A few days ago, I received an advertisement email from the Korean access technology company, HIMS. The email had the subject line, “Next Generation Braille Notetaker Just Released” and it described a $4000 device running some oddball version of Windows which had no more than a minimal set of features.
Recently, former FS executive, Jonathan Mosen wrote an article on his blog entitled, “There’s No Such Thing as a Blind Ghetto Product” in which he criticizes people like Mike Calvo and I for referring to proprietary devices designed specifically for blind users as being the agents that segregates our population into a technological ghetto. Anyone who has read this blog or it’s predecessor, BlindConfidential, will already know my position on such products and my desire to see them replaced by mainstream solutions. I won’t bore you with the details of why I think this is the case, you can search on the word “ghetto” on this blog or on the BlindConfidential archive to see the analysis I’ve done of this business sector and why it must be avoided by the majority of users.
This article is specifically about the email I received from HIMS and not the greater philosophy of accessible mainstream versus ghetto devices. These are my findings:
An Email From HIMS
At the very top of the email I received from HIMS advertising their new notetaker I heard my screen reader say, “order-top.jpg.” This is, of course, the sign of an unlabeled graphic. HIMS is, ostensibly, an access technology company. If a company attempting to sell a four thousand dollar device to users with vision impairment cannot even spend the time to get the accessibility of the HTML in their advertisements correct, how can we expect them to build and sell a product to this community that has any credibility? This fundamental level of adherence to standards was ignored, what else did they get wrong in this product?
The Braille Sense U2 MINI
In the first paragraph describing the device, they claim that teachers, trainers and others will be impressed by the hardware and, “Excel Viewer, YouTube and Dropbox,” and all I can say is, “These people must be really easy to impress as blind users have been enjoying these features for years on our Apple and Android mobile devices.” In fact, YouTube was one of the first apps I enjoyed using back when I bought my first iPhone, four and a half years ago. Ghetto devices will never keep up with the mainstream and, in 2013, a proud announcement that one now has support for things we’ve been using for years is proof that these companies are a generation behind the technological curve.
HIMS then tells me, “Users will enjoy the power and performance of a 1 GHz Mobile CPU, a 32 GB storage capacity and enhanced features such as extended battery run time, improved GPS receiver sensitivity and the addition of a vibration motor.” Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! These technical specifications sound so 2004 when compared to the Nexus/7 I bought used from a friend for $50 with its quad core processor, gigabyte of RAM and 32 gb of storage or my iPhone 5S with its quad core A7, a super computer compared to this new thing from HIMS. Apple sells a device that is 100% accessible out-of-the-box and Google, with its Nexus/7 running Android 4.3 provides a device that one can make tremendously accessible with third party software for profoundly fewer dollars out of your pocket. When the new iPad Mini hits the stores soon, a blind consumer can get one for $329 and the Nexus/7 costs $239 at BestBuy. The much less powerful hardware from HIMS costs $4000.
Next, HIMS boasts that this device runs “an optimized Windows-based operating system with a familiar, Windows-like user interface.” First off, this was done in PAC Mate years earlier and, sadly, it failed as it was nearly impossible to find accessible off-the-shelf apps to run on the device allowing users to improve and customize its functionality to better meet their needs. A blind person using an iPad or Android device has myriad options for apps to install. HIMS chose a mobile operating system with virtually zero accessible third party apps. They could have used Android and provided their users with thousands of accessible apps as options; instead, they chose to limit the possibilities a user of this device can have – a decision completely against the goals of achieving universal accessibility and compatibility with the same software that our sighted friends can use.
But, It Has A Keyboard and Braille Line
These days, one can find a small blue tooth braille display online for under $1000 new and used for far less. One can have any variety of blue tooth keyboards for an iOS or Android device. One can buy a talking battery extender on Amazon for $50.
