[Nfbofsc] FW: A Review of the Odin VI: An Accessible Feature Phone from Odin Mobile, Dan's tip for January 14 2015

[Steve & Shannon Cook]

Steve and Shannon Cook

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Today I married my best friend.  

The one that I laugh with, live for, love.

October 11, 2003 

 

From: dan Thompson [mailto:dthompson5 at mchsi.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 7:02 AM
To: dan Thompson
Subject: A Review of the Odin VI: An Accessible Feature Phone from Odin
Mobile, Dan's tip for January 14 2015

 

A Review of the Odin VI: An Accessible Feature Phone from Odin Mobile

By Bill Holton

American Foundatio For the Blind, Access World

http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw160103

 

In previous issues of AccessWorld we reviewed three accessible feature
phones, cell phones whose functions are limited to making calls and sending
and receiving text messages. These phones, which include the
<http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw110704> Samsung Haven, 

 <http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw110704>
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw110704

 

 <https://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw141105> Kyocera Kona

https://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw141105

 

and  <http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw150603> Kyocera Verve

http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw150603

 

use physical buttons to access and control their features, instead touch
screens-which these days are nearly universal in smartphone design. Many
individuals with visual impairments still prefer the simplicity and lower
subscription costs of feature phones, however, and in this article I'll
describe a fourth accessible feature phone, The Odin VI Talking Mobile
Phone.

The Odin VI was designed from the ground up to be low- or no-vision
accessible. It can be purchased either with an Odin Mobile service plan,
starting at a cost of $10 per month, or unlocked for use with any GSM
service provider, including AT&T or T-Mobile.

What You Get

The Odin VI package includes the phone itself, a charging stand, and a USB
power cable and wall adapter. The user accessible battery comes
preinstalled, and is rated to provide up to five hours of talk time and ten
days of standby. Odin Mobile customers will receive their phones with the
SIM card also preinstalled. The company offers phone and text services via
T-Mobile. The company also provides customer service and tech support
specifically tailored to users with visual impairments. Additionally, Odin
Mobile customers can schedule a free telephone training session with a
company accessibility specialist.

The Odin VI manual arrived via e-mail in Word file that was 100-percent
accessible. There were no diagrams or pictures that all too commonly voice
as, "To do this, press the 'IMAGE' button." Braille or recorded versions are
not available, but technical support is free, and the Odin Mobile
representatives I spoke with were without exception extremely knowledgeable
about the phone's features.

A Touch Tour

Many feature phones use a "flip" design that unfolds to reveal the screen
and keypad. The Odin VI uses a two-part design, with a single display that
is always visible and a keypad that is accessed by sliding the screen
section upward.

When in the closed and locked position, the Odin VI is a bit thicker than
many flip phones, but it fit comfortably in my palm with the screen side up.
Beneath the screen there are five color-coded buttons.

The square green Call button is located at the far left. The round red
End/Cancel button is to the far right. Between these buttons is a narrow,
horizontal blue OK button, and above and below this button, the black Up and
Down navigation buttons.

Beneath these buttons, on the bottom edge of the phone, there are two square
indentations in the phone's case, which connect the phone to the charger. It
was a simple matter to position the phone for charging, and with the phone
turned on you can be confident you have things right when the VI beeps and
announces "Charger connected."

The battery compartment is on the rear of the phone. The battery comes
preinstalled, but the compartment was easy to access, and the battery only
fits one way so you know you have it in the proper position. The SIM tray is
located beneath the battery, and it is thoughtfully designed and extremely
easy to access. There is also a micro-SD slot that contains the
text-to-speech voices and which the company does not recommend accessing or
removing.

The left edge of the Odin VI includes two ports. Near the top is a headphone
jack. Near the center is a USB port you can use to charge the phone by
either connecting it to a computer with the included USB cable or connecting
it directly to an outlet via the cable and power adapter. You must pop out a
plastic flap before you can access the USB port, however, which may present
problems for individuals with limited manual dexterity. Those users will
appreciate the included charger, since you merely need to slide the phone
onto that accessory to begin charging.

There are three buttons on the right edge. From top to bottom they are the
Repeat Speech button, which we will discuss below, and the Volume Up and
Volume Down buttons. When you are on a call, the volume buttons will adjust
the call volume. Otherwise, they will adjust the volume of the phone's
built-in speech.

