Hi again. I also forgot to mention something, and I haven't tried it, so I don't know how useful it might be. At the Apple Corps of Dallas meeting (which is a group of sighted Apple users), one of men there had a device designed for sighted folks who can't stand to mess up their pretty iPhones and iPads with fingerprints. My husband said it was like a pen. His mother was using it because she didn't like to mess up her iPhone. However, I'm wondering if some people with difficulty using their hands could use this device. I can find out farily easily and maybe in December get a chance to try it out myself with VoiceOver. I could ask John, the man that had it, if he could let me do it. He's very accommodating and helpful, so I think he would. Let me know if you would like for me to do that.
Regards, Gigi On Nov 17, 2011, at 5:55 AM, Gigi wrote: > Hi Sarah. > I would like to encourage you about your using an iPhone if you want one. > This is because I have an acquaintance who is totally blind and has lost just > about all his fingers, or at parts of them due to diabetes. In his particular > case, the only thing he has trouble with is doing a three finger swipe to go > from page to page like in Safari, something Siri would likely improve for > him. I suspect he is using split tapping, which he could do with one hand > doing the finding of things on the screen and then one of his shorter fingers > touching the screen to make a menu choice. > > I don't know if you know this, but battery life, for one thing, is something > that probably would not require dexterity because you just touch the upper > right hand corner of the iPhone screen. Also, the phone can be set on touch > typing so that the keyboard doesn't respond until you pick up your finger. > Then it's not necessary to do split tapping or double tapping to put in phone > numbers or letters. > > I got a chance to talk to Siri this weekend, and I discovered that Siri's > voice recognition is far better than the voice recognition on my current > iPhone; I have a 4 which has been upgraded to 5. If the voice recognition in > the new Siri phones is that good when doing phone calls, you can call on an > iPhone using voice control. I do it on my phone, but on my current phone Siri > has better recognition. > > By the way, just in case some of you don't know about this, A T & T is > letting some of us, in this case me, get a Siri phone a year earlier than > Apple said I could. They sent me an e-mail yesterday or the day before and > said I could. When I called them, they said I could, for the price of the > $200, $300, or $400 for the discounted prices get the Siri phone a year > sooner than Apple said I could. I asked them how they could do that, and they > said something about my phone being the revenue producer. (They have that > right for sure.) I did forget to ask them if I had to make this choice right > now and then get the new phone in January when I was eligible, so I'll need > to call them back and find out if I need to sign up now if I can go in when > I'm eligible in January. When I told them that Apple said I had to wait until > 2013, they said have Apple call them. Then we decided that instead I could go > to the A T & T store downtown when I was ready. > > Regards, > Gigi > Sent from my iPhone > > On Nov 17, 2011, at 1:01 AM, "Sarah May" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> Hi: >> >> I am one that is blind and also have some dexterity issues with my fingers >> that made it impossible for me to use an I-Phone. When Siri came out I >> thought that would solve all my problems. Well, when I went to my local >> Apple store to try her out for a test run, she couldn’t access voice mail >> for me; check how much battery life I had left; or go into the general menus >> that one would want to go into. She wanted to search things for me on >> Google which was cool, and I thought it was awesome that she could tell me >> what the weather was like, but if she wasn’t able to access the things that >> are pretty essential in havina phone for me; I thought to myself that I >> wasn’t going to spend the money when I am due for an upgrade for a new >> phone. Now, if voice over, Siril, and this new program can work altogether, >> and they all work really well together, then I would definitely seriously >> think about getting an I-Phone. >> >> Sarah >> >> From: [email protected] >> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Red.Falcon >> Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 4:39 PM >> To: macvisionaries group; Mobile Access; Talking Apple >> Subject: Apple's AssistiveTouch Helps the Disabled Use a Smartphone - >> NYTimes.com >> >> Hi all! >> Well some of you have said you've got Motor-control problems! >> So I wonder if this would work with vo! >> But it is Apple doing there thing! >> Colin >> Qapla! >> Chegh chew jaj Vam jaj Kak >> http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/apples-assistivetouch-helps-the-disabled-use-a-smartphone/ >> >> Apple’s AssistiveTouch Helps the Disabled Use a Smartphone >> >> Plenty has been written about the new iPhone 4S, with its voice-controlled >> virtual assistant Siri, and about iOS 5, its software. >> >> But in writing a book about both, I stumbled across an amazingly thoughtful >> feature that I haven’t seen a word about: something called AssistiveTouch. >> >> <image001.jpg> >> The Times’s technology columnist, David Pogue, keeps you on top of the >> industry in his free, weekly e-mail newsletter. >> Sign up | See Sample >> Now, Apple has always gone to considerable lengths to make the iPhone usable >> for people with vision and hearing impairments. If you’re deaf, you can have >> the LED flash to get your attention when the phone rings. You can create >> custom vibration patterns for each person who might call you. You can >> convert stereo music to mono (handy if you’re deaf in one ear). >> >> If you’re blind, you can literally turn the screen off and operate >> everything — do your e-mail, surf the Web, adjust settings, run apps — by >> tapping and letting the phone speak what you’re touching. You can also >> magnify the screen or reverse black for white (for better-contrast reading). >> >> In short, iPhone was already pretty good at helping out if you’re blind or >> deaf. But until iOS 5 came along, it was tough rocks if you had >> motor-control problems. How are you supposed to shake the phone (a shortcut >> for “Undo”) if you can’t even hold the thing? How are you supposed to >> pinch-to-zoom a map or a photo if you can’t even move your fingers? >> >> One new feature, called AssistiveTouch, is Apple’s accessibility team at its >> most creative. When you turn on this feature in >> Settings->General->Accessibility, a new, white circle appears at the bottom >> of the screen. It stays there all the time. >> >> When you tap it, you get a floating on-screen palette. Its buttons trigger >> motions and gestures on the iPhone screen without requiring hand or >> multiple-finger movement. All you have to be able to do is tap with a single >> finger — even a stylus you’re holding in your teeth or fist. >> >> For example, you can tap the Home on-screen button instead of pressing the >> physical Home button. >> If you tap Device, you get a sub-palette of six functions that would >> otherwise require you to grasp the phone or push its tiny physical buttons. >> There’s Rotate Screen (tap this instead of turning the phone 90 degrees), >> Lock Screen (tap instead of pressing the Sleep switch), Volume Up and Volume >> Down (tap instead of pressing the volume keys), Shake (does the same as >> shaking the phone to undo typing), and Mute/Unmute (tap instead of flipping >> the small Mute switch on the side). >> >> If you tap Gestures, you get a peculiar palette that depicts a hand holding >> up two, three, four, or five fingers. When you tap the three-finger icon, >> for example, you get three blue circles on the screen. They move together. >> Drag one of them, and the phone thinks you’re dragging three fingers on its >> surface. Using this technique, you can operate apps that require multiple >> fingers dragging on the screen. >> >> To me, the most impressive part is that you can define your own gestures. In >> Settings->General->Accessibility, you can tap Create New Gesture to draw >> your own gesture right on the screen, using up to five fingers. >> >> For example, suppose you’re frustrated in Google Maps because you can’t do >> the two-finger double-tap that means “zoom out.” On the Create New Gesture >> screen, get somebody to do the two-finger double-tap for you. Tap Save and >> give the gesture a name—say, “2 double tap.” >> >> From now on, “2 double tap” shows up on the final AssistiveTouch panel, >> called Favorites, ready to trigger with a single tap by a single finger or >> stylus. (Apple starts you off with one predefined gesture already in >> Favorites: Pinch. That’s the two-finger pinch or spread gesture you use to >> zoom in and out of photos, maps, Web pages, PDF documents, and so on. Now >> you can trigger it with only one finger.) >> >> I doubt that people with severe motor control challenges represent a >> financially significant number of the iPhone’s millions of customers. But >> somebody at Apple took them seriously enough to write a complete, elegant >> and thoughtful feature that takes down most of the barriers to using an app >> phone. >> I, for one, am impressed. >> >> And I’d also like to hear, in the Comments, from people who actually use >> AssistiveTouch. How well does it work? >> >> >> >> No virus found in this message. >> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >> Version: 10.0.1411 / Virus Database: 2092/4018 - Release Date: 11/15/11 >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. 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