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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hello listers,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hear is something that may interest many of you.
Perhaps, some of you can help to find out further details and share with
the rest. We would do better working as a team.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regards,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Moses.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> A Review of the LG VX 4500 Cell Phone from
Verizon Wireless and Microsoft's Voice Command Software - AccessWorld® - May
2005 <BR> AccessWorld
®<BR> May 2005 • Volume 6 • Number 3
<BR> Product
Evaluation<BR> A Review of the LG VX 4500
Cell Phone from Verizon <BR> Wireless and
Microsoft's Voice Command Software<BR> Darren
Burton<BR> This article a product evaluations from
AFB TECH <BR> (American Foundation for the Blind
Technology and Employment Center in <BR>
Huntington, West Virginia) examining the accessibility of cell phones. As
<BR> promised in our article in the March 2005
issue of AccessWorld, which <BR> summarized the
current choices available to cell phone users who are blind
<BR> or have low vision, this article explores two
more approaches to <BR> accessibility. We evaluate
the LG VX 4500 cell phone offered by Verizon <BR>
Wireless and Microsoft's Voice Command software, which can be installed on
<BR> many of today's new Pocket PC
telephones/personal digital assistants <BR>
(PDAs).<BR> Verizon Wireless LG VX 4500
<BR> Priced at $39 with a two-year service
agreement from Verizon Wireless, the <BR> LG VX
4500 manufactured by LG Electronics is an off-the-shelf telephone
<BR> with some accessible functionality built in.
It is similar to the <BR> Audiovox/Toshiba phone
we evaluated in the May 2004 issue of AccessWorld.
<BR> However, this phone features robust voice
input control as well as speech <BR> output, and
it provides a greater degree of access to more features and
<BR> functions than does the Toshiba/Audiovox
phone. Initially released in <BR> early 2004, The
VX 4500 was upgraded in late November 2004 with features
<BR> that enhance its
accessibility.<BR>
Description<BR> The LG VX 4500 is a small,
clamshell-style phone weighing 3.7 ounces and <BR>
measuring 1.9 by 0.9 by 3.5 inches when folded up. On the inside, it has a
<BR> 1.1-by-1.5-inch high-resolution display
screen with 6,500 colors that can <BR> be viewed
when the phone is flipped open. There is a smaller
<BR> 0.9-by-0.5-inch monochrome display on the
outside that can be viewed when <BR> the phone is
flipped closed. The LG VX 4500 features a keypad with the 12
<BR> dialing keys arranged in the standard
three-by-four grid. Above those keys <BR> are six
more keys in two rows of three each. On the outside of the top row
<BR> are two "soft" keys, whose function depends
on the icon adjacent to them <BR> on the display
screen. Between those keys is a circular, four-way
<BR> navigation key surrounding an OK button.
Below that row are the Send, <BR> Cancel, and End
keys. On the left side panel there are two control keys.
<BR> On the top is an up/down rocker-style button
used to control the volume. <BR> Below that is the
Voice button, used to activate the voice input
<BR>
functionality.<BR> The LG 4500 is considered a
midrange phone by today's standards, without <BR>
some advanced features such as a digital video camera or multimedia
<BR> messaging. It does, however, feature a Web
browser, speaker phone, text <BR> messaging, and a
Contacts application. Of interest to people who are blind
<BR> or visually impaired are its voice input and
speech output capabilities, <BR> which can be used
to access much of the phone's screen information and
<BR> menu system.
<BR> The LG Voice Command
Function<BR> It is interesting that LG calls their
voice input function Voice Command, <BR> which is
the same name that Microsoft has chosen for its software and that
<BR> we will discuss in the next section of this
article. LG's Voice Command <BR> allows you to use
your voice to control many aspects of the phone. It is
<BR> speaker-independent, meaning that it
recognizes any voice, so you do not <BR> have to
train it to understand your particular voice. To access LG's Voice
<BR> Command function, you press the Voice button
on the bottom of the left <BR> side panel, and a
recorded human voice responds, "Please say a command."
<BR> You then respond with one of the 10 commands
that the phone recognizes. <BR> For example, you
could say, "Voice mail," and the phone will respond with,
<BR> "You have one new voice mail message, call
voice mail now?" You then <BR> respond with "Yes"
or "No." Here is the list of the voice commands
<BR> available along with a short description of
what they do:<BR> Call someone. The
phone responds, "Please say a name," and you speak the
<BR> name of a person you have entered
into your Contacts application. <BR>
Digit dial. The phone prompts you to speak a phone number into the phone
<BR> and then dials it.
<BR> Service alerts. The phone tells
you how many missed calls, new voice
<BR> mails, and new text messages you
have. <BR> Missed calls. The phone
tells you how many new missed calls you have.
<BR> You can then scroll through the
list and hear the phone read you the
<BR> time, date, and number of each
missed call. <BR> Contacts. The phone
asks if you would like to read, create, or erase a
<BR> contact. After you respond, it
follows with more prompts to guide you in
<BR> completing each task.
<BR> Announce. This command toggles
Announce Mode on and off. With it on, you
<BR> are prompted for a command by
simply flipping the phone open, and it
<BR> activates the speaking of caller
ID information and some menu items.
<BR> Driving. This command toggles the
hands-free mode on and off. With it
<BR> on, the speaker phone is on and,
as with Announce Mode, you are prompted
<BR> for a command by flipping the
phone open. The speaker phone can also be
<BR> activated by pressing the Up
Arrow on the circular four-way navigation
<BR> key.
