Hi Paul, Seeing your message here, I just wanted to make you feel better with your battery as I have just received my own replacement one, last week, and I am getting a scant 8 hours out of it. When I mentioned 20 hours to the people at PDE (Europe, I'm in Ireland) they said "20 hours? Never!" and "Where did you hear that?" So, flummoxed, I desisted. but now I am considering sending it back, but what a palaver! All the best, Sandy.
> ----- Original Message ----- >From: Paul Henrichsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: Braillenote List <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 15:04:08 -0700 >Subject: RE: [Braillenote] Thoughts on Technology, Who Uses What and Why >Hi, Richard. I agree with you, especially regarding the service and the >units in genera. I also have herd many stories of units going bad shortly >after purchase, and of people who send their units in to get a new battery >and come back with other problems. >What is going on with quality control here? I asked the same question over >a year and a half ago before I even had a braille note. I have had good >luck with mine so far except that I only get eleven hours of battery life, >but it makes me wonder whether PDI buys substandard parts to save a few >bucks. I would expect that if I spend 6000 dollars on a unit that it would >have top quality parts right down to the battery. >With my unit, so far so good, but I have only had it four months. I don't >know whether to have a new battery put in this summer at the convention or >not. People tell me that my battery life is normal and then others get 20 >hours. >But there has always been a question in my mind about the quality of the >parts in a braille note and why some units seem to have so much trouble. >Shouldn't q and a weed those out before they end up in the market place? >At 4/5/2004, you wrote: >>I believe that I have a few more suggestions for the Braillenote. >>But before I present them I will simply state the following. In the >>early 90s, many blind persons with whom I was acquainted told me that >>they would never use a graphical operating system as it would never be >>accessible and it was not designed with the blind in mind. (as if Dos or >>Linux were) >>What many of those individuals may not have known was, that in the early >>90s, there were quite a number of MS-DOS applications that were as >>inaccessible as some on this list feel that Microsoft Windows is today. >>To me, it isn't whether or not we have a graphical operating system, but >>do we have the software and functionality we need to pursue the tasks we >>require. It's that simple for me. >>As I stated in an earlier post, the Braillenote has excellent Braille >>support. It is a device I can use without speech. Last Friday, I was >>playing with another product, (can you guess which one, the first >>initial is P)and frankly, without speech, that product would not be easy >>to use. Again I submit that if the sole purpose for designing the >>Braillenote was that blind people are incapable of using a graphical >>user interface, I would doubt that I would have ever wanted one. I >>believe in usability, and I think the Braillenote has a lot of it in >>most of its interface. >>However, the problem faced by some of us is that the Braillenote is not >>going to be as easy to integrate with other devices as time goes on. >>Fewer and fewer printers with parallel ports, fewer and fewer computers >>with serial ports, and fewer and fewer printers that the Braillenote can >>communicate with, this is the current outlook. >>My job (or part of it) >>Is to purchase new technology for clients based upon what they will be >>required to accomplish with what devices they receive. I have tended to >>recommend the Braillenote for many of them because I have felt that the >>device was reasonably stable and that it provided great Braille >>support. The PacMate, on the other hand, has only recently gained a >>fair amount of stability and its Braille support is not all that well >>developed. >>However, the scales are in the process of tipping, I'm afraid. a Number >>of my clients who are students have expressed a need for wireless >>network access, the ability to send documents to whatever printer is >>available, and they have also begun to express the need for Office 2003 >>support. These are all things that are not out of range, not beyond what >>a portable device should be able to do. >>I don't honestly know how many of these things will be addressed without >>another motherboard upgrade. >>Now, let's talk about service and reliability. My best friend will be >>sending her Braillenote in to PulseData/Humanware for the fifth time for >>service this week. She received the Braillenote in April, 2002. So, >>does that seem reliable? If you had purchased a mainstream product, >>like for example, a VCR, a television, or a stereo and you had to ship >>it back to the manufacturer 5 times in two years could you honestly >>recommend that I go out and buy the same unit? >>I received my