This article supplements Deborah Kendrick's October 2016 article on the basics of the Orbit Reader 20, providing more detailed information concerning the display's performance as a notetaker and as a terminal connected to other devices.
The Orbit Reader Refreshable Braille Display
The Orbit Reader is intended primarily as a braille display for reading braille files and for connecting to external devices. With a much lower price point than other 20-cell displays, the Orbit Reader does not have onboard translation options, cursor routing buttons, or many of the other features found in braille devices that cost thousands of dollars more. The Orbit Reader also does not offer applications for scheduling appointments, performing calculations, keeping track of the time, or opening formats other than BRL, BRF, and TXT.
Physical Description of the Orbit Reader
The Orbit Reader measures approximately 6 inches wide by 4 inches deep by just over 1 inch high. With the device oriented so the braille display is closest to you, the layout is as follows. At the front of the device is the 20-cell braille display. To either side of the display, you will find the panning buttons, which can be pressed up or down. Above the display, you will find orientation dots above cells 5, 10, and 15. Behind the display, from left to right, you will find Dot 7, the Spacebar, and Dot 8. Directly behind the spacebar are four Arrow keys with a round Select button in the center. Behind the Arrow keys is the 6-dot Perkins-style keyboard. These keys are oval-shaped, and arranged straight across from one another. On the back of the device are, from left to right: the power button, an SD card slot with a card already inserted, and a Micro USB connector for charging the Orbit Reader and connecting to devices via USB. On the front of the Orbit Reader 20 you will find two holes, one on each side, for attaching a strap or lanyard to the display (a strap is not provided).
Flipping the device over, you find many screws, four rubber feet, and the plastic battery door. The battery door is removed by unscrewing two screws.
Braille Display Performance
A few things stood out immediately concerning the braille display itself. One of the things that makes the Orbit Reader such an affordable option is the technology it uses for refreshing. Instead of refreshing all cells simultaneously, the display refreshes cell-by-cell. Though there is a slight delay in refreshing when connected to external devices, there is almost no delay at all when using the internal reader. The refreshing of the braille cells is a bit noisy, but no worse than a rather loud laptop. To hear for yourself, check out this recording presented in Braillecast Episode 4. Reading on an external device seems to produce about the same amount of noise. Inputting text in braille while connected to an external device is a bit louder.
Internal Features of the Orbit Reader 20
The File Manager
The File Manager allows you to browse and interact with the contents of an SD card. The user has the ability to create new folders, mark documents, sort files in multiple ways, rename files, or move them.
Using the Standalone Reader
The Orbit Reader operates in two modes: Standalone or Remote. In Standalone mode, it has a File Manager, Reader, and Editor. The Reader is fully functioning but supports only plain text and digital braille files. There are options to save bookmarks, find text, and scroll by larger chunks of text. The reader preserves your place in a file upon exiting with dot 7. Loading of braille or text documents is nearly instantaneous. An 857 KB BRF file from Bookshare and a 989 KB text document each loaded in less than half a second.
The Orbit Reader 20 does not support formats such as Rich Text, Microsoft Word documents, ePub, and the like. The manual recommends using a utility for Windows called Send To Braille, which adds an option to the Windows context menu to create an unformatted braille file that can be copied to an SD card. For Mac users, running the Braille Blaster program is the only suggestion given to get BRL or BRF files. On either platform, you can also use the online document conversion tools on Robobraille to convert various file formats to digital braille or text.
The Editor
The Editor is the Orbit Reader's basic notetaker. When running Editor in the background, loading your most recently edited file will take about a second. If you are in the File Manager, or reading a book you wish to take notes on, you can quickly jump to the last file in the Editor by pressing Spacebar + Dots 1, 2, 4, and 6.
Though the Orbit Reader has some unique commands, many follow the conventional keyboard mapping on a braille notetaker. For example, pressing Spacebar with Dots 1, 2, and 3 will jump to the top of the file. You can also use block commands in the Reader and Editor, with options to cut, copy, and paste. When you wish to save your changes, press the Select button twice to exit the Editor. If you switch off the Orbit Reader without saving your changes, it retains the modifications you have made as long as it doesn't crash or lose battery power.
If you write the name you'd like to use for your file at the top of your document, the Orbit Reader 20 will automatically add it as the file name. When you reopen a file using the File Manager, it opens in the Reader. To continue editing your document, press Spacebar + E. You can verify that you are in the Editor, as a cursor will be visible.
Miscellaneous Comments
The orbit Reader does not ship with a case. One is available for purchase through Executive Products for $78.95. If the Orbit Reader goes completely dead, you must revive it using the power supply that came with the display, though it seems to handle other power supplies just fine as long as the battery is not completely flat. If you wish to update the Orbit Reader, you will need to do so using a Windows computer, as there is no way to do so on the Mac.