<BR> Time and date. The phone
announces the current time and date.
<BR> Phone status. The phone announces
battery strength, signal strength,
<BR> digital versus analog mode, and
indicates if you are roaming and if your
<BR> global positioning system (GPS)
location feature is active. <BR> Voice
mail. The phone tells you how many voice mail messages you have
<BR> and asks if you want to call
voice mail. <BR> If you forget any of the voice
commands that are available, or if you <BR> simply
do not want to talk to your phone, you can press the Voice button
<BR> and a recorded human voice will speak the
name of each command as you <BR> scroll through
the list using the Up and Down Arrows of the four-way
<BR> navigation key. You then just press the OK
button when you land on the <BR> item you want to
activate. You can toggle the speech output between the
<BR> earpiece of the phone and the speaker phone
by pressing the Up Arrow of <BR> the four-way
navigation key or by turning Driving Mode on and
off.<BR> Microsoft Voice Command Software and
Pocket PC Phones<BR> Priced at $30, Microsoft
Voice Command is a product for Pocket PC and <BR>
Pocket PC phone devices that features synthesized speech output. It lets
<BR> you use your voice to look up contacts and
place phone calls, get calendar <BR> information,
play and control your music, launch programs, and get device
<BR> status, including spoken caller ID. Pocket PC
is a line of software <BR> developed by Microsoft
to run on the Windows CE platform used in many of
<BR> today's PDA devices, including the Pac Mate
from Freedom Scientific. (You <BR> may also hear
Windows CE referred to as Windows Mobile.) Pocket PC phones
<BR> are a handheld PDA, similar to a Palm Pilot
or an HP iPAQ, but with the <BR> addition of
telephone functionality. Priced around $500, Pocket PC phones
<BR> feature Pocket PC applications such as Pocket
Word, Internet Explorer, <BR> Excel, and
Outlook.<BR>
<BR> Caption: The LG VX 4500 cell phone from
Verizon (left) and a T-Mobile <BR> Pocket PC phone
featuring Microsoft's Voice Command.<BR> Several
service providers offer various Pocket PC phones that are
<BR> compatible with the Voice Command software
(see the Product Information <BR> section at the
end of this article). However, the Pocket PC phone that we
<BR> used to evaluate Voice Command for this
article has already been <BR> discontinued, so we
will not discuss its specifics. In general, Pocket PC
<BR> phones/PDAs weigh about 8 ounces and are
fairly flat, measuring roughly 5 <BR> inches long
by 3 inches wide by about a half inch thick. They have large
<BR> high-resolution color touch screen displays,
measuring about 2 inches wide <BR> by 3 inches
long, and they usually have only three to five buttons. They
<BR> have no number keys because dialing is done
using voice or a stylus on the <BR> touch screen.
They are basically very small devices used by people on the
<BR> go who need some of the functionality of a
computer without having to <BR> carry around a
laptop computer. As well as their telephone and Pocket PC
<BR> applications, these PDAs can be used to play
games; listen to music; and <BR> synchronize your
contacts, calendar, and tasks with your PC using Outlook.
<BR> They also perform handwriting recognition
when a sighted person uses a <BR> stylus to write
notes in the device's text editor.<BR> In the
past, handheld PDAs such as the Palm Pilot or iPAQ have been
<BR> unusable by people who are blind or visually
impaired because they have <BR> had no speech
output functionality and the display information has been
<BR> too small for most people with low vision to
read. The inputting of <BR> information has also
been inaccessible, because these products make use of
<BR> a flat touch screen and a stylus for entering
data, instead of buttons <BR> that can be
identified by touch. The Microsoft Voice Command software is
<BR> the first solution we have found that
provides access to some of the <BR> features of
these handheld PDA devices. However, although the Voice
<BR> Command software is certainly intriguing, we
are not quite ready to <BR> recommend these
devices or the Microsoft Voice Command software to you,
<BR> because they still have some serious
limitations.<BR> What Can Microsoft Voice Command
Do?<BR> To use Voice Command, you need first to
configure one of the phone's <BR> buttons to be
the Voice Command button. Although that process is
<BR> inaccessible, it can be done easily with the
assistance of a person who is <BR> not blind or
visually impaired, and it only has to be done once. Once the
<BR> button has been assigned, you can access many
of the device's functions <BR> just by pressing
the Voice Command button. A two-note tone is played and a
<BR> microphone icon appears on screen. Then you
can speak naturally into the <BR> phone. For
example, you can ask, "What is the battery level?" and a
<BR> high-quality synthesized voice responds, "The
battery level is 80 <BR> percent." Here is a list
of some of the voice commands available, along
<BR> with a short description of what they
do:<BR> Call Jane Doe. Voice confirms
with "Call Jane Doe?" and you respond by
<BR> saying "Yes" or "Correct." If you
have more than one telephone number
<BR> associated with that person in
your Contacts list, the phone will ask
<BR> you which number to call, saying
"Call Jane Doe at work, home, or <BR>
mobile?" <BR> Dial a number. You say
"dial" followed by any phone number. The phone
<BR> repeats the number, and you
confirm by saying "Yes" or "Correct."
<BR> Play music. The phone responds by
asking you various questions to help
<BR> choose the song you want to hear.
