I don't get the low warning. Whatever message I do get, I just get part
of it before the unit shuts down. I've charged it three times so far so
I'm not ready to panic yet. The lowest battery capacity I've seen when
I check is 27%. Right now it's at 48 or something, so I'll see how it
behaves this time. It's like once it gets to a certain lowish level, it
just takes a dive and skips the expected low battery warning. But I'll
keep tabs and talk to Humanware in a few weeks if it doesn't settle
down.
Jean
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carol Pearson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "'Braillenote List'" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 3:11 PM
Subject: RE: [Braillenote] still a battery concern with the mPower
Jean,
At least you've got down to hearing "Battery is Critical", and that
message comes after "Battery Low". I don't know how many times you have
charged the unit, but they do need a settling down period before getting
too concerned. The reason we decided ours wasn't functioning in a
manner that we could cope with was because we weren't even getting a
"Battery Low" message at first, then as soon as it said this the machine
cut out. We never got much further and the battery wasn't going up to
the top either - though it did just look as though it might do it if it
was left even longer.
Talk to Humanware if you're still concerned. They will advise you if
you need to do anything.
--
Carol
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jean
Menzies
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 5:45 PM
To: Braillenote List
Subject: [Braillenote] still a battery concern with the mPower
I'm still having problems with not getting the low battery warning on
the mPower. For example, one night I left it and it was at 27% power.
The next afternoon, I turned it on and within a minute I heard Battery
Is Cri... Then it went flat and turned itself off, and I had to use the
service reset yet again. Although it is charging to 100% and the gage
reports being accurate and the battery does last a long time, why am I
not getting the proper warnings of low battery before the unit does
indeed go flat?
Jean
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Standen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Braillenote List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 7:27 AM
Subject: re: [Braillenote] My M-power Observations thus far
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
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Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.10.18/89 - Release Date:
02/09/2005
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