TheQueen
06-22-2010, 04:30 PM
https://citizen-media.s3.amazonaws.com/uploaded/images/2010/6/smartphones-blind-1/content_lead_art/smartphonesblind.jpgOn the sidewalk near his office at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute on Fillmore St. in San Francisco, Dr. Joshua Miele checks his iPhone for the next Muni bus. Image from video by James Irwin for The Bay Citizen
Smartphones can be pretty clueless when it comes to blind or visually impaired users.
For millions of consumers with normal vision, smartphones offer almost effortless conference calling, e-mailing and Internet browsing. They make it easy to find a gas station, a rental car or a recipe. Vast music libraries and video games are expected features for a device with a $200 to $600 price tag.
But for many in the blind and visually impaired community, the absence of physical buttons on most smartphones makes interactions with some devices virtually impossible.
Nowhere is the digital divide in the smartphone market more pronounced than between Apple and Google products.
CONTINUE READING (http://www.baycitizen.org/technology/story/smartphones-fail-visually-impaired/)
Smartphones can be pretty clueless when it comes to blind or visually impaired users.
For millions of consumers with normal vision, smartphones offer almost effortless conference calling, e-mailing and Internet browsing. They make it easy to find a gas station, a rental car or a recipe. Vast music libraries and video games are expected features for a device with a $200 to $600 price tag.
But for many in the blind and visually impaired community, the absence of physical buttons on most smartphones makes interactions with some devices virtually impossible.
Nowhere is the digital divide in the smartphone market more pronounced than between Apple and Google products.
CONTINUE READING (http://www.baycitizen.org/technology/story/smartphones-fail-visually-impaired/)