I think the bsp is better because it seems to lock up less
online, it has 8gb of internal storage compared to the bn's
120mb, it has MSN Messenger, the company supports their products
much better, it has built-in wifi, I do not have to send my unit
back for several weeks just to get a new battery, it has an lcd
display so sighted partners and teachers can see what I am doing
without me emailing them or using Keyview, it has a mode that
lets it act as a mass storage device for a pc, so I do not have
to fight with Active Sync just to put some files on it from my
pc, it has media keys... I could go on, but you get the idea.
Have a great day,
Alex
----- Original Message -----
From: estin <[email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date sent: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:14:36 +1200
Subject: Re: [GWN] BSP: opinions needed
Alex This is Estin what made you decide to change units.
Also how much is a braille sense plus now.
----- Original Message -----
From: Alex Hall <[email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date sent: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:25:56 -0400
Subject: Re: [GWN] BSP: opinions needed
Thank you. I know all my questions were negative, but that is
the point; I hear all the praise about the unit on reviews and
podcasts, but never anything bad, as one would expect. I wanted
the "dark side", if such a thing exists for the BSP, from the
actual, real-life user before I go about making the switch. I
have used a bn since 2002, so moving to a new unit is a huge
deal, plus, of course, it costs a lot. I am not worried about
getting used to the intercace, since I also have used Windows
since 200 or so, but it seems like some things would be more
annothing, like having to tab a whole bunch of times just to get
to, say, the OKAY button.
Have a great day,
Alex
----- Original Message -----
From: Joe Giovanelli <[email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date sent: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:15:37 -0800
Subject: Re: [GWN] BSP: opinions needed
Hi, Alex,
There's no way I can reply to all of your questions.
I don't think this unit supports video files.
It does play MP 3, Daisy, Wav and some others.
It reads HTML perfectly well.
It handles forms found on the Internet very well. There is no,
separate forms mode. You are just presented with the edit box.
The keyboard on the Braille Sense is the best keyboard I have
seen, and that includes your Braille Note. I have heard about
only problem with the keyboard from only one person. I've logged
lots of hours on the unit and it works as well as the day I got
it.
The battery is easy to change.
I have not timed how long the battery will last under varying
conditions. I usually get a day's work from the unit.
There definitely are translation problems from ASCII to Braille
and vice versa and the errors are not consststent. If I want to
have a document look good, I use ASCII via a USB keyboard.
All your questions are negative. This unit has some definite
good qualities. The word processor works well. It does what the
manual says it does. Formatting is not complete. There isn't a
shortcut key for centering.
There is a hot key for tabbing forward but you do need a
combination key for shift-tab.
Forget about printing unless you happen to have a printer which
supports PCL 3; it must be HP compatible. The serial port
cannot be used for a printer connection. This printing thing is
my biggest gripe about this unit.
We don't see too many releases. We won't see a release just for
bug fixes. A release will fix these, but it will also contain
major feature additions.
I'm writing this in Braille; the e-mail will first be translated
into Ascii, so you may see a couple of translation errors.
I should say that the wireless LAN works very well. I have never
had a drop-out.
In general, data is not lost during a reset unless it has not
been saved. All settings will be lost but if these are backed up
properly, they are easily restored.
I'll let others answer your other questions. I hope this was
helpful.
Joe G.
----- Original Message -----
From: Alex Hall <[email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: Friday, Jun 19, 2009 13:44:36
Subject: [GWN] BSP: opinions needed
Hi all,
For those of you using the Braille Sense Plus, I would like to
ask you a small favor: could you respond with all the bad things
(missing features, bugs, data corruption, and so on) that you
have found with your unit? I am closer now to being able to get
one of these to replace my BN, but I want to know the "real
story" behind the BSP's operation in daily life before I
proceed.
Note that I am a student going into either software design or
web
programming, I am not sure which yet, with two years of school
remaining. I know the technical specs, but no one in my state
has one that I can look at and use first-hand; I have only your
responses and the reviews and podcasts around the Internet to
guide me. I would like to know the following, and sorry it is
such a long list, but then again, it is a lot of money.
1. How annoying constantly pressing the tab and shift-tab key
combos gets?
2. How often can you do things with a shortcut key to avoid
tabbing five times?
3. What can the wordprocessor not handle?
4. What problems do you find when browsing the Internet?
5. How often does the unit lock up, resulting in a reset and
therefore a loss of data?
6. What problems still exist with the email program, even after
the firmware updates?
7. What external device compatibility issues, if any, have you
found?
8. Can Bluetooth do object exchange, and is it stable?
9. Can you browse networks?
10. How is printing as far as formatting, printer support, font
changes, retaining page setup (such as centered lines, line
spacing, etc)?
11. How is the Braille display after months of use?
12. Is Wifi stable, or does it often drop connections, connect
to networks it cannot actually see, you get the idea?
13. Can it take SDHC cards?
14. Does the DSL jack always work properly?
15. How is battery, with and without wifi, bluetooth, and so
on?
16. Can you turn on and off speech and braille independently?
17. If you came from a BN, how is the Braille display
scrolling?
18. How does it handle translation to and from grade 2?
19. Can one use computer braille languages other than English?
20. How does the LCD display work in real-life applications? It
is a good concept, but is it easy to display what you want, to
turn it off, and so on?
21. How easy is it to buy and install a new battery?
22. If you are a student, what problems have you found in
classes, such as unsupported files, trouble with emails, and the
like?
23. For GWM staff: any plans to incorporate Nemeth, UEB, or
other useful codes?
24. What media file size cannot be played? If you play a 150mb
DVS movie, for example, will it work / will the system bog down
any?
25. How does the unit react to high heat and/or humidity? Cold?
26. How are new lines represented? On the BN, they can be a one
or two cell intentation on the display, or an ed sign followed
by
a people. I always set it to indent one cell, since there is no
other
reason for the display to ever indent in text, so any indent is
a
new line and it feels more like a Brailled document and makes
more sense, to me at least.
27. Is there a limit to the number attachments in an email? The
BN will not send more than 7, I believe.
28. Technical: what Javascript does the unit support? For
example, the BN supports onload, onunload, and onclick, but not
onchange, onfocus, onkeypress, and the rest.
29. How is filling out fields on the BSP?
30. Have you run into issues where keys would stick or in any
other way not work?
31. What version of JS does the browser have? Will it support
dhtml (the innerHTML method on objects)?
32. Overall, how do you like your unit for what you do with it?
Please tell me anything you do not like about the unit, even if
I
did not cover it?
You can reply off-list to avoid Raul's or Jeremy's wrath (JK
guys). Thanks in advance for any responses.
Have a great day,
Alex