You can instead command it to play a
<BR> specific artist's music that you
have downloaded onto the device, for
<BR> example, "Play the Beatles," and
the Fab Four will soon begin to play.
<BR> You can also interrupt the
playing of music with commands such as "Next
<BR> track," "Previous track," "Stop,"
Pause," or "What song is this?" <BR>
What is my calendar today? or What is my schedule today? The synthesized
<BR> voice responds with the time,
date, and details of your upcoming
<BR> appointments.
<BR> What is the signal strength? The
phone responds with the signal strength
<BR> as a percentage of full.
<BR> Redial. The phone redials the
last number you called. <BR> Call
Back. The phone dials the number of the last person who called you.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> What is
the battery level? The phone responds with the battery level as
<BR> a percentage of full.
<BR> What time is it? or What is the
date? The phone will answer with the
<BR> correct time or date.
<BR> Flight mode on or Flight mode
off. The voice will confirm the setting.
<BR> With flight mode on, you can
listen to music while on a plane and the
<BR> phone is automatically turned off
to comply with airline regulations. <BR> Other
commands too numerous to list are available with Microsoft Voice
<BR> Command. We discuss some more of them in the
Sweet 16 section of this <BR> article. If you
can't remember all the commands available, you can simply
<BR> say "Help," and the voice will ask you to
choose a help topic and then <BR> read the topics
available. After you speak the name of one of the topics,
<BR> it will tell you the commands available. Some
of the commands are not <BR> accompanied by speech
output, so they are not that helpful. For example,
<BR> you can say, "Start Pocket Internet
Explorer," and the device will open <BR> the Web
browser, but there will be no speech output to access the screen
<BR> information. You can likewise say the word
"Show" followed by a name in <BR> your Contacts
list. The device will then show all the contact information
<BR> for that person, but there will be no speech
output to help you access <BR> that
information.<BR> Like the Voice Command feature on
the LG 4500, Microsoft's Voice Command <BR> is
speaker-independent, so you do not have to train it to recognize your
<BR> voice. Also, your commands do not have to be
exact. For example, when <BR> asking for your
appointments, you can ask "What are my appointments
<BR> today?" or "What are my meetings today?" or
"What's my schedule today?"<BR> The Sweet
16<BR> As we reported in our previous cell phone
evaluations, before beginning <BR> our reviews we
surveyed 40 cell phone users who are blind or have low
<BR> vision to determine which features they would
most like to have made <BR> accessible. The 16
features rated the highest by the respondents became
<BR> the basis of our evaluation, and are known as
the Sweet 16. We looked at <BR> whether users
would be able to access these features and noted the
<BR> barriers to accessing
them.<BR> As phones began to come onto the market
with capabilities to make the <BR> Sweet 16
features accessible, we wondered what other features would be
<BR> important to cell phone users who are blind
or visually impaired. We <BR> surveyed readers of
our AccessWorld Extra e-mail update last year to
<BR> establish more features that would be
important to increase the <BR> accessibility of
cell phones. We received over 60 responses, and came up
<BR> with a list of eight more features to
evaluate, which we will call the <BR> "Elite
Eight," in keeping with our NCAA college basketball tournament
<BR> nomenclature. The evaluation methods we used
included these:<BR> measuring the
ability to identify and use the keypad tactilely
<BR> determining the ability to
navigate menus <BR> noting auditory
and vibratory feedback <BR> assessing
the readability of the visual display <BR> The
following analysis lists the 16 cell phone features that our original
<BR> survey determined to be the most important
for accessibility and how the <BR> LG VX 4500 and
Microsoft's Voice Command software measured up on each
<BR> feature. Following that, we will present our
analysis of the Elite 8.<BR> Keys Easily
Identifiable by Touch<BR> Although there is still
room for slight improvement, the keys on the VX
<BR> 4500 are relatively easy to identify by
touch. The dialing keys are in the <BR> familiar
three-by-four grid, and the 5 key has two nibs properly placed on
<BR> the right and left sides of the key for
orientation purposes. With <BR> Announce mode on,
the phone will speak the digits as you dial them to help
<BR> you ensure that you have dialed correctly.
The Talk and End keys also each <BR> have a nib
placed on them, so that you can find them quickly and easily,
<BR> and the Volume key and Voice key on the side
panel are raised and easy to <BR>
identify.<BR> The Pocket PC phones that we have
seen only have three to five keys, and <BR> they
are very easy to locate and operate by touch. However, that is
<BR> somewhat moot because most of the input on
the Pocket PC phones is done by <BR> tapping on a
flat touch screen with a stylus, which is not accessible to
<BR> people who are blind or visually
impaired.<BR> Voice
Output<BR> Most of the voice output on the LG 4500
is digitally recorded human speech <BR> in a
clear, female voice, but there is also a synthesized voice that reads
<BR> out the names of contacts that you create in
the phone's contacts <BR> application. Although
the synthesized speech is not as easy to understand
<BR> as the synthesizers that come with screen
reader software, it is adequate. <BR> In addition
to the access that the voice output provides in support of the
<BR> Voice Command features described earlier, it
can also be set to read out <BR> the digits as you
dial phone numbers. It also reads menu items as you
<BR> navigate the phone's menu system. However, it
only reads two levels of <BR> menus and does not
provide speech output once you choose a particular
<BR> function to activate. For example, you can
press the left soft key to <BR> enter the main
menu, then scroll to and choose "Messages" and then "New
<BR> message," but that is where speech stops.
