Review of TALKS Premium 3.52 mobile screen reader

Here’s the second half of my review of my Nokia N82, wherein I discuss the use of the Nuance TALKS screen reader. When I purchased this Smart Phone, I did so with the full intention of operating a screen reader on it so that I would get the full benefit of the phone’s functionality.

My previous experience with a text-to-speech (TTS) solution on a mobile phone was running the TALKS screen reader on a Nokia 6620. AT&T has a Center for Customers with Disabilities and at that time, offered to reimburse the cost of TALKS and discount the phone’s high cost if I committed to a two-year contract. Getting assistive technology for free and a 33% discount on a high-end Smart Phone was a no-brainer for me.

That was three or four years ago and I really liked the feedback that TALKS gave me. It allowed me to have unprecedented access to the information displayed on my cell phone. On top of that, it used Eloquence, my preferred speech engine, for TTS. I also bookmarked the TALKS web site for figuring out how to use this nifty technological wonder.

However, finding resources for support soon became difficult. As far as I knew, this was the only screen reader available for mobile phones and once I purchased the unit, I was basically on my own for figuring out how to use it. First, I misplaced the CD that came with the screen reader. AT&T offered nothing to help me out and the web site I had bookmarked soon began giving me that dreadful 404 message, “Web page could not be found.” That experience made me wary about ever using TALKS again.

So, when I was looking at purchasing a new phone a couple of months ago, I wasn’t so sure about getting one with TALKS. I looked at Mobile Speak, TALKS’ primary mobile screen reader competitor, which AT&T now features, offering it for only $89. However, because AT&T no longer sells TALKS nor do they sell the N82, they also do not have a license to support the N82 with the Mobile Speak screen reader. That meant if I wanted to change to Mobile Speak for my TTS solution, I was going to have to pay full retail, about $295, for it.

I spent some time doing some web research and found that I could get a handset license transfer for TALKS, which included an upgrade to
TALKS Premium
For only $99 from
TalkNav,
A U.K. company.

I read over the associated web sites and found that it seems that today’s support for TALKS might be better if I opted to do this. I said, “What the heck, its only $10 more than the AT&T subsidized offer,” and jumped on it. And, I found there were additional reasons that supported sticking with TALKS.

That explains how I got back on the TALKS train. Let me now delve into my thoughts about the latest version of TALKS Premium 3.1.

The Good

Of course, the familiarity of the Eloquence speech engine remained a strong selling point for me. My biggest concern was figuring out the keystroke combinations to perform commands with TALKS. This was resolved by receiving TALKS user’s guides in both audio and MS-Word format. Now, I can easily go in and figure out what to do if I inadvertently change some of the TALKS settings. This user support was what I was missing in my first go-round with TALKS. Primo!

TALKS Premium 3.1 is so much more than what I had the first time around. This package includes the Zooms screen magnifier, which would be a great tool for anybody who is low vision. Being I’m totally blind, it wasn’t anything major to me personally, but this is definitely a good thing to know for discussing this as an access solution for other people.

The ability to label icons is a big thing, though. Just as on most computer programs, mobile phones often rely on visual icons to present information and controls. On my PC, I have the ability to label graphics with JAWS, so it is a good feature to find this included in TALKS. And, this is one feature that their competitor doesn’t have.

In my previous experience with TALKS, just running the program on the phone was a battery killer. My Nokia 6620 couldn’t be turned on for eight hours without dying. And, that wasn’t even using it to talk. Just having it turned on and in standby mode, drained the battery. That’s not the case today, though. Whatever improvements were made with the TALKS program or the phone, it is all for the positive. I’ve gone more than three days without needing to recharge the N82. What a nice change that has been.

Though I am not a Braille user, TALKS does support the use a Bluetooth Braille display with the N82. For some people, I can see where this would be another strength of the TALKS application, particularly in meetings where the user could mute the audio and still access the displayed information.

