I agree with Ana. It's really disappointing when one cannot reliably 
expect that store staff will be able to help one with the accessibility 
options. I lost interest in any further dealing with the iPhone after 
an evening visit to a local store where no one on duty was any help 
except I think to tell me a model and say they did not have it in stock.

In fact, if I were going to go all megalomaniac on that problem, I 
think phones should ship with all the accessibility features on by 
default!

That way, the salesperson would have to know and show the customer how 
to find and turn the features on or off. This would take a little time 
for each encounter but it would also give the salesperson opportunities 
to show off features and I bet some of them would appeal to more 
customers than just blind people.

Dear Marketing Staff:

you're welcome for the suggestion.

Go forth and pilot it.

DoreneC
Seattle WA


-----Original Message-----
From: Ana Garza <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wed, Jun 23, 2010 3:38 pm
Subject: Re: [VICUG-L] Smartphones Flunk for Blind Users

The other thing to keep in mind about accessibility is that store 
employees don't always know how to be helpful, so it's best for us to 
go in knowing what we need. That's a lot of work, but it's the best way 
to get help. I recently purchased an Android phone (and yes, the lack 
of email and browser is extremely frustrating). when I went into the 
store to have the phone activated, the employee was very happy to do 
that. When I asked her to turn on accessibility, she didn't know how, 
but she was happy to figure it out. It wasn't until I got home that I 
realized I needed to have asked her to turn on Talkback, Kickback, and 
Soundback, the screen reader and the vibrate and sound effects part of 
accessibility, and I needed to have asked her to download the Eyes Free 
shell. so my initial experience with the phone was negative.
 
My guess, Harry, is that the person who worked with you at the Apple 
store didn't have all of the components on, so your experience was not 
a good way to measure accessibility. I have a MacBook Pro now, and the 
trackpad, which uses the same technology as the phone is very 
responsive, almost too much.
 
all that said, I think your efforts (i.e., voice recognition) are 
valid. It's not unusual for people to lose their fine motor skills as 
they get older, and as someone who does a lot of typing and has to be 
careful to rest her wrist throughout the day, I'd enjoy the option of 
keeping my hands still whenever possible.

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