There is no speech output to <BR> assist in
creating the new message.<BR> With Microsoft Voice
Command software, the voice is produced through a
<BR> clear, easy-to-understand speech synthesizer.
All the speech output is <BR> produced in
conjunction with the voice input commands discussed earlier.
<BR> Although the software provides a degree of
access to many of the device's <BR> functions, it
does have significant limitations. Other than for dialing
<BR> phone numbers, it does not provide speech
output for entering data into <BR> the device, and
there is no voice output support for using the Pocket PC
<BR> applications such as Pocket Word, Excel, or
Internet Explorer.<BR> Accessible
Documentation<BR> We were able to acquire the
manual for the LG 4500 from Verizon Wireless <BR>
in text format. Although this manual was certainly accessible, it did have
<BR> some fairly major problems in regard to
usability and how well it provides <BR> assistance
to a person who is blind or visually impaired who is trying to
<BR> learn how to use the phone. The table of
contents had no page numbers <BR> associated with
the various sections, and it was very difficult to tell
<BR> one section from another when reading through
the document. Also, there <BR> was no specific
section dedicated to describing the Voice Command
<BR> functions. Instead, information on Voice
Command was intermingled <BR> throughout various
other sections. In our testing at AFB TECH, we had to
<BR> learn about it through trial and
error.<BR> The manual for Microsoft's Voice
Command software, in contrast, was <BR> produced
in a highly accessible and usable HTML file. It was easy to
<BR> navigate and find clear descriptions of how
to use the software.<BR> Battery Level
Indicator<BR> It is easy to access battery level
information on both these systems. When <BR>
prompted to say a command by the LG 4500, you simply say "Phone status,"
<BR> and the voice speaks the battery level, which
is read as full, 75 percent, <BR> 50 percent, 25
percent, or 0 percent. It also produces an audible tone
<BR> warning that the battery is empty and needs
charging. When the battery is <BR> critically low,
the phone produces a periodic warning beep and then three
<BR> consecutive beeps just before the battery
runs out completely.<BR> With Microsoft Voice
Command, you ask, "What is the battery level?" and
<BR> the voice responds by telling you the
percentage of battery power <BR> remaining. During
testing, we heard no low battery warning tones, but that
<BR> feature would be dependent on the Pocket PC
phone itself, and not on the <BR> Voice Command
software.<BR> Roaming
Indicator<BR> If you give the Phone status command
to the LG 4500, it will tell you if <BR> you are
roaming and thus paying more for your call. However, Microsoft's
<BR> Voice Command does not provide spoken
indication of roaming.<BR> Message
Indicator<BR> On the LG 4500, the Voice mail
command causes the voice to tell you if you <BR>
have any voice mail messages, and the Service alerts command alerts you to
<BR> voice mail, missed calls, and text messages.
However, the text messaging <BR> function is
inaccessible because it does not feature speech output. You
<BR> cannot access any message indicators with
Microsoft's Voice command <BR>
software.<BR> Phone
Book<BR> The phone book application is called
Contacts on the LG 4500. It is more <BR>
accessible than on any other off-the-shelf phone, but it still isn't
<BR> perfect. You can add contacts using voice
commands along with the keypad, <BR> but that only
lets you add one phone number per contact. If you memorize
<BR> keystrokes, you can add up to four more
numbers, but you do not get voice <BR> feedback to
guide you through that process. After phone numbers have been
<BR> added, you can use the Contacts command to
read, erase, and call those <BR> contacts, with
the human voice output guiding you through the process. You
<BR> can also press the right soft key to enter
the Contacts mode and listen to <BR> the synthetic
voice read the names as you scroll through the list of
<BR> contacts you have created. When you hear the
name of the person you want <BR> to call, you can
then press the Send key to place the call. If there is
<BR> more than one number associated with the
contact, it will prompt you to <BR> tell them
which one to call. However, it only prompts you for that if you
<BR> use the Voice command to call, and not when
you go directly into the <BR> Contacts mode by
pressing the right soft key.<BR> With a Pocket PC
phone, you can create your Contacts list in Outlook on
<BR> your PC, then transfer them to the phone, a
process that is entirely <BR> accessible using a
screen reader and Microsoft ActiveSync. You can then
<BR> call someone by saying "Call," followed by
the name of one of the contacts <BR> you have
created. The voice will then repeat the name and you confirm with
<BR> "Yes" or "Correct." You can also say "Show"
followed by a name, and that <BR> person's contact
information will appear on the screen, but there is no
<BR> speech output to read that
information.<BR> Phone Lock
Mode<BR> To lock the LG 4500 to prevent
unauthorized use, you press the Pound key <BR> for
3 seconds. You unlock it by pressing the right soft key followed by
<BR> your four-digit password, which is the last
four digits of your phone <BR> number. The phone
emits a beep to indicate that the phone is locked, but
<BR> there is no speech output to support this
process. Also, there is no <BR> speech support if
you want to change your password.<BR> On the
Pocket PC phone, the feature is called Call Barring, but it must be
<BR> set via the inaccessible menu system and it
cannot be accessed with the <BR> Voice Command
software.<BR> Keypad Lock
Mode<BR> A keypad lock feature is used to prevent
the phone from dialing <BR> inadvertently if it is
jostled while in your pocket or briefcase. Since
<BR> the keys on the LG 4500 are protected by its
clamshell-style design, this <BR> feature is not
necessary with this phone.<BR> Since the Pocket PC
phones have no keypads, there is no need for a keypad
<BR> lock mode.<BR>
Power Indicator<BR> The LG 4500 plays a short tune
when it is turned on or off, but that <BR>
indicator does not help if you just want to check to see if the phone is
<BR> actually on or off. Sighted users can tell