Connecting the Orbit Reader 20 to External Devices
The Basics
The Orbit Reader 20 allows the user to connect through USB or Bluetooth. To configure the various options associated with either Bluetooth or USB, from anywhere within Orbit Reader, hold down the Select button and press the Up Arrow. Then, move through the various options with the Up and Down Arrow keys until you find your desired option. TO change that option, use the Right or Left Arrow keys to select the choice that best suits your needs. With USB, the menu option is simply called "USB." You can connect in HID, Mass Storage, or serial port modes. Mass Storage allows you to plug the Orbit Reader into a Mac or PC and modify the contents of the SD card.
For the Bluetooth settings, you can choose to pair by using an option called "just works" or "confirm code." "Just works" does not require a PIN, while "confirm code" will require that you verify that the code shown on both devices is identical. To verify a code on the Orbit Reader, press Dot 8 when prompted. An option below "pair" of equal importance depending on your screen reader is the "Emulate" option. When turned on, this will trick the screen reader in to thinking the Orbit Reader 20 is a Refreshabraille 18. This is done so that the Orbit Reader is compatible with devices that do not natively support the Orbit Reader. For users of JAWS, any version of NVDA before 2017, Mac OS 10.11, iOS 10.2, or BrailleBack, it will be necessary to turn this on. The good news is that you have support for older screen reader versions and operating systems, but the somewhat bad news is that you only get 18 cells of braille. While this is a drawback, 18 cells of braille are certainly better than 0. It wasn't possible for me to test all configurations and all of the supported screen readers, but I do cover several in this article: VoiceOver on iOS and Mac, NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceView on the Kindle Fire HD tablet.
Connecting to iOS
An iPhone SE running iOS 11.2 was used to connect to the Orbit Reader. As with all of the Bluetooth connections, I chose to use "just works" because… it just works. I will not walk the reader through the pairing process of each device, as the Orbit Reader User guide details the steps for each device. The one exception is the Kindle Fire; more on that later.
As mentioned earlier, typing on iOS is a bit louder than typing in the internal Editor. There is also a slight delay when panning the braille display, though it wasn't so pronounced as to cut into productivity. All keyboard commands function as expected; it's a decent enough experience. Not having cursor routing buttons was an adjustment, but I was able to use the rotor to get past their absence. This did cut into productivity when editing, but the rotor in VoiceOver gives you access to enough ways to navigate that editing text is possible. While I grew used to pressing a cursor routing button to activate an item, I was still able to do this using the Select button. Even without a select button, I could have pressed Spacebar + Dots 3 and 6 to select an item. You can also navigate around iOS with the Arrow keys. Each of the Arrow keys performs the equivalent of a one-finger flick on the touchscreen.
Connecting to Mac OS
I connected the Orbit Reader 20 to a mid-2013 11-inch Macbook Air running Mac OS High Sierra. When connected via USB, the refresh time is very slightly slower than it is in the internal Reader and Editor. There was an additional challenge with Mac OS over iOS. While Spacebar + Dots 5 and 6 will take you to the next element in the rotor, Spacebar + Dot 3 or Dot 6 will not move the cursor by the selected unit. In defense of Orbit Research, this bug is a shortcoming only Apple can fix. Anyone using Mac OS 10.8 and later with any braille display experiences this bug, it just has a bigger impact on people using devices that don't have cursor routing buttons. True, you can take your hands off of the display to flick up or down on the trackpad or press either the Up or Down Arrow key on the keyboard, but this can also slow you down in a lot of ways, since you have to take your hands off of the braille display to manipulate your work. While this may not impact people who receive both speech and braille together, for those only using braille, this can significantly drop productivity. That said, many keyboard commands are available, and it's possible to map your own keyboard command to various functions of VoiceOver. If you don't like reading manuals, you can always press Spacebar + K to launch keyboard help. If you are the type who reads manuals, Apple has a chapter dedicated to braille displays in their VoiceOver User guide. Though the Orbit Reader is not listed as one of the supported devices, it is supported with both USB and Bluetooth.
Connecting to NVDA
NVDA 2017.3 was used to conduct this part of the evaluation. One thing that stands out using NVDA is that you don't need additional drivers when you're connecting the Orbit Reader 20. Another thing that stands out is that the user who utilizes NVDA has a free screen reader with developing braille support. The biggest issue I've found with this setup is that when contracted input is selected, NVDA will sometimes decide to stop accepting braille input from the display. This is not an issue unique to the Orbit Reader, but is worth pointing out. Restarting NVDA will bring input back.
