New Features Available in Version 1.122 Mobile Speak Pocket is a screen reader that provides you with access to all the functionality of the device, allowing you to discover the exciting world of Windows-based PDA’s and Smartphones. Thus Mobile Speak Pocket users can now enjoy the complete access to windows mobile mainstream devices like a sighted person at mainstream prices. Mobile Speak Pocket is compatible with a variety of Pocket PCs and Smartphones. As Windows Mobile technology advances, the device can easily be upgraded. Mobile Speak Pocket also works with a variety of keyboards, Braille, and other input devices available on the market. The user has the complete flexibility to chose a PDA and add Mobile Speak Pocket to it. Users can chose between a large variety of languages and voices. We give our customers the choice of different high quality speech synthesizers for each language. Different voices or languages can be combined. View the following comparison chart and see the differences between Mobile Speak Pocket, Maestro, and the latest version of the PAC Mate firmware. In many cases, capabilities may vary with hardware used. Be able to use the complete functionality of a mainstream Pocket PC using the PDA version of our powerful Mobile Speak Pocket screen reader. Mobile Speak Pocket on a PDA in combination with an external keyboard is a powerful and inexpensive note taker solution.
Support for refreshable Braille display devices. Braille readers will be able to enjoy the ultimate portability of using a Mobile Speak Pocket based PDA along with a refreshable Braille display. Bluetooth capability enables wireless connection between the PDA and the Braille display, thereby providing access to your calendar, contacts, documents and messages anytime, anywhere. Apart from being able to read your documents or appointments in Braille, you can also completely control the PDA from Braille displays equipped with a Braille keyboard. Braille display support will improve Mobile Speak Pocket’s accessibility and its quality, and again we are glad to evolve our solutions and carry out our main commitment: to make mainstream devices accessible. As Dave Wilkinson (Assistive Technology Trainer) testifies, our end users appreciate that high quality in our products. He bought Mobile Speak Pocket from Triumphonic in the United States and says:" The M-PAC, with Mobile Speak Pocket, delivers on promises made by competitors years ago. Blind people now have a truly accessible Pocket PC device, and at a much more reasonable price. The Competition said a commercial PDA wasn't a viable option; so they built their own bulky, high-dollar products. Mobile Speak Pocket proves them wrong" Supported languages:
Please Note: We currently only license Fonix voices for Mobile Speak Pocket Mobile Speak Pocket: A Technologist’s Review By Chris Meredith Rarely until recently has a piece of adaptive technology, particularly a screen reader, done much to catch my attention—and yet, the latest developments in mobile computing for the blind have, with some small exceptions, never ceased to amaze. Within the last five years, we’ve gone from what were little more than five thousand dollar pocket calculators powered by microprocessors perhaps slightly more advanced than that which powers my microwave oven to portable power houses capable of doing everything from being a portable office to making voice over IP phone calls to viewing multimedia presentations to handling medical databases—and, in my opinion, it’s high time, as technology available in the mainstream for nearly a decade has finally found its way into the jacket pockets of the blind—or, at least, me. So What Is Mobile Speak Pocket, Anyway? Mobile Speak Pocket, from Code Factory, S.A. out of Spain, is to the Pocket PC what Mobile Speak is to the cellular phone. With this small utility, blind users have access to mainstream Pocket PCs from well-known manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell, giving them the potential for total access to all of their essential information—and, perhaps, some not so essential information. Mobile Speak Pocket runs on all Pocket PCs running the Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition and Windows Mobile 5.0 operating systems, including Pocket PC phones from companies such as Verizon and Sprint (though your reviewer has yet to get his hands on one of these devices). But … What About That Touch Screen? As some of you may know, your average Pocket PC has only a touch screen for input—or, if you’re lucky, a thumb keyboard. Mobile Speak Pocket gets around this in three ways: •Keyboard Simulator - Using only the hardware buttons on the Pocket PC, Mobile Speak Pocket allows you to input text in a similar way that you would input text into a mobile phone. •Virtual Keyboard - Mobile Speak Pocket can convert your Pocket PC screen into either a standard QWERTY, numeric, or symbol keyboard. Despite the lack of tactile overlay, even totally blind individuals find themselves becoming quite proficient with this input method. While I wouldn’t recommend writing lengthy e-mails or the next great novel on this, it’s certainly quicker than a slate and stylus for jotting down a quick note or taking down an appointment or phone number, and with the synchronization capabilities of the Pocket PC, you won’t have to re-enter that note or appointment into your PC. •Bluetooth keyboard - The Pocket PC supports a variety of Bluetooth keyboards. Adding one of these to your Pocket PC with Mobile Speak Pocket gives you a compact, portable and very economical note taking solution. So What Kind of Access Do You Get? This section may make more sense to people that have had experience with Pocket PCs through other Pocket PC-based solutions out there. Today Screen The Today Screen is, as you might infer from its name, your day at a glance, listing appointments, number of e-mail messages, number of to-dos, etc. in one convenient location. One can, from here, select an item such as your number of appointments and jump directly to the associated application. One might notice some similarities between this and Outlook Today in Microsoft Outlook. Your reviewer fails to see this as coincidental. Mobile