whether the phone is on simply <BR> by looking to
see if the display is on. Users who are blind or visually
<BR> impaired can press any number key and listen
for a tone, which would <BR> indicate that the
phone is on. Also, if Announce mode is activated, the
<BR> voice prompts you to say a command when you
flip open the phone, which <BR> would indicate
that the power is indeed on. With Microsoft Voice Command,
<BR> sighted users can look to see if the display
is on, or you can simply <BR> press the voice
command button and listen for the tone prompting you to
<BR> say a
command.<BR> Ringing or Vibrating Mode
Indicator<BR> The LG 4500 has a feature called
Manner mode for use in public places, <BR> which
silences all key tones and sets the phone to vibrate mode. Set
<BR> Manner mode by pressing and holding the Star
key for 3 seconds. The phone <BR> will briefly
vibrate and a Vibrate icon appears on the display. To get out
<BR> of Manner mode, press the Star key for 3
seconds again, and a beep will <BR> sound and the
Vibrate icon disappears.<BR> With Microsoft Voice
Command, you give the command "Set ringer vibrate,"
<BR> and the voice responds confirming the
setting. To set it back to ringer <BR> mode, you
give a ringer volume command such as "Set ringer high," and the
<BR> voice confirms that
setting.<BR> GPS
Feature<BR> The LG 4500 has a GPS feature that is
used to help local 911 systems <BR> locate you in
case of an emergency, but your local emergency system must
<BR> be equipped to use the satellite systems. The
GPS feature can also access <BR> other
location-based services that may be available from providers of
<BR> cellular services in the future. Turning the
GPS feature off will hide <BR> your location from
everyone except 911 services, but it must be done via
<BR> the inaccessible menus. The Pocket PC phone
we used for this evaluation <BR> did not have a
GPS feature, but other Pocket PC phones coming onto the
<BR> market may have that feature. However, Voice
command does not have a way <BR> to turn the
feature on or off.<BR> Signal Strength
Indicator<BR> Both of these systems have speech
output to indicate your signal strength. <BR> On
the LG 4500, you give the command "Phone status" and the voice tells
<BR> you how many bars your signal strength icon
is displaying. With Microsoft <BR> voice command,
you ask "What is my signal strength" and the voice tells
<BR> you your signal strength as a percentage of
full, in increments of 10. For <BR> example, it
might say, "The signal strength is 60
percent."<BR> Ringer Volume
Control<BR> On the LG 4500, you press the rocker
switch Volume button on the left side <BR> panel
to adjust the ringer and earpiece volume. There are six levels:
<BR> silent, low, low/medium, medium, medium/high,
and high. An indicator tone <BR> plays as you
adjust the volume, and that tone increases or decreases in
<BR> volume depending on the direction in which
you are adjusting the volume of <BR> the
phone.<BR> With Microsoft Voice Command, you set
the ringer volume by saying "Set <BR> ringer
high," "Set ringer medium," "Set ringer low," or "Set ringer off."
<BR> The voice responds by confirming the
setting.<BR> Caller
Identification<BR> Both of these systems will
speak caller identification information. They <BR>
will speak the number of an incoming caller or they will speak the name of
<BR> the caller if you have entered the caller
into your Contacts list.<BR> Speed
Dialing<BR> On the LG 4500, there is no speech
output to assist in setting up speed <BR> dialing,
but if you get assistance from a sighted user to associate
<BR> certain contacts with speed dial numbers, you
simply press a number <BR> between 2 and 9 to call
the contact associated with that number. You will
<BR> need to remember which contact is associated
with which speed dial number, <BR> so it would
probably be easier to use the Voice Dialing feature to dial a
<BR> number
quickly.<BR> The Elite
8<BR> The new "Elite 8" features that were
evaluated on these two systems <BR> include access
to the call log, customizable ring tones, backspace, voice
<BR> dialing, voice recorder, ringer type
selection, redial, and text <BR>messaging.<BR>
Call Log Access<BR> Both systems can speak missed
call information, but not information about <BR>
received calls or dialed calls.<BR> Customizable
Ring Tones<BR> Neither system has speech output to
assist in customizing ring tones.<BR>
Backspace<BR> A backspace key is used to erase
misdialed numbers. The LG phone has a <BR> Cancel
key that you can press to backspace over misdialed numbers one at a
<BR> time, but the Pocket PC phone does
not.<BR> Voice-Activated
Dialing<BR> Both systems have voice-activated
dialing.<BR> Voice
Recorder<BR> There is no speech output to support
the voice recorder on the LG phone. <BR> The voice
recorder on Pocket PC phones is also inaccessible because you
<BR> have to use the touch screen to access that
function, and there is no <BR> speech output to
support the process.<BR> Ringer Type
Selection<BR> There is no speech output to support
the selection of the type of ringer <BR> to be
used on either system.<BR>
Redial<BR> There is no redial command on the LG
4500. With the Microsoft Voice <BR> Command you
can simply say "Redial" and the phone will redial the last
<BR> number you
called.<BR> Text
Messaging<BR> Speech output does not support text
messaging on either phone.<BR> Accessibility for
Users with Low Vision<BR> In addition to the Sweet
16 and the Elite 8, we looked at overall <BR>
accessibility of the phones from the perspective of a user with low
<BR> vision. The LG 4500 has a high-resolution
color display, but most of the <BR> text and icons
that appear are in font sizes around 10 points, which is
<BR> too small for most people with low vision to
see clearly. It does have a <BR> setting to adjust
font sizes from normal to large, but it only adjusts the
<BR> size of the digits that appear on screen when
you dial a number or enter <BR> text into a
contact or text message. Glare was not a problem with this
<BR> phone, and brightness and contrast can be
adjusted to improve viewability.<BR> The Pocket PC
phones we have seen also feature large high-resolution color
<BR> displays, but they were not designed to be
easily viewed by people with <BR> low vision.