Contracted braille input can be slightly tricky on NVDA, because the text you type is not translated until you hit the Spacebar. It's also a bit tricky since, like with earlier versions of iOS and Mac OS, the translator does not take into account the context of what is being typed when editing. For example, I missed the letter "n" when typing the word "on" in the preceding paragraph. I moved to where I needed to insert the letter, did so, and received "onot." Other contractions are not yet being used properly with the UEB table, such as the word "it's." At the moment, it is always translated as "x's." It's translated correctly with US contracted braille, though.
Unlike other displays on the market, and unlike on Apple products, NVDA has a very limited set of keyboard commands for navigation. The only commands you have allow you to move up or down a line, to move forward or backward by character, or to press Enter. While these are useful commands, it would be nice to see a more substantial set of commands to help offset the lack of cursor routing buttons. It is my hope that the developers of NVDA and Orbit Research will work together to offer a more robust set of keyboard commands in future releases of NVDA. It's also worth noting that NVDA's support for contracted braille input is only a few months old, so further development will hopefully occur.
Connecting to JAWS
JAWS version 18.0.4350 was used for this evaluation. As written above, you must emulate a Refreshabraille 18 for the Orbit Reader to connect. While this limits you to 18 of the 20 cells of braille, the good news is that JAWS already has a large set of keyboard commands that work with the Orbit Reader. Whether working in, and manipulating, multiple windows, editing documents, or doing research on the Internet, JAWS and the Orbit Reader have you covered. Contracted braille input is a pleasant experience, as the translator correctly interprets typing. Further, JAWS takes context into account when editing, which makes for a more expedient editing experience than working with NVDA. That pleasant experience does come with a price tag of $895.00.
Connecting to Kindle Fire OS
A Kindle Fire HD 8 (7th generation) running Fire OS 5.6 was used to evaluate the Fire OS. Though the Orbit Reader manual does not discuss how to pair Fire tablets, Amazon has a page dedicated to braille that details how to enable VoiceView and pair with supported braille displays.
Once paired, as the page indicates, you have a lot of options for keyboard commands that will let you navigate the operating system. Some will be familiar to braille users, while others will be completely different. For example, Spacebar + H will take you to the Kindle's home screen, Spacebar + Dot 1 takes you to the previous item, while Spacebar + Dot 4 will take you to the next item. Unlike the other configurations covered in this review, the Select button doesn't have a function in Fire OS. Instead, you must press Spacebar + E (the Enter key) to activate an item. If you plan to navigate the home screen without speech, in order to show which of the items is highlighted when you press Spacebar + E to activate, you must go into Settings>Accessibility>VoiceView>Braille and check the box called "Show Accessibility Focus on Braille Display." If this is turned off, there could be up to three items on the display at once and unless you use speech, there is no way to tell which application is selected. However, if left turned on, when you open a book, for example, Dots 7 and 8 always show up underneath the text. Further, after restarting the Kindle Fire HD, I had to reconnect the Orbit Reader each time using speech. Because of these two shortcomings, the Kindle HD is not something I could recommend for a deaf-blind user who is entirely reliant on braille. Note that this is not a problem specific to the Orbit Reader; other devices require the same re-pairing.
Text input works fairly well in contracted and uncontracted braille. When writing an email using contracted braille, the translator unpredictably missed typed letters.
Reading books on the Fire HD is a wonderful experience with the Orbit Reader. Buying content from the Kindle Store is easy to do, and you can then read that content with no trouble using this display. You can also read email and browse simple webpages. At the time of writing, an HD with 16 gigabytes of memory cost $79.99, making it the most affordable option currently on the market.
Conclusion
Once the Orbit Reader 20 is available for purchase, it will be a very economical option. With a compromise in price, there comes a small compromise in features. Certainly, the Orbit Reader is not the quietest display on the market, nor does it have cursor routing buttons. It will, however, have a built-in notetaker, the ability to read braille and plain text files, and the ability to connect to many external devices. At $449 the Orbit Reader will be a very budget-friendly option for many. Orbit Research and the rest of the Transforming Braille Group are to be commended for keeping the price of this display as low as they have with just a few compromises. I hope the Orbit Reader will soon be available for purchase, as it will bring braille into the hands of many more people.
Product Information
Product: Orbit Reader 20
Price when available: $449
US Distributer: American Printing House for the Blind
Related articles:
- The Orbit Reader 20 by Orbit Research: a Review by Deborah Kendrick
- The Quest for "The Holy Braille" Full-Page Refreshable Braille Display: An Interview with Alex Russomanno by Francesca Crozier-Fitzgerald
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