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FYI Notice: No vibration on iPad

M

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Original poster
Nov 12, 2007
4,589
1,344
I noticed nobody mentioned this and deaf people need to know this; there's no vibration on iPad. It's a major accessibility issue for me. I don't know if it's hardware or software limitation and I hope Apple can fix this (I already sent them email about this via Feedback, dunno what else I can do beside emailing steve jobs...i'll do that next).

I have seen some people saying it's not needed on iPad, it makes sense on the phone but majority of people don't realize that it's needed by deaf people. We have no other way of getting notified of new incoming emails, text messages, push notifications and so on if we can't even hear the sounds in the background. I was reading macumors and when i quit safari to switch to another app, I saw that I got 20 emails. I now have to carry my iPhone with my iPad to get notified of new emails (via vibration).
 
There wont be a "fix" for there being no vibration on the current models. It requires a physical mechanism, if it wasn't built in, you are out of luck until future versions.

New emails do show on the screen, as long as you go to the home screen once in a while...
 
If you jailbreak you can get it to show an icon on the bar at the top when new e-mails come in.
 
MikhailT said:
I noticed nobody mentioned this and deaf people need to know this; there's no vibration on iPad. It's a major accessibility issue for me. I don't know if it's hardware or software limitation and I hope Apple can fix this (I already sent them email about this via Feedback, dunno what else I can do beside emailing steve jobs...i'll do that next).

I have seen some people saying it's not needed on iPad, it makes sense on the phone but majority of people don't realize that it's needed by deaf people. We have no other way of getting notified of new incoming emails, text messages, push notifications and so on if we can't even hear the sounds in the background. I was reading macumors and when i quit safari to switch to another app, I saw that I got 20 emails. I now have to carry my iPhone with my iPad to get notified of new emails (via vibration).
Click to expand...

How would vibration help? Unlike an iPhone, this can't really be carried easily on your person.
 
poe8 said:
How would vibration help? Unlike an iPhone, this can't really be carried easily on your person.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you are talking about. What this guy is saying is that he could be playing games or using Safari, and he would have no idea that Mail came through for example, because it doesn't vibrate. Not a big deal for me, but I can see why that would be useful for him. What that has to do with carrying the iPad around, I have no idea.
 
Yeah, I doubt the mechanism is included, though I don't know that for sure.

I guess they could add an option for another mechanism, like a screen-flash or similar. You'd have to be looking at the iPad to notice the notification, rather than touching it. But I guess you wouldn't have one of these things in your pocket anyway.

Sending emails to Apple is good.

I think there's a decent chance that iPhone OS 4.0 will include notification improvements... hopefully it includes something you can use.
 
Peter Harrison said:
Not sure what you are talking about. What this guy is saying is that he could be playing games or using Safari, and he would have no idea that Mail came through for example, because it doesn't vibrate. Not a big deal for me, but I can see why that would be useful for him. What that has to do with carrying the iPad around, I have no idea.
Click to expand...

because when you are carrying an ipad around, if you were to be exact, like an iphone, it would vibrate in your pocket, that's the main function of vibration, well one of them, to feel it through a pocket. Otherwise a sound played when receiving emails whilst doing other things will be just as good.
 
Can you imagine the size of the mechanism needed to vibrate that thing? No space.

Why would you want vibration anyway? The visual/auditory stimulation of your porn not enough? ;)
 
Wirelessly posted (iPod touch 32GB: Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.4.1; U; en-GB) AppleWebKit/532.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/532.2 Pre/1.0)

applesupergeek said:
Peter Harrison said:
Not sure what you are talking about. What this guy is saying is that he could be playing games or using Safari, and he would have no idea that Mail came through for example, because it doesn't vibrate. Not a big deal for me, but I can see why that would be useful for him. What that has to do with carrying the iPad around, I have no idea.
Click to expand...

because when you are carrying an ipad around, if you were to be exact, like an iphone, it would vibrate in your pocket, that's the main function of vibration, well one of them, to feel it through a pocket. Otherwise a sound played when receiving emails whilst doing other things will be just as good.
Click to expand...

The OP explained that they are deaf so sound only notification is no good as they can't hear them!
 
I noticed the lack of vibration as well. However, I ended up turning push email off because I already have it going to my iPhone. I would be working on my laptop for work and hear my iPhone, iPad, and then the laptop! Was driving me crazy :) I guess I will just open up mail when I hear the iPhone and I am using the iPad.
 
I'm hoping 4.0 will bring us a notification tab in Safari so we can see when new emails come in while surfing.
 
I haven't even found a reason to set up email on the iPad yet, IMO just use email on iPhone and desktop.
 
Phil A. said:
Wirelessly posted (iPod touch 32GB: Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.4.1; U; en-GB) AppleWebKit/532.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/532.2 Pre/1.0)



The OP explained that they are deaf so sound only notification is no good as they can't hear them!
Click to expand...

