iSee - Using various technologies from a blind persons perspective.

Hi and welcome to another interview for Talking Tech (for iSee) on Vision Australia Radio. And 

today, as people might have noticed, I did do a bit of a podcast a couple of days ago on the Big Purple Phone, but I thought it was much nicer to get people actually who manufacture/sell the phone in Australia to come on the program and have a chat about it. 

So I'm joined by Libby Henderson, Commercial Sales Director from Big Purple Phone. So hi Libby and welcome to the program. 

Thank you David, it's great to be here. 

So let's just get the name out of the way first and describe briefly what it is. So what is the Big Purple Phone? 

Yeah, the Big Purple Phone, it's a phone that we designed for a scenario we had in my family. So my mother during COVID had a stroke and couldn't remember how to use her phone and she was isolated from us. We had such a terrible journey with her trying to get hold of her. And we were looking for a phone for her that would suit her and couldn't find anything really that was simple enough for her that you could learn quickly and use without us there to help her. And so that sent us on this journey when they say, "Ask myself and my husband James on this journey to create a phone." And as it turns out, my background is digital design with a little bit of accessibility from my time with the Commonwealth Bank. And my husband James was with Telstra for 25 years. So between us, we had this amazing complementary skill set that we pulled together and designed the Big Purple Phone. 

So it's a larger phone. It's a taller phone. So it's about as wide as a regular mobile phone. But the screen real estate we get from the extra height is where we sort of get that bigger screen real estate from. It's sort of a 20 by 9 proportion. So it's quite tall as a phone. But you can still sort of hold it comfortably in hand because the width is kind of good. So it's bigger. It's purple. It has high contrast, bigger, brighter and easier to use. 

How many icons would be on the main what we tend to do in particular and call the home screen? How many icons would you be talking about on the screen? 

So as standard, there's about 10. You can add more in. You can add more buttons in. But generally, they're just the standard buttons. There's phone, text message, camera, photo gallery. There's a brightness button, torch, weather, video calling, radio. That's kind of the standard buttons. 

OK, now how big would the icons be? Because I know sometimes when people say, oh, it's big, mate, come and go, yeah, it's really not that big. The icons are not really that big. Are these sort of big, big icons? 

Yeah. So there's two settings. So you can set it to be I'm actually just pulling a ruler out and measuring it for you because I know in pixels, but that's not good to you. No. It's about four centimetres. You can set it to even larger. So you can take it out six, six centimetres. 

Oh, goodness. But could you still fit all the icons on the screen? 

Yeah. So when it's at the smaller size, you get sort of two to three icons on the screen as you're scrolling down. And it's a little bit like a poker machine, the way you sort of navigate it. You sort of it sort of scrolls around, if you like. When you've got it set to that six centimetre size, then you get one big one and half of the next one. OK, but you can easily scroll around. 

So when you start scrolling around and you're dragging your finger, are you doing other gestures or what are you doing? 

Starting with your finger at the bottom of the screen and you're swiping up and that kind of makes it roll around. If you know, swiping like that. The buttons, there are also buttons at the top and at the bottom. A lot of the phone was initially designed for people who are older. So it has sort of ability to tap up and down. You don't have to scroll. You can tap swiping is hard for some people. 

And I believe it also comes with a stylus. 

It does. That makes it a lot easier. I think as you get older, your skin gets drier and that touch sensitivity goes in many cases. So, yes, you can use the stylus in that case. 

OK. And what does the phone feel like in your hand? I mean, I know it's based on Nokia, but does it feel like a sort of a good solid phone when you're holding your hand? It's not too slippery or it's not too big to hold in your hand and that sort of stuff. 

Yeah, that's a good question. It's it's comes with a bumper case. So it has like a clear jelly bumper case that comes. We put it on. You can take that off and then it's got more of a grip. So that kind of it's sort of it's a matte kind of feeling to the case. It's 190 grams. So that's not considering it's a bigger phone. It's not all that heavy. It's sort of on the heavier side, but it's certainly not as heavy as iPhone plus. 

