I had the opportunity to see the PK this morning and all I can say is wow! Here are some of my personal observations:
Size and weight: One of the first things I noticed was how light and small the PK was. For those of you who are familiar with the dimensions of a Braille 'N Speak, the PK is even smaller than that. It's also very lightweight. When I draped the shoulder strap of the PK's leather case over my shoulder, I almost forgot it was there. Keyboard: There's only one word to describe it. Different! Dots 1 and 4 are located just below the PK's speaker and require the index finger of each hand to rest differently than they do on a BrailleNote BT or Perkins. It took me a little while to become used to this but once I did, I had no problems typing and could even pick up a good deal of speed. The location of the left and right space bar didn't feel natural to me. I would have preferred that they be located above the Braille display and below the Perkins keyboard. PK's Braille display: In comparing the PK's Braille display to the BrailleNote, I really couldn't tell much of a difference in sharpness or increased/decreased readability. I suspect that this may be due to the fact that I'm used to my own BN which I've owned for almost 4 years. Cursor routing keys: The cursor routing keys on the PK were much easier to identify tactually versus the rubber cursor buttons. (At this time, I'm not sure which I prefer.) Power button: There is none to be found. <smile> Powering the unit requires you to press one or two control keys together. This is a creative idea and something I really like. I no longer have to worry about accidentally turning on or off the unit while in transit. Two-way communication between PK and QWERTY keyboard: Very impressive! I was able to read text that was inputted on a QWERTY keyboard and sent over to the PK. I could also type a message back and have it appear on a laptop screen in a Word document. This would be a wonderful means of communication for the deafblind and a sighted-hearing person who does not know sign! Additionally, as a deafblind college student who uses Braille captioning in the classroom, this arrangement would allow me to type a question to my captionist who can verbalize it to the professor or clarify something within the transcript I may not understand. Thanks again to PDI/Humanware for implementing this feature. I'm very excited about the possibilities and how this can help deafblind users in a variety of environments. <smile> In my opinion, the PK is a very impressive notetaker! For those of you who plan to purchase one, I think you'll be pleased! Getting a PK of my own is on my agenda for next year but we'll see what the family budget has in store by then. <grin> Lisa
