OwnFone company launched the first customizable mobile phone for the blind. This new device has a braille keyboard, providing users who cannot see greater independence and security with this type of technology.
For the manufacture of this new mobile, 3D printers are used to print and customize the buttons on the front of the phones for certain specific contacts and transcribe them into braille. For those people who cannot read this language, the company also offers textures and guide buttons that allow and facilitate the handling of the device.
On the OwnFone website you can create and customize your mobile phone, choosing the color, format, number of contacts and identification of the same. The creator of this novel mobile, Tom Sunderland established:
“The phone can be personalized with two or four Braille buttons that are pre-programmed to call friends, family, caregivers, or emergency services.”
For now it is only sold in the United Kingdom, but will soon arrive in other countries and its price will be approximately 75 euros. This device is the most expensive that the company has launched on the market by the company, which has also launched two mobile phones previously, one in 2012, one of the first mobile phones partially created using 3D printing, and another in 2013, created for children between four and nine years of age. The creator company establishes on its website:
“The secret to the simplicity of our phones is the design of them. In other words, each OwnFone is customized to suit the user’s needs: whether it is a child who only has to call mom and dad, or an elderly man who talks to his wife, child and caregiver, and needs a button 999 just in case. It is a phone that only does what the user needs and nothing else “
The OwnFone has been tested by blind clients, such as a 7 year old boy who was blind from birth named Will. According to Will’s mother, the boy had never felt safe enough to be allowed to attend birthday parties or any gathering at his friends’ houses; And now that you’ve been able to use this new phone, if you feel confident to attend any party with your friends, confirming that the phone really works.
It is not the first time that special telephones for the blind or people with low vision have been launched on the market, as an Indian company called Kriyate Desing Solutions created last year a mobile for braille. This device has a screen that converts raised images and texts into braille dots, which expands and contracts to its original shape after being manipulated.
As for special applications for these people are Vodafone Speak, Easy Walk, Nuance Talks, Arianna that will allow you to move safely while using your mobile; and the Glassters OCR application, designed by the Spanish company Droiders for Google Glass, which makes it easier to interpret texts without the need to resort to braille.
Again, technology includes people with special needs, promoting the creation of devices that simplify many of their daily activities that require greater effort and attention.