And for people that use Bluetooth hearing aids, will it connect with Bluetooth hearing aids? 

Yeah, it will. The only thing is that if your hearing aid needs an app to set the settings up, then it doesn't have the app. So you can connect it, but it's going to be literally just a Bluetooth connection. 

Let's say you wanted to add more icons. So you mentioned you could actually remove or add the different icons on the screen depending on how many you want to use. Can a support person or family member do that? And is there any other ways of actually doing it remotely? So rather than the poor person going, what are you doing to my phone? Give it back to me. You can also do it remotely. So I'm assuming there's a couple of ways you can set up the phone without disturbing the user too much. 

That's right. Yeah. So when you first get the phone, there's a registration sequence. So you tell the phone, are you going to have a carer or are you going to do this yourself? So that's the first thing. If you set it up so that you have a carer, that carer gets sent a text message with a link. And then they can sign in and they can access via a web browser the settings for the phone. So you might decide that you want to be the person that manages the phone for yourself, in which case we send you a text message and you can log on. You can log on via the phone or you might choose that you want to log on via a web browser, so whichever you prefer. It's great because it's separate from the phone. So you don't have lots of -- we talk about the phone being no fandangle, meaning there are not a lot of little settings that you can get lost in and rabbit holes to go down. And so you can go onto a web browser and you can make those buttons larger. You can move them from the 4cm to the 6cm, as we discussed before. You can set it so that it adds a speakerphone. You can disable buttons. You can add more apps. So yeah, there's a lot that you can do to sort of customize the phone. There's also an SOS button on the phone, which is great for some people, but for others, they just don't need it. So you can disable it. 

If you've got the phone and you couldn't use the remote system, can a family or support person still get the settings of the phone by some, you know, weirder and wonderful gesture? 

Yeah, it's actually a button. It's a button. Yeah, it's super easy. So if you decide that you want to just have the phone manage -- you manage the phone on the phone itself and give it to someone to fix or set up for you or you want to do it yourself, then when you go through that registration at the beginning, it says, "Do you have a carer or are you going to use this yourself?" And you say, "I'm going to use this myself." And then when you get to the home screen, there's a purple "manage" button down the bottom of that menu that I talked about before. And you tap on that, and then that will take you through to the settings. 

Okay. And is that what you say to your grandmother or your granddad for goodness sake? Do you not need to worry about that button on the screen? That's my button. 

Yeah, so we can disable that button. So if you've got a carer, that button, you can enable it or disable it. So you can basically make it super, super, super simple. We have some people that just have the phone and the message button, and that's all they have on it. 

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, because that's all you want to announce. It's back to the weird days of, "Hey, people might just want to talk on the phone and text each other." 

Yeah, right. Exactly. 

So with talking about texting each other, do you put contacts in, so just in text, or is it sort of picture-based? So you tap on Uncle Tom, and you can dial Uncle Tom by just the picture. 

Yeah, it's the picture. So in every circumstance. So the usability is this. You've got the home screen, and you've got your phone button, and then you scroll down, and there's your messages button. You tap on the messages button, and that takes you through to all the faces of the people who are contacts on the phone. You tap on the face of the phone, and then you have the choice to speak a message or type a message, and then you do either. 

if people wanted more information about hearing aids and other stuff that they can use, if they have the phone itself, what's the best contact details that people can use? So the phone's available through Vision Australia Stores, and we have staff from the Vision Australia Stores. There's also FAQs on the Big Purple phone website, and you've got to find number as well that we can support. The phone actually has a help button which goes through to our call centre as well, so we can help that way. 

Okay, and is that a video call one? or is that a... 

It's a phone call. We can actually initiate a video call, but nobody wants to do that.

All right, excellent. All right, well, thank you for coming on Talking Tech, and it'll be interesting to see how the phone's taken up by the low-vision  community. 

Yeah, thank you. It's my pleasure, David, and thank you for your time today. 

That's okay, my pleasure.

