Hi Steve, The ones that I see on a regular basis are the focus 40 blue and bt classic, the hims braille edge, the brailiant BI, and the alva bc640. These are all shaped differently and come in pricepoints from $2800 right up to about 5 grand. Most have a two year warrantee on them. They all have good battery life. They all have cursor routing and braille input options. The keyboards feel very similar, but the cells and control surfaces are all very different and highly preferential. It's always a good idea to get a look at as many displays as you can.
Let's start with my two favourite. The brailliant BI comes in 32 and 40 cells and is the next generation to the hwg brailleconnect which I love. its about $3200 for a 40 cell. It's brushed aluminum constructed and extremely sturdy. They have fixed the double space bar so that it's action is similar to that of the rest of the braille keyboard which is a major improvement over the brailleconnect. They've also replaced the centre joystick with humanware signature thumb keys. The cells feel almost identical to the old baum cells except with smaller router keys. The control surface is very tidy. It also comes with executive case option. Then there is the braille edge which is 40 cell only. I love the feel of hims cells and would probably trade up for a 32 cell brailleedge but it's not an option. The brailleedge has some extra fluffy features such as a notepad and a calculator. I don't find them useful, but they are a selling point for some. The brailleedge is a bit more brickish than the brailliant, but comes with an executive case option. This is the one I'm not sure of the warrantee on. It may only be one year. The focus 40 blue comes in two incarnations. The classic one is built like a brick, while the modern one is much thinner and lighter, and a bit more graceful. The control surfaces are almost identical except that the traditional and much vaunted whizwheels from the classic model have been replaced by rocker switches each accompanied by a round button. These are still referred to as whizwheels but clearly they are not. The new focus blue is smoother than the classic. Both have cells that are constructed 20 cells per block which is a bit of a service nightmare. This one also comes with the option of an executive case. Finally there is the alva bc640 with feature pack. I just plain revile this display and my guts do a little flipflop every time I sit down in front of one. It's built all out of plastic. The cells are all under a pin board that is very smooth, but I hate the feel of the dots. They're sharp and irritating. It's about an inch wider than most modern displays because it comes in two pieces sold separately which you then bolt together to get a fully functioning braille controller. The braille input keyboard has four extra buttons for control, alt, windows key, and enter which are placed in a completely screwball manner. The rest of the control surface is not much better, with buttons slapped hap-hazardly around the top and front faces. It has 5 thumb keys on the front, a 5-way directional arrow on the top, and several other button groupings identified by vertical and horisontal groups of raised lines. The cells fail all the time and the support is horrendous. The alva does have a notepad and 4 mb of internal storage along with it's own bluetooth and usb audio and cheep stereo speakers. I find most of these features generally get in the way more often than not. It does have one redeeming feature though which I wish other manufacturers would adopt and adapt into something useful. You can connect two devices to the alva at once and monitor both at the same time, allocating resources on the display according to your need. For example, you could connect your macbook and your IPhone, then allocate 15 cells to the IPhone and 25 to the macbook and monitor both at the same time and switch back and fourth on the fly. The implementation isn't great, but the idea is spot on. Hope this helps, Erik Burggraaf Follow my series of articles about setting up a small business through the ontario disability support program at http://www.erik-burggraaf.com/blog Ebony Consulting toll-free: 1-888-255-5194 or on the web at http://www.erik-burggraaf.com On 2013-09-22, at 4:34 PM, Steve The Jazz Man <[email protected]> wrote: > Eric, > > I'm looking at something around 40 characters in a blue tooth display. > > will be pairing with an iPhone and possibly an Apple laptop PC. > > What would be your recommendations? > > Steve > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google > Group. > > Post a new message to VIPhone by emailing [email protected]. > > Search and view the VIPhone archives by visiting > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. > > Reach the VIPhone owner and moderators by emailing > [email protected]. > > Unsubscribe and leave VIPhone by emailing > [email protected]. > > More VIPhone group options can be found by visiting > http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. > --- > 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 [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. Post a new message to VIPhone by emailing [email protected]. Search and view the VIPhone archives by visiting http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. Reach the VIPhone owner and moderators by emailing [email protected]. Unsubscribe and leave VIPhone by emailing [email protected]. More VIPhone group options can be found by visiting http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. --- 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 [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
