[Electronics-talk] [EXTERNAL] Re: Fwd: RiVO for iPhone VoiceOver is now available in 20 languages

Mon Aug 25 21:56:18 UTC 2014

Hello Jim,

I think that any person can design a product for us, blind people, and say 
so.  What's important for us is if that product meets our needs or not. 
Each blind person is different, so it might meet the needs of some of us.
Unless the keyboard is far from meeting the needs of all of us, denying that 
that keyboard was designed for blind people might be unfair.

I have tried a small bluetooth keyboard, the same size as an iPhone and, at 
the beginning I thought it was very helpful.  It was not RIVO.  I don't 
recall its name now, but it was like a normal keyboard made very small with 
functions to control VoiceOver and very good documentation.
I didn't need to learn any new thing, because I use a normal keyboard all 
the time, but the keys are so small that I needed to be very careful not to 
touch the adjacent keys and typing took me a long time (my fingers are big). 
I thought I would get accustomed to it.

So reducing the number of keys in RIVO might be of help for people with big 
fingers, but having to press a key three times to write a character is an 
old method that I don't want to use anymore.
On the other hand, a very small normal keyboard gives the advantage of not 
having to learn anything to be able to use it (if you use a normal 
keyboard), but you will need to be very careful to press the right key, 
particularly if you have big fingers.

The little keyboard I got was very useful to me to understand the iPhone and 
made me confident.  For example, even now, I can't read my messages 
character by character on the touch screen and I don't know how to go to a 
certain position and to correct one character; I could do so very easily 
with the small keyboard.

In fact, now I don't use that keyboard, because, after I got confident, I 
started to use the touch screen and somehow got accustomed to it.  It's much 
comfortable to carry just the iPhone, but I still keep that little keyboard, 
because I think that I might still need it in some instances.

Some of us might prefer this little keyboard, others might prefer RIVO and 
others might prefer the touch screen.  Others might prefer Siri. I think 
it's good to have many options, so blind people can enjoy the iPhone in the 
way they want and change from one method to another until they find the 
method that's most suitable for them.

HTH

George

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Barbour via Electronics-talk" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
To: "Baracco, Andrew W" <Andrew.Baracco at va.gov>; "Discussion of accessible 
electronics and appliances" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2014 6:13 AM
Subject: Re: [Electronics-talk] [EXTERNAL] Re: Fwd: RiVO for iPhone 
VoiceOver is now available in 20 languages

Hey Andrew,

I totally get its purpose, I just don't understand why they're saying
it was design for blind people.

Jim

On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 02:11:16PM -0700, Baracco, Andrew W via 
Electronics-talk wrote:
> It's a way to get around having to use the touch screen. One can think of 
> it as a kind of remote control.
>
> Andy
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Electronics-talk [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
> Behalf Of Christine Szostak via Electronics-talk
> Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 12:34 PM
> To: Jim Barbour; Discussion of accessible electronics and appliances
> Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [Electronics-talk] Fwd: RiVO for iPhone VoiceOver 
> is now available in 20 languages
>
> Excellent question Jim, I would also be really curious about this. The 
> only thing I can think is that they mean  that it works well with VO which 
> honestly, the apple Bluetooth keyboard works just fine with VO as well:).
> Happy Monday!
> Chris
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Barbour via Electronics-talk" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
> To: "Poppa Bear" <heavens4real at gmail.com>; "Discussion of accessible 
> electronics and appliances" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 2:18 PM
> Subject: Re: [Electronics-talk] Fwd: RiVO for iPhone VoiceOver is now 
> available in 20 languages
>
>
> All bluetooth keyboards can interact with Apple messaging, including text 
> messaging.
>
> What I can't really tell is what make the RIVO keyboard different than 
> other bluetooth keyboards, and what it means to be a bluetooth keyboard 
> designed for the blind?  What special needs do we have around BT 
> keyboards?
>
> Anybody know?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim
>
> On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 10:13:53AM -0800, Poppa Bear via Electronics-talk
> wrote:
> > Can this blue tooth keyboard interact with I phone text messaging? In
> > the past Apple did not allow their texting program to be accessed via
> > Blue Tooth from what I understand. Perhaps I am wrong, and you can
> > correct me.
> > Thanks
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Electronics-talk [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> > Behalf Of David Andrews via Electronics-talk
> > Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 9:59 AM
> > To: promotion-technology at nfbnet.org
> > Subject: [Electronics-talk] Fwd: RiVO for iPhone VoiceOver is now
> > available in 20 languages
> >
> >
> > >
> > >Hi,
> > >
> > >Sorry for the inconvenience, we are trying to reach as many visually
> > >challenged people as possible who might have never heard of RiVO for
> > >iPhone VoiceOver, which is currently available in 20 language versions.
> > >
> > >Briefly, RiVO is a portable Bluetooth keyboard about the size of a
> > >credit card. Being designed for blind or visually impaired users of
> > >iPhone, it supports VoiceOver, text typing and editing, music and
> > >audio control. RiVO is a smart keyboard to use iPhone easily quickly
> > >and precisely to make the most out of it.
> > >
> > >Smartphone is an important tool for everyone alike. We wish whoever
> > >has difficulty with touchscreen also become good at using smartphone
> > >and great apps to find greater possibilities in their lives.
> > >
> > >If you're interested, try listening to an introductory audio podcast
> > >about RiVO English version thanks to one of our customers in
> > >Australia atÂ <http://goo.gl/IGAM3q>http://goo.gl/IGAM3qÂ For more
> > >information about RiVO, please visit RiVO homepage atÂ
> > ><http://mobience.com/rivo>http://mobience.com/rivo
> > >
> > >Thanks. Best wishes, RiVO Team at Mobience
> >
> >          David Andrews and long white cane Harry.
> > E-Mail:  dandrews at visi.com or david.andrews at nfbnet.org
> > _______________________________________________
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