Big Purple Phone Silver Fox

Large print phone for low vision, seniors or people with cognitive challengers.

In the box:

Phone, charger/charging chord, phone case, welcome booklet, Nokia booklets,   

Physical Buttons;

Emergency SOS, volume, and power.

Connectivity:

Head phone jack, USBC, and 3.5mm head phone jack.

Also Bluetooth and Wifi can be setup.

Features:

6.5 inch screen.

Trouble with touch screens, easily tap or swipe.

Talks as you touch the phone (optional).

High contrast keypad.

No spam or unwanted calls or texts (optional).

All settings hidden so users don’t get lost in phone settings. Volume is still available.

Every screen is designed for people with cognitive challengers.

Customisable, toggle on or off buttons.

Full screen notifications, picture based navigation, and contacts.

Emergency SOS call button, and the owners location is sent to their family.

Phone, messages, , one click video calls, SoS, camera/photos, torch, radio, web browser.

Carer portal so carers can manage the phone remotely.

Live help with an Australian  customer care member at the touch of a button.

Battery:

5500 may battery.

5V charging.

Up to 3 days battery life.

Based on Nokia hardware, Android, and the  Big Purple phone launcher.

Nano SIMM.

5GB monthly data plan recommended.

.

Phone suitable for:

Low vision, and those with cognitive challengers.

Hi and welcome to another Vision Australia vision store product highlight demo and in this demo you'll be hearing an interview that I did on my Vision australia radio talking tech podcast on July 16, 2024. 

We have an interview from Peter Cracknell  manager of blindness products for Quantum all about the new Mountbatten braille tutor. If you'd like to find more about the Mount Batten braille tutor and also the other cool stuff that Quantum Technology actually sell their website is https://www.quantumrlv.com.au,  and then as they say on  with the show.

This Vision Australia Radio Talking Tech podcast is made possible by Vision Store. Remember, all Vision Stores are open to the general public. You don't need to be a Vision Australia client to visit. Pop in any time to browse and shop the latest in assistive technology and more. 

We turn to our guest now, Peter Cracknell, who is Manager of Blindness and Low Vision Technologies with Quantum Reading Learning Vision. 

Good to have you with us, Peter. Thank you, Stephen. Good morning. Over to you, David.

 Moving on to our main topic, Peter, and I've loved the Mountbatten itself since 1991, which I think when it first came out. What's the main new whiz-bang thing happening with the Mountbatten Tutor now? 

Well, the Mountbatten Tutor, which is manufactured by Harpo in Poland, we used to manufacture that in Rydonmead in Sydney for many, many years. After the LS version, Harpo made the whisper at the Mountbatten Whisperer and now this new model, the Mountbatten Tutor. The essential purpose is much the same as it's always been, which is really focused around early Braille learning, usually for children, but not always. And that purpose still remains. And in fact, all of the features and commands that people might have known previously for the other models also in the Mountbatten Tutor. I guess one of the things that the new model does do is tries to put those sorts of commands and settings into a menu system that's a bit more intuitive. You don't have to remember the commands. You can just go through a spoken menu system, which is just a conventional menu system to adjust margins and translation formats and so on. And that is also shown on a liquid crystal display actually on the body of the machine. So that's integrated into the Mountbatten Tutor and that means that a teacher aid or a parent, they can actually navigate that. It also has spoken output of course, and more intuitively, don't change the settings to Braille translation grade and that sort of thing. Whereas before they would have to remember a particular command, which they would input through the keyboard. The keyboard has been modified. So on the older models, they had various keys that perhaps not so recognizable on a conventional keyboard, whereas with the Mountbatten Tutor keyboard, it actually follows the pattern of a conventional keyboard with an escape key, a backspace key, an enter key, a space bar and so on. Plus, of course, the traditional what we call the Perkins keys for typing Braille. And that keyboard is also detachable from the body of the Mountbatten Tutor, which gives just a lot more options for different configurations where perhaps a child couldn't actually line up as they straight on. They might want to have the keyboard at a slight angle or perhaps it might be easier to operate if the child was in a wheelchair or something like that. 

