Touch screens on phones and tablets can be very daunting to master for those who are new to vision loss. Cody Mitchell, Sales Manager for Irie-AT, and J.J. talk about some options that are out there for those looking to adopt a more guided focus driven experience on Android. The Synaptic software can be loaded on any device with Android Kit-Katt, on up, and contains features like a built in Video Magnifier and OCR. To check out the accessible phone options mentioned in this interview, head on over to the Irie-AT phones and tablets section of their website.
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Transcript
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Hide transcriptTranscribed by Grecia Ramirez
Direct from St. Louis, it’s blindbargains.com coverage of ACB 2018, brought to you by Google
Our friends at Google are working hard to create great technology products for everyone. They’re inviting you to participate in Google user research studies, where you can help shape the future of accessible products and features and get rewarded for it. Check out our tweet for the sign-up link, at blind bargains, or head to google.com slash user research.
Now, here’s J.J. Meddaugh.
J.J. MEDDAUGH: ACB 2018. I found Cody Mitchell. He is the sales manager for Irie-AT, and they have a product they brought in called Synaptic.
Hey, Cody. Welcome to the podcast.
Cody Mitchell: Hey, JJ. How you doing?
JM: Doing good. What is Synaptic??
CM: So Synaptic is an accessible app for Android.
JM: Okay.
CM: It can be placed on any Android device with version – Android version 4.0 or higher. So Android version 4.0 was released late in 2011, so it would have to be, you know -- any device purchased after that would work just fine.
JM: Which is -- pretty much any phone you’re going to get now is going to have it?
CM: Pretty much. Yeah. Any phone that you’re getting nowadays. So as I mentioned, it is for Android. So what it does is it makes a simplified interface. And so what you’re going to – what you would have is a super high contrast, big print. It puts everything in a list format. It also has, you know, the speech feedback, so it’ll announce everything you’re doing on there. Completely customizable interface.
So there’s certain features on there, such as, like, it has a Skype feature, you know, Facebook and all that. If someone isn’t using those types of things too much, you can just eliminate them off of the main menu. It also has a video magnifier feature built into it --
JM: Uh-huh.
CM: -- with OCR. So you can basically turn your tablet or your phone into a handheld video magnifier.
JM: Would you say this is more of a low-vision product as opposed to a blindness product, or would it work for either?
CM: I would say so. I mean, I’ve primarily – the main customer base I’ve sold to is going to be low-vision users. It’s also – I’ve seen it – it’s great for elderly people who are kind of getting into the smartphone world and are a little, you know – they’re intimated by newer technology and whatnot. It’s a great steppingstone to get people used to it.
JM: That’s true, because a lot of people, they like the simplicity of a phone, but they want to do some things. They want to be texting or they want to maybe do Skype or, you know, things like that.
CM: Exactly. And what I found with it is, you know, like I said, people who are intimidated. And once they realize that it makes things so much easier, a lot of times, people are more open to learning new things. And so I’ve had people, you know, that start using Facebook and browsing – surfing the web and all that and using it for emails and all that stuff too.
JM: Now, is this related – is this similar software or the same software or -- you also sell a phone that has, you know, a keypad and things like that. We talked about that earlier. Is that related to this, or is that the -- a different product entirely?
CM: That is a different phone. That is the Kapsys SmartVision 2.
JM: Sure. And so -- all right. So we talked about that in Florida. And that’s a phone for people who might want the physical buttons. This is still going to end up mostly on the touchscreen device.
CM: Yes, sir.
JM: Sure. Do you have certain phones that you think it runs best on, or do you sell it with a specific phone?
CM: We sell it on Samsung devices. They are optimized for Samsung devices. So we have the J series. We sell it on the Samsung J2, the J4, and as well as the galaxy S7.
JM: So a few different price points –
CM: Of course.
JM: -- more on the higher end.
CM: Yes. And then, the J4 is about the same specs as the J2, it just has a half-inch – the screen is a half inch bigger. So if you’re just looking for a bigger display and whatnot. And then, the S7 is the premium version phone. So it’s a little bit higher price point, but the specs in it – it’s going to – it’ll run better, basically.
JM: From a technical standpoint, it’s a replacement home screen with a whole bunch of customized apps, essentially; right?
CM: Basically.
JM: And you can go off into Android if you wanted to.
CM: Yes. Exactly. So you can autostart it. So you can start up Synaptic when you fire up the phone –
JM: Uh-huh.
CM: -- or you can just access it just like an app, you know, just select it. And then, yeah. If a user is comfortable with using the, you know, their Android device in the Android environment, of course. You can back out of Synaptic program and use the Android side of the screen.
JM: So you’re – Synaptic, I’m assuming is self-voicing. And then if you wanted the Android, you can get TalkBack?
CM: Exactly.
JM: Great. And how much is the software?
CM: So the full version is 399 dollars for the software.
JM: Okay.
CM: And then, we do have a lite version, which is 199 dollars. Which – the difference between the two is the full version is going to have the video magnifier feature with OCR built into it.
JM: Okay.
CM: And the lite version is just – basically, it’s simplified. Just big print, high contrast –
JM: Sure.
CM: -- and just has the speech feedback as well.
JM: Okay. And is there a demo available?
CM: There is.
JM: Would you go to Google Play to get that, or contact you guys, or –
CM: So you can contact – you can find it on our website at i-r-i-e, dash, a-t, dot com.
JM: Okay.
CM: And they have a 15-day trial of the software that you can try out on your device at home.
JM: And basically, you would kind of – there’s a way to download it, install it on your phone, and then if you like it, you keep it. If not, you can remove –
CM: Exactly.
JM: -- it and go back to what you had?
CM: Yeah. So it’s got a – yeah. You download it, install it on your phone, and then it has the 15-day trial. And then it – once the 15-day trial is up, you either purchase it, or it just goes away.
JM: Awesome. Hay, thank you so much. Again, i-r-i-e, dash, a-t, dot com for more information. Thank you so much.
CM: Thanks, J.J.
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Joe Steinkamp is no stranger to the world of technology, having been a user of video magnification and blindness related electronic devices since 1979. Joe has worked in radio, retail management and Vocational Rehabilitation for blind and low vision individuals in Texas. He has been writing about the A.T. Industry for 15 years and podcasting about it for almost a decade.
