{"id":2378,"date":"2014-04-15T09:01:31","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T13:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.equipmentlink.org\/blog\/?p=2378"},"modified":"2014-04-15T09:01:31","modified_gmt":"2014-04-15T13:01:31","slug":"braille-edge-40-41514","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.equipmentlink.org\/blog\/?p=2378","title":{"rendered":"Braille Edge 40, 4\/15\/14"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Braille Edge 40<\/span><\/h1>\n

Contributed by Joel Zimba, Special Projects Coordinator, MDTAP<\/em><\/p>\n

Recently, MDTAP\u00a0 has received several inquiries about refreshable Braille displays.\u00a0 As their name implies, these devices have one row of Braille pins which refresh themselves to reflect the output from a computer or mobile device.\u00a0 We have several examples of this species available for your examination.\u00a0 The Brailliant<\/a>, Braille Pen<\/a> and Alva BC640<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The primary differences between refreshable Braille displays are portability and the amount of Braille which can be displayed at one time.\u00a0 The Braille Pen has 12 Braille cells and is intended to be used with mobile devices, while the Brailliant has 32 cells and works well with either a mobile device or a computer.\u00a0 There are larger displays, which usually top out at 80 Braille cells.\u00a0 These are stationary and usually only connect to one computer.<\/p>\n

I recently purchased a Braille Edge 40<\/a>, produced by Hims Inc.\u00a0 The Braille Edge is larger that many portable Braille displays, having 40 Braille cells.\u00a0 It connects either via USB or Bluetooth.\u00a0 The Braille Edge has features which set it apart from other refreshable Braille displays.\u00a0 It has built-in applications, such as a notepad, calculator and alarm clock.\u00a0 In a sense, the Braille Edge is a hybrid between a Braille display and a Braille note taker. To me, this is a vital difference.\u00a0 Large documents, in a variety of formats, can be read directly from the device rather than from a host computer.<\/p>\n

For those who prefer to read Braille output rather than relying on synthetic speech as their interface, Braille displays are the way to go.\u00a0 Refreshable Braille is currently quite expensive.\u00a0 It would be a good idea to compare various devices in the MDTAP equipment library<\/a> before deciding which one is right for your purposes.<\/p>\n

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