In the January 2018 issue of AccessWorld, we reviewed the BrailleSense Polaris from HIMS Inc., a 32-cell braille notetaker running Android Lollipop 5.1. Just a few months later, the company announced the release of the BrailleSense Polaris Mini, a 20-cell version of its BrailleSense Polaris lineup.
Comparing the BrailleSense Polaris and Polaris Mini
The Polaris Mini, like its bigger and slightly older sibling, runs on the Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop) operating system. It has a Samsung Exynos 7420 2.1GHz Octa-core CPU with 64GB of internal storage. Whereas the original Polaris provides a Standard SD / SDHC / SDXC card slot on the side of the unit for removeable storage, the Mini provides a micro SD card slot located in the same compartment as the battery. You won't be moving this card from your notetaker to a PC and back again, so you will want to use another method of transferring files, such as connecting the note taker to a PC.
The Polaris Mini is lighter and smaller than the original Polaris, and sports a 20-cell braille display instead of 32 cells. Rather than having a dedicated AC adapter like the Polaris, the Mini charges using USB C. It charges slightly faster than the Polaris, coming in at around 3.5 hours.
Instead of the 18 hours of battery life that you get on the Polaris, you only get 11 hours with the Mini.
I was pleased to see that HIMS has chosen to provide the same style of case for the BrailleSense Polaris Mini as it does for the larger unit. The case is textured so as not to easily slip out of your hand, has a nice long carrying strap, and closes using a magnetic flap rather than Velcro, snaps, or a zipper.
Another pleasant holdover from the first generation product is the included braille command quick reference document that I found to be quite useful when reviewing both products.
As stated earlier, the Mini's braille display contains 20 cells with cursor routing buttons above each cell.
Typing on the keyboard of the original Polaris felt springy to my hand, something I rather enjoyed. The action of the keyboard was rather quiet as well. The Mini's keyboard feels and sounds a bit more clicky to me. That said, I still find the Mini's keyboard to be a pleasure to use, and not noisy enough to be a problem in daily use.
I found myself more likely to hit the wrong scroll key on the Mini than on the original Polaris. It was easy to hit the Scroll Up key rather than the Scroll Down key, for example. Continued practice made this less of a problem as time went along.
Getting Oriented to the BrailleSense Polaris Mini
A physical examination of the top panel on the BrailleSense Polaris Mini reveals the familiar nine-key Perkins-style keyboard, the Control and Alt keys, and the four function keys.
When the Mini is oriented properly, the USB C port is located on the panel on the right. You use this port to charge the unit, transfer files to and from a computer, and connect the Mini to your computer to be used as a braille display. The Mini also has Bluetooth connectivity as well, of course.
Nearer the back of the unit is a Micro HDMI port for connecting the unit to a visual display, such as a TV.
On the left panel near the front of the unit are the volume controls. When placed in its case, a bit of pressure is needed to adjust these controls, but I found much less pressure was required than when I tested the first generation Polaris.
Finally, the Mini contains a stereo headphone and stereo microphone jack.
The front panel of the BrailleSense Polaris Mini contains the same controls as the original Polaris. Readers of my first article will recall that I raved about the ability to lock the buttons on the Polaris with the flip of a switch, and this is still possible with the smaller Polaris. All of the media controls I came to appreciate in the BrailleSense Polaris are still present on the Mini as well, and that means that all the media player functions including an FM radio are provided on the BrailleSense Polaris Mini.
The one drawback I found when playing audio on the Mini is that the speaker is now located on the underside of the unit. I found that I needed to turn the volume all the way up and fold the flap of the case under to cause the speaker to generate enough volume to provide the audio I needed when using the unit as it rested on my lap in my music therapy practice. At home, placing the unit on my desk resulted in an acceptable volume. Of course, you can always use headphones or a Bluetooth speaker with the unit if desired.
Although I did not make use of the Mini's camera, which is also on the underside of the unit, the smaller profile of the device would certainly make it easier to position when snapping a picture of a document for later scanning with an app such as KNFB Reader.
Getting Work Done with the BrailleSense Polaris Mini
I was pleased to see that all the applications I had come to enjoy on the BrailleSense Polaris were still available on the Mini and worked as expected. In addition to the familiar Word Processor application, which now includes a graphing calculator as well as the ability to read Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, there is now a Notepad application for quickly jotting down thoughts that can easily be saved as a simple text file if desired. More powerful aspects of this new application include the reading of PDF and ePub files.
Apps such as the Calendar and Scheduler also felt quite familiar. I still found email and Internet surfing to be slower and less efficient for me than when I use a computer or smartphone, but they certainly work when needed.
Students and professionals alike should benefit from the provided Excel viewer found in the Extras menu.
I took a look at some of the Android apps provided on the unit, including Google Docs. I was pleased that I seemed to be able to make more use of Google Docs than in times past. I have been playing with Google Docs on my PC, so perhaps familiarity with the product helped me a bit. I also believe I could have learned to live with the Android versions of My Fitness Pal and Facebook on the BrailleSense Polaris Mini, but once again I found myself reverting back to more tried and true methods of accessing this content, including my PC and smartphone.
I have always found YouTube to be enjoyable to use with a notetaker such as the Mini, and voice searches are possible because the unit has a built-in microphone.
The help documentation located on the main menu of the BrailleSense Polaris Mini is a pleasure to use. A table of contents pops up when you first launch help, but once a topic is chosen you find yourself in one large user guide. This makes it easy to search for any topic or word you desire using the Word Processor's find commands.
HIMS has a YouTube channel that provides some tutorials on using various aspects of the BrailleSense Polaris Mini.
The Bottom Line
I found the BrailleSense Polaris Mini from HIMS Inc. to be as pleasant to use as its older and larger sibling. I was very impressed by the speed with which I was able to load a rather large ePub book into the new Notepad application. It was nice to be able to read a book using speech, braille, or a combination of the two at will.
Students should find tools such as the included graphing calculator as well as access to PowerPoint presentations, an Excel viewer, and many of Google's products to be of great value.
I found the dots on the 20-cell braille display to be of the same high quality as the original Polaris, although I personally miss not having the extra cells.
The use of Android apps will always be hit-and-miss from an accessibility standpoint. Fortunately, HIMS provides a nice suite of accessible products including a Calculator, Calendar, and Contact Manager just to name a few.
I will probably never be a fan of email and Internet on a notetaker for the blind because I have become so accustomed to using my smartphone, but my hat goes off to HIMS for the work they have done in this area as well.
The size of the BrailleSense Polaris Mini makes it a pleasure to carry around. It fits nicely into a briefcase or large purse.
The Mini is a very capable product, and HIMS should be commended for their work.
Product Information
Product: BrailleSense Polaris Mini
Price: $4,195
Manufacturer: HIMS, Inc.
Phone: 888-520-4467
This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.