Let’s do some math
- 1 Apple iPad Mini: $330
- 1 Google Nexus/7: $240
- 1 Apple Macbook Air: $1100
- 1 Toshiba Windows laptop: $300
- 1 external keyboard: $50
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1 braille display: $1000
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Total: $3020
These are all of the accessible devices I own and use on most days. I have four operating systems, a panoply of different screen readers and as many accessible applications I can possibly ever want. . For nearly a thousand dollars less than a single HIMS YouTube ini, I have all of its functionality plus much, much more. For $3000, a blind person can literally have everything the mainstream technology world can enjoy and, no matter what Mosen asserts, mainstream solutions for blind users are both more functional and, yes, less expensive by a lot.
Conclusions
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HIMS insults the blind community by attempting to sell an underpowered, low functionality device on which it will be impossible to install third party applications.
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HIMS is obviously earning a windfall profit by selling this bit of technology for $4000 when the parts in it cannot possibly cost more than a few hundred dollars.
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The new HIMS device attempts to force blind people into a segregated technological ghetto from which it is difficult or impossible to compete in the workplace or in school with our friends who do not self-identify as having a disability.
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All such ghetto devices must be eschewed by this community or we’ll never achieve technological equity.
— End ,
I agree with a lot of I think there’s definitely a need for braille note takers. I have two jobs. One is language interpreting. When I work in consecutive situations, I need to take accurate and detailed notes, which I then immediately refer to when delivering the message in the other language. I have found no better way to do this than with a braille note taker, which is quiet, fast, and rich with ready-made shortcuts and abbreviations. My other job is lecturing part-time, and here too, I find it incredibly helpful to use a braille note taker for reading my lecture notes and braille copies of student handouts. In both job situations, I like working with one device whose weight and dimensions allow me to carry it around easily and whose battery life enable me to rely on it for all-day use. (Btw, I use the Humanware Braille Note. My experience with the PacMate is that it is a piece of junk, and I have no experience with Hims or APH products.)
That said, I do agree with your greater points. I these note taking devices need to be built around current technology to give end users the benefit of real equity with their sighted counterparts, and I think the prohibitive cost of such devices is a disservice to the blindness community and an abuse of the various government agencies that pay for them. I don’t buy the often cited R&D argument since the technology is so incredibly out of date.
Chris,
While I appreciate your take on the need for more mainstream products, let me throw some thoughts at you.
There is value in having a single product like a note taker. I know that there are ways to accomplish everything a note taker does with several other tools, but does this mean that the note taker is a rip off? I am a tool junkie. I have in my toolshed, 2 skill saws, 3 types of power drills, multiple screwdrivers, several hammers and a myriad of other power tools. Each of them have a specific use, but many of them can be used to accomplish the task another was designed to do. Some are more expensive and some are multi use tools, but I wouldn’t give up any of them. I could use a butter knife as a screwdriver, but why would I if I had the right screwdriver? I could use several screwdrivers to screw in a screw, but I would choose one over another to be sure the job was done the way I feel is best. Should I throw away all my screwdrivers simply because a butter knife will do the job? I mean I can get the butter knife pretty much anywhere and at a fraction of the cost of many of my other screwdrivers. I can use the backside of one of my power drills to pound in a nail, but does this mean I should throw away all my hammers. Hell for that matter I could use the heel of one of my shoes so should I forget tools all together because I can use mainstream household things to accomplish the tasks of my tools?
Of course not.
That all being said, I do feel that the blindness industry manufacturers need to be more creative in their products and move forward with technology when it is a available. Should HIMS or Humanware move to an OS like Android? Absolutely, but should you be so ready to disparage them so quickly when there are many who find the note taker the perfect tool for the task they want to accomplish. A redesign and running up to new hardware production is not something that can be done overnight. HIMS would be a bad company if their press releases said “yes buy our product because we are using the same old crappy OS and shitty old technology.” You don’t know what HIMS or any other company is working on and in the meantime they still need to keep cash flow.
I am an Android user. I have never been a note taker user. I never wanted one and I knew it from the first Braille N Speak I had. I always wanted to have everything on my phone and today I have it, but this doesn’t mean that there isn’t a better way to do what I do with a different tool. Note taking devices have their place and it isn’t for you to decide that they are ghetto or not. I would never choose to use one, but I know plenty of people who do choose to do so.
