I must admit, I hope the current hardware lasts a little longer anyway. I just sent mine off to be upgraded. Granted, I could have done it sooner, but the upgrade was a pretty penny, and I would not be happy if it fell behind again right away. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Braillenote List" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2005 4:04 PM Subject: Re: [Braillenote] Future of BrailleNote hardware
> Hi Doug. Thanks for your very well worded and constructive suggestions. > I've also read all the replies to your message. The first thing I'd say is > that none of your requests is unreasonable in the slightest. It's important > to note however that products like the BrailleNote sell for more than do > the equivalent in the sighted world. Part of this is due to the technology > involved. Braille display technology is still tricky to manufacture. Part > of the price is also do to volume. A particular version of iPaq for example > will have a massive production run, and economies of scale mean that this > keeps the price lower. Couple this with the fact that many blind people are > without employment and/or rely on external funding to obtain their > technology, and we at HumanWare are strongly compelled to give as much > value for money as possible. For example, I sat down with the software > engineers early last year and they did a lot of work on whether or not we > could offer an operating system upgrade with all its benefits on the > current hardware. Indeed, many people speculated on this list that we would > never do wireless until we offered new hardware. I think it's a moral issue > that we at HumanWare genuinely give you all we can from the current > hardware before we introduce a replacement for it. Now I think that given > what we've achieved, people will accept that we've really done right by our > customers. But obviously no hardware lasts forever. We appreciate that > technology evolves, and we will of course respond to that evolution. But I > know that those who struggle even to find $399 to upgrade to KeySoft 6.11 > have appreciated us giving them all we can with the hardware they have. > > Jonathan Mosen > BrailleNote Product Marketing Manager > HumanWare > > DDI: +64-3-373-6192 > Fax: +64-3-384 4933 > Mobile: +64-21 466 736 > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.humanware.com > > > > "Doug Lawlor" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > d.net> To > Sent by: "'Braillenote List'" > braillenote-bounc <[email protected]> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] cc > .com > Subject > [Braillenote] Future of BrailleNote > 04/06/2005 01:00 hardware > a.m. > > > Please respond to > Braillenote List > <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > .pulsedata.com> > > > > > > > Hello list, Although I am sure in the coming months we will see some > exciting software upgrades for the BrailleNote family of products I feel I > must express my concern on the lack of modern day hardware for the > BrailleNote/VoiceNote family. I would welcome comments from all users on > this subject. I would like to note although I talk about software > development I am not a developer so comments from software developers would > be welcome. I feel if I am going to use this platform as a business tool in > coming years it is necessary for me to make my views known on the > limitations of the current hardware as I see it. Therefore, I am putting my > comments on this list so we can hopefully establish some dialog on this > topic. Before I point out the negatives with this unit I would like to > mention some of the positive points these units have to offer. > > 1. The BrailleNote has a good clean simple interface. It is nice to be able > to work with the same type of menu structure regardless of the application > you are in. > > 2. Braille support is consistent throughout the suite of applications. > > 3. The Braille display is very good. I do not have any complaints here. > > 4. Good battery life. It is nice to be able to charge this unit up and have > enough power for a week of usage. No extra batteries are necessary. This is > > a good thing. > > 5. I like the ability to be able to turn the unit off and still be in the > last application used when the unit is powered back up. This is very good. > > 6. I like the idea of having a 32 cell Braille display in a compact unit > that can fit into a book bag or briefcase. > > Now I would like to talk about the problems I see with the current hardware > configuration as it stands now. > > 1. There is No USB connection. if a user wishes to connect the BrailleNote > family to a modern day laptop it is necessary to use bulky USB to Serial > adapters to make this happen. The main problem with serial connections is > that they are very slow and not suited for transferring large files in the > multimegabyte size. My current dell laptop does not have a serial port > built > in making this task a cumbersome process for when one wants to use the > Braille display of the BrailleNote or transfer a file from the unit. Yes, I > know a flash card reader will solve the latter problem and I do have one of > these. > > 2. No blue Tooth connection. If one wishes to run the excellent BrailleNote > GPS product from Sendero group it is necessary to carry an extra battery > box > containing a serial to USB adapter for the EarthMate GPS receiver. If the > BrailleNote family could support Bluetooth the user could do away with the > extra battery/cable kit and just carry a compact Bluetooth receiver. The > Bluetooth connection could also be used for use of the Braille display on > the PC. > > 3. No modern day processor - As I understand it the BrailleNote family > currently runs on the MIPS platform at 133 MHZ. I can see this presenting > problems for developers who wish to develop software to run both on the > BrailleNote Family (MIPS) and the new PK (XScale). If Humanware's goal is > to > have third party developers write software for there products it would make > much more sense to have both products running on the same or similar > hardware platform. This is currently not the case. Why should developers > have to deal with two platforms and maintain two code bases to write > software for a very small number of users? How difficult will it be for > Humanware to have a trained support team to deal with each platform? This > in > the long run is going to drive up the cost of development. The main goal > should be to bring the cost of software development for these devices down. > Given the current hardware state of this product I do not see this > happening > anytime soon. > > 4. The BrailleNote family currently has no way to input and output stereo > audio. The ability to input and output stereo audio would make it possible > for truly accessible recording software to be written giving the blind user > a truly accessible digital recorder. I don't know of any hardware based > digital recorder which will allow the blind user to do basic things such as > set and read input levels or see how much time or space is left on a > flashcard. Voice over IP is another issue. Given the fact that it is > possible to have voice over IP applications such as Skype run on handheld > pocket pc devices I feel this will become an important issue as Voice over > IP becomes more prevalent in the work place. Devices like the BrailleNote, > given the right hardware and software, could really shine in these areas. > My > use of Skype on the Pc, even with scripts for my screen reader, has not > been > the most straight forward experience. > > 5. The current serial and parallel ports should be done away with. Given > the > fact that most of the current crop of laptop computers do not come with > these ports indicates that the market is not looking for such legacy > hardware anymore. We would be much better off if we could connect to modern > day USB printers. hard discs, audio devices, barcode scanners, and the list > goes on. > > I look forward to people's comments on the future of this product. I feel > the BrailleNote could have a lot more potential if resources were directed > to the above areas of improvement. > > Doug > > > > ___ > 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 >