first Braillenote on January 28, 2001. By march 28 of >>that same year, it had crashed beyond recovery. At the time, to their >>credit, Humanware sent me a new unit because the motherboard had failed. >>However, less than a year later, the same thing happened again. And in >>December of 2003, the same thing happened. Again, if I had purchased a >>mainstream device and I had had that kind of luck with it, I don't >>believe I would be telling all of my friends to rush on out and buy one. >>To be fair, my current Braillenote was received on June 5, 2003. Thus >>far, it has not required service. (knockin' on wood real hard) >>However, without drawing this out, I could relate at least three other >>stories of individuals who have had to return their product repeatedly >>in order to receive repairs. >>To me, even if some of the suggestions that have popped up on this list >>do not get implemented, I would like to see a more reliable unit >>produced. >>Finally, (my ramblin' is nearly don) to some suggestions. I would like >>to be able to load a large file in less than 30 seconds or more. I am >>not talking about Microsoft Word files, I am speaking of large text >>files. I would also like to not be asked if I want to review previous >>options. And, you already know how I feel about the file manager. >>In closing let me say that I am currently studying a number of products >>and ideas that I will have to consider when recommending products for >>clients of the Iowa Department for the Blind. And, what my future >>recommendations will be will depend largely on how some products evolve >>over the next year or so. >>-----Original Message----- >>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kirstyn >>Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 1:23 PM >>To: Braillenote List >>Subject: re: [Braillenote] Thoughts on Technology, Who Uses What and Why >>Hi Beth, >> I have a couple of questions. Who was criticizing people for >>choosing the BrailleNote and not the PACMate, or for choosing the >>PACMate and not the BrailleNote? Why is it so hard to get one's point >>across, and yet people like you say we should try to understand where >>each person is coming from? Never mind, I think I will not get the >>answer to those questions anyway. >> What I most agree with in your post, Beth, is that PDI accepts what >>we have to say on this list, whether good or bad. It's the fanatic and >>stubborn list member who is having problems listening to observations of >>other users when they find them negative to their taste, and it does not >>matter anymore if the observations were repeatedly explained to be made >>in order to show PDI and users what some of us feel is lacking, what we >>hope should be worked on in a reasonable time, and what consequences >>some of us are willing to take--like GUI--in exchange for an improved >>product. >> I apologize for stepping on the toes of the sensitive BrailleNote >>user. Also, I said the part about the BrailleNote will soon be limited >>to the people with simple computer needs and basic computer skills >>because of the philosophy that blind people should be spared from >>grappling with graphical user interface, even if it means slower >>development of the BrailleNote because they have to write KeySoft >>applications than just adopt Pocket PC or whatever will give more >>flexibility. Neither did I say that PACMate users are power users, I do >>not know where you got that crazy idea. But if the BrailleNote cannot >>catch up in terms of what it can offer to the user, then two blind >>people on exactly the same job but one is using the PACMate and the >>other a BrailleNote will have marked differences in how they do their >>job. They may have the same output, but the one using the more powerful >>product will have an easier time. >> Take Dan's case. If his job requires that he deals with HTML >>messages, and let's assume that there was another blind person with the >>same job but using a PACMate, then that other blind person will finish >>reading the HTML messages while Dan is still saving them to KeyWord >>files so that he can open them in KeyWeb and read them properly. Is >>this a comparison of the BrailleNote and the PACMate? Yes, but that's >>not all there is to it. You must understand that the point here is that >>PDI needs to do something about this because since it is not easy to >>switch from one PDA to another, the BrailleNote user will somehow >>expect--and we do based on our feature requests and suggestions--that >>our urgent needs be met somehow. >>Tired of repeating herself, >>Kirstyn >>___ >>To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to >>[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit >>http://list.pulsedata.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.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote >Paul Henrichsen ><[EMAIL PROTECTED] ><home.pacbell.net/paulh52 >___ >To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit >http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
