Hi Stacey, I'm not Jim, but I can answer your question. I usually find it takes about 3 and a half minutes to download 100 emails. Tonight I had 259 messages and it took just under 10 minutes. My older VN probably would have taken 15 minutes to perform the same task. David
> ----- Original Message ----- >From: "Stacey Robinson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: "Braillenote List" <[email protected] >Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2005 13:44:06 -0500 >Subject: Re: [Braillenote] My M-power Observations thus far >Jim, >If you have any kind of dial up access, could you try downloading email with >that and see how long it takes? >We don't have wireless yet. >Stacey and Amigo >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >----- Original Message ----- >From: "James Aldrich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: <[email protected] >Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2005 12:35 PM >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 hear 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 white 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 hear 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 >___ >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
