The VoiceOver volume is separate from the phone's volume. It can be turned up very loud, but there is a trick to it. You need to turn up the volume while VO is speaking.
Unless you are calling a lot of numbers that are not in your contacts, I've found that I rarely use the keypad, but that the keypad is quite easy to use. You can create a list of favorite numbers which acts as a sort of speed dial. Mail is not set up the way you describe, because there really isn't enough room on the screen. There is a screen for switching mailboxes, and once in a mailbox, you just ahve a list of messages. The touch screen does seem strange at first, but that's only because it is an input medium with which the blind are, by and large, totally unfamiliar with. It rapidly becomes second nature. I can't imagine going back to any of my previous phones. The iPhone is far faster and efficient than any other phone with third-party screen readers, and I can do far more with the iPhone than I have ever been able to with previous phones I've owned. HTH. On Jul 8, 2009, at 9:37 PM, Kevin Reeves wrote: > > I just got back from the Green Hills Apple Store in > Nashville Tn. > My intention was to go and look at the iPhone, and probably walk out > with one if I liked what I saw. However, due to the lengthy process of > making a purchase, the apple store stopped selling iPhones about an > hour and a half before they closed. I showed up 5 minutes after this > cutoff time, but was encouraged to look at the display model as long > as I liked until close. Upon enquiring about having a sales person > turn on Voiceover, they called on another rep who had more experience > with Vo. Turns out, he has some form of visual impairment, which > causes him to have to use the zoom feature. He knew right where vo > was, and turned it on for me. Now, the journey begins. > > My immediate observation was that of many other people. Vo is too > quiet, even with the volume cranked. In a store with a great deal of > background noise, I found vo somewhat hard to hear. Should have > followed my gut instinct and brought a headset along with me. > > My first 10 minutes with the phone was met with some uncertainty. I > was successfully able to explore the phone and open several apps. > However, I found the sensitivity of the touch screen a bit strange. > While dragging my finger along the icons, some would open at random. > At first, I found myself quite lost inside of the apps I was opening. > However, I soon found a consistent pattern to how these apps are laid > out. Once I realized this, I was better able to navigate around > several apps. I was soon successfully able to dial my own phone > number, making my cell phone ring in my pocket. Then, using my cell > phone, I was able to call the display model, answering and ending said > call. In the iPod app, I was able to choose a playlist and start it > playing. I was able to then pause, advance to next track, etc. I even > found myself able to locate the transport button I wanted without > thinking. I guess that's where muscle memory really starts to come > into play. I was not, however, able to bend my head around how to drag > a slider, such as the icon that allows you to advance through a song. > I think there was a tutor message, which would have given me those > instructions, but I accidentally interrupted it, and was unable to get > it to tell me again. > My cursory glance of mail yielded few results. I saw the messages, was > able to open one and sort of read it. However, I was not fully able to > bend my head around it's layout. I couldn't find the compose button, > and I didn't understand the relationships between the message and the > mailboxes. I would assume that the mailbox list would be on the left, > and the messages on the right. I thought that's how it would look, but > I'm not sure. > Safari was a bit interesting as well. I didn't spend but a few minutes > looking at it, and was a tad confused because I saw part of a web > page, along with bookmarks. I wanted to try and enter in a website to > not only look at something familiar, and have an excuse to type. I was > not able to find the button to enter a website, however, I did find > the Google button and began entering in info into the search box. I > tried to type some search terms, but kept making tons of errors. > However, I could understand the concept of typing, and could easily > see that more time taken to practicing would yield much better > results. > > > Final thoughts. > In short, I get it. Voiceover is implemented in such a way that there > are few concepts to understand. Once these concepts are understood and > applied to all apps, your only learning curve is figuring out where > things are on the screen in any given app, and just the general > operation of the phone itself, which is mostly built on logic. I feel > like a week of working with the phone would get me pretty much up to > speed. It wouldn't be that much of a learning curve to stunt my > productivity. My only concern is the fact that I can definitely dial > faster on my nokia n82, and easily locate a contact, using quick > letter navigation. I know that the dial pad will take some time on > the iPhone. It's just one of those things that's going through my mind > as I'm making this decision. The store opens at 10 AM tomorrow. I > could easily go in and get one. Am I ready? Not sure. Should I wait > till september for the possibility of an iPod touch? Again. Not sure. > However, I don't really like the idea of having 2 devices on my > person, when an iPhone would do the trick for everything. Hmmmmm. What > a quandary. I'll keep you all posted. > > Reeves > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. 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