[Promotion-technology] My Observations About the Braille Edge 40From HIMS

[Sharon Klug]

Has anyone done an evaluation on the perkins mini that handy tech of north 
america sells?
Sharon


-----Original Message----- 
From: David Andrews
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2012 8:45 PM
To: promotion-technology at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Promotion-technology] My Observations About the Braille Edge 
40From HIMS


>
>From: "Michael D. Barber" <nfbiowa at qwestoffice.net>
>To: "List for teachers and trainers of adaptive technology"
>         <trainer-talk at nfbnet.org>
>Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2012 20:35:35 -0500
>Subject: [Trainer-talk] My Observations About the Braille Edge 40 From HIMS
>
>Good evening:  I wanted to share with the List my observations about the
>above subject unit I was privileged to test just before our national
>convention.
>
>BrailleEdge 40:  The Newest Offering by HIMS-Inc.
>
>Presented by
>
>Michael D. Barber, President
>NFB Assistive Technology Trainers Division
>
>
>My very first introduction to the world of refreshable Braille was in 1991
>during my employment as the first totally blind customer service
>representative at then Norwest Card Services (later to become Wells Fargo
>Card Services.)  My job was to help customers understand their monthly
>statements, assist with replacing lost or stolen cards, make necessary
>monetary adjustments to their statements, give balances, etc.
>
>At that time, I was using Artic Business Vision, but because of unresolved
>conflicts between Norwest's system and the screen reading technology, it 
>was
>clear my short stay at Norwest was in jeopardy.  Enter Humanware and the
>Alva 280 braille display.
>
>I had never seen a braille display and was totally unfamiliar with what 
>they
>could do.  This Alva display was a job saver for me, because now I could,
>without any conflicts at all, do all the things my sighted coworkers were
>doing.
>
>Since then, I've seen many different displays, ranging from the 80-cell
>display all the way down to the 12-cell display offered by the Braille Pen
>12 display.  Some of these displays are simply that;  braille displays,
>while others offer the ability to actually take notes using their
>Perkins-style or QWERTY keyboards as seen  with the Braillenote and
>Braillesense and other devices.    The most recent offering I've seen is 
>the
>BrailleEdge 40 from HIMS-Inc.
>
>The BrailleEdge 40 is a very basic notetaking device manufactured by
>Hims-Inc.  It features a 40-cell braille display, an nine-key Perkins style
>keyboard, 8 function keys, eight navigation buttons, four scroll buttons 
>and
>40 cursor-routing keys.   Additionally, it operates using the Windows CE 
>5.0
>operating system and has a Lithium polymer battery which will last
>approximately 20 hours before it needs recharging.  The package will 
>include
>a USB cable, an AC power adapter, a CD containing the manual, as well as a
>2GB SD card. The unit measures approximately 12 inches long and about 4
>inches deep and weighs about 2 pounds.  Its primary function is that of a
>Braille display, either for the JAWS, Window-Eyes and NVDA screen readers,
>or for IOS devices.  At present, it does not work with the 5.11 IOS
>software; however, it did work with the prior build, according to HIMS.
>They are hopeful that Apple will fix the problem in the next software
>release.
>
>With this unit, you can open BRF files such as those found on Web Braille,
>create new BRL files and edit text files.  It also has a calculator,
>planner, stopwatch, countdown timer, and an alarm.  Its price is slightly
>under $3,000, which is about half the price of other popular note taking
>devices on the market.
>
>While this unit provides a nice ergonomic design for the keyboard, and 
>The
>keys are easy to push and very responsive,   I experienced a problem in
>getting one particular setting to hold in the Options menu.  I wanted the
>unit to start in a new document and it would not.  HIMS indicates this is a
>known problem.  I did note that when I pressed the reset button on the rear
>panel of the unit that the unit would start up and I was placed in a new
>document.  Powering down and then back up produced the same result as
>before, and I was in the main menu once again.  I also noted that when you
>edit a text document and use contracted braille, it's best to read the 
>saved
>file on a computer using a braille display because at present there is no
>reverse translation and the speech synthesizer will  not read properly.
>HIMS officials indicated they would pass on this concern with hopes this
>would be fixed in future updates.
>
>I was able to successfully install the needed drivers so the unit would 
>work
>nicely with JAWS.  When you connect the unit to the computer using the USB
>cable, the BrailleEdge automatically powers up and you're immediately 
>placed
>in Terminal mode.  I then had to unload and reload JAWS so that the braille
>display became active.
>
>The manual which accompanies the unit was easy enough to follow and the
>steps to perform various functions were written in an easy-to-follow style.
>
>
>
>My conclusions are these:
>
>1.      Hims has developed an excellent product which is principally for 
>use
>as a Braille display or taking notes.
>2.      With the price being about half of what other known note taking
>devices, this will be attractive to individuals and rehabilitation agencies
>alike.
>3.      The unit is very comfortable to write on.
>4.      The braille on the display is very firm and easy to read.
>5.      This unit will accommodate up to a 32-gigabyte SD card allowing for
>a vast amount of storage.
>6.      Although this is a very functional unit, I fear that because of the
>small percentage of people reading or writing braille, it may not sell as
>well as it could otherwise.
>7.      I could live with a unit half its size using a 20-cell display 
>which
>would add improved portability.
>
>
>Cordially,
>Michael D. Barber
>(515) 771-8348


_______________________________________________
Promotion-technology mailing list
Promotion-technology at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/promotion-technology_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
Promotion-technology:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/promotion-technology_nfbnet.org/sharon-klug%40att.net