Re: smartphones and CMT

[Guest guest]

All I can offer is that the Blackberry is difficult to use for me ...

the buttons are difficult to push, as is the mouse. I LOVE my iPhone.

Perhaps if he tries turning it to the side so that the keyboard is

wider.

Good luck!

On Nov 7, 2009, at 3:57 AM, Ann Mumford wrote:

> Dear All

>

> On the lookout for a good smartphone for my husband, who has CMT. I

> love my iphone, but he is worried that shaking fingers etc.. won't

> work with the onscreen keyboard. His job is email / appointment /

> travel intensive so he needs something. Have been googling for ages

> for information about disabled accessible smartphones, and there

> isn't a lot of advice out there. Lots of reviews say that different

> kinds of smartphones " aren't good for people with 'fat fingers', "

> but nothing seems targeted at people who need support. Any

> advice, gratefully received!

>

> Thanks!

>

> Ann

>

>

[Guest guest]

Tammy,

I have the Verizon LG enV2. I love it, easy to use. Big numbers key pad on front

and opens up for a keyboard.

Matt

[Guest guest]

I can't comment on the keyboard issue for smart phones becasue I am a Luddite in

that area.

However, I find that I cannot use a cell phone that " slides " open as I do not

appear to have the finger strength and exterity to open this type.

I am pretty much limited to the clam shell type, which works well for me.

[Guest guest]

There's a comparison article about cellphones for seniors in today's SF

Chronicle. You can read it at

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/09/BUVR1AG3HU.DTL

--------- Rick Alber

>

> Dear All

>

> On the lookout for a good smartphone for my husband, who has CMT. I love my

iphone, but he is worried that shaking fingers etc.. won't work with the

onscreen keyboard. His job is email / appointment / travel intensive so he

needs something. Have been googling for ages for information about disabled

accessible smartphones, and there isn't a lot of advice out there. Lots of

reviews say that different kinds of smartphones " aren't good for people with

'fat fingers', " but nothing seems targeted at people who need support. Any

> advice, gratefully received!

>

> Thanks!

>

> Ann

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Please, let us all know if you find a good smart phone which works for

people with CMT affected hands. I'm an Apple fan from 1981, and even

the iPhone is a toy/tool that I can't even use. I can hold in my hand.

This is the case with not only smart phones but all cell phones. The

whole raison d'être for a cell phone manufacturer for the past 20

years has been to make the phone smaller and smaller and smaller and

smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller

and smaller and smaller.

And then after that, they started a the line of micro size telephones

that you see today. Then they decided to make them clamshell, making

them look even smaller but making them impossible to open for the

people who don't have " normal " hands.

So far I only know of one telephone which goes anywhere near

addressing these problems, and it's called I believe the cricket, and

as I look at their website, I see that they have indeed a new model

which is a smart phone with a slide out keyboard.

Previously I've only seen a large standard cell phone that they're

selling to seniors and other people who just want a telephone to make

calls and who don't really care about text and other stuff,

particularly about going on the web from your stupid phone... (yes, I

think it's stupid to go on the web on a stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid

little phone, which incidentally you can lose with a whole bunch of

personal information contained therein and possible easy connection to

your home and office networks, but that's another story... but this

may simply be MY experience with Web-enabled telephones to this point

which have really been terrible.

I won't buy an iPhone because it's simply too small. And I also have

been alienated toward cell phones because I can't use them with my

hands, and I don't have habits that require cell phones in my life.

I do not need to have $1200 a year in mobile data costs, which is

what an iPhone with data plan costs... and then I don't believe that I

would use it very much. cell phones about around for years, I've had

one for a decade, and I just don't use them. They're difficult to pick up, turn

on, to turn off, to dial, and to hold your head. I don't know

why people want all these micro devices, and maybe they buy them

because there's simply no choice... but there isn't a single

conventional cell phone that I have any interest in whatsoever because

it will simply cause me nothing but frustration as my fingers will not

operate the buttons.

I think the best thing to do is to buy a small laptop like a MacBook

air and connect, if you absolutely have to have a smartphone, via a

USB-cell phone modem, which is available separately on the web or from

your current provider of cellular services. Then use Skype.

Or, apparently, Cricket has just come out with a new smart phone

like I said (this is the first I've heard or seen of this new

smartphone from cricket).

I'm afraid that the smartphone market for people with problems with

their hands basically is not being addressed... cricket is being

marketed to elderly people, and people who don't want a whole lot of

services from their telephones.

Apple, Blackberry, etc. are not interested in the market for people

whose fingers don't work well. They think we don't have a lot of

money to spend.

There may be hope with Apple's upcoming, " ipad, " which I'm thinking is

going to be a larger version of the iPod-touch, hopefully which as the

telephone of the iPhone inside as well. But I emphasize the word hope,

as there is no information at this new product will include telephone.

But as somebody who's watched the computer business for 20 years and

waited for things like reliable speech recognition, which is only now

in 2009 available... (In case you're interested that's Dragon's

Naturally Speaking for people who still are working with PCs, and for

those of you who have rightly and correctly and smartly dumped your PC

in the trash and bought an Apple( how does it feel you PC people? You

know what I'm talking about... Windows 7! Yeah, that's the ticket!