Holding the phone with the screen up and the bottom toward you, there is a
lip between the phone sections. This is where you slide the two halves apart
to expose the phone's 12-key dial pad. The keys have excellent rise and
separation. It is extremely easy to find the key you wish.

Set Up

There is no sighted assistance required to set up the voice guide. In fact,
there is no voice guide setup required at all. Simply press and hold the
round, red End button until you hear an old fashioned telephone ring.
Release the button, and in about fifteen seconds the phone will begin to
speak. The unit I tested used the Daniel voice, but there is also a female
voice, Serena, available from the settings menu. Both of these were among
the clearest and easiest to understand text-to-speech voices I have
encountered on a feature phone.

Hold down the End button again to turn off the phone. Odin VI will ask if
you want to turn it off. Press the OK button to confirm.

With the voice guide enabled, when you slide the dial pad open, the phone
sounds a click to let you know the phone is at the home screen and ready to
use. If you press the Repeat Speech key on the right edge of the phone at
this point, the phone will announce your carrier, signal strength, and
battery level. You can obtain any single piece of this information by
performing a dial pad combination, such as star + pound + zero + 1 + pound
to get the battery level, but these combinations seem needlessly complex and
take more time than listening to the complete status rundown.

When you start the phone, the keys are unlocked. To lock the keys, slide the
dial pad out and then back in. Slide the dial pad back out to unlock the
phone. You can also press first the Call button and then the End button to
unlock the phone. This will come in handy if you wish to make a call, send
or read a text message, or access the phone's settings and menus, all of
which you can accomplish without sliding out the phone's dial pad.

The first time you start the Odin VI you are asked to set the time and date.
This is a simple matter, except for one issue. If you make a mistake, it is
not obvious what you need to do to backspace over the wrong character. The
End/Cancel button does the trick, but the phone does not auto-announce
either the deleted character or what is left. You must press the Repeat
Speech button to figure things out. This can be awkward. For example, when I
typed my name into a text message and spelled it with three Ls-B, i, l, l,
l-the mistake was not obvious, since there is no spell check. Uncertain
whether I had typed two, three, or even four Ls, I had to press End/Cancel
repeatedly, each time pausing to press the Repeat Speech key, until I
reached the "i," at which time I retyped the two Ls.

The Odin VI uses the standard dial pad method of entering characters-press
the 2 button twice to enter a B, three times for C, etc. Speech does not
always keep up with fast key entry, however, and too often I had to rely on
the Repeat Speech button to figure out where I was. This problem could be
fixed easily with the addition of some way to cursor left and right to
review by character, word, or sentence.

The Voice Guide

As mentioned, the Odin VI Voice Guide does not need to be activated; it
starts up automatically every time you turn on the phone. You can toggle the
voice off and then back on, though, if you wish to let a sighted friend or
relative use your phone. Do this by pressing and holding down the Repeat
Speech button for several seconds to turn the Voice Guide off, then again to
toggle it back on. There are a few other settings you can adjust, and they
are found in the Settings Menu. 

*	Language: You can choose to have the VI speak and show menu options
in US English, British English, and several other major languages. The
British English uses the male Nuance Daniel voice; the US English uses the
female Serena voice.
*	Speed: You can adjust the Voice Guide by one percent increments from
85% of normal speed to 120%.
*	Voice Guide: Male or female. The English version requires you to
switch from British to US English to change from male to female voices.
Other language packs include both, and this option allows you to choose
which you wish to use.

We will describe how to make these and other changes to the phone's settings
below, but first, let's make and receive a call.

Using the Odin VI for Calls

Similar to most feature phones, you can make a call at any time by entering
the number on the dial pad and then pressing the Call button. The End button
disconnects the call. During any call, you can press the Call button to use
the Odin VI as a speaker phone.

When you receive a phone call, the phone announces either the phone number
or the name of the caller, depending on whether or not that number is in
your contact list (see below). The Odin VI also announces when you have
missed a call and when a text message or a voice mail is waiting. To listen
to your voice mail, press and hold the 1 key, or call 123. The Odin VI also
adds a voice mail entry to your contact list. Strangely, setting up and
accessing voice mail is not covered in the product documentation.

If you receive a text message, press the Up Arrow button to open your inbox.
Press the OK button to have the message text spoken. Press the OK button a
second time if you wish to reply.