So Peter, I've got a few quick questions, I guess. Number one is if you know how to use the earlier versions of the Mountbatten, which to me is electronic Brailler, which was actually very, very cool. I'm sure if you know that, then you know how to basically use the new Mountbatten Tutor. Yes David, that's absolutely right. If you ever operated a previous model, there'll be absolutely no difficulty operating this one. It could be that you had remembered some of the commands like the FE command or something like that, and you can type that straight in and away you go. You can also plug in a regular keyboard as well, David. So just a regular QWERTY keyboard USB and operate it through the regular QWERTY keyboard. 

That was funny because that was going to be my second question. You bet you took it. So my third question then is, I remember in the old days we had the Mimic which was a little plug-in little LCD display. I'm assuming the LCD display in the Mountbatten Tutor now. That's also effectively your Mimic, so you can see what's being Brailed as well from a sighted person point of view. Absolutely. It has some Mimic function, so a sighted person can actually review what's being typed in regular text. In addition to that, it also shows the menus in print, so you can actually operate it with no knowledge of Braille through that LCD display. So yes, it is actually putting the MIMIC into the case, but in addition to making it a LCD display. 

Yeah, far more superior. 

Can you link it up to anything like a PC or an iPad, an iPhone or an Android phone? Yes, in a couple of ways. You can link it up via USB to a laptop and run a program called MBCom  as we could on our previous models. That's for file transfer and also act are basically an embosser from your computer. But in addition to that, and I think perhaps in a more valuable way, you can connect an iPad or an Android device to the Mountbatten Tutor just using a Bluetooth connection and that will allow file transfer and embossing and that sort of stuff. But more importantly, it allows a non-Braille person to be able to type on the iPad, just tap on onto the iPad and have it immediately embossed in a proper grade, your chosen grade on the Mountbatten Tutor and vice versa. When the Brailler is Brailling, it will back translate into regular print on the iPad. So you can have those back and forth conversations. You can study a particular article from on your iPad and you can just paste it into the chat area and it will emboss on the Mountbatten Tutor. 

Just a couple of ways. One would be to contact Quantum and we can demonstrate, we can also trial the unit. We have people who apply for it through NDIA, through NDIS and they'd need to trial that of course to compare it to other options. And of course, Vision Australia through the Vision Australia ATS teams and their occupational therapy teams, they can also demonstrate and assess people for the Mountbatten Tutor. 

Okay and cost wise, how much does it cost outright? 

It's $7,990. I should just say David that we are due for a price increase across the board so it may go around about $8,000. 

Yeah okay. Is there a landing page on the Quantum website that people could type in a direct link to jump to information about Mountbatten or is it just easy to search for Mountbatten on the Quantum website? 

It's easier to search for Mountbatten on the Quantum website, yes. We do have it under our blindness section under Braille writers. We also sell the TatraPoint as well which is a mechanical Braille writer. Indeed, 

yeah love that little thing as well. 

All right Steve back to you. Thank you David. David speaking there with Peter Kraknell from Quantum Reading Learning Vision.

Hi and welcome to this Vision Store product highlight demo. 

In this particular demo, I want to talk about a range of different sized canes that come under the same product name. And what I'm talking about is the KWF telescopic button style canes. So these are telescopic canes that you slide back into a very, very small size. And then of course, telescope out into a full size cane. 

Vision Store  has a range of these KWF telescopic button style canes. And they go from 114cm, which is about 44 inches roughly, up to 138cm, which is about 54 inches. 

As you may or may not know with telescopic canes, they're not really designed to be an all day cane. I see them as an occasional cane. So let's say you've gone to a concert or a restaurant and you just want to pop out and go somewhere, then you could quite easily pull your telescopic cane out of your bag and extend it. And off you go. When you come back, you fold it up nice and tiny or collapse it nice and tiny inside itself. And off you go again. 