Although there is a lot of screen area, the font sizes are too
<BR> small, and the contrast and brightness cannot
be adjusted. On the positive <BR> side, glare was
not a problem, and we were able to open the Pocket Word
<BR> application and use its zoom feature to
increase the font size of <BR> documents from a
low of 8 points to a high of 30 points.<BR> Voice
Recognition Quality<BR> Since much of the
functionality of the two systems we are evaluating in
<BR> this article rely on voice input for control,
we decided to check to see <BR> how robust the
voice recognition was. To test how well the systems
<BR> recognized verbal commands, we tested them in
different environments with <BR> varying levels of
background noise. We took the phones to a downtown
<BR> street corner near passing traffic and to a
university student union, and <BR> we varied the
noise level in our lab with music and recorded conversation.
<BR> To show our true dedication to researching
cell phone accessibility, we <BR> even took the
phones to the local pub on a very busy Friday evening to
<BR> test them in a very loud environment. The
results were surprisingly <BR> positive: both
systems performed better than expected in environments we
<BR> would describe as mildly to moderately noisy.
<BR> We found the voice recognition to be more
robust on the LG 4500: it was 90 <BR> percent
successful in recognizing commands even in the very loud pub. With
<BR> Microsoft Voice Command, the voice
recognition did not work at all in the <BR> noisy
pub, and it failed about 50 percent of the time in the moderately
<BR> noisy environment. Another advantage of the
LG 4500 is that it can be <BR> trained to
recognize your particular voice patterns, which helps if you
<BR> have a strong accent or your voice is hard to
understand because of a <BR> speech
impairment.<BR> The Bottom
Line<BR> Although the systems that we evaluate in
this article do not provide the <BR> high level of
accessibility provided by the TALKS and Mobile Speak
<BR> products we evaluated in our November 2004
issue, they do provide <BR> additional choices for
blind and visually impaired cell phone users.<BR>
The LG 4500 is the most accessible off-the-shelf phone available today,
<BR> outperforming the Audiovox/Toshiba phone that
we evaluated in our May 2004 <BR> issue, and it
does so at a price hundreds of dollars less than the TALKS
<BR> or Mobile Speak options in a smaller, more
convenient clamshell design. <BR> However, it does
still have some serious drawbacks in accessing the
<BR> phone's menu system and many of its features.
Although it does provide <BR> speech output while
you navigate through the top two levels of the menu
<BR> system, that speech output is of no real use
to a blind or visually <BR> impaired person. For
it to be useful, the speech must be consistent
<BR> throughout the entire menu system; when you
choose a feature you want to <BR> access, it must
also provide speech output while you use that feature. For
<BR> our readers who want to purchase this phone,
you will want to make sure <BR> that you are
buying the upgraded version, with software version T45VZV04.
<BR> To learn more about the LG 4500, you can join
the online discussion list <BR> by sending a blank
e-mail message to <BR> <<A
href="mailto:blindusersLGVX4500-subscribe@yahoogroups.com">blindusersLGVX4500-subscribe@yahoogroups.com</A>>.<BR>
Although we would not yet recommend Microsoft's Voice Command software to
<BR> our readers, it is interesting to see
Microsoft entering the fray and <BR> providing
even this limited level of accessibility to these touch-screen
<BR> devices that have traditionally been unusable
by people who are blind, <BR> visually impaired,
or have low vision. We were certainly intrigued while
<BR> evaluating the Voice Command system. It was
great to be able just to pick <BR> up the phone
and say, "Play Muddy Waters," and hear the blues legend begin
<BR> to crank out his riffs. However, it is hard
to justify shelling out around <BR> $550 for a
device with such limited accessibility. Voice Command provides
<BR> access to only a small portion of the full
functionality of a Pocket PC <BR> device, and it
has a very serious limitation that becomes apparent while
<BR> you are on a call. If you need to enter a
digit to choose an option on a <BR> company's
voice mail system or if you have to enter a person's extension
<BR> number, you are out of luck. Voice Command
will not function during a <BR> call, so you
cannot enter digits while on a call unless you can see to tap
<BR> the onscreen dialing pad. Microsoft Voice
Command would be something to <BR> consider if it
had screen reader functionality to deliver more
<BR> accessibility for inputting and outputting
information.<BR> On the
Horizon<BR> As is the case with most consumer
electronics, cell phones are continually <BR>
evolving, so we can hope to see further enhancements and upgrades to the
<BR> systems we have described in this article and
previous articles. For those <BR> of you
interested in staying on the cutting edge of cell phone
<BR> development, you will want to check out the
Resources and Product <BR> Information section of
our article summarizing the choices available,
<BR> which appeared in the March 2005 issue of
AccessWorld. You may also want <BR> to join the LG
4500 discussion list mentioned earlier if you want to keep
<BR> up with the LG 4500.