The Bad

There is only one gripe I have with TALKS. It gets hung up sometimes and repeats what it is saying continuously. It is basically a hiccup, sounding like so many CD players used to be like in the early days, when a smudge on a CD or a slight bump would cause the player to get hung up on a word or note. I am not sure how long TALKS will go on hiccupping, because when it does this, I always press another button to perform some other operation. This works to make it quit repeating. Also, TALKS doesn’t do this all of the time, just sporadically. Still, its buggy in that regard.

Overall Thoughts

Three to four years ago, I got TALKS on the 6620 so that I could have access to the number of incoming calls, feedback on the numbers I was dialing, and the ability to know the battery and signal strength on my phone. These features were things I’d never known on previous phones and were exactly what I was looking for from a mobile screen reader. In that regard, my previous experience gave me what I wanted. Trading that off with the battery drain left me feeling a little lukewarm, but I still like the accessibility that I’d never had on a cell phone. The biggest downside was not having any kind of accessible user’s manual.

All that is history with the latest incarnation of TALKS. I enjoy its robust abilities and receiving the support material in various formats is a definite plus. With TALKS Premium 3.1 operating on the N82, I’m able to do so much more than just those rudimentary tasks I used to do on the 6620. I breeze through the menu-driven Symbian operating system, easily going to the various folders and applications I want. I operate the powerful 5-mega-pixel camera in both image and video modes, looke over the songs and play music with the music player, and I’m looking forward to doing so much more after I get a Bluetooth keyboard.

I have played a bit with the internet on the N82, connecting on open WiFi signals when I’m out and about. It has been encouraging to be able to read the latest news headlines on my default home page. There is so much more potential for me to use this with that Bluetooth keyboard. I personally dislike typing in letters from the keypad, finding it monotonously slow and mentally dulling. So, with the ability to type on a keyboard, I should find some smoking, new horizons on this phone, all made very accessible with TALKS.

Also, when I get the keyboard, I will more easily use and manage my contacts on the N82. This will lead to so much more personalization of the phone for me, as well. I love using the Goldwave audio editor and will assign specific, personalized ringtones to each of my contacts. But, I need to get this where it is a practical task first, meaning I need to get that keyboard soon.

One feature of the N82 that I’ve yet to explore is its built-in GPS application. A friend keeps asking me if I’ve tried it out yet, and when I reply in the negative, he chides that this is one of the best features of the phone. Perhaps, but I’ll use it when I’m interested and feel comfortable that TALKS will provide accessibility to the information just as well as it does in other applications on the phone.

Other aspects of the phone that I’ve not yet attempted are viewing documents in the N82’s included office package. While the phone will display them, I’m not certain if TALKS will read the Microsoft Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, or PowerPoint presentations. I will take on this task at a later date and possibly provide an update to this product review.

Finally, I am not certain if that hiccupping that TALKS sometimes presents is a unique problem, or it is something other users are experiencing. If it is a common bug, then Nuance should be able to remedy this with an update. If it is an individual problem, though, I can either just live with it or try re-installing the software. Either way, I perceive this as only a minor flaw at this time.

The price for the handset transfer was a great deal for me. However, if somebody is a new user of this mobile screen reader, then the initial cost would be approximately $295, the same as the retail price of Mobile Speak. I've not used Mobile Speak, so I can't offer a comparison between the two. For me, though, TALKS was the right choice.

The Bottom Line

I envision seemingly endless potential ahead for me in this new Nokia. It is such a powerful phone, with many features I find attractive. The key to enjoying these features, though, lies in the accessibility TALKS is providing. I am very glad that I made the decision to try TALKS one more time. Not only was it a very affordable TTS solution, but it also offers the comfort of familiarity and a well-supported user experience.

Review of the Nokia N82 Mobile phone

I recently purchased a Nokia N82 cell phone and want to share a review of my experience with the phone and also about using it with the TALKS screen reader. In this post, I’ll just discuss the phone. I’ll follow up with another post later about the TALKS experience.

The N82 is the latest in Nokia’s line running the Symbian operating system. That OS is a must if you want to run a screen reader on the phone. The other option is to have a phone from another manufacturer that runs the Windows Mobile OS. What that all means is that you’ll pay a good chunk of change for one of these Smart Phones, no matter the make.