Let me give you the main features of the KFW telescopic cane button style. And the reason why it's called a button style, just get that out of the way first, is that it's got a button on the handle of the cane that when you push it in, allows you to pull out all the sections out into a rigid cane. And then of course, to collapse it or retract it back inside itself, you push that button in, you put your hand on the bottom of the cane and push all the sections back into the handle. So that's the way it effectively works.

 let me just give you the main features of the cane. 

It has nine sections and of course, the ninth   section is the handel.

Each section where it connects to each other has a reinforced band of aluminium going around that. And of course, that's to reinforce it when it's fully extended in its rigid form. 

The other thing that you will notice on the cane is that when you extend it, you have little buttons that pop out into holes. That's what holds the cane into the rigid setting when it's fully extended. And then when you press that button, it then allows the top section and the previous section going on and on and on to collapse back into itself. 

What I like about the feel of this cane is while the handle is round, each of the sections as it extends out is an eight-sided shape. And then when you get to the bottom section, that's almost an eight-sided shape. But because it's so thin, it feels like a four-sided shape. And then of course, you've got the tip. The handle is quite spongy and it's actually round. So it doesn't feel like a golf handle that you have on some canes. This is actually quite a rounded handle. on the top of the handle, you do have a wrist strap to put it around your wrist. 

The tip on the bottom of the cane is 1.5 centimetres. So it is quite tiny and it does have a metal tip on it. 

Then finally, with the main features, you have this really cute little carrying case that you can pop it in. Because my shoulder bag has got lots of different littletalk about  compartments in it, I tend to not use a little bag. I just put it in some of my little compartment on my shoulder bag. 

Let’s go through some of the benefits of the cane since we've just done the features. 

It is lightweight and considering what it's actually doing, it's actually quite strong. 

Cane extends and retracts with ease, which is absolutely true. 

Cane automatically locks at each section for strength.And those were the little buttons I was talking about that popped out when you extended the cane. And of course, get  pushed in when you're retracting the cane Joint design provides superior tactile transmission. 

finally, as I've already mentioned, it comes with a carrying case for easier storage. 

Let's go to the technical specifications.

The cane weight is 213 grams. 

Cane construction is dual aluminium with copper alloy. So again, quite strong. 

Cane handle is a EVA sponge handle. 

Nnumber of sections is nine. 

There is a serious warning for the manufacturer, and that's about not opening the cane rapidly or forcefully. If you just grab a hold of the handle and yank it open, what will happen is that you can actually damage the cane. So remember those little buttons that I said that connect each section? Well, if you pull it too hard, those buttons can collapse back inside the cane and the cane falls apart. Maybe not all of it, but when I accidentally did it on my one, the bottom section actually popped out and I had to get some help to get it back in again. So it still works, but I've now got to be a little bit more careful.

By the way, when it closes, what you actually get from a tactile point of view is you get the lovely sponge handle, of course, with the strap on the end of it. And then you get this lovely diminishing rows of those extra joints that are around each section. And it just feels nice and compact. That's why I was saying that the cane itself feels really cool when it's fully extended and it feels ultra cool when it's all collapsed. 

If you want to find more information about the cane, please look on our website, which is shop.visionaustralia.org. If you'd like to talk to someone, you can ring up the main Vision Australia number, which is 1300 847 466, and ask to speak to someone at the Vision Store. Or indeed, you can email the Vision Store, which is pretty straightforward. And that's [email protected]. 

As I say in all my product demos, thanks for listening, and bye for now.

Hi, and welcome to this Vision Store product highlight.

In this product high light, we will be talking about the Synaptic software for use with your Android smart phone or tablet.

What is Synaptic:

Synapptic is an all in one software or app package for people who are blind or vision impaired, , that works on android smartphones and tablets.

Synaptic overview:

Find your way around with clear and bright icons.

All screens have the same look and feel.

In other words, once you have learnt one screen, you will know everything you need to know to use all other screens.

Never get lost and always find your way back to the main menu with the Red Cross at the top left corner of the screen.