<BR> Those interested in the Pocket PC phones may
be interested to hear about a <BR> number of
developments that were demonstrated at the 2005 Technology and
<BR> Persons with Disabilities conference
sponsored by the California State <BR> University
at Northridge (see the "CSUN 2005" report elsewhere in this
<BR> issue for more details). Dolphin Computer
Access (European manufacturers <BR> of assistive
technology products such as the HAL screen reader)
<BR> demonstrated "Pocket Hal," a screen reader
designed for Pocket PC <BR> applications, to be
released in summer 2005. Also, Code Factory, <BR>
manufacturers of the Mobile Speak and Mobile Magnifier cell phone software
<BR> products, demonstrated their Mobile Speak
Pocket screen reader, which will <BR> be available
in the near future, on several Windows CE devices. These
<BR> products, along with the portable "snap-on"
and wireless keyboards now <BR> available with
some Pocket PC devices, may provide full access to a Pocket
<BR> PC phone/PDA. Also, representatives from
Optelec, vendor of low vision, <BR> speech, and
braille solutions, demonstrated EasyLink, a combination
<BR> software and wireless braille-keyboard
solution that they are now offering <BR> to make
the HP iPaq Pocket PC device accessible. (For another type of
<BR> keyboard solution, see "A New Keypad Design
for Faster Text Input.") In <BR> addition, Fonix
Corporation is offering two products for Pocket PC phones
<BR> similar to Microsoft's Voice Command, called
VoiceCentral and VoiceDial.<BR> These are exciting
times in the world of mobile technology. It has always
<BR> been a fast-paced, rapidly-evolving industry,
and it finally seems as <BR> though people who are
blind or visually impaired are beginning to have
<BR> more opportunities in which to take
part.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Funding for this
product evaluation was provided by the Teubert
<BR> Foundation, Huntington, West
Virginia.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> View the Product
Features as a graphic <BR> View the Product
Features as text <BR> View the Product Ratings as
a graphic <BR> View the Product Ratings as text
<BR> Product
Information<BR> LG VX 4500 and PC Phones with
Microsoft Voice Command<BR> Product: LG VX 4500.
<BR> Manufacturer: LG Electronics, MobileComm
U.S.A., 10225 Willow Creek Road, <BR> San Diego,
CA 92131; phone: 800-793-8896; e-mail: <BR> <<A
href="mailto:customerservice@lge.com">customerservice@lge.com</A>>; web site:
<<A href="http://us.lge.com">http://us.lge.com</A>>.
<BR> Service Provider: Verizon Wireless: phone:
800-256-4646; web site: <BR> <<A
href="http://www.verizonwireless.com">www.verizonwireless.com</A>>.
<BR> Price: $39.95 with a two-year service
agreement or $89.95 with a one-year <BR>
agreement. <BR> Product: Voice Command Software
for Pocket PC phones. <BR> Manufacturer: Microsoft
Corporation, 1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA <BR>
98052-6399; phone: 800-642-7676; web site: <BR>
<<A
href="http://www.microsoft.com/voicecommand">www.microsoft.com/voicecommand</A>>.
<BR> Vendors: Voice Command is available from
CompUSA Inc., Circuit City Stores <BR> Inc.,
Amazon.com Inc., Fry's Electronics Inc., Micro Center, J&R
<BR> Electronics Inc., and MobilePlanet and at
<<A href="http://www.Handango.com">www.Handango.com</A>>.
<BR> Price: $30.
<BR> Pocket PC Phones Compatible with Microsoft
Voice Command<BR> Here is a sample of the phones
compatible with Voice Command and the <BR> service
providers that offer them:<BR> Product: Samsung
i700 Pocket PC. <BR> Service provider: Verizon
Wireless; website: <<A
href="http://www.verizonwireless">www.verizonwireless</A>.<BR>
com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhone<BR>
Detail&selectedPhoneId=1530>. <BR> Price:
$549.95. <BR> Product: Siemens SX66 Pocket PC.
<BR> Service provider: Cingular; website <<A
href="http://www.cingularwireless.com">www.cingularwireless.com</A>>.
<BR> Price: $549.99.
<BR> Other Software Compatible with Pocket PC
Phones<BR> Product: EasyLink.
<BR> Manufacturer: Optelec, 321 Billerica Road,
Chelmsford, MA 01824; phone: <BR> 978-392-0707 or
800-828-1056; e-mail: <<A
href="mailto:optelec@optelec.com">optelec@optelec.com</A>>; web site:
<BR> <<A
href="http://www.optelec.com/blind_and_braille/easylink/index.php">www.optelec.com/blind_and_braille/easylink/index.php</A>>.
<BR> Price: $1595 (includes EasyLink software,
wireless Braille keyboard, and <BR> HP Ipaq PDA).
<BR> Product: Fonix VoiceDial and Fonix
VoiceCentral 2 for Pocket PC. <BR> Manufacturer:
Fonix Corporation, 629 Massachusetts Avenue, Boxborough, MA,
<BR> 01719; Phone: 978-266-0100; e-mail: <<A
href="mailto:support@fonix.com">support@fonix.com</A>>; web site:
<BR> <<A
href="http://www.fonix.com">www.fonix.com</A>>.