For somebody who is blind and seeking a fulfilling mobile phone experience, you need to ask yourself what is accessibility worth to you. Personally, I want to know what number I’m dialing, who’s calling me, and to have full access to all the features of the phone. I also like to know my battery and signal strength before making a call. For those various reasons, buying a Smart Phone that can run a screen reader is worth the investment to me. If I’m going to have a cell phone, then I want one that can give me information just as well as if I were sighted.

This phone comes loaded with tons of extras that make it useful and desirable to those wanting a high-end phone. One of the big features I like about it is there is both Bluetooth and a built-in WiFi card. With this WiFi card, I don’t need to subscribe to a data plan to access the web on it, and I can do this from anywhere I have an open WiFi connection. It also comes with a GPS system. And, finally, I’ve also read that it is the only phone with a 5 mega pixel camera, which, with the built-in xenon flash, offers some great photographic experiences. One online review I read of the N82 said that it takes great nighttime pictures from short distances.

One of the potential future uses of this phone for me is that, being it is a Smart Phone with a 5 MP camera and flash, it is ideal for running the
KNFB Reader Mobile
OCR software. Right now, I don’t have a real need for this application, but if aspects of my life change, and that need arises, this phone is an ideal machine to run that OCR scanning system. I would need to justify the nearly $1,600 cost of the KNFB program to myself and the only way I could see that happening is taking a job where I’m either needing to read documents regularly or traveling alone a good deal. Still, it’s a real peace of mind to know that I have the right phone to do this.

The Front Face

The N82 is a candy bar style phone, meaning it is open-faced and the keys exposed.
Being that the phone is open-faced, when users who carry it in their pants pocket as I do, there is a strong potential for it to have buttons pressed inadvertently and to make unintended calls, all without the user’s knowledge. The N82 solves this problem by initiating an automatic keypad lock after about 30 seconds of inactivity.

At first, I didn’t like this automated lock as I thought it created an unnecessary extra step for me to unlock the keypad every time I wanted to do something on the phone. Additionally, I wasn’t able to unlock it on my first try. I had to work at it to get the buttons pressed just right. With practice, though, this has diminished and is hardly a problem any longer.

What has also happened is that I have come to appreciate the keypad lock. On several occasions, I’ve been doing something where I accidentally bump the phone inside my pocket and I hear TALKS announce, “Press unlock and then star.” Whenever this has happened, I’ve just been thankful that the keypad was locked.

And, if you’re wondering about answering incoming calls with the keypad locked, that’s not a problem. I’ve taken several calls where the keypad’s been locked. When the phone rings, you simply push the green “Send” button and you take the call just as if it were unlocked. When you hang up, TALKS announces, “Keypad locked,” to remind you that you are back in that mode. That also once again locks the “Send” key to prevent accidental dialing.

This phone has the traditional layout of the Nokia phones. It has a directional “D-pad” in the center, just under the 2.4” diagonal screen, with a soft key on either side of it. My previous phone, a Nokia 6620, had a small joystick instead of the D-pad, but the functions are identical. Just below those keys is the usual phone keypad.

The soft keys and D-pad are easy to discern by touch. The D-pad is a square that has a raised lip on its outer edge. That lip helps blind users know exactly where that D-pad ends and just where to press to get that directional push.

The soft keys are a bit different from those that I was used to on the 6620. These are almost flush and harder to feel, except you know that the D-pad ends and the soft keys begin immediately on either side of it. The left soft key also runs pretty flush into the “Menu” key right below it. It took a bit of playing to figure out that this functions as the TALKS button, used to initiate a keystroke command. The right soft key has an extra button sticking up just under it, which is easy to notice as it projects outward just like the normal keypad does. That is the “Multimedia “ button, which takes you to the folder of that name containing photos, videos, and music.