Customise the main menu to display as a grid on one screen to make finding things easier, rather than several menu screens.

Touch and release touch screen control means you can move your finger up and down each menu option and it will be read out until you stop on the option you want to use.

Control Synaptic with your voice and use voice dictation if you like instead of the on screen keyboard.

Plus, you can also use a Bluetooth keyboard for navigation and typing as well.

Change the magnification level,  colour scheme, screen brightness, speech and sound settings,  and of course the menus.

help is available at the top right hand corner  of each Synapptic screen.

Make and receive phone calls and text messages (only on devices with a SIMM card).

Send, receive, and read  emails.

Use the web browser to search and read what is on the internet.

Listen to thousands of internet radio stations.

Play music, books, and other MP3 recordings from device,  memory cards or USB sticks.

Watch and enjoy what is on YouTube.

Catch up with the news and other stories efficiently.

Turn the camera in to a reading machine, hand held digital magnifier, colour detecter, access QR/Bar codes, and take and share photos.

Find out your current location, and what may be of interest near you.

Other features:

 address book.

calendar,  Reminders, and alarms.

Calculator.

Compass and spirit level.

Make and share text or voice notes.

Use the stop watch,  and timer.

Install and Run other apps such as Spotify, Zoom etc.

If all of these features interest you, a download trial is available. See the shop page for this link. You can then purchase a license to register the Synaptic software.  

For more information, please contact the Vision Store on phone 1 3 0 0, 8 4 7 , 4 6 6 or email [email protected].

Thank you for listening.

Lots of folks have asked for a demo or reminder of what the Mini Guide is as I did not go through the unit when talking about the holder.

If you are in Australia, here is the link to the shop website where you can purchase the Mini Guide (as well as the holder if you like).

https://shop.visionaustralia.org/miniguide-ultrasonic-echo-location-detector.html

One of those products you’ve heard about, but when you decide to get it, it blows your socks off. Mini Guide Sonar holder for your cane: adjustable wing nut for the actual cane or handle plus lever to adjust position of Mini Guide bloody amazing smile -  https://shop.visionaustralia.org/miniguide-holder.html

Hable One Quick demo

Quick physical whip around:

Front middle slide on/off switch.

Back middle USBC port.

Back left lanyard.

Top 8 Braille keys.

Bottom 4 rubber feet at each corner.

Paring to smart phone:

Turn Hable one on.

Smart phone Settings, Bluetooth, and select Hable one.

Once paired, unit will connect automatically when turned on.

Holding the unit:

Hold unit away from you with the keys facing out, so that the USBC port is facing down, and the on/off switch is facing up.

Key/dot  positions:

Left column of 3 keys bottom to top -  dots 1, 2, and 3.

Right column of 3 keys bottom to top 4, 5, and 6.

Left long key: dot 7.

Right long key - dot 8.

Handy starting commands for navigation

Left/Right to previous  or next item:

Hold 7 whilst  pressing  8 move right.

Hold 8 whilst pressing 7 move left.

Select an item:

Press 78.

Home command:

Hold  h (125) until vibration.

Previous/next Home screen:

Hold o (135) until vibration move to next Home Screen.

Hold ow contraction  (236) until vibration move to previous Home Screen.

Silence  speech output temporarily:

Hold a (1) until vibration.

App switcher:

Hold 23 until vibration.

Control Centre:

Hold j (245) until vibration.

Notifications Centre:

Hold n (1345) until vibration.

Answer/Hangup and start/stop media:

Hold 3 until vibration to either answer/hang up call.

Hold p (1234) until vibration to start/stop media (music, audio book etc).

Siri.

Hold d (124) until vibration.

Status menu, and Back/Escape: 

Hold s (234) until vibration.

Hold b (12) until vibration for back/escape.

As there is no delete key it is 7, Space bar 8 is space, and the Enter key is 18 when Brailling in to a text  entry area.

A bit of a chat around the Ultra Cane and Sonar Glasses which I'm having a look at in the next few weeks, and as usual, some other stuff smile.