[Electronics-talk] The first elevated-Pin Braille Smartphone Gets A Prototype

[Tracy Carcione]

My question is, are the pins sturdy enough to actually be touched?  It 
wouldn't be much good, if the pins go down while one is trying to read them. 
Sounds obvious, but I've heard of sighted developers missing it before.
Tracy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christopher Chaltain" <chaltain at gmail.com>
To: "Discussion of accessible electronics and appliances" 
<electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 10:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Electronics-talk] The first elevated-Pin Braille Smartphone 
Gets A Prototype


>I think this is a great technological achievement. I do question one 
>statement though and that is that apps like those used for currency 
>recognition were developed simply as work arounds to the lack of a braille 
>interface. I think such apps have their own merit and would continue to be 
>useful and developed even with the advent of a braille interface.
>
> On 04/24/2013 09:46 PM, David Andrews wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> The First Elevated-Pin Braille Smartphone Gets A Prototype
>>>
>>> Incoming text gets translated into braille through little pins,
>>> constantly moving up and down to convey what's happening in the phone.
>>>
>>> By Colin Lecher
>>> Popular Science, April 22, 2013.
>>>
>>> With smartphone interaction mostly relying on sight, since there's no
>>> tactile difference to what's on the screen, some blind people have
>>> turned to apps to make up the difference. These apps can do some
>>> pretty impressive things, like determine the denomination of currency
>>> or read text out loud, rendering braille unnecessary for some tasks.
>>>
>>> But those were workarounds, to make up for the inability to create an
>>> actual braille interface. For about three years, a team of inventors
>>> in India have been working on a smartphone that can turn apps and text
>>> into braille. Now they've got a prototype.
>>>
>>> The phone, from the Centre for Innovation Incubation and
>>> Entrepreneurship in Ahmedabad, translates text into braille by
>>> elevating pins: after the text or email or webpage comes in, the pins
>>> form a braille version that the user can touch to read. It's not clear
>>> what operating system the phone will run on--Android? Something else?
>>> but according to the Times Of India, it'll feature "all other
>>> elements" that your more traditional smartphone would have.
>>>
>>> The creators, led by inventor Sumit Dagar, are shooting for a release
>>> by the end of 2013. Starting price? Just less than 10,000 rupees, or
>>> about $185.
>>>
>>> [Times Of India]
>>>
>>> from:http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2013-04/inventors-make-braille-sm
>>>
>>> artphone-blind
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Electronics-talk mailing list
>> Electronics-talk at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Electronics-talk:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/chaltain%40gmail.com
>>
>
> -- 
> Christopher (CJ)
> chaltain at Gmail
>
> _______________________________________________
> Electronics-talk mailing list
> Electronics-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> Electronics-talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/carcione%40access.net
>