Hello Dane This was never meant to be a "My toy's better than yours" argument so I'm glad you added the horses for courses bit. I did try my best to make it clear that I was referring to one particular device, not the overall interface which I know that people are using successfully.
I have not, and have no intention of in the short term, checked out accessibility; which I have no motivation to do since we don't plan to buy one. But I have no problem with what you're saying and if it's true that there is accessibility then that is really great. I did not even look at accessibility when playing with this device. For one thing I didn't have the time or opportunity. For another it wasn't my device so I didn't want to start installing external applications. Technology, although I grant you that accessibility is a huge factor and for most people in this group is an essential, isn't the only consideration. This specific devices interface was, it seemed to both myself and its owner, flawed in many respects and I think the owner of this specific device is parting with it and sending it back whence it came. Now, I feel it's necessary to point out a couple of things per your message. The iPhone: You talk about its audio not being good. I'm bound to point out here Dane that, in all fairness, you have admitted yourself many times on this and other groups that your own hearing isn't the best. I regret that. But I'm pointing out here that it may be that the Nokia's audio attributes just happened to suit your own conditions better than did the iPhone. That's fine, I have no problem with that. But what I'm saying is that it may not be a basis, overall, to judge the quality of the iPhone's audio which, in my experience, is actually very good. You talk about the iPhone's connectivity and its range. Well I'm not sure why you've had problems like that; but I'm not deputing what you are saying. It may be that in your own circumstances, the iPhone didn't work well for you. That's fair enough; it's horses for courses as you rightly say. However, in our case, the iPhone will, for example, connect to a headset when the iPhone is downstairs and we are upstairs. According to the Bluetooth 2.0 specification, the range is supposed to be about 10 meters, (33 feet). We are actually seeing performance over and above that range with most devices we use; including the iPhone 3GS. Again, I am not, (and I can't stress this strongly enough because such "discussions" often seem to degenerate in to the usual and, I have to say, tedious "my toy's better than yours" dispute), doubting what you're saying or knocking anybody else's word. I'm simply speaking from experience as, I presume, are you. AS for your talk about engineers working for mobile phone companies, well; possibly they see things from different perspectives. But again, I'm not knocking or doubting what he's apparently said. I'm simply speaking from personal experience. We have used, and still do use a Jawbone Jambox in conjunction with our iPhone and iPad with amazing results. Connectivity is excellent in both cases; we can leave the iPad downstairs and take the Jambox upstairs with no degradation in signal or quality of audio which, from the Jambox, is superb. Gordon is going to produce his own podcast on the Jambox when he's able. he will demonstrate how it can be used as a music player and as a speaker phone for any bluetooth compatible mobile or cordless phone. But getting back to the original topic which I raised, I have a curiosity, I have to admit, about the Smsung Galaxy; of which I have heard good things. So I plan to make it my business to have a play with one at the earliest opportunity. I'll then be able to judge for myself which device I prefer. "Better", in this context, is a very subjective term. Dane talks about which device is "better" in terms of audio connectivity and performance. That is down to individual taste and requirements. So let me just sum up by saying that what I have seen so far of Android doesn't do much to impress me. I've seen 2 devices; although it wouldn't be fair to judge by the first because it was some time ago and that device is no longer on sale. But the second device is a new Motorola model and it was clunky and prone to crashes. That device has, I assume, a fairly recent version of Android installed, although again it could be down to implementation. It was new out of the box yesterday and I th ink will be back in its box by now as the owner planned to get shot of it. But that does not mean that the platform as a whole is useless; nor do I intend to suggest such. Nor, contrary to what some appear to believe, do I mean to suggest that Apple is the only way to go. Actually there are several things we don't like about iOS4 which, I'm glad to say, are up for improvement shortly. But I think one would be somewhat churlish not to look at alternatives if one was looking for a new device. As it happens, we are not looking for that at the moment and certainly won't be until the pending release of both iPhone 5 and iOS 5. That way we can judge for ourselves which is the best way to go. Our iPhone 3GS which has served us well over the last couple of years, is becoming a bit battered now and may be up for replacement soon. So we'll see which way we opt to go. But the one thing Apple does have on their side is that accessibility is in-built. I think that, if other developers are charging high prices for their accessibility tools, that too might push us into continuing with Apple. But that said the iPhone isn't exactly cheap, so we'll see. OK, enough waffle; I'm off to listen to some music on our Jambox while catching up with some admin. The audio quality that comes out of that device has to be heard to be believed. Lynne On 22 Sep 2011, at 01:45, Dane Trethowan wrote: If anyone's interested in the Android system and how accessible it is with speech then I certainly recommend the excellent series on Android devices and accessibility found at <http://www.blindcooltech.com> I also recommend looking at the Access Word publication which has reviews of various Android products with speech, sorry I don't have a link handy <smile>. Code Factory also make products to help blind and visually impaired people get the most out of their android devices. And my view? Well I know blind people who who use Samsung Galaxy II Android devices and I've not heard them report any trouble, one of the people I know is a Mobile engineer for one of the big mobile carriers in Australia so he'd know what he was talking about. He swithced from Iphone 4 to the Galaxy II because of "performance" issues mainly, as a phone he found the Galaxy II out performs the Iphone 4 though this didn't come as any particular surprise to me, I remember when I had an Iphone and used it regularly, I also found when it came to a "Phone" my Nokia N85 gave superior audio quality, better connection and better range and so forth. I guess what I'm saying here that its "Horses For Courses" ahd when deciding on a device which is right for you do your research and take into consideration more than one opinion, particularly if you have concerns with accessibility. And as a final note yep, there are things I like about the Iphone and its main sstrengths in my view are the Apps, literally hundreds of thousands of accessible apps are available and this still is a problem for the Android platform, firstly you needed sighted asistance it would seem to even access the Android "Market Place" to install apps. As has been noted, there are many different variants of Android floating about including one which is being developped specifically for those who need accessibility so perhaps the problems with the "Market Place" will change in the not to distant future, we'll wait and see. ======================================= The Techno-Chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web pages located at http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/techno-chat You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at either of the following websites: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html Or: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. The feed is at: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> ---------------------------------------
