{"id":1572,"date":"2013-02-05T08:34:02","date_gmt":"2013-02-05T13:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.equipmentlink.org\/blog\/?p=1572"},"modified":"2013-02-05T08:34:02","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T13:34:02","slug":"brailletouch-app-review-2513","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.equipmentlink.org\/blog\/?p=1572","title":{"rendered":"BrailleTouch App review, 2\/5\/13"},"content":{"rendered":"

BrailleTouch is finally released<\/strong><\/p>\n

Contributed by Joel Zimba, Technology Outreach Specialist, MDTAP<\/em><\/p>\n

About six months ago, we wrote about a Braille entry app for the iPhone called BrailleTouch<\/a>.\u00a0 As of this morning, BrailleTouch is live in the iOS App Store.\u00a0 It is free to download, but if you want to do anything other than write text and read it in the app itself, you\u2019ll have to upgrade.<\/p>\n

The hardest part about BrailleTouch is orienting the iPhone properly for Braille entry.\u00a0 When starting the app for the first time, the screen goes into landscape mode.\u00a0 Put the \u201chome\u201d button on the right.\u00a0 Now, face the glass front of the phone away from you.\u00a0 Place your fingers on what are now the left and right edges of the phone, meaning the top and bottom of the phone in normal orientation.\u00a0 I had best results using the falls of my fingers to support the phone while my fingers were free to touch the screen where the typing action happens.<\/p>\n

After a brief description, BrailleTouch is ready for action.\u00a0 In order for VoiceOver to get out of the way and let the app have direct access to the screen, you have to touch the screen once.\u00a0 Now, Braille entry can begin.\u00a0 Typing is going to be quite familiar to anyone who has used a Perkins style Braille keyboard.\u00a0 The left hand will type dots 1, 2 and 3 while the right will type 4, 5 and 6.\u00a0 It\u2019s that easy.<\/p>\n

With a bit of poking around, I discovered that flicking right with one finger will type a \u201cspace\u201d character and flicking left will delete a character.\u00a0 In order to activate the menu, flick left with two fingers.\u00a0 Remember the orientation in action here.\u00a0 So you\u2019re flicking left in landscape mode.<\/p>\n

BrailleTouch is \u00a0fairly pointless without upgrading, but is a good way to practice Braille for a student perhaps.\u00a0 This is a nice addition to the growing list of ways of entering text on the iPhone.\u00a0 Most blind people I know will most likely stick with Fleksy.\u00a0 This may change as BrailleTouch improves. One of it\u2019s biggest flaws at the moment is that text does not remain in the entry buffer if you leave the app and then return later.\u00a0 Perhaps this isn’t the case if you purchase the app.\u00a0 Grade #2\u00a0Braille would also be a welcome addition.<\/p>\n

Any number of YouTube videos and podcasts will doubtless be dedicated to BrailleTouch in the near future.\u00a0 I call it a good start, but find it otherwise unremarkable.\u00a0 Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

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