Hi Jim, I can't comment on the braille display, but I agree with you about the speech, the weight and the speed in the mPower, compared to my older Voicenote QT. I was also able to listen to the Humanware May 2005 newsletter, but noticed on some of the links that the speech kept pausing, then continuing from where it left off. I wasn't too concerned about this, as I know this happens on regular pc's as well. I also listened to Jonathan's audio tour of the mPower without a hitch, as the speech came through quite clearly. I was very impressed indeed. I have charged my mPower 3 times since the arrival of my unit and twice the unit got to 100%, and the battery reached 99% on the other occasion. The battery has also gone right down to 0%, and thank goodness I have not had to perform the dreaded reset. David
>----- Original Message ----- >From: "James Aldrich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: [email protected] >Date: Sun, 04 Sep 2005 11:35:14 -0600 >Subject: [Braillenote] My M-power Observations thus far >Hello all, >Here are my M-power observations since I received it on Friday, September 2nd. > I'm writing this with the M-power so anyone wishing to evaluate how this >EMAIL may look once it reaches the list can feel free to analyze how well this >works as they wish. Just don't analyze my poor writing (grin smile)! I hope >what I say will ease some of the concerns about this product on this list. >My wife Dar thought the M-power was lighter when she first saw it out of the >box. We both were impressed with the newer braille display. The intensity of >how the dots come up can be adjusted in the braille display menu. I haven't >seen much difference in the settings of the display so I keep it on the >default of 5. One can hardly tell whether the display is functioning or not. >One doesn't notice the thump thump on this newer display as the dots change >position as one does with the older displays. Of course, new is always better >than the old but this truly is a sharp display. It is a pleasure to read with >it. It is a far better display than the immediate competition, there is no >contest! The M-power display may not have the wear and tear of the older >displays because of its smooth operation but time will tell. >I think the speech is clearer perhaps better pronunciation. The speech voice >is much the same as it was but I think the M-power speaks more clearly. It >may or may not make a difference to anyone depending on hearing loss. I'm >more pleased with the speech on my M-power than my 32 BT even though I still >say the speech on my older unit is quite good! Ear buds and headphones work so >much better on the M-power. One doesn't need to drastically set the volume >higher for headphones. I rarely set the volume between the speaker and >headphones with the M-power. >I charged the battery twice since I received this unit. The battery gage went >to a hundred percent both times and stayed at a hundred percent once I >disconnected the AC adapter. It went down to 99 percent soon after the >charger was disconnected and the battery seems to last quite a while between >charges thus far. On the second time of charging, I noticed that the gage was >at 94 percent after two hours. I left the M Power plugged in much longer and >once I got home from church, it was at 96 percent. The percentage was the >same when I disconnected the adapter. I kept it plugged in till the gage >reached 100 percent. I think the gage may have calibrated this time around >which accounted for how long the battery took to charge. I didn't get much >notice once the battery reached zero percent. I'll know more in time about >the battery life but I'm not complaining thus far. >Kathy Williams take note! I downloaded 133 messages with both BN units. I >left the messages on the server. The BN 32 BT took 6 minutes and 16.6 seconds >according to the M-power stopwatch to download all 133 messages. The M-power >took 2 minutes 7.18 seconds according to the BN BT stopwatch to download the >same mail. Emptying the trash and clearing database space is a snap! One >barely has a chance to breathe and the process is done! This unit is quick! >I'm keeping messages on the server for a while longer so I hope to update you >on how much quicker the M-power is than my older BN BT. Of course, one must >consider the limited disk space and the processor speed when comparing the two >units ability to download EMAIL. I like the way the M-power turns wireless on >automatically when one wishes to go on the web or download EMAIL. One still >must turn wireless off after being on the web or downloading EMAIL. I >neglected to say I'm on a wireless DSL connection here. >Being able to listen to streaming audio on a portable device is truly nice! I >would say the M-power works well on the "free streams". ACB Radio was the >first stream I tried. It was a snap to get to and listen. I also listened to >a MONTANA Radio Station stream, and some other streams on Bill Sparks dot com >as well as radio-locator dot com. I tried to get into the XM Radio site, >listen at XM Radio dot com. I got into their web site okay but when I tried >to receive a stream, I was told by their site in no uncertain terms that I >needed to