[Nfbmt] Fwd: [Trainer-talk] Another Resource for VisuallyImpaired Apple users

[Rik James]

Thank you very much.
If when we were first fooling with these things called keyboards that had 
been pecked upon like typewriters and then getting our 20 megabyte hard 
drives to store our thoughts and dreams.  And if when we began using our 
external synth o scissors to cut through the web of graphics that lay before 
us to see how the future would just keep on and on into the infinite.  I 
wonder what I would have done.
If I knew at the beginning it would be something of a choice between an 
apple and an android. I might well have just taken the greyhound to hawaii 
and elected to pick pineapples. sat around and let gene roddenberry talk to 
me of the q and the borg.

But here it is. The future is where it always was.
And I am where I've never been before.

And I wonder who will care if I bit the apple or conscripted an android.

Ah, it ain't poy fict.
But it is iz what it iz, friends.
Thank goodness Montana has pineapples, too.

I shall have to look into all of this lovely talk. Jim, Dan, and all. Great 
stuff.
Rik


-----Original Message----- 
From: Jim Marks
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 4:45 PM
To: 'NFB of Montana Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [Nfbmt] Fwd: [Trainer-talk] Another Resource for 
VisuallyImpaired Apple users

I use a Droid 4 smart phone and dabble with Apple I pads and IPods.  The
Nexus 7 would be the Android version of the Ipad Mini.  Either is a good
choice insofar as tablets go.  Accessibility is excellent in both.  The
Nexus 7 uses either Talkback, Spiel, or Mobile Accessibility.  There is a
really extensive review of the Nexus 7 on the podcast, "That Android Show."
Just Google the show name and listen to the most recent edition.

The Apple stuff uses Voiceover, and you won't go wrong choosing it on any
platform.  My preference is for Android because I like the openness of the
system.  Apple controls everything, and it's too hard to experiment with
apps and features insofar as a comparison with Android goes.  Also, Android
stuff is generally a lot cheaper.

I like my Droid 4 smart phone because it has a physical keyboard.  Touch
typing on a screen is terribly slow for me, although I bet a person gets
better at over time.  There's an app called Flexi that makes typing on a
touch screen easier.  Right now, it's only on Apple, but an Android version
is coming soon.

My Droid 4 phone's GPS is wonderful, and an app to use the Droid as a scan
and read tool just came out that's really amazing.  It's called Scanthing.
I also use my phone to read e-mail, browse the web, identify money, to
monitor Twitter and Facebook, read Newsline newspapers and magazines and
Bookshare books, identify colors on clothing, etc.

One consideration is the learning curve.  Android has poor documentation
compared to Apple.  Almost everything documentation for either is third
party.  Android documentation tends to be more scattered.

Those who like to tinker with things will like Android better than Apple.
Apple is designed to work the same way all the time.  Android lets
developers have more free rein, so the results can be a bit bumpy.  The two
platforms rob ideas from one another a lot.  Every day, the begin to
function more and more alike as a result.

Hope this info helps!




Jim Marks
Blind.grizzly at gmail.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Nfbmt [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dan Burke
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 3:24 PM
To: NFB of Montana Discussion List
Subject: Re: [Nfbmt] Fwd: [Trainer-talk] Another Resource for Visually
ImpairedApple users

The Nexus 7 is an Android OS. I had the opportunity to play with the tablet
(not the phone), and it is getting there in terms of accessibility.

In fact, I am not sure what the comparable phone from Google is called
- Nexus 4 or something?

The iPhone just works, as a lot of blind people like to say. You're tied to
the platform as far as the apps and music, etc, that you might buy for it,
for the most part.

However, I don't think the Nexus is quite as nonvisuallly accessible as the
iPhone yet.

How's that for equivocation?


On 1/29/13, Rik James <montanarikster at gmail.com> wrote:
> I really need to figure out if I want or can get one of these phones
> and figure out how much I'd use it.
> Does anyone know .. a sighted friend just got a Nexus 7, which I guess
> is an
>
> Android thing. Does anyone know if they have capacity to use the newer
> screen reading software?
>
> Thanks.
> Rik
>
>
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--
Dan Burke, President
The National Federation of the Blind of Montana

Visit us on Face Book at http://bit.ly/nfbmtfb My Cell:  406.546.8546

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