Perhaps the trickiest key to find on this phone was the "C" key. This key functions as the phone's delete key, which is also the key needed to back up one space when entering a wrong digit. On the 6620, it was easy to find on the right side, just below the “End” key. However, the only keys down the side edges of the N82 like that are the “Send” and “End” keys. (The 6620 had two keys on the right side corner and three on the left.) I had this phone nearly a week and a half before I figured this one out. It is just below the “Multimedia” key and just above the “3” key in the keypad array. Like the soft keys, this “C” key is nearly flush and its presence is difficult to figure out.

The keypad is normal in design and has no special functions assigned to the keys from Nokia. Yes, they do act as the letter representatives for text messaging and filling out forms, but there’s nothing new or big about that. Like the “Multimedia” key, the entire keypad is raised sufficiently to allow for quick tactile reference. The “5” key does have a raised nib on both the right and left sides to quickly inform the user that he is on that home key.

The Sides

Along the sides of the phone are some notable features and keys. On the left side, the jack for the charging cord is near the bottom. Above that is a small plastic panel that is tethered to the phone. It opens to allow access to the 2 GB micro-SD storage card, which is included and already installed when the phone is purchased. The box includes an adaptor that allows the micro-SD card to be inserted and used in computers. Above that slot is the jack for the phone’s micro-USB cord to connect it to a computer.

Along the right side of the phone are the unit’s two external, stereo speakers and some keys, but no jacks or slots. About a half-inch from the bottom of the phone is the right speaker, and the left speaker is in the same position on the top end of this side. The speakers are designed to add stereo sound when viewing videos, allowing you to view them in landscape mode and still getting full stereo sound. The button nearest the bottom is the button used to take photos. Just above that is another key used for photos as well. Just above that key is a rocker button used to raise and lower the external speaker volume.

The Top

On the top of the N82 are only two items to note—the power button and the external headphone jack. The power button is located in the middle of the top surface. This button is recessed just slightly, enough so that it is tactilely discernable. A feature worth noting is that when the phone is off and the user presses it in to turn it on, the button has a slight vibration to indicate that the unit is powering up. The external headphone jack will operate any headphones that use a standard mini-jack and the phone is shipped with a pair of ear buds included.

The Back

On the back of the phone is the camera. There is a sliding lens cover that automatically engages the camera feature when it is slid open. This works even if the keypad is locked, which is a handy timesaver when needing to get that quick shot at just the right moment. To slide that open, there is a raised control that will slide from left to right, when looking at the back of the phone. This is near the top end of the phone. Just below that is the flash and lens. The flash is on the left and the lens to its right, near the center of the phone. The phone is designed to be turned on its side when using the camera, so that the lens is on the bottom. That is why the button to take a picture is on the right side of the phone when looking at its face. Turn the unit into a landscape position with the photo button on top, and slide the shutter open, then click away.

Final notes

One other feature of the N82 is the music and video player. Nokia intends for this to be a multimedia device. The screen image will automatically shift from portrait mode into landscape mode when turned on its side. Remember the speakers’ positioning? Additionally, included with this phone is a second cable. This one is a video cable to attach your phone to a television to allow for sharing your videos. These can be ones you’ve taken with the built-in video camera or ones you’ve downloaded with that nifty WiFi card.

The phone is simple to operate and fairly intuitive. I’m personally not into texting, but the traditional keypad design makes this a real workout. I know, other people do it all the time, but I think a compatible, portable, Bluetooth keyboard will be my next purchase.

All in all, I have to say that this phone is very easy to use for anybody, whether they can see it or not. The downside is the price. If you look on Nokia’s home page, it is suggested to sell for around $650, but can be found for less at various vendors. (I found it for $400 at buy.com, and have since seen that drop another $20 or so.) Still, the N82 is not sold by any of the wireless companies, so there are no discounts available to make it more affordable by signing a two-year contract. In spite of the expensive cost, the N82 still provides one of the richest user experiences I’ve ever had with a cell phone. Using the camera is simple enough for my 6-year-old son to operate. The music player is good enough to let you hear your favorite tunes, even in noisy settings.

And, don’t forget that its still a mobile phone. The sound clarity, signal strength, and overall durability of the N82 all rise to the high level of expectation I’ve grown accustomed to with my previous Nokia phone.