[Mdabs] FW: [nfbwnews] Prepaid cell phone that reads texts

Melissa Ann Riccobono melissa at riccobono.us
Thu Aug 29 22:30:26 UTC 2013


Hello everyone,
I got this from another list I'm on, and thought some of you might be
interested. I know there is tons of iPhone loyalty, and I'm certainly in the
fan club, but this phone seems to be a very economical option if someone
only wants the basics, or can't afford something more pricey at this time.
Hope this is helpful.
Melissa

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwnews [mailto:nfbwnews-bounces at nfbwis.org] On Behalf Of clbuggs
tds.net
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2013 1:17 PM
To: nfbwnews at nfbwis.org
Subject: [nfbwnews] Prepaid cell phone that reads texts

Hello Everyone,


I recently discovered that there is a prepaid cell phone that has a couple
of features that make it more usable by the blind than any other prepaid
phone I've found.


We're hosting an exchange student from Egypt this school year who is blind.
In picking out a prepaid phone for him, we choose a $20 phone from Walmart
that works with the prepaid service provider Tracfone.  Little did we know
at the time that this little $20 cell phone would pack a big surprise.


We purchased the LG 440G flip phone, which comes with double minutes for the
life of the phone.  This means that buying 60 airtime minutes from Tracfone
will result in 120 minutes being added to the phone.


While most of the phone is sadly not accessible, there are 2 features that
make it better than other phones that I have seen.


1.  Voice Commands

You can call a phone number or name in your contacts by using this feature.
In addition, you can check the date and time and check your voicemail and
messages.


2.  Text to Speech

There is a dedicated button for this feature that enables you to have text
messages read aloud.  I wish this worked for reading the menus, but it does
not.


For partially blind users, you can increase the font size on the display and
change the background color.


While not perfect, it's the most accessible prepaid phone I've found thus
far.



Chuck Buggs


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