Accessible Mobile Phones

Introduction

An accessible mobile phone is especially useful to those with a visual impairment. It is a good security measure as you can always phone for help if you are ever lost or otherwise in trouble. If you are visiting someone and are not exactly sure where they live you can phone them when you think you are nearby and ask them to look out for you. You can avoid having to find a phone if you need to call a taxi or ask for help at a station. Some phones support the global positioning system (GPS) which can tell you where you are to within a few meters when out traveling on foot or otherwise. Some phones also support optical character recognition (OCR) so that you can photograph printed material and have it read to you using synthesised speech.

The following types of mobile phone are accessible:-

• Mainstream phones which use the Symbian series 60 operating system. Many high end phones from Nokia and others use this. You can make all functions of these phones accessible via synthesised speech and / or screen magnification by installing the Nuance TALKS and ZoomS software or the Code Factory Mobile Speak software. Most of these phones support Email, Internet access, storing and playing music and audio books, storing and viewing videos and photographs. You can download Loadstone GPS to most of these phones for finding your way, and you can download the KNFB reader to a few of these phones for reading printed material using the phone's camera and synthesised speech.


• the Apple iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. These models of the Apple iPhone are accessible out of the box using the Voice Over screen reader via gestures on the phone's touch pad, or using Zoom screen magnification. These phones support EMail, Internet access, storing and playing music, audio books, photographs, and videos. You can download an accessible GPS application, but as yet there is no accessible OCR application.


• Windows smart phones. These use the Windows Mobile operating system and support a similar set of functions to the Apple iPhone. Windows smart phones can be made accessible by installing software like Code Factory's Mobile Speak for Smart Phones.


• Phones specially made for the visually impaired. The Royal National Institue of Blind people (RNIB) offers a range of easy to see and easy to use mobile phones for those with useful residual vision, and a single talking mobile phone for the blind. These work out of the box but lack the power and extensibility of mainstream mobile phones.

Accessible mainstream phones

Mainstream mobile phones which use the Symbian Series 60 operating system can be made fully accessible via Nuance TALKS and ZoomS or Code Factory Mobile Speak. Look at list of mainstream phones which use Symbian Series 60 operating system for a list of about 50 mainstream phones which can be made fully accessible by installing extra software. All but two of these phones are from Nokia. They are all high end phones and so are not cheap, but some can be purchased as used phones from vendors like Amazon at low prices. Note that you will need access to a Windows computer, or a Windows virtual machine on an Apple Mackintosh, to install extra software on your phone. Many of these phones support USB connection to a computer, but some do not and so need bluetooth or infra-read capability on your computer.

Here are details of the extra software you can install on your phone to make it fully accessible. Using this software you can access nearly all functions of your phone, such as managing your contacts, making and receiving phone calls, sending and receiving SMS text messages, sending and receiving Emails, managing appointments, playing music and audio books, and working with the Internet (provided a sighted user of your phone can do the above function).

• Nuance TALKS and ZoomS for Symbian Series 60.
  You can buy either TALKS, ZoomS, or both. Nuance TALKS converts the displayed text on the mobile handset into highly intelligible speech. With Nuance TALKS, blind and low-vision users can take advantage of most features, including contact directories, caller ID, text messages, help files, access to the Nokia web browser, and other screen content, available on their mobile phones. If your mobile phone supports bluetooth you can direct screen content to a bluetooth connected refreshable braille display.
  In Nuance ZoomS the magnification feature acts like a magnifying glass, enlarging screen elements to enable you to view them more easily. You can move the magnifier around the screen to access different areas. ZoomS can use the entire screen area to magnify one element, or divide the screen into several areas to display several elements simultaneously. When you scroll through a menu or a list of options, ZOOMS magnifies each item along with some of the surrounding area. If the magnified item does not fit on the screen ZoomS will begin automatic scrolling after a short delay so that you can read the entire item. ZoomS also supports colour changes such as grey scale only or image inversion to bright text on a dark background.
  You can buy Nuance talks and Zoom for around £150 from the RNIB online shop or from Computer Room Services where you can also download a 30 day free trial version.


