Stephen’s Experience Of His Neck Lanyard, Sounds A Bit Better Than Mine 

If you are  using a video streaming app of any kind, a neck lanyard to hang your smart phone from comes in handy so you can use the camera in your smart phone hands free.

http://www.iphone-lanyard.com

Be My Guide

Talking About Video Streaming Services: Check Out Be My Guide

This app links you up with your Friends etc for them to assist you via your camera on your smart phone: Android or iOS.

https://www.bemyguide.com.au

Clew Object Recognition Path Finder Gets An Amazing Update

With this update, you can save your path in both directions, not just finding your way back.

have a play, but it seems a bit more fiddly now.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clew/id1268077870?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D8

Bindi Maps (Beacon Technology) Test Site Comes to Vision Australia Parramatta

A few months ago we had Tony on from Bindi Maps to talk about the test site at VA Gosford, well it is now available at Vision Australia Parramatta and you can use it on the main floor level 7 by just downloading the app and choosing Vision Australia Parramatta.

Enjoy.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/bindimaps/id1435118854?mt=8

Lazarillo GPS for the Blind

A not very much talked about GPS app, but works very well for both iOS and Android.

iOS

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lazarillo-accessible-gps/id1139331874?mt=8

Android

https://www.eastersealstech.com/2017/12/19/lazarillo-gps-on-google-play/

Some Aira News, Jonathan Mosen Moves on from Aira

AccessWorld App Discontinued - But Still on the Web

If you want to read AccessWorld, you will need to go to the new updated AccessWorld page as the AccessWorld app has now be turned off as it were and no longer supported.  Great thing about the webpage it will work across anything that runs a web browser smile.

https://www.afb.org/aw

In this weeks talking Tech, Stephen and David talk to Tony Wu (DVA and Product Advisor from the Vision Australia Vision Store) on how Vision Australia assists Veterans who are blind or have low vision.

https://shop.visionaustralia.org/dva

Amongst other topics, the new Aira (subscription video assistant service) plans for Australia were  discussed including the $215 shipping cost to Australia for the new smart glasses.

http://aira.io/australia.

In this weeks show, David talks about his experiences with the Samsung Galaxy Phone (S10) and Galaxy Watch (46MM)

A Few Weeks In With Using The Samsung Galaxy S10 and the Galaxy Watch

Galaxy S10

Well, I’m actually enjoying the experience.

All the apps I need to use work more or less fine such as Microsoft Outlook. Twitter, Audible, Kindle, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Tripview Sydney, ABC Listen.

Apple Music, Google Play music, and Amazon Music  all work well.  Spotify has a few unlabelled buttons.

Face ID for unlocking the phone almost seems easier to locate my face and unlock to that of the iPhone X.

I know this is my bugbear, but the S10 still has a physical 3.5mm head phone jack which means if I BT head phones run out of power, I can still use old traditional head phone that don’t need power to operate.

Great feature of Samsung, I’ve assigned the volume up button to answer a call and the Power button to end a call.  Not possible on the iPhone.

The Weather icon on the home screen actually gives me the weather without having to go in to the app.

Seems to be a heck of more life in the S10 battery than my iPhone X, I can get a good day and a half out of the S10.  With the iPhone X, usually flat after about 12 hours.

UsB C charging for the S10 which does make things a bit easier.

Plugging in and using the S10 as an external drive from my clmputer  is great.

I have the choice of a PIN number, finger print or Face ID to unlock the phone.  However, since the finger print sensor is under the screen where the Home button would be on an iPhone before the iPhone X, I had to get my son to let me know where it was and setting it up was a bit hit and miss: certainly not as easy on the iPhone 7 or 8.  Mainly use Face ID or PIN number.

I can use my favourite speech synthesiser of all time on the S10, Eloquence as the Samsung/Android system has lots of Text To Speech TTS synthesisers to choose from.

I can choose to use either Samsung’s default screen reader Voice Assistant or Android’s generic screen reader Talk Back which still annoys me from time to time.

You still have the magic two finger double tap for starting/stopping music, at least when running Voice Assistant.

One thing that I actually turn off for Voice Assistant are the navigation sounds, drives me crazy although not to bad with Talkback these days.

With Voice Assistant you have dark screen same as Screen Curtain for VoiceOver, so nice blank screen for privacy.

Braille is still not that good on Samsung/Adnroid, but its there via BrailleBack which you need to download from the Google Play Store.

Bluetooth keyboard is supported for navigation, but no screen reader extra commands, just navigating and activating controls.

Bixby (which you can invoke by saying Hey Bixby) doesn’t seem to be as powerful as Ok Google (or Siri) so I use both on the S10: i.e. Hey Bixby or Ok Google.

Its nice that I can ask Bixby how many steps have I taken for the day, something which Siri doesn’t really do.

Excited About the Wireless Power Sharing Option on the Samsung Galaxy S10

Works very well, literally turns the back of the S10 in to a Qi wireless charger.

Comparing the Galaxy Watch to the Apple Watch

Both smart watch’s offer phone connectivity and cellular connectivity.

Two sizes - Galaxy Watch 42MM and 46MM, and Apple Watch 40MM and 44MM.

