[dbaust] Braille phone offers easy mobile calls for blind Australians
- From: "Peter Tarrant" <tarrp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <dbaust@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:38:50 +1000
Braille phone offers easy mobile calls for blind Australians
URL:
http://www.cnet.com/au/news/braille-phone-offers-easy-mobile-calls-for-blind-australians/?tag=nl.e303&s_cid=e303&ttag=e303&ftag=CADaacd825
Braille phone offers easy mobile calls for blind Australians
Blind Australians no longer have to worry about touch screens thanks to the
launch of a customisable mobile phone that features Braille buttons.
by Claire Reilly
24 July 2
braillephone.jpgBlind people can now dial thanks to Braille.OwnFone
While millions of Australians take touchscreens for granted, they present a
problem for blind people. Now visually-impaired Australians will be able to
easily make mobile calls with the launch of a new mobile phone featuring
customisable Braille buttons.
Developed by British company OwnFone and unveiled in the UK in May, the device
features 3 different 3D-printed buttons that are customised with Braille for
different contacts. The mobile phone features three of these buttons with the
option for a Triple Zero emergency contact.
Users simply go to OwnFone's Australian website and provide up to three contact
names which are automatically converted to Braille and 3D printed on to the
front of the device in tactile form.
According to the director of OwnFone Australia Brad Scoble, the world-first
device solves a very real problem for blind Australians.
"There are currently 35,000 people in Australia who are blind," he said.
"Touchscreen technology is problematic for those Australians. OwnFone UK, in
consultation with the blind and low vision community, developed a simple mobile
phone without a touchscreen and one that users can personalise with Braille
buttons.
"OwnFone meets the need for a basic mobile phone to keep in touch. There is
simple one button dialling, and the Braille buttons are pre-programmed to call
people of the user's choice, such as family, friends or carers."
The Braille phone joins other devices in OwnFone's range, designed for children
and seniors, that feature simple names or images on the large buttons. While
the cost of producing customisable tactile buttons may have been prohibitive in
the past, the advent of 3D printing has now made the devices much cheaper to
produce.
Prices for the Braille OwnFone start at AU$89, with the company also offering
call plans starting from AU$2.35 a week.
Tags: Crave, Phones, Tech Culture, Mobile,
About the author
Claire Reilly mugshot
Claire Reilly /
twitter
Claire Reilly is CNET's news writer, based in Sydney, Australia. When she's not
breaking stories, she's a part-time Simpsons guru, hair metal enthusiast and
blue cheese aficionado. See full bio
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- » [dbaust] Braille phone offers easy mobile calls for blind Australians - Peter Tarrant