[Electronics-Talk] All About Braille Displays

[Jim McCarthy]

Dannielle
Assuming that you reside in one of the United States or its territories,
there is an Assistive Technology Act program available to you. Part of what
these programs are challenged to do is to make available a large collection
of devices in a product category. So as an example, I oversee Maryland's
program and we have the majority of devices you asked about in this email. I
am suggesting check out your state's AT act program first, but it may not
have the selection you really need to see in order to make the choice. If
not getting that information may be a bit more difficult. These programs
also should permit you to borrow displays so you can try before you buy.
Your email highlights some of the choices for consideration and  suggests
you may be making the purchase yourself rather than getting it funded by a
state rehabilitation agency. As you say, these devices are expensive and one
would not wish to make a purchase she will not be happy with in the long
run. Notetakers come with the programs built in, calculator, calendar, email
client, internet browser and perhaps some more for NLS books and a few more.
These devices, of which the Apex definitely is one, have speech in addition
to refreshable braille. There are devices somewhere less in features like
the braille Edge and the Vario Ultra. These have the ability to take notes
perhaps storing on storage media, or in the case of the vario ultra, on
media or internally. Finally, there are devices like the BraillePen and the
Focus, probably also the Smart Beatle, that have no storage but drive an IOS
and Android device with the keyboard and allow the user to receive braille
output. The smart phone has all the applications, many are accessible,
several are not, and even those that are may not have been tested by blind
users or built with our needs in mind. This class of display, like the vario
and the edge, do not speak. Because one is using the smartphone for speech,
that may not matter. For programs on the vario, word processing, calculator
and so forth, there will be no speech. For me personally, when I have lots
of reading, I manage better by listening than reading in braille, but there
are lots of reading apps for smart phones so I can manage that fine. Of the
products about which I am aware, I think the Vario Ultra to be my preferred,
but it is not the least expensive, it's note taker functions are relatively
complicated to learn and perhaps a few other things against it if I thought
for a while. I owned an Apex for a long time and still do. During its life,
I had probably 5 instances when I needed to send it for repairs. I am pretty
sure I purchased it in 2010 so that is almost one repair per year. In my
opinion, the email and web browser functions of the device are antiquated,
easy to master for blind people, but very slow and not efficient. The
company will not update that but if one has a smart phone and pairs the apex
to the smart phone, you have the power of that browser or your choice of
browsers and the same for email programs. It seems the bottom line is to see
as many of these as you can, talk to their users and try to determine how
you expect to use the device. You will have it a rather long time and quite
a bit of money will be paid for it so shop wisely now.
Jim 

-----Original Message-----
From: Electronics-Talk [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Danielle Ledet via Electronics-Talk
Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2017 8:30 PM
To: electronics-talk at nfbnet.org
Cc: Danielle Ledet; Blind Talk Mailing List; nabop at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Electronics-Talk] All About Braille Displays

Hello Everyone,

This is cross posted. I've always wanted a Braille display and felt I could
benefit from one. Hoever, I am quite overwhelmed by all the choices and yet
my income doesn't mesh with the prices! I notice that some such as the
Braille Pen and Brailleant are noted as portable for use with smart phones.
Given that, I know folks who utilize a BrailleNote for such purposes. Which
Braille display or notetaker do you all recommend and why? Is their a major
difference between those billed as BD's and others billed as
PDA's/notetakers? Also, what are the drawbacks you notice with your favorite
device?

There is a sale on the Apex, but someone recently postsed that he was having
some incompatibility issues with web surfing with it. I am not sure this is
worth the investment if it is becoming obsolete. I notice too the PK and
mPower are still being sold. Are they still supported by HumanWare? Lastly,
what is recommened for a braille printer for home use that is still being
distributed?

I hope you all made it to the end and can give me some helpful usable
feedback! I just want to make sure that when the dollars are dropped they
are on the correct most relevant choice for myself.



--
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young,
compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of
the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of
these.
George Washington Carver
Email: singingmywayin at gmail.com

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