There'll be no problems like there were with Windows Vista, or XP, or

ME, or 98 Service Pack Two, or 98, or 95... did you appreciate having

to buy new computer to upgrade to Vista?) ...the program is called Mac-

Dictate by MacSpeech (www.MacSpeech.com) version 1.5.5,) I have to say

that there's not a whole lot in store for those people whose hands are

not as dexterous as those hands that the young designers of

blackberries, iPhones, DROIDs, etc. seem to have.

It's a horrible situation, and it's made me completely alienated to

cell phones.

The only place I have a cell phone, which doesn't really even work,

is in my automobile... using Bluetooth, it connects with my navigation

unit that serves as a hands-free telephone. this navigation unit has

a 5 inch screen, and it is mounted or held in/on the dashboard, so

only one hand is required to operate the machine.

Otherwise I do not need to be in contact with the whole world for

every moment of my existence... and quite frankly, even though most of

you think you do too... it's quite likely you actually don't need your

iPhone or smart phone or even your cell phone all the time,

particularly if you can't use it because it's too small and the

buttons are unserviceable by people whose fingers don't work correctly.

Can you tell that CMT has made me absolutely alienated toward cell

phone service?

[Guest guest]

Have you tried voice activated/recognized calling?

Lori

[Guest guest]

I also have the LG enV2 and I love it as well. The buttons on the front are

large and it opens to have a full keyboard wich makes texting alot easier for

me. It doesn't have all the cababilities of a smart phone but it dose have a

moblie web that you can check your e-mail, facebook, ect. from.

>

>

[Guest guest]

No. Nobody tells you that when you renew your cell contract, it pays

to get the most expensive phone you can with the provider discount.

Voice recognizing phones are on the high end, and I am looking for a

phone which will work, but the cell phone made me take (forced

migration to 3G), doesn't do that.

250 dollars at least.

There is no voice recognition on voice texting on mine, nor on any

alleged web browsing enabled " smart " phones. (is anyone really

satisfied with web browsing, as it is alleged to be, on these phones?)

On Nov 16, 2009, at 9:54 AM, mattheiss137@... wrote:

>

> Have you tried voice activated/recognized calling?

>

> Lori

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I really like new technology, but smartphones are stupid. (Dumbphones is a

better name, according to me!) Not just because they are small and hard to use

for someone with CMT, but because you do not need mobile e-mail and internet

that often, so you just pay a lot extra for something you use seldom. I have my

laptop and can access internet during my working hours and at home. I do not

need internet in my car, when I shop or when I pick up my son from school. I

have got a regular cheap mobile phone (Nokia). It is sturdy enough to hold in my

palm and it survives all those drops to the floor. I have got a camera to send

mms messages, and it is really all I need.

So paying ten times more for something that is harder to use and might break

easier when I drop it... No way. + my phone fits into a small neck-bag, that I

carry all the time. When the phone rings I turn the bag upside down and the

phone pops out. Important, since trying to find a phone in a bag or pocket takes

too long for me.

Before this Nokia, I had a Siemens for mountainbikers. It was really sturdy,

dropping it was fun because I knew it would never break. But I wanted a camera

mobile, and the Nokia is sturdy too. I dropped it down the stairs yesterday, and

it didn't even turn off!

But if you really need mobile internet, try a small computer like Ee PC with a

mobile phone adapter.

Good luck,

Beata 

[Guest guest]

Well, actually I am satisfied with the browsing experience on my G1 Android

phone. But that's only because it allows me to carry the whole Internet in my

pocket, despite the small screen, inadequate keyboard and sometimes slow

service. And smartphones like mine are now available for $99 (Verizon Eris) with

the usual onerous 2-year contract.

Despite your aggravation now, , you will use and get an amazing amount of

utility from your cellphone in the future. Tomorrow's voice-driven commands and

navigation features will make it possible. We all agree that talking to your

phone ( " Call Arnold and conference in Betty " , " Tell me Carl's home address " , or

" Give me turn-by-turn directions to the nearest Chevron station " ) is how we want

our phones to work for us. We also agree that voice recognition technology is

lousy and not worth the hassle. That's mostly because today's generation of

phones struggle to use their own meager processing power to understand your

speech. However, in a short while (give Google a year or so), smartphones will

pass the sounds they hear from your lips over the net to powerful mainframe

computers who will have much less difficulty understanding what you are asking

for. Those computers will then execute your commands or tell your smartphone

what to do.

This " remote processing " capability is facilitated by the new version of HTML

(the programming language which underlies most of Internet we see) and forms the

backbone of Google's phone-based navigation service which is free to those who

buy the new heavily-advertised Verizon Droid phone. The demo of this service at

is pretty amazing.

So cheer up, . The pieces aren't in place yet but there's definitely a lot

of hope for these magical boxes we put in our pocket and pay so much money for.

--------- Rick Alber

[Guest guest]

If its a motorola cricket or evoke copy, it is smaller than the iphone....i have

the evoke and it works for me...would like to get the droid....i have dexterity

issues too..but as we all know....my fingers may work better allowing me to use

it...but it is smaller than the iphone..and there is voice recognized web

surfing on the ddroid

>

>

[Guest guest]

Just bought a samsung SGH-a837. It is large, easy to open, easy to

hold, rugged, meaning it will survive being dropped, and it has big

buttons. I am very happy.

> >

> >