Speak Pocket provides access to all standard items on the Today Screen. As of this writing, your reviewer cannot seem to get Mobile Speak Pocket to work with custom Today Screen items such as those placed there by iPaq Backup. From what I’m hearing from the developers, though, Today Screen handling seems to be more comprehensive in Windows Mobile 5.0, though your reviewer hasn’t had a chance to try this new operating system, for reasons I’ll explain later. Word Processing The Pocket PC comes with Microsoft Pocket Word, a stripped down version of Microsoft Word. Documents written in Pocket Word can be automatically synchronized with your PC, though complex formatting such as tables are not necessarily preserved. Mobile Speak Pocket offers complete access to Microsoft Pocket Word, access which is enhanced through the use of an external Bluetooth keyboard. Thos allows for efficient note taking at a fraction of the price of other options. Spreadsheet The Pocket PC comes with Microsoft Pocket Excel, a lightweight version of Microsoft Excel. Mobile Speak Pocket offers access to Microsoft Pocket Excel, making it the most inexpensive note taking system to also offer a spreadsheet. As I do a lot of contract work, I need a nice, portable way of tracking my expenses. Until I’m no longer too lazy to either write my own program or go out and find one that does what I need it to, Pocket Excel certainly works for tracking expenses and determining just how much I’m owed. Pocket Outlook The Pocket PC comes with pocket versions of each application within Outlook (Calendar, Tasks, Contacts, and Notes). Each of these is fully accessible and can synchronize easily with Microsoft Outlook. And, for those of you that are worried about having to buy a copy of Outlook, you’ll be happy to know that every Pocket PC comes with Outlook. It has to. Microsoft said so. And for those of you that are attached to Outlook Express, after market utilities exist that allow you to synchronize your Outlook Express with your Pocket PC—and, I’m told, similar utilities exist for Eudora. Internet and Multimedia Every Pocket PC comes with Windows Media Player which, as of version 1.0.3 of Mobile Speak Pocket, was fully usable and supports all frequently used media types. Furthermore, third party media players may be added to your Pocket PC, should you either be dead set against Windows Media or want to make use of a format such as Ogg Vorbis that Windows Media doesn’t support out of the box. The access you get to Internet Explorer is comparable to, though not identical to in operation, the access you get with a major screen reader on your PC. I can easily update my blog, check bus schedules, make travel reservations, or read any online newspaper from a device that fits easily into a pocket or purse. And with Mobile Speak Pocket’s support for MSN Messenger, you can be connected in real time to all of your MSN Messenger contacts from anywhere you can access the Internet, either through a wireless hotspot, or through your mobile phone provider (either with Pocket PC Phone Edition or with a Bluetooth connection to your cellular phone). Customization and Third Party Application Support For those of you curious about such things, Mobile Speak Pocket supports external scripts to make applications accessible that otherwise wouldn’t be. Mobile Speak Pocket uses an off-the-shelf scripting language called Lua, a language designed to extend the capabilities of applications. Documentation on the Lua scripting language can be found at www.lua.org The one drawback seems to be that fewer applications seem to work right out of the box than on other Pocket PC solutions. Final Thoughts As I mentioned, it is rare that a piece of technology of this type catches my attention, but Mobile Speak Pocket definitely has, as it gives users a means to have access to mainstream hardware at mainstream prices. EnableMart are offers a preconfigured bundle containing Mobile Speak Pocket, a Pocket PC and a Bluetooth keyboard, all preconfigured for you before you even receive it. I’m finding Code Factory to be very responsive to customer feedback and the few concerns I do have, such as the lack of a “review cursor” to provide some kind of fallback option for those applications that don’t talk out of the box, are definitely being addressed. They’ve had four upgrade releases since the product was made available to the public less than three months ago, and the product has gone from not quite ready for prime time to a product I find myself using daily. I am quite curious to see how the product works with Windows Mobile 5.0, which has a completely different interface than Windows Mobile 2003. Unfortunately, installing the product under Windows Mobile 5.0 requires sighted help at this point, as prompts appear on the mobile device screen, and this is not something that is readily available to me. As Code Factory has found a way to get around the screen alignment procedure you need to execute whenever you restore your Pocket PC to factory defaults (this involves following a visual target on the screen), I believe I have sufficient reason to see this as a temporary setback. Depending on feedback, I will, as soon as I can get it working (read: by the time you read this), post a review of Windows Mobile 5.0. Over all, however, I highly recommend this product as a refreshing break from proprietary hardware. Mobile Speak Pocket Community Looking for more information on Mobile Speak Pocket? Visit the Mobile Speak Pocket community site by clicking the link below. Read user reviews, post and download scripts, and find answers to all your Mobile Speak Pocket questions! Click here to visit the Mobile Speak Pocket community page
Mobile Speak Pocket Bundle Start working right out of the box with the Exclusive EnableMart/Mobile Speak Pocket bundle. This option pairs a HP iPAQ handheld with a Bluetooth keyboard and ships preloaded with the Mobile Speak Pocket software. Units are configured and tested to ensure they are ready to use upon arrival.
Compatibility
Mobile Speak Pocket has been tested with a number of devices. Click here to view the device compatibility list for Mobile Speak Pocket.
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