Is there a mobile app that tells me what color something is?(self.Blind)
submitted by __saj
Hi. I am not blind but have friends that are. They say it would be nice to know what color clothing is when buying it in the store. Is there an app that can do this?
Thanks
fastfinge4 points6y ago
I use AIPoly. However, as someone born blind, I have to take all of these colour identification apps with a grain of salt. Apparently, lighting can effect colour quite a bit; an object that looks one colour under one type of lighting, can look like it's a different colour under another type of lighting. As I've never been able to see, I don't understand how this works, at all. I find when I ask a sighted person, they can give me a more reliable answer, that seems to be more "true" than the app does. I assume you're better able to take into account the type of light, and better judge what the colour "really" is. For given values of "true" and "really", I guess.
Stephen_Falken3 points6y ago
The closest analogy I can think of for explaining color is to use air tempiture example like windchill and humidity. If your outside and the temperature is 80 degrees, high humidity it will make the temperature feel higher, and on the other end scale dry low humidity but windy the temperature will feel colder. Even though all three situations the temperature is factually 80 degrees.
I'm sure some meteorologist will poke holes in my explanation.
fastfinge2 points6y ago
Thanks for this! Of course, a thermometer can always tell the factual temperature, no matter what the wind and humidity are doing. It would be nice if someone could invent an app that could always tell the factual colours of things, no matter what kind of lighting they're in. Perhaps temperature is a more objective measurement than colour, though. The wavelength of the light waves an object is reflecting is factual. But some people will call it blue, and some people will call it cerulean, depending on how big there vocabulary is. So meaningful colour identification is a harder problem than you'd first think.
dashestodashes3 points6y ago
I don't personally use these so I don't know how great they are, but there are a few apps with similar concepts. ColoredEye will read off colors (says primarily for colorblind individuals but I mean I assume the same principle applies). Then there are a few that will read labels, scan barcodes, tell you what denomination of money you have, etc. Here's a few I found: Digit-Eyes Lite, TapTapSee, Seeing Assistant Home, and NantMobile Money Reader. All of these are on the Apple app store, I have no idea about Android though.
dmazzoni1 points6y ago
As others said there are apps but they're hard because they depend on lighting and a clear picture.
You can buy a device called a color identifier that's really accurate and good for things like clothes. They cost a few hundred dollars unfortunately, because the market is small.
fastfinge1 points6y ago
Don't color identifiers also depend on lighting and a clear picture? If not, how do they do it? And why can't an app do whatever they're doing?
dmazzoni3 points6y ago
For clothing, color identifiers have you hold them right up to the fabric, touching it. Then it uses its own light so it's consistent
fastfinge1 points6y ago
Ah, thanks! I've never owned one, because they're priced way out of my range. Couldn't an iPhone app do the same thing by using the back camera and the flash?
dmazzoni1 points6y ago
Color identifiers create an enclosed chamber, so a phone camera is not going to be the same.
KillerLag1 points6y ago
It stays more consistent then mobile apps because it uses it's own light in a contained area, but even then it is off in some cases. I've had a green shirt that has ranged from green to grey to navy blue with the same colour reader, just in different spots (it is a solid coloured shirt)
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