update my web browzer since my present browzer couldn't support the >new features in their player. I got such a kick out of what I heard, I tried >it again! One can get their site as I described it above and one must write it >together, or one can go to wwwddxmradioddcom and select "listen now". One can >get a three day trial on their programming otherwise one pays $7 a month to >get the stream or close to $14 a month if one has one of their! ! > receivers. > WSM Radio is another site which became a "pay site" so doubt it is available > to the M-power. This is why I say the M-power probably works best on the > "free streams". >Passing files from my PC to the M-power is so much faster now through the >network. I was able to get both MP3 and wav files to my M-power and play them >with no difficulty. I was pleasantly surprised to find how quickly I was able >to copy these files and play them with no difficulty whatsoever. I may have >found one file that wouldn't play but it wouldn't play on my PC either. The >playback on the wav file player is very good. I'll have more to say about it >later. I went to Voice of the Nation's Blind dot org to listen to a >particular file. I could hear one file from that site with no problem but I >couldn't hear the file I wished to listen to. I kept hearing something about >unfamiliar media so couldn't hear what I wanted to hear. This morning, I was >able to hear the introduction of the May Humanware Newsletter on the humanware >site. I'll listen to more of it when I have time. I can see that I have a >wonderful world of streaming audio waiting for me when I wish to he! a! > r new info >rmation or music. I'm looking forward to being a part of this new world with >my M-power. >The most disappointing feature to me on the M-power is the Memo Recorder. >Perhaps I don't understand digital recording very well! This is the first >digital recorder I have used at length. The memo recorder plays back wav >files very nicely provided they were recorded or created elsewhere. Based on >how my unit operates, this memo recorder is good for voice only whether it is >on the low quality settings or the high quality settings. One can record >their audio memos if they aren't too far from the microphone. One doesn't >have to hold the M-power or external microphone to their face though. The >default factory setting for recording with the internal microphone is level >12. When I attempt to record at this setting, my recording is faint and the >recording is weak with a fuzzy distorted sound as if I were talking through >wax paper. The speech is not intelligible and the speech is intermittent! >Level ten seems to give me the best recording quality but I hear a degree of >whit! e! > noise and > a slight frying sound in the background of my recording. Speech from the > notetaker comes in very well for obvious reasons if I happen to leave my unit > in record and attempt to operate other functions with my M-power. The memo > recorder in my unit is adequate for memos and I might send voice attachments > in an EMAIL or two, but I don't think it would record music very well > especially that piano recital. There are other devices on the market which > would better serve such a purpose. I think a $20 to $40 cassette recorder > could do as well or better for a recital than would my particular M-power > unit. There might be some kind of component breakdown inhibiting my unit > from recording properly, I really don't know! To my knowledge, the memo > recorder isn't stereo either. I could be wrong about this conclusion though. > I can safely say my unit doesn't support levels 11 through 15 with the > internal microphone. I placed the level with an external microphone to 35. > I couldn't hea! r! > anything >at all from that attempt to record. I could hear the external microphone when >I set the record level to a lower setting. I may need to check the battery in >the microphone perhaps. The playback is fine with my memo recorder but I >question whether the record feature is working properly in my unit. I'll be >happy to send anyone interested attachments when recording at level 10, 11 and >12. This should show what I'm talking about. >Web braille seems to be working better on the M-power. I can now reach the >listing of braille books at the end of the web page. I can again get into the >list to download volumes once again. My older BN BT was able to get that page >as well so maybe NLS fixed the problem, I really don't know! I haven't >downloaded any books lately so that is for another EMAIL. >I haven't interfaced my M-power with my Juliet braille embosser but I hope to >accomplish that soon! I haven't tried the bluetooth feature so that is >something I'll look forward to. >I'll be happy to try web sites when I can to see how accessible they will be >for the M-power if that would be helpful to anyone. >As I wrote this EMAIL, I noticed the speech cut out for no apparent reason. I >turned the speech to on request to off and back on again and everything was >fine. This happened three times while I wrote this post. >Thanks for reading! >Jim Aldrich >___ >To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit >http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
