Look for the caveat regarding the U2 at the end of my post. It will be below the answer to your last question.
----- Original Message ----- From: Joe To: viphone@googlegroups.com Sent: Friday, June 19, 2015 5:24 PM Subject: Replacing Braille Notetaker with iDevice Hi, I'm curious to hear from people who have replaced their Braille notetaker with an iDevice. I've been toying with the idea of investing in a U2 for reading books, taking notes and performing similar quick tasks. Questions: 1. I've heard there are displays that let you type text and then send to the iDevice in one burst. I don't understand the mechanics of this, but what are the displays you know that do this? I think you are referring to Bluetooth; where the display is paired with the iPhone. Braillesense U2, U2Mini, 18-cell model; Humanware Braillenote Apex 18 and 32-cell models; Baum VarioUltra, 20-cell and 40-cell models, these have the distinction of ability to connect to four devices simultaneously; Freedom Scientific Focus 14 and 40 cell models; APH Refresh-a-Braille 18-cell model; BraillePen 12-cell model. I do not have personal experience with the APH or the BraillePen. I have seen some negative reviews of the Braille Pen though. 2. Is Braille input in iOS as dreadful as some people have made it out to be? I don't mind learning various keystrokes, but I do mind delays in transmition. In my experience, no. There will be a slight delay--probably less than a second. 3. Is there a means to read BRF in iOS? Yes, NLS Bard will read .brf titles. Other options would be AccessNote from AFB, or renaming the .brf file to a .txt and importing it into the iPhone with Dropbox. 4. What 32-cell display would you personally recommend? Since each display has its own feature set and command distinctions, I am hesitant to recommend one over another. A lot of it could be personal preference. I am hesitant to recommend the HIMS models at this time; look on their listserv and note that many people are having difficulties with the latest release of their software causing the notetaker to become almost non-functional. You need to do hard resets and re-install the software. After you do that, it works for awhile and then the problems re-occur. This is with there software version 8.2, build release April 27, 2015. My wife has been in communication and HIMS USA is aware of the problem, but it is uncertain when a corrected release will be issued by the powers that be in South Korea. But, there are a lot of users who aren't happy particularly if they use it as a GPS device and are in the middle of a rooute when it locks up; or people relying on it for work or college. I am an Apex user. In my view, I like the feature set of the HIMS products better and the interface makes more sense to me because it is more like working with Windows. But, dot quality for reading Braille is better on the Humanware products; and whereas my wife has had to have her unit serviced several times for cell failure; my Apex is going strong after five years with no repairs. Steve Lansing, MI Thanks guys for any help. Joe -- Musings of a Work in Progress: www.JoeOrozco.com/ Twitter: @ScribblingJoe -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
