some here may already know about this app, but for those that do not, the
> Blind Access Journal (for those interested they have a free audio pod) just
> recently did an episode on this.
>
>   The app is called "be my eyes" without the quotes.
>
>   It is like VisWizz gone video chat.
>
>   It is an app where you connect live with a human who uses your back camera
> to view things and give you any information. Unlike Viswizz, you do not need
> to wait around for the answer. However, it is apparently starting to get
> popular so the wait times to be connected can be a bit lengthy. I have not
> tried it out yet, but I am likely going to do so.
>
>   If anyone has tried it, I would love your thoughts on how well it worked.
>
>   The demo that BAJ did had a part where the person on the other end,
> indicated, without even being prompted to mention that a package of food
> they were discussing had an expiration date and asked if they would like to
> have it read.
> Have a wonderful (hopefully long) weekend all!
> Chris
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