Like most AccessWorld readers, I attended college before almost all of today's technology became part of campus life. For those of us who are blind, studying involved having human readers read books and exams, and/or reading books on tape. Class notes were taken on a braille slate (the Perkins brailler was too noisy), or by a human notetaker. A lot of planning and organizational skills were required to get your work done.
In contrast, today's college students who are blind have a lot more tools at their disposal. They have computers with screen readers and screen magnifiers, PDAs (personal digital assistants) for taking notes in class, and access to electronic textbooks. They also have cell phones to help find and communicate with their friends, as well as to help out in a crisis. I wish I had had a cell phone the time a reader didn't show up to read a final exam.
Of course, all the tools in the world aren't enough if you don't use them properly. College is a time for experimenting and finding out what works for you.
In this issue, Deborah Kendrick interviews college students to find out how they are using the latest technology in both academic and social situations. Sighted students have access to e-mail, instant messaging, web sites for both academics and social networking, cell phones for text messaging and calling, and so much more. Students who are blind seem to be keeping up with their sighted peers in all of these areas. Read this article and imagine what college would have been like if you had all of today's gadgets and toys.
Darren Burton reviews the Mobile Speak Smartphone screen reader working on the Motorola Q available from Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless. In our September issue, the second part of this article will review Smart Hal from Dolphin, running on the Cingular 2125 from Cingular, which is now The New AT&T. Smartphones are a category of handheld devices that run Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system. They generally have fewer features than Pocket PCs, but they are becoming more and more popular. Learn what you can expect from access to Smartphones.
Lee Huffman and Darren Burton, of AFB TECH, evaluate Mobile Magnifier from Code Factory and ZOOMS from Nuance, two screen magnifiers for Series 60 cell phones. Both Mobile Magnifier and ZOOMS are compatible with a select list of cell phones running the Symbian operating system, and this article compares their performance on the Nokia 6682, a popular Symbian cell phone released in 2006. Both products were tested for how well they provided access to onscreen information, as well as access to features of the cell phone, such as the phone book. Find out how well these products performed.
I review the Icon from LevelStar, a PDA with speech output. The Icon includes an address book, planner, word processor, MP3/DAISY player, voice recorder, web browser and e-mail program, calculator and stopwatch. Read our review of this cleverly designed, important new product.
Jay Leventhal
Editor in Chief