<BR> Price: Fonix VoiceDial: $15.95; Fonix
VoiceCentral 2 for Pocket PC: <BR> $29.95.
<BR> Product: Pocket Hal Screen Reader (not yet
available). <BR> Manufacturer: Dolphin Computer
Access, 60 East Third Avenue, Suite 301, <BR> San
Mateo, CA 94401; phone: 866-797-5921 or 650-348-7401; e-mail:
<BR> <<A
href="mailto:info@dolphinusa.com">info@dolphinusa.com</A>>; web site: <<A
href="http://www.dolphinusa.com">www.dolphinusa.com</A>>.
<BR> Product: Pocket Mobile Speak Screen Reader
(not yet available). <BR> Manufacturer: Code
Factory, S. L. Rambla d'Egara, 148, 2-2, 08221
<BR> Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain; phone:
0049-171-3797470; e-mail: <BR> <<A
href="mailto:sales@mobileaccessiblity.com">sales@mobileaccessiblity.com</A>>;
web site: <<A href="http://www.codefactory.es">www.codefactory.es</A>>.
<BR> Product: Pocket PC Screen Reader (not yet
available). <BR> Manufacturer: Dolphin Computer
Access, 60 East Third Avenue, Suite 301, <BR> San
Mateo, CA 94401; phone: 866-797-5921 or 650-348-7401; e-mail:
<BR> <<A
href="mailto:info@dolphinusa.com">info@dolphinusa.com</A>>; web site: <<A
href="http://www.dolphinusa.com">www.dolphinusa.com</A>>.
<BR> A New Keypad Design for Faster Text
Input<BR> Readers who have had the opportunity to
use the accessible cell phones we <BR> have
evaluated in AccessWorld have probably noticed that it can be a bit
<BR> cumbersome, not to mention downright
frustrating, when trying to enter <BR> text in the
phonebook or messaging applications on these devices.
<BR> Traditionally, you enter letters by pressing
one of the number keys <BR> between 1 and 4 times.
For example, you would press the 1 key once to type
<BR> the letter A, twice for B, and three times
for C. It would actually take <BR> 15 key presses
to type out the five letters in the name Chris into your
<BR> phonebook application using these traditional
keypad methods. In addition <BR> to having to make
multiple key presses to enter individual letters, you
<BR> also have to memorize which letters
correspond to which numbers on the <BR> keypad.
<BR> <BR>
Caption: A cell phone with the Fastap keypad.<BR>
To ease the burden of text entry, Massachusetts-based Digit Wireless has
<BR> developed their Fastap keypad, which uses
what they describe as a <BR> "hills-and-valleys"
design to include separate number and letter keys on
<BR> the keypad of a cell phone. Essentially, the
number or dialing keys are <BR> rectangularly
shaped valleys, and the letter keys are on circular raised
<BR> hills at the corners of the number keys.
Starting at the top of the <BR> keypad, the top
row of hills are the letters A through D, and below that
<BR> the first row of valley keys are the Send,
Backspace, and End keys. The <BR> next row of
hills includes the E through H keys, with the 1 through 3 keys
<BR> in the valleys below that. This pattern
continues down the keypad, with <BR> the last row
of valley keys including a Shift key, a Spacebar, and a
<BR> Punctuation key. Below that are the final two
hill keys, which are the Y <BR> and
Z.<BR> In addition to entering text, the letter
keys can also serve as shortcut <BR> keys to open
applications while the phone is in standby mode. For example,
<BR> pressing and holding the M key quickly opens
the messaging application, <BR> and the S key
opens up the settings application.<BR> Digit
Wireless sent a prototype of their Fastap keypad on a preproduction
<BR> LG phone to our product evaluation lab at AFB
TECH last year. We conducted <BR> some user tests
to determine its effectiveness and to provide them with
<BR> our suggestions for improvement. Including
myself, a total of eight people <BR> served as
informal testers. The group included six adults and two
<BR> teenagers. Four of the adults were totally
blind, one was visually <BR> impaired, and one was
sighted; one of the teenagers was blind and the
<BR> other was sighted. I described the keypad to
each person and then observed <BR> and took notes
as each tester worked with the phone for about an hour,
<BR> practicing writing SMS (short message
service) messages and dialing phone <BR>
numbers.<BR> Nearly every tester's initial
reaction was confusion, as this is a keypad <BR>
style that none of us had ever come across. However, as we practiced more
<BR> and more, they began to get familiar with how
to operate the keypad. All <BR> the testers
commented that with just a little more time and practice, they
<BR> would be able to use the keypad efficiently.
I had the phone with me for <BR> several days, so
I had much more time to work with it than any of the
<BR> others, and my efficiency definitely improved
over time. After I memorized <BR> and got used to
the pattern, I was able to use the letter keys much more
<BR> efficiently than I can use the traditional
multitap method on my Nokia <BR> 6620 with TALKS
or Mobile Speak. Interestingly, two of our testers were
<BR> proficient braille readers, and they liked
the keypad a great deal. They <BR> were much more
proficient from the outset than our non-braille readers.
<BR> Some of the testers commented that the hill
keys got in their way when <BR> trying to dial
phone numbers. They soon realized, however, that the
<BR> keyboard has built-in error-correction
software that makes dialing easier.<BR> The major
point that our blind and visually impaired testers wanted to get
<BR> across is that regardless of how much they
may have liked the keypad, it <BR> is not of much
use to them if it is