Siri voice recognition manual dexterity problems? any alternatives?

Mrs_T_5

Siri or an alternative?... dexterity problems HELP!! I'm posting this on the disability board hoping someone has already been there done that sort of thing and can help!

I'm a wheelchair user with manual dexterity problems and really need a new phone.

I need a phone that is also
a decent camera
a sat nav
a calender for appointments
internet accessible to check trains/ buses late apps etc
also useful if it had a sort of book reading app but this would be a luxury rather than a neccessity.

I used to many moons ago have a viewty.. yes I know ancient but this was great for my text messages due to the stylus/ character recognition as i have problems texting hence the voice recognition of the SIRI catching my eye.

I am going to carry this in my hand bag so can't look at notepads etc as they are too big!

you guys have not made it easy for me as every time i think of going down the iphone route I find posts that advise others not to do it so calling on the advice of MSE forumites please can you tell me of your experiences or if there is any other phones that have what i need!

At the moment I am with Virgin as is the whole family so was thinking of buying the Iphone from the apple shop as virgin don't support it but its alot of money to buy something then it all to go wrong!

Please help
Mrs_T

akabee

Would Vlingo work for you?
http://www.vlingo.com/

Demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0GRvOmJ5Mg

Mrs_T_5

i've just taken a look at the vlingo and it looks quite good:)

i still need to choose a phone to put it on! does anyone have an iphone 4s? have you had any problems with SIRI?

Lum

IRIS is apparently the best Siri alternative, if you're looking for an Android phone. I've not tried any of them myself as I hate voice recognition, they never support my accent.

There is another option that may work for you, both me and my partner use "slider" phones with full QWERTY keyboards. Not the blackberry style keyboard with the tiny keys but phones you hold sideways.

She uses an N900 which is obsolete and no-longer sold. I use an HTC Dezire Z, which you can still get.

We're both waiting to see if the upcoming Motorola Milestone 4 ever gets released in Europe as this will have an even better keyboard.

On bad ME days my partner finds the hardware keyboard the best option for using her phone as you can make sure your finger is on the correct key before actually pressing it. She actually loses the ability to talk before she loses the ability to text.

As for the various apps you suggested, pretty much any smartphone you buy these days can do those, including the book reader. This is considered to be really basic stuff. The only limiting factor on modern smartphones is things like how powerful the graphics are, determining if you can play the latest fancy games.

If you go for an Android phone, they all pretty much run the same OS, so just buy based on which has the best features, e.g. camera type.

Regarding the sylus, virtually every phone these days uses a "capacitive" touchscreen rather than the older "resistive" type. These only work with actual fingers or things similar to fingers (e.g. sausages). You can't use them wearing gloves and you can't use them with an old fashioned plastic stylus. This may be a problem if you wear gloves to use your wheelchair and they're not the fingerless type.

You can get special capacitive styluses that basically pretend to be a finger, but they're a bit more expensive. I use an Addonit Jot Pro which is one of the more accurate ones and it works very well. I mostly just use it for playing Draw Something though.

Humphrey10

Mrs_T wrote: »

was thinking of buying the Iphone from the apple shop as virgin don't support it but its alot of money to buy something then it all to go wrong!

Go into an Apple Shop, and get one of the staff to show you an iPhone 4s. Tell them everything you need the phone to be capable of, and make sure you can work the phone OK. Also ask to try out Siri, to make sure it can understand you - there are loads of videos on YouTube showing it totally failing to understand people with regional accents.
The staff there are usually very good. I can't remember how the demonstration iPhones are fixed to the counter, but I'm sure they must have ones on long chains/leads that can reach long enough so a wheelchair user can comfortably use them.

Mrs_T_5

thanks everyone. I took the plunge and got the iphone and fingers crossed so far the SIRI has understood my north east accent! It is obviously a new toy at the moment but I certainly am pleased with my choice. Thank you everyone who gave input and helped