Re: iPhone Debate.
I'll give up my keyboard and command-line when you young whipper snappers pry them from my cold, dead fingers. Joking aside, I'm actually a millennial myself and suspect I'm actually one of the younger members on this list. Still, even when I counted myself among the sighted, which wasn't even five years ago, I thought touchscreens a nice supplement to keyboards and gaming controls, but a piss-poor replacement for proper buttons. I loved the touchscreen on my DS, 3DS, and PSVita, but my smartphone often left me wishing the slide out keyboard was larger(I couldn't touch type on it because the keys were so small and close together) and that it had more than one face button when the keyboard was recessed. Also didn't like that I couldn't use a mechanical pencil as a dumb stylus on my smartphone like I could on my DS(damn capacitive touchscreens not noticing plastic scraping against their surface). That said, I'd love for touchscreens with electrostatic vibration to become as ubiquitous as normal touchscreens already are. If you haven't heard, electrostatic vibration allows a charged surface covered in a thin insulator to simulate various textures, and adding this to a touchscreen allows for tactile output. A relevant Wikipedia article can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrovibration And Disney is doing research under the trademark Tesla Touch. I found out about it from an article in a recent issue of Choice Magazine Listening, and it struck me as something with potential to both make technology more accessible to the blind and become mainstream enough ww won't have to pay a premium for devices featuring it. In the meantime, I'm going to stick with devices that have physical keyboards. -- Sincerely, Jeffery Wright President Emeritus, Nu Nu Chapter, Phi Theta Kappa. Former Secretary, Student Government Association, College of the Albemarle. ___ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
Re: iPhone Debate.
I think you should give touch screens another try. If it was me, I'd be afraid of ending up like some old grandad who doesn't know how to use a keyboard. You can't stop the relentless march of technology. Smart phones themselves have been a huge boon for blind people but I am not so sure about touch screens. Just having a GPS in your pocket is enough of a benefit to make the smart phone a huge boon. There are pluses and minuses to touch screens though. voices it's directions. Even the most inaccessible app at least does that. On 11/13/2016 06:44 PM, Hart Larry wrote: Well, some years ago I tried an Iphone, but could never become comfortable with a touch screen. At least an Iphone had a button for SIRI which an Android did not. Well, I ran a search in quotes "smart phone with buttons" Actually an item came up, but so-far you must buy from out of the US. Its a Kapsys, which they said was going to be available in October. Anyway Kapsys has a touch screen on the left, buttons on the right, however, some of the layout is weird. The Kapsys site is a challenge to find English. I already spoke with the future US distributer, but they like myself are still waiting Hart -- -- John G. Heim; jh...@math.wisc.edu; sip://jh...@sip.linphone.org ___ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
Re: iPhone Debate.
I'm pretty sure there have always been Android phones with a home button, and there definitely are some now. The Samsung S7 Active I have right now, has a home button, a back button, and a recents button, and the other S7's have a home button. There are also a few Android phones with keyboards. There's the Blackberry Priv and the LG Wine Smart. On 13/11/16 18:44, Hart Larry wrote: Well, some years ago I tried an Iphone, but could never become comfortable with a touch screen. At least an Iphone had a button for SIRI which an Android did not. Well, I ran a search in quotes "smart phone with buttons" Actually an item came up, but so-far you must buy from out of the US. Its a Kapsys, which they said was going to be available in October. Anyway Kapsys has a touch screen on the left, buttons on the right, however, some of the layout is weird. The Kapsys site is a challenge to find English. I already spoke with the future US distributer, but they like myself are still waiting Hart ___ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list -- Christopher (CJ) chaltain at Gmail ___ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
Re: iPhone Debate.