Galaxy Watch band pins need to be removed to change the band. Apple Watch bands can be slid off to change by holding in spring loaded button for each side of band.

Galaxy Watch battery 2 days.  Apple Watch 18 hours.

Both smart watch’s charge by their own wireless charger.

Physical controls on Galaxy Watch, clicking bezel, touch screen, Back and a Home button.

Physical controls on Apple Watch touch screen, Digital Crown, and Side button.

Galaxy Watch can be used with Samsung, and iPhone (less functionality on iPhone via the Samsung Gear app)

Apple Watch works with the iPhone.

Step count on the Samsung Galaxy Watch seems to be no where as sensitive on the Apple Watch.

Ability to toggle Voice Assistant on the Galaxy Watch, same on the Apple Watch.

With Voice Assistant running, you can get haptic time from the watch face on the Galaxy Watch, similar as with VoiceOver on then Apple Watch.

Watch faces (i.e. the controls on the watch face screen) on the Galaxy Watch seem to not be accessible with Voice Assistant.  Fully accessible on the Apple Watch.

Most internal apps on the Galaxy Watch work with Voice Assistant besides the Samsung Flow (work outs), and the stop watch app.  All internal apps work with VoiceOver on the Apple Watch.

Samsung decides which apps work with Voice Assistant on the Galaxy Watch stopping an app from launching.  Apple Watch use any app you like with VoiceOver and decide yourself whether you can use it.

New Videos from Me from the Vision Australia Parramatta Store

Using Bar Code readers, and

Using various fitness devices.

https://shop.visionaustralia.org/david-woodbridge-s

New App In The OCR iOS Market Place - Voice Dream Scan

From the same developer of Voice Dream Reader, we now have Voice Scanner.

https://shop.visionaustralia.org/david-woodbridge-s

Some Initial Thoughts on the New Airpods

Hands free Hey Siri is fantastic.

Wireless charging works well (yes, no AirPower).

Very responsive with VoiceOver on iOS.

Connects very quickly.

$319 for the full wireless case and AirPods.

Podcast demo from me on the new AirPods.

https://s124.podbean.com/pb/89bd5cdf3c5319932043e3e8a1a47dc2/5ca96463/data2/fs54/339150/uploads/New_AirPods_2nd_genreation_demo.mp3?pbss=9a329a48-cf61-5564-b546-471bc8e00c4a

Apple also announced the new Beats Power head phones due for lease in May, here is an article comparing the new AirPods to the wireless Beats Power from 9 to 5 Mac.

https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/03/airpods-2-powerbeats-pro-comparison/

In Australian  dollars the Beats Wireless Power is $349.

iPad Round Up

iPad 9.7 10 fusion chip starting at 32GB.

iPad mini and iPad Air same specs, just different size.  12 bionic chip,  back camera 12MP, and 7MP front camera.

iPad Air 10.5 inch.

All iPads besides the iPad Pro have the Home button, and the 3.5mm head phone jack.

All iPads with the option of a physical SIMM, have the ability to work with an ESIMM, great when traveling OS.

iPad Pro 11 and 12.9 inch.

iPad pros Face ID, all other iPads Touch ID.

iPad pros have edged sides whilst all other iPads have rounded edges.

4 speaker grills on the iPad Pro at top/bottom (8 speakers in total), all other iPads two speaker grills.

Very high display features on the iPad Pro.

iPad pros support USB C charging, and the ability to plug in UsB C devices such as monitors, network, audio devices, drives etc.  Can also charge iPhone from the iPad via a UsB C to lightning 

cable.

iPad Pros go up to 1TB.

Smart keyboards for the iPad Air, and iPad pros.  3rd keyboards for the iPad, and iPad mini.

Smart Keyboard connecter moved to the back right hand side middle.

Appencil 1 generation do not work on the iPad Pro, all other iPads.

Apple 2nd generation iPad Pro only.

iPad 9.7 entry level

iPad mini aimed at consumers who want a smaller footprint device.

iPad Air for consumers who want an up to date device plus the larger screen.

iPad pros aimed at professional market.

iPad mini faster than last years iPad Pro 10.5 inch which is now discontinued.

Appencil 1 generation comes with a lightning adapter to allow the Apple Pencil to be charged from a lightning cable rather than having to plug it in to the lightning port of the iPad.

Apple Pencil 1 generation will only work with the iPad mini, iPad, and iPad Air as it needs the lightning port to pair.

Apple Pencil 2nd generation has a flat side where it magnetically connects to the iPad.  For people who have fine hand motor issues for gripping, the 2nd generation is easier to hold/grip.

Note for VoiceOver users - to perform a Quick Nav Perform Action command it is Left, Up, and Down Arrow keys rather than the usual Up/Down Arrow keys (this is due to the Down/Up Arrow keys being moulded in to the same key housing).

Did You Know? There is an adapter with the Pencil 1 to plug it in to power.

And no, I didn’t know after all these years.

In this weeks show, David catch’s up with Vision Australia’s CEO Ron Hooton to have a bit of a chat about Ron’s perspective on technology.

Stephen and David then catch up with a bit of news for the week.