• Code Factory Mobile Speak and Mobile Magnifier.
  Code Factory offers Mobile Speak which is a screen reader for Symbian mobile phones similar to Nuance Talks described above, and Mobile Magnifier similar to Nuance ZoomS. In addition to running on Symbian mobile phones different versions of these products also work on Windows Smart phones and some personal digital assistant (PDA) devices.

Here are some other very useful applications which you may like to install on your Symbian mobile phone:

• Loadstone free GPS software for mobile phones.
  This is free software which runs on mobile phones which use the Symbian Series 60 operating system. You can use it in conjunction with the Talks 60 or the Mobile Speak mobile phone screen reader and the phone's internal GPS receiver or an external bluetooth GPS receiver costing about £70. You can download the Loadstone software for free and install it on your mobile phone. the software helps you find your way when travelling on foot or in a vehicle. You can visit points of interest, such as street intersections, shops, pubs, bus stops, and churches, and give each point a symbolic name. If you are ever lost you can hear the names, compass bearing and distance of the nearest points of interest in each compass direction and thereby find your way again. You can set an alarm to sound and your phone to vibrate as you approach a nominated point of interest such as your bus stop. You can also hear your current compass bearing and speed and the trip distance travelled. You can share points of interest with other Loadstone users via the Loadstone web site, and in some areas you can download open street maps.


• KNFB reader mobile.
  This is software which you can install on a high end Symbian mobile phone to read aloud printed material of all types, such as pages of a book, instructions on packaging, collection times on a post box, menus at a restaurant, and so on. The software first helps you to use the phone to take a photograph of the material of interest. It tells you which edges of the material are in view and advises you how much to rotate the phone to properly align the material. A few seconds after you have taken the photograph the phone will start reading the text using high quality optical character recognition and speech synthesis. The software is very forgiving and will cope with material which CONTAINS MULTIPLE COLUMNS, OR is upside down or sideways on. If you also buy the screen reader option you can use all the phone's other functions such as contacts list, text messages, appointments calender, global positioning system, voice recording, and music player.

The Apple iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4

These models of the Apple iPhone are fully accessible out of the box via the Voice Over screen reader or Zoom screen magnifier. Although the iPhone has a touch screen with no physical keys you can use gestures with your fingers on the touch screen to access all the phone's functions, with audio feedback at every stage. The iPhone has all the expected functions of a high end mobile phone, such as Email, Internet access, appointments book, voice recorder, digital camera, games, and music and audio book player. It has built-in wifi, bluetooth, GPS receiver, and digital compass. You can download and install thousands of extra applications not all of which are accessible. As yet it does not have an accessible optical character recognition application comparable to the KNFB reader on a Symbian mobile phone.

Look at Apple iPhone 3GS for more information on the Apple iPhone. Look at
Using Voice Over on the iPhone for more information on how to use Voice Over on the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.

The Mobile Navigator GPS software from Navigon (see Navigon web site is accessible on an Apple iPhone 3GS. Its menus are accessible via Voice Over and it does offer speech output.

Windows Smart Phones

Windows smart phones use the Windows Mobile operating system. You can use your smart phone to make and receive phone calls, send and receive SMS text messages and Emails, manage your appointments and contacts, browse the internet, play music and audio books, record voice notes, exchange data with a laptop or desk top computer, and run lots of third party applications.

You can make your Windows smart phone accessible using one of the following products:

• Mobile Speak Smart Phone from Code Factory.
  This is a full function screen reader for SmartPhones powered by the Windows Mobile platform. You can use it to access nearly all the functions of your smart phone.


• Pocket HAL from Dolphin Computer Access.
  This is a full function screen reader from a British company. You will need to carefully check whether it will work with the exact operating system on your smart phone.

Phones designed for the visually impaired

The royal National Institute of Blind people (RNIB) offers a range of easy to see and easy to use mobile phones for those with useful residual vision. These phones use large fonts on their screens and easier to use keys than mainstream mobile phones. Look at RNIB mobile phone fact sheet for more details.

The RNIB also offers the Owasys 22C talking mobile phone. This is an easy-to-use talking mobile phone with well-spaced tactile buttons which allows you to make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, and set-up and maintain your contacts book. This mobile phone does not have a display and reads out all the information needed to operate it in a synthetic speech. Look at Owasys 22C mobile phone for more detail.