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Best phone / tablet that can be used as a phone for someone who has recently lost most of their eyesight? (self.Blind)
submitted by catherinecc
Currently she has an old android phone with 2.2 on it. It's not great.
I know iphones are pretty good in terms of controlling them with speech but the screens are small, limiting their usability when zoomed in.
She tried an 7" tablet with the font size turned way up and it wasn't great, but it was usable. I'm sure there is a display scaling feature as well (as on ios) - and while I think Siri takes the lead here, the android equivalent isn't terrible either.
I'm looking into getting a tablet that could be used as a phone. It'd be fairly large, but it might be a workable solution.
I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to what would be best.
Thanks :)
I know iphones are pretty good in terms of controlling them with speech but the screens are small, limiting their usability when zoomed in.
She tried an 7" tablet with the font size turned way up and it wasn't great, but it was usable. I'm sure there is a display scaling feature as well (as on ios) - and while I think Siri takes the lead here, the android equivalent isn't terrible either.
I'm looking into getting a tablet that could be used as a phone. It'd be fairly large, but it might be a workable solution.
I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to what would be best.
Thanks :)
romanj35 2 points
Oops, I forgot one thing that turned me off to the I-phone. It has an enclosed battery. You can't take it out. Not a big problem, but if the battery goes out, you screwed. Deductable pay out here it goes. Also, for tmobile, the insurance through apple was horrible. My wife dropped her s-4 and if we had had i-phones we would have had to buy another new phone.
romanj35 2 points
I'm totally blind and did not get the i-phone. I found only 1 reason to not get the phone. It only has 1 gig of ram. Instead I got a samsung galaxy s 4. It has great voice over, both google and a samsung text to speech function.
The important thing to consider on i-something vs android is cost. My wife had a good point while we were in the phone store for 2 hours going through these phones.
She said 'everything apple does 50 companies will release later for free' and sadly she's right.
If screen size is important to your friend, and you're an awesome friend for considering her like this I wish some of my friends and family were half as considerate, then take a look at the note 3, or s 4.
I'm sure the nexus has a fix for her problem with i though. There are too many apps out there for there not to be fix.
Ultimately, i would recommend taking her to the phone store, or best buy electronics or whatever's there, and let her play with everything until she finds one she loves.
The important thing to consider on i-something vs android is cost. My wife had a good point while we were in the phone store for 2 hours going through these phones.
She said 'everything apple does 50 companies will release later for free' and sadly she's right.
If screen size is important to your friend, and you're an awesome friend for considering her like this I wish some of my friends and family were half as considerate, then take a look at the note 3, or s 4.
I'm sure the nexus has a fix for her problem with i though. There are too many apps out there for there not to be fix.
Ultimately, i would recommend taking her to the phone store, or best buy electronics or whatever's there, and let her play with everything until she finds one she loves.
catherinecc [OP] 1 points
Yeah, I bumped up fonts on the galaxy s2 but it wasn't usable for her. But the voice recognition and text to speech functionality was far, far superior.
My only concern is that I want her to pick something after having used it, but unfortunately some of the suggestions people have made on another thread have phones / phablets that aren't in stores, so she can't really try before she buys.
I'm surprised there isn't a company that has cornered this fairly obvious niche in the market.
My only concern is that I want her to pick something after having used it, but unfortunately some of the suggestions people have made on another thread have phones / phablets that aren't in stores, so she can't really try before she buys.
I'm surprised there isn't a company that has cornered this fairly obvious niche in the market.
romanj35 2 points
Not to be rude saying this, but if your friend's medical condition is going to stay the same, then your idea is fine. If tablet-phone is what you're after and the nexus was ok for her, then go note 3.
But if her condition/vision is going to deterate then she probably wants as much as sight as she can get while she can. I was the same way. My loss of vision was slow going. That being said, if I had bought a note 3 or s-4 the '4' wouldn't have worked for me. Neither would have the i-phone. That note size is the closest you can get to tablet outright.
I'd recommend approaching this from a different direction altogether. 1. Is her eyesight condition ever going to change, better, or worse? If not, look at these phones for durability, ease of change, access of current sight.
2. Use of phone? What does she want it for, to use it for, have it do for her or help her do. At this point it wont matter phone type or model because i-phone, android. Blackberry, and windows phones are either going to match, or exceed each other.
If it's facebook, twitter, web reading, skype, instragram, meet up etc etc etc, also won't matter. All phones ios, android, and windows from january this year on can handle all that no problem. Ios 6 or better, android 4.2.2 or better also.
3. Life cycle of phone. Is it important to her to have the latest, best? Battery life? We've discussed size.
I'd recommend digging into the apple and android market for apps that's going to help. Font sizing apps I mean, and not just running with what's in the phone stock-inlay settings.
4. Price. Let's face it, there's no way around this one. If, for example, she picks the i-phone 5c or note 3 she's going to pay about 600 no matter how it's looked at. So now, you have to consider phone carrier.
I know tmobile will let you put x amount of dollars down and pay off the phone through your bill, without a contract. Not sure about other carriers.
I hope this helped some.
But if her condition/vision is going to deterate then she probably wants as much as sight as she can get while she can. I was the same way. My loss of vision was slow going. That being said, if I had bought a note 3 or s-4 the '4' wouldn't have worked for me. Neither would have the i-phone. That note size is the closest you can get to tablet outright.
I'd recommend approaching this from a different direction altogether. 1. Is her eyesight condition ever going to change, better, or worse? If not, look at these phones for durability, ease of change, access of current sight.
2. Use of phone? What does she want it for, to use it for, have it do for her or help her do. At this point it wont matter phone type or model because i-phone, android. Blackberry, and windows phones are either going to match, or exceed each other.
If it's facebook, twitter, web reading, skype, instragram, meet up etc etc etc, also won't matter. All phones ios, android, and windows from january this year on can handle all that no problem. Ios 6 or better, android 4.2.2 or better also.
3. Life cycle of phone. Is it important to her to have the latest, best? Battery life? We've discussed size.
I'd recommend digging into the apple and android market for apps that's going to help. Font sizing apps I mean, and not just running with what's in the phone stock-inlay settings.
4. Price. Let's face it, there's no way around this one. If, for example, she picks the i-phone 5c or note 3 she's going to pay about 600 no matter how it's looked at. So now, you have to consider phone carrier.
I know tmobile will let you put x amount of dollars down and pay off the phone through your bill, without a contract. Not sure about other carriers.
I hope this helped some.
mrg3rry 1 points
I have Retinitis Pigmatosa and am legally blind and i use an iPhone 5 and i hae an ipad 4 gen and I use voiceover to read the screen to me. i have my home button set up so if i triple click it brings up my accessibility options voice, zoom and invert colors and you can do the same on ipad. and the pinch to zoom feature works great in all apps
catherinecc [OP] 1 points
Thanks :) Do you find the iphone screen limiting? I think she's going to end up with 1 device due to limited income.
mrg3rry 2 points
I don't I think it's the right size for me. I belong to a local CNIB support group and I know several of the people are total blind and love the iphone. you don't need to see the scree with voiceover on, just slide your finger around and it will speek what ever your on...
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