As an Assistant Professor, I'm teaching Symbian OS at the University of Applied Sciences in Hagenberg, Austria. My company "Mopius" is developing mobile software with a special focus on Symbian OS.
A new way of using the mobile phone for the visually impaired
mopius | 13 September, 2007 12:04
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| Prototype of the Ninepoint Box in use. |
- Text2Speech-software: This is problematic due to the privacy requirements – it’d be hard to use in public. Also, navigation through menus is slow. Another disadvantage is that it’d be nearly impossible to put text2speech-software on top of the existing UI of mobile phones, as today’s interfaces are usually very graphical. For example, even the alarm clock application couldn’t be read by software, as the time is usually presented in a graphical way.
- Special Braille PDAs: They are comfortable to use, but very big and expensive, making their daily and mobile use problematic.
Ninepoint Box
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| Closeup of a prototype Ninepoint Box. |
The interface has to be highly optimized to be able to efficiently access the most important features of phones, like making calls, sending SMS and using the alarm clock or calculator. Python proved to be the ideal choice for these tasks as its performance is sufficient and it enables better access to the required phone services than Java ME. On the other hand, using standard C++ would be very difficult due to the vast amount of different system APIs that are involved – of course, they’re very powerful but therefore also complex.
The resulting solution is relatively cheap, easy to use and very transportable. It has been a big challenge to design the hardware and to test it with the target group, as the requirements are hard to meet. In the current status, fully working prototypes are finished and the final hardware design is on its way.
To bring this product to the market, Ewald Kantner has started his own company “Ninepoint Systems”. Currently, he is searching for investors to bring the solution to the market – which is looking forward to the solution, according to the feedback from Europe’s biggest fare for sightless people, “Sight City”.
Business Opportunities/Services, General, Python |
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Re: A new way of using the mobile phone for the visually impaired
ebtschi | 19/09/2007, 11:01
qxobglnl
qxobglnl | 02/11/2007, 15:49
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Who am I?
Thinking about what mobile phones can do except messaging and voice calls is one of my main interests. At the department of Mobile Computing at the University of Applied Sciences in Hagenberg (Austria), I can work on those ideas every day by collaborating with students, researching and - well - thinking.
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Re: A new way of using the mobile phone for the visually impaired
mgroeber9110 | 16/09/2007, 16:35
So we have been doing screen reading for the Visually Impaired quite successfully for the last couple of years - see http://www.nuance.com/talks for some details. Actually, since a product like TALKS usually supports Braille displays hooked up via Bluetooth as well, a device like the Ninepoint Box could be a natural extension of the concept, especially for experienced Braille typists.