You should also know the cost of the products isn’t simply COG, cost of goods. There are several factors involved with the pricing of these products and COG is just one. Supporting a sales channel, customer support, marketing, continuing development and other factors come into play. It is simply a sensational and over simplification of the reason for the costs when one cries foul at the price based on mainstream product prices and COG alone. I personally hate FS because they are wholly a sales organization. This industry has made some dramatic changes starting with the Freedom merger, but it cannot be said that the truth is every company is only concerned with bottom line. Some companies are actually trying to do some good.
Not every blind person is good with the technology. Not every blind person is perfect with cane travel, but we don’t take away the cane if they suck at using it. Keep fighting for mainstream access. We need your voice and your input to create productive dialog, but don’t forget that you are just one individual with your personal views. You are above passing judgment and I know you can express your views without belittling the choices of others.
I have a Braille Sense, which was purchased in about 2010. I use it for exactly one purpose, and likely one that it was never intended for: Reading Hebrew documents. I also have an iPhone 4s which I will be upgrading as soon as Sprint is done with its waiting list, and an iPad Mini. Neither of these devices provides Braille Hebrew support, so I’ve had to sort of Braille-hack a solution on the Braille Sense. I will never upgrade it. I receive their emails all the time, and nothing they have ever emailed since I’ve been receiving their emails has been impressive in the least. Notetakers were great when we didn’t have a comparable device. But now we do, tons of them: Laptops, iThings, notebooks, ETC. And I think I’d much rather see Hebrew Braille support surface on the iThings than support companies that are selling products, at very hight prices, that are at least two generations in most respects behind the mainstream technology I already use.
I agree that the last days of proprietary devices is coming. I personally use an android phone with usb keyboard for most of what I might use a note taker for. Braille users and users of braille devices are about the only segment of the blind market that remains interested in notetakers. Although, the cost of these devices is extremely bloated.
I think that APH went the right direction with their note takers. Perhaps the only company to do so. They have gone android and this has allowed them to both have a “blindy” device, with an integrated braille display and an open source system. This has also allowed them to release their apps not just to their notetaker users but to the greater android community for those who aren’t running their notetakers. APH’s Nearby Explorer is the best GPS solution out there on ANY platform (for a blind user). The same app is available both on their note takers and in the app store for general consumption.
They should be commended for their decisions in these areas…
My experience has been that for general computing tasks, my mac is excellent. It does everything I’ve wanted it to, even hosting a web server. However, I do see a need, especially with advanced word processing, where note-takers are good. Until my mac, with text-edit and all, can do headings in documents, bulleted lists–actually the braille note can’t truly do that–then I’ll still need a notetaker. Also, I haven’t found yet a comfortable way of reading books on a computer with a braille display. Sure there’s text-edit, but that doesn’t save my place. So reading books is another thing note-takers are good at, and also playing bard files, although the mobile app for iOS fixes that.
I took forever to even read this article, because, from the title of it I knew I would agree with what the author had to say in it… Good article Chris, and thanks for it… I use to use a braille lite from blazy, and have an android to the right of me next to my NLS book reader… If NLS would have had the android app done with the IOS app then this book reader would likely be on someone else’s table, who possibly might have the note taker that you reference in this article. I find it to be very sad that the blind shy away from accessible mainstream products, and look for the more pricy products. I will admit when the iPhone first came out with accessibility features, I was one of the first Alaskan blind individuals pushing the DVR program to buy me an iPhone vs. a braille note or something like that… I had to argue to them that it would save money for them, and that I could do more on my IOS handset then I could on any specialized devise… I went back to work as an assistive technology instructor in Alaska four years later, and was glad to see that everyone was pushing IOS into the hands of blind individuals, and not these spacalised blind products. We still had the Braille lite, and Braille notes on hand to show clients, however, I don’t think I showed them to any clients… I did read the manuals to learn how to use them, but felt I don’t know, more like a normal person with my android phone in my hand walking down the street in anchorage then with a braille lite hanging from my neck or belt.
The sad thing there was that everyone was pushing IOS but shying away from android… I think that people need to explore all there options, and see what’s right for them. Oh yea, and NLS, come on get your app to android. Really, it shouldn’t take this long.
Michael, I work from home, and you can to… Simply click my name and learn how!