Quite a few people can discuss this rationally. I've had both iPhones and Android devices for a few years now. I recently switched my every day smart phone from an iPhone to an Android phone. I still use an iPhone at the office. I see quite a few people on the Android and the iPhone lists I'm on who have experience with both platforms and who recognize each platform's strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately there are a lot of fan boys on each side, and a lot of dated or misinformation out there, but that doesn't mean there aren't rational people out there too. On 13/11/16 18:33, John G. Heim wrote: A few years ago on the web site of the International Association of Visually Impaired Technologists, www.iavit.org, I set up a page to compare screen readers. I thought I'd collect data and put up a fair, head-to-head comparison. My collaborators at iavit had an intervention with me and got me to take the page down. They're like, "You don't want to open that can of worms." I swear I am the only person on this planet able to discuss this stuff rationally. I have an ancient ipod touch and an iphone. The reason I got the itouch was that back then, all my research indicated that the screen reader for android was no where near as good as voiceover for IOS. As President of IAVIT and an employee at the University of Wisconsin, I have considerable expertise at hand. I also read reviews on-line and asked around on the internet. Voiceover was the clear winner at that time. I did the same research the last time I bought a phone about a year and a half ago. all my research indicated that things had tightened up considerably but that voiceover for IOS was still ahead. Almost everybody I talked to said one thing that bothered me. They said you could get a lot out of an android phone but you'd have to work at it. An iphone just works. I am happy with both my ipod touch and my iphone. I certainly don't think you're making a mistake to buy an iphone. It sounds to me that if you are willing to work at it, you might be able to get more bang for your buck from android. I don't know though, I don't have an android phone. PS: Since when do worms come in a can? On 11/13/2016 05:58 PM, Jeffery Mewtamer wrote: Back when I used an Android device, I don't remember much pressure to use Google services, but that was back in the Android 2.3 days, so it's entirely possible Google has gotten pushier since then. Closest things to a Smartphone I have these days are a Raspberry Pi(running Rasbian, giving me the freedom of Linux) and a Blaze ET, which I think might be running a custom Android and doesn't really have much beyond Text-to-speech of eBooks and media playback going for it, but does those really well(Plays most audio and video formats(MKV being the most notable exclusion) and reads most text formats(Kindle being the most notable exclusion) all in a smartphone-like form factor, a fully voiced interface with physical buttons and a full-sized SD slot. ___ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list -- Christopher (CJ) chaltain at Gmail ___ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
Re: iPhone Debate.
Well, some years ago I tried an Iphone, but could never become comfortable with a touch screen. At least an Iphone had a button for SIRI which an Android did not. Well, I ran a search in quotes "smart phone with buttons" Actually an item came up, but so-far you must buy from out of the US. Its a Kapsys, which they said was going to be available in October. Anyway Kapsys has a touch screen on the left, buttons on the right, however, some of the layout is weird. The Kapsys site is a challenge to find English. I already spoke with the future US distributer, but they like myself are still waiting Hart ___ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
Re: iPhone Debate.
A few years ago on the web site of the International Association of Visually Impaired Technologists, www.iavit.org, I set up a page to compare screen readers. I thought I'd collect data and put up a fair, head-to-head comparison. My collaborators at iavit had an intervention with me and got me to take the page down. They're like, "You don't want to open that can of worms." I swear I am the only person on this planet able to discuss this stuff rationally. I have an ancient ipod touch and an iphone. The reason I got the itouch was that back then, all my research indicated that the screen reader for android was no where near as good as voiceover for IOS. As President of IAVIT and an employee at the University of Wisconsin, I have considerable expertise at hand. I also read reviews on-line and asked around on the internet. Voiceover was the clear winner at that time. I did the same research the last time I bought a phone about a year and a half ago. all my research indicated that things had tightened up considerably but that voiceover for IOS was still ahead. Almost everybody I talked to said one thing that bothered me. They said you could get a lot out of an android phone but you'd have to work at it. An iphone just works. I am happy with both my ipod touch and my iphone. I certainly don't think you're making a mistake to buy an iphone. It sounds to me that if you are willing to work at it, you might be able to get more bang for your buck from android. I don't know though, I don't have an android phone. PS: Since when do worms come in a can? On 11/13/2016 05:58 PM, Jeffery Mewtamer wrote: Back when I used an Android device, I don't remember much pressure to use Google services, but that was back in the Android 2.3 days, so it's entirely possible Google has gotten pushier since then. Closest things to a Smartphone I have these days are a Raspberry Pi(running Rasbian, giving me the freedom of Linux) and a Blaze ET, which I think might be running a custom Android and doesn't really have much beyond Text-to-speech of eBooks and media playback going for it, but does those really well(Plays most audio and video formats(MKV being the most notable exclusion) and reads most text formats(Kindle being the most notable exclusion) all in a smartphone-like form factor, a fully voiced interface with physical buttons and a full-sized SD slot. ___ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
Re: iPhone Debate.