Ah, sorry for that, I missed it. Still, all the more so, if they are hard of hearing, a vibration won't work (in terms of its auditory signal that vibration makes on a table say) unless they actually hold (possible) or have the device on their bodies (not so possible). So, really if you are waiting for that one important email, don't read a book or browse, and keep checking the mail. Cause it's not that easy to include a vibration mechanism for such a large item, I 've not seen it in any other item of this size. And like another poster said, it's not a phone that you can keep in your pocket to feel the vibration at all times.

So my 2c's keep the iphone in your pocket for that push email, and work/play/read away on the ipad.
 
Apple should consider this for an update when possible. They won't sell significantly more devices, but it's a nice thing to do and will be useful for hearing-impaired. And you don't necessarily need to be holding it for vibration to be noticeable. I notice my blackberry vibrating on the table next to me when I'm in a noisy place, it's useful.
 
Apple could fix the accessibility issue by adding some sort of visual notification (like a small pop-up in a corner) when an email arrives. It could be a preference that could be turned on/off so those that don't want it wouldn't need to see it.
 
For deaf people, Apple will soon release the iEar -- which incidentally will only allow you to hear Apple-approved sounds and music. It will for sure filter out the sounds of your neighbours getting it on, though little yet is known how DRM would be implemented - Apple is surely devising a way to prevent you from reciting copyrighted material you may have heard while watching TV or listening to music..
 
I mean no disrespect for the hearing-impaired people amongst us but they do still have eyes, right?

I have not seen a desktop computer or notebook vibrate when receiving new mail but they are still used by hearing impaired.
 
eawmp1 said:
Can you imagine the size of the mechanism needed to vibrate that thing? No space.

Why would you want vibration anyway? The visual/auditory stimulation of your porn not enough? ;)
Click to expand...

Did you even read what the OP said?

Pressure said:
I mean no disrespect for the hearing-impaired people amongst us but they do still have eyes, right?

I have not seen a desktop computer or notebook vibrate when receiving new mail but they are still used by hearing impaired.
Click to expand...

Desktops and notebooks can multitask at least allowing someone to have an e-mail client open on the side so they can see if a new email arrives as well as the ability of a visual popup a la G-Mail Notifier.
 
As a hearing-impaired person I would appreciate having both vibration and some sort of visual cue -- blinking light, perhaps? -- on the iPad and also (particularly) on my iPhone. I can't tell you how many times I have missed calls and emails on my iPhone because there is no visual cue such as a blinking light when the iPhone is in sleep mode and/or on the charger. I grab the iPhone, ready to go out for the day and discover that I missed a potentially important call that came in several hours earlier. I was home but didn't hear when the call came in and had no visual cues when walking past the docked iPhone later.

Yes, Apple, please give us visual cues as well as adding vibration to the iPad!
 
Clix Pix said:
As a hearing-impaired person I would appreciate having both vibration and some sort of visual cue -- blinking light, perhaps? -- on the iPad and also (particularly) on my iPhone. I can't tell you how many times I have missed calls and emails on my iPhone because there is no visual cue such as a blinking light when the iPhone is in sleep mode and/or on the charger. I grab the iPhone, ready to go out for the day and discover that I missed a potentially important call that came in several hours earlier. I was home but didn't hear when the call came in and had no visual cues when walking past the docked iPhone later.
Click to expand...

Don't feel too bad, this also happens to me and my hearing is fine. :eek:
 
...You could also get into the habbit of checking your e-mail every 10 minutes or so. I do this with my iPhone anyway because it automatically checks every 15 minutes and I tend to get 2-3 during that time.
 
pooryou said:
Don't feel too bad, this also happens to me and my hearing is fine. :eek:
Click to expand...

to be honest sometimes those missed calls are cause the phone doesn't even f.cking bother to ring, lol! I miss a lot of them too. :eek:

But, I agree with the op, it's high time apple added more accessibility options.
 
0dev said:
...You could also get into the habbit of checking your e-mail every 10 minutes or so. I do this with my iPhone anyway because it automatically checks every 15 minutes and I tend to get 2-3 during that time.
Click to expand...

For me the greater concern is missed phone calls. If I happen to be in another room of my condo unit when someone calls and I don't hear the iPhone ring, which is very likely unless I am in the same room with it at the time, I have no way of knowing when I walk back into the room where the iPhone is charging that, hey, I have just missed a call. This can be very annoying.

I usually am on a computer and so when it is on I will see visual cues there that new emails have come in. When I am out and about, though, I definitely appreciate the iPhone vibrating to alert me to a new email. I would definitely like both vibrations and visual cues on my iPad as well. The iPhone and iPod touch have really had the potential to enrich the lives of hearing-impaired people. The iPad has the potential to carry this out even further.
 
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