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3G iPhone and the Blind

bradl

bradl

macrumors 603
Original poster
Here's a question.

Are the sizes of the fonts and icons on the iPhone adjustable? I'm asking, because my wife is legally blind, and she is interested in getting either the iPhone or the iPod Touch. The big thing that is holding her back is that the 3G iPhone is hard for her to see/read. By comparison, she can read the text on a RAZR V3xx. So can the size of the text be adjusted, as well as the pictures?

And in General, how handicap accessible is the iPhone? I did a search around here and didn't find much related to those who are blind.. 😕

BL.
 
truthfully if she has that much trouble seeing, i would not go with an iphone or touch, i would go with some that has actual buttons that she can feel. i dont believe that the font is adjustable. on the internet you can zoom in but that is about it. but to answer part of your question i would not go with a touch only interface.
 
The only font size options I see are in the mail settings where you can set the minimum font size.

Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large, Giant.

The rest of the UI has a standard size font.
 
Perhaps I should qualify her being blind. So do this for me, everyone.

Take your monitor, and drop your resolution down to 800x600.

Now, close your left eye, and get as close to the monitor as you can. If you get nose prints on your screen, good. If you're an inch or less away from your monitor, that's good as well.

That's how close my wife has to be to see the screen.

If there were a way to improve handicap accessibility on the iPhone, then we'd definitely get two. But it is sad that new technology can't be used by someone who can't see it. 🙁

BL.
 
Bradl

I sympathise completely as I am partially sighted. Although I probably have a bit more sight than your wife.

Have you thought of getting her a Blackberry? The reason I suggest this is that I have one for work and I have FULL CONTROL over the fonts and the keyboard is 'tactile' so I don't need to 'read' the keys as such. The Font size is a global setting so everything works in a larger type-face. Also, I have heard of one or two people puting the Blackberry into a 'high contrast' reverse mode so that there is white text on a black background which is sometimes more helpful for those with sight problems - very much depends on the individual of course.

Your wife will probably understand this a bit, but after a while of using a piece of equipment I don't need to even look at the keys because I just 'know' where they are by 'feel' as such - not just the keys but their proximity to say, the side of the unit etc etc.....a bit hard to explain, but for a blindie it makes sense!

I do have a 3G iPhone and have just written a forum post over at Apple about this exact problem, however a bit more specifically for the SMS section which is pretty much IMPOSSIBLE to use unless you have decent eye-sight.
 
I have a friend who is legally blind, and effectively all of the tricks that she uses to use a phone don't work on the iPhone. I would say there are far better alternatives to the iphone. She has an N95 which with additional software works really well for her.
 
The iphone 3gs will help your wife

Brad,
I’m legally blind and I use the Iphone. The Iphone 3g doesn’t magnify, but the Iphone 3gs does! I just got the 3gs and it’s great.
E-mail me sometime. I have a lot of adaptive technology, and useful information that I think could really help your wife.
Eaj5@buffalo.edu
Bests,
Eric
 
brad, she could still possibly use the options under accessibility on the iPhone 3GS, like the voice over and speak auto text, also the zoom feature zooms the whole screen and gives you the ability to use all functions while zoomed in.

Although in my opinion these options are nice to have i am not sure how practical they will be.
 

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While your wife may be able to work with the iPhone and use it, there are better solutions out there. I agree with the others recommending those solutions like the blackberry. Why get a device that's only marginal at best and can increase her frustrations when there's certainly better solutions available.
 
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Thanks jovajova24's...
 
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