The Up Arrow key pressed repeatedly from the phone's home screen also calls
up the text message outbox and the "Write a Message" control. The Down Arrow
key summons your contact list. Press OK to make a phone call, or use the Add
Contact control to create a new contact.

The Main Menu

The main menu is accessed by pressing the OK button from the home screen.
The options include: 

*	Call Log: Here you can review your received, missed, and dialed
calls. Easily add a number to your contact list by highlighting it with the
Up or Down Arrow key, then press the dial pad 0 (zero) key.
*	Contacts: This will bring up your contact list, the same as if you
had pressed the Down Arrow key from the phone's home screen.
*	Messages: This will bring up your Messages list, the same as if you
had pressed the Up Arrow key from the phone's home screen.
*	Alarms: You can set 30 different alarms and give each a descriptive
name. This feature allows the phone to act both as an alarm clock and a
calendar.
*	Help: The Help menu calls up a list of useful topics and briefly
describes how to use the phone's various features. Context sensitive help is
not available.

The Settings Menu

The last option in the Odin VI main menu is Settings. Here you can reset the
phone's time and date. You can choose the Voice Guide language and set the
voice speed. You can set the default ring tone-there are three-and set the
Vibrate mode to Never, Always, or Silent Mode, which turns off the ringer
and vibrates without a ring when you receive a call or text message.

If you enable the Talking Watch option, whenever you slide open the Odin VI
the time will be announced. You can also set up to three S.O.S. numbers. In
case of emergency, simply press and hold down any key except the End/Cancel
button and the VI will try calling each of them in turn and place the phone
in speaker mode. If this feature is useful to you, consider two family
members or friends for S.O.S. numbers one and two, and 911 for S.O.S. 3, in
case the first two options can't be reached. The phone announces "Emergency
call in progress. Press the red key to cancel," which is useful if you have
dexterity issues.

The final two Settings options are aimed toward users with low vision. The
Odin VI presents screen text in 24-point font, and message text in 12-point
font. You can't change these defaults, but you can increase contrast by
setting the screen to display using white text on a black background, and
set screen brightness to one of five levels.

Summing Up

The Odin VI is without doubt the most accessible feature phone I have ever
tested. With the exceptions of the backspace characters not being voiced and
the lack of cursor review, this phone performed exceptionally well.

At $150 for the locked version and $199.99 for the unlocked version, the
Odin VI is a bit on the pricey side. Most carriers offer multiple
smartphones at this price point, or even lower.
<http://odinmobile.com/plans/> The Odin Mobile service plans do seem quite
reasonable-ranging from $10 per month for 150 minutes of talk and unlimited
text to $40 for unlimited talk and text.

Sprint and Verizon both offer accessible feature phones, but T-Mobile and
AT&T do not. If you do wish to use a feature phone and you already have a
contract with T-Mobile or AT&T, or perhaps the best coverage in your area is
available from one of these carriers, the Odin VI is definitely the phone
for you.

Texas residents with visual impairments may be eligible to receive a free
Odin VI as part of the state's  <http://odinmobile.com/texas-stap-program/>
Specialized Telecommunications Assistance Program (STAP). Maryland residents
with visual impairments may also receive a free Odin VI through the
<http://doit.maryland.gov/mdrelay/Pages/equipment.aspx> Maryland Accessible
Telecommunications Program (MAT). 

 <http://odinmobile.com/texas-stap-program/>
http://odinmobile.com/texas-stap-program/

 

 

Maryland residents with visual impairments may also receive a free Odin VI
through the  Maryland Accessible Telecommunications Program (MAT)

http://doit.maryland.gov/mdrelay/Pages/equipment.aspx

 

California and Missouri are also currently evaluating the Odin VI for
inclusion in their free phone programs.

 

Product Information

Product: The Odin VI  <http://odinmobile.com/phones/odin-vi/> locked 

http://odinmobile.com/phones/odin-vi/

 

or  <http://odinmobile.com/phones/odin-vi-unlocked/> unlocked 

http://odinmobile.com/phones/odin-vi-unlocked/


Manufacturer:  <http://odinmobile.com/> Odin Mobile 
http://odinmobile.com/

 

Price: $150 with an Odin subscription or pay as you go plan using the
T-Mobile network; $199.99 with T-Mobile, AT&T, or other GSM mobile networks.

 

 

 

 

 

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My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my
rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Psalm 62:1-2 

 

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