Do Cell Phones Plus Software Equal Access? Part 1
By Burton, Darren; Uslan, Mark; Access World, Vol. 4, No. 6Publication Date: November 2003
Article evaluates the Nokia 3650 cell phone, as combined with the Mobile Accessibility software produced by the Europe’s Code Factory. The Nokia 3650 is large enough to accommodate an oversized 2- by 1.5-inch display, and the phone features innovations such as web surfing capabilities, text and multimedia messaging, a digital camera, and a video recorder with MP4 playback. Menus are navigated with a circular five-way scroll button, and the phone has its dialing numbers arranged in a circle similar to rotary telephones. The Nokia 3650 features the Symbian operating system and 3.4 megabytes of onboard memory, which gives it the capability to download and install software, such as video games and the Mobile Accessibility software. Mobile Accessibility creates a user interface that can assist a person who is blind or has low vision in accessing the phone’s features with keystrokes and synthetic speech output. The software application must be downloaded onto the telephone; however, the download installation process is not accessible to people who are blind or have low vision. The authors contend that the program’s speaking interface provides access to more features than other devices, but does not allow the user to access all of the features of the phone that a sighted person can access. The evaluation uncovered that the speech synthesis could use some improvement in accuracy, and is often too slow in responding to commands. The authors hope to see improvements in the future versions of Mobile Accessibility that will provide access to all of the phone’s features.
Assistive Products Discussed: MOBILE ACCESSIBILITY
Published by: AFB Press (Website:http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=46)
American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) (Web Site: http://www.afb.org )
Link to text: http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw040606