Back when I used an Android device, I don't remember much pressure to use Google services, but that was back in the Android 2.3 days, so it's entirely possible Google has gotten pushier since then. Closest things to a Smartphone I have these days are a Raspberry Pi(running Rasbian, giving me the freedom of Linux) and a Blaze ET, which I think might be running a custom Android and doesn't really have much beyond Text-to-speech of eBooks and media playback going for it, but does those really well(Plays most audio and video formats(MKV being the most notable exclusion) and reads most text formats(Kindle being the most notable exclusion) all in a smartphone-like form factor, a fully voiced interface with physical buttons and a full-sized SD slot. -- Sincerely, Jeffery Wright President Emeritus, Nu Nu Chapter, Phi Theta Kappa. Former Secretary, Student Government Association, College of the Albemarle. ___ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
Re: iPhone Debate.
According to Henry Yen: # Android in a similar fashion also not-so-subtly # urges its users to sign up with/for a Google account to do everything. That said, at least there is a completely free Android OS called Replicant, which although it runs on only a small number of devices, it needs no Google account or apps in order to run. I do hope though that there is in fact a way to get one of the open source versions of Talkback running on it, or it would be quite problematic for us to use. IOS on the other hand doesn't even have such an option, therefore, it is even more useless to me than I initially said it was, since I don't even have the freedom to purchase hardware that will run a completely free version, as there is no completely free version to be had, and no choice of hardware either for that matter. Sent from the ladder ___ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
Re: iPhone Debate.
No, there are apps for everything in the Apple store. Oh, I have little doubt that you can find stuff it doesn't do. But it would have to be something pretty specialized.Apple does keep a pretty tight grip on what is in the store but, that does have it's benefits. It's not that different than debian keeping a tight grip on what's in the debian repository. The main difference is that you don't have to do anything to go outside the repository. But then debian doesn't offer any warranty and Apple does. On 11/13/2016 05:33 PM, Jeffery Mewtamer wrote: Forked from the Spammer thread. I've never owned an Apple product, and unless their business model changes significantly, I never will, but pretty much every review of any iPod, iPhone, or Ipad I've ever read paints a picture of needing a hacked device if you want to do anything outside the rather narrow band of what Apple is okay with you doing on the hardware you bought from them, and in general, Apple gives off an even stronger control freak vibe than Microsoft. ___ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
Re: iPhone Debate.
On Sun, Nov 13, 2016 at 11:33:23AM +, Jeffery Mewtamer wrote: > ... but pretty much every review of > any iPod, iPhone, or Ipad I've ever read paints a picture of needing a > hacked device if you want to do anything outside the rather narrow > band of what Apple is okay with you doing on the hardware you bought > from them, and in general, Apple gives off an even stronger control > freak vibe than Microsoft. I do not do Apple myself, but Android in a similar fashion also not-so-subtly urges its users to sign up with/for a Google account to do everything. Google's pressure is less than Apple's, but still quite annoying. ___ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
iPhone Debate.
Forked from the Spammer thread. I've never owned an Apple product, and unless their business model changes significantly, I never will, but pretty much every review of any iPod, iPhone, or Ipad I've ever read paints a picture of needing a hacked device if you want to do anything outside the rather narrow band of what Apple is okay with you doing on the hardware you bought from them, and in general, Apple gives off an even stronger control freak vibe than Microsoft. -- Sincerely, Jeffery Wright President Emeritus, Nu Nu Chapter, Phi Theta Kappa. Former Secretary, Student Government Association, College of the Albemarle. ___ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
