I’m Done with Braille Notetakers

I have used a Braillenote since I got my Classic in 2002. It was the first-generation motherboard, the one with no Compactflash card slot; it needed a hardware update just so it could receive email, and it came with Keysoft 3.06 on Windows CE 2.12. I even remember its serial number, all these years later: 12494.

Fast forward twelve years. Humanware has released the BrailleNote mPower, PK, and Apex, and we are now on Keysoft 9.4.1, running under Windows CE 6. A major competitor has come on the scene: Hims, with its own line of notetakers called the Braille Sense. Other companies like APH have introduced notetakers as well. If you’ve followed me at all in the last few years, you’ll know that I find Humanware’s lack of timely updates and bug fixes to be frustrating and disheartening, while Hims continues to deliver exciting updates and provide, if anecdotal evidence can be believed, better support for customers. So, am I announcing my switch to a Braille Sense?

Nope, I’m announcing that I’m done with braille notetakers altogether, no matter who makes them. While this is a personal decision and is not right for everyone, I’ve come to the conclusion that my iPhone is a more-than-adequate replacement for my Apex, especially when supplemented by my Macbook Air. Therefore, since I never use it, I’m returning my Apex to the state agency that purchased in four years ago, and I’ve resigned as moderator of, and unsubscribed from, the BrailleNote email list (yes, that list is still around, and pretty active). I’m now a member of the VIphone and Macvisionaries email lists, and the Editorial Team for
AppleVis.com.
Why the change? Glad you asked!

The simple fact is this: the BrailleNote and Braille Sense are both based on Windows CE. Specifically, CE6 , released in 2006, which will
lose support in 2018.
Microsoft seems to have switched focus to variants of Windows 8, and so far, neither of the notetaker giants has jumped on board with any adapted version of that system. No matter their home-grown features, the fact remains that both are relying on outdated technology to drive them, and they are bumping into limitations there.

Hardware is another concern. It costs a lot to develop, prototype, test, refine, and eventually release any computer system, especially a highly customized one like notetakers use. Still, it took until the release of the Braille Sense U2 for any notetaker to finally boast a 1GhZ processor (the Apex still uses a 520MhZ chip), and neither device has more than 256MB of ram. They both use bluetooth 2.1, type G wifi, and VGA output. Granted, the U2 has more modern internals, such as its gyroscope, vibration motor, and GPS receiver, but the fact is that any $100 Android tablet will almost certainly have more capable hardware than a braille notetaker costing upwards of $5,000.

And here we come to the crux of the problem: user-facing software. No matter what hardware you have, no matter what underlying platform you use, no matter how you dress it up, at the end of the day the consumer is going to care about one thing: what can the device do, and how well can it do it for me? When you look at just the two major braille notetakers, you limit the decision considerably. Nowadays, it is important to take mainstream devices like iOS and Android into account at the same time, especially given the braille support both include. These days, I’m using my iPhone and a Macbook Air for everything, and I don’t miss my Apex in the slightest. Here are just some of the reasons:

1. Size: the Apex, even with no display, is a large device. It has to be, to fit its ergonomic keyboard and other components. By contrast, my iPhone fits in a pocket or on my belt, and I barely know it’s there.
2. Notifications: the Apex cannot do anything when it is off, so when, say, a message comes in, nothing happens. My iPhone lets me know when I get a message, or when it is my turn in a game, or when an important email arrives, or a new podcast has downloaded, or I need to do something… You get the idea. It is always with me, but can operate while locked, letting it deliver notifications at any time. The Apex can only manage this trick through the use of an alarm, whose sound cannot be changed, and which only works through the planner.
3. Apps: the Apex lacks many things, and vital parts of what it can do are limited or buggy (such as the email client). The iPhone has no such problems, and bugs are fixed by Apple instead of being ignored for years. Additionally, I can download many of the same apps that sighted people use, and so benefit from a larger user base, timely updates, and all the other advantages of using mainstream software. Apps exist for nearly any purpose, giving my iPhone an almost unlimited range of uses.
4. Updates: you can count on Apple to release a major update once a year, and several smaller ones subsequent to that big one. These updates include new features, bug fixes, and new opportunities for developers to improve their apps. This year, iOS8 will offer, among other things, third-party keyboards, direct braille input on the touch screen, tighter integration with iCloud and Mac computers, and many more features. Meanwhile, Humanware might release an update once a year, and it will usually have one or two features. The last couple Keysoft updates have focused on the web browser, which does seem to work better, kind of, if you ignore the fact that it’s basically Internet Explorer 6. Humanware has also let users read .pptx (but not .ppt) files, and .docx files. I should mention that Word 2007 support was promised in 2010, and not delivered to Keysoft until 2013, even though Humanware’s digital book player had the capability in 2011. The email client still can’t handle IMAP, and still tends to corrupt its own database; the chat program is still text only and lacks basic shortcuts and features (like account switching); you still can’t trust any kind of advanced formatting to stay in place in word processor documents; the daisy book player has been slow and crash-prone since its release, and has yet to be improved; the Eloquence speech synthesizer still has problems with choppiness and stability; I could go on, but you get the point.
5. Price: $650 is the starting price for the iPhone5S, and $499 will get you the latest iPad. If you go for an iPad Mini, iPod Touch, or older iOS device, the prices are even less. Meanwhile, an
   Apex with no braille display is $1995.
   and prices rise from there if you need braille output.
6. Cloud integration: my iPhone talks to my Mac all the time, and the Mac talks back. If I make a new calendar event on the Mac, my iPhone knows about it. If I use Siri to add an item to my shopping list on the iPhone, that item appears on my Mac’s copy of the shopping list. A great deal of information syncs between the two devices, and any other iOS or OS X device I care to sign into. More than that, though, I can sync calendar events, reminder lists, photos, and other content with other people. For instance, my family all shares a shopping list, so any one of us can add to it or check things off, and we all see the changes as they happen. We also share a Home Appointments calendar, for things like lawn care, internet or phone service appointments, and so on; if any of us schedules something that requires someone to come to the house, we all know about it and can check the event’s details at any time. For files, I can write in a file in Dropbox on the Mac, then view or edit it on iOS, and the changes sync. I can make a Pages document and invite others to share it, letting a group of people work on one file. On the Apex, I can email files around… and that’s about it. If I want to sync my contacts and calendars, I need to be running Outlook on Windows, and Outlook has never been very easy to use, especially with NVDA. Even then, I have to sync manually, whereas all this data sharing happens automatically and wirelessly on iOS. Additionally, the BrailleNote offers no syncing support for the Mac, or even other Windows applications. Yes, it can use Windows Mobile Device Manager, if you can get it working, but again, there’s nothing automatic or convenient about that solution. It’s 2014, Humanware.

So why not get a Braille Sense? So far I’ve only compared iOS to the Apex, yet Hims offers many more apps: RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox, Youtube, Bookshare, Google Maps, Excel viewing, an SDK, voice chatting, and so on. While it is true that Hims gives their customers more bang for their buck, and is better at updating their products, the fact still remains that all this is based on Windows CE 6.0 and is still, essentially, closed. Twice now, the Braille Sense’s support for Dropbox has suddenly stopped working, necessitating a software patch, and those are just the times that I (not a user of the product) know about. If some app on iOS stops working, I can just find another one, but I’ve never yet had an app fail on me due to a change in a remote service. Again, apps on iOS are most often mainstream, so there is a much larger user base behind them pressuring the developer to keep things running smoothly.

In addition, even if a Sense can do what I want, it is still big, heavy, expensive, not updated as much, and overall not as convenient. For all its better-thana-BrailleNote features, it still can’t sync all my data or let me choose which app I want to use for a given task. If I don’t like the way Twitter works on the Sense, my only option is to hope Hims changes things; on iOS, I can just grab a different Twitter app and see if I like it more.

As you can see from the comments, and from Twitter mentions I’ve gotten since this post went live, braille is the main sticking point. While that is certainly a valid concern, I am not a heavy braille user, so it does not affect me. Braille is great for silently reading, or reading where it is too noisy to hear speech, but I find I’m faster at typing on a qwerty keyboard than on a braille one these days. I never read braille books, because I like to read books as I do other things and so use synthesized speech, and I don’t find braille to be helpful in other activities like coding or proofreading. Again, this is my particular situation, and I’m not saying that a notetaker will never find a use for anyone ever again. If you read a lot of BRF files, a notetaker, or something like the Braille Edge, Perkins Mini, or upcoming Vario display may be a good fit for you. These three displays all have basic notetaking functionality built in which can act independently of a connected computer. If you want reliable braille input without the hassle of thinking about odd translations or delays, a notetaker might work better, assuming you can live without the advantages of a mainstream device. Even there, though, it is worth considering that some displays let you type in native braille, then send what you wrote all at once, eliminating the frustrations of braille input on iOS.

Again, I realize this is a highly subjective topic. I also realize that there are different notetakers of different sizes, and that iOS devices are not perfect. Overall, though, I’m done with the slow updates, persistent bugs, large sizes, and restricted nature of braille notetakers. I’m firmly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem and the mainstream market, and I find it a far more freeing and convenient place to live my digital life. It feels odd, yet liberating, to finally close the door on notetakers; they have been part of me for many years, but I’m excited to finally leave them behind completely. For some time now, I’ve held onto the Apex simply out of habit, never actually using it but telling myself I might one day, if Humanware ever made it worth it. I doubt Humanware ever will, though, and even if they did add some more features or fix problems, I see no reason to ever go back. So, good-bye Apex, and good-bye, world of braille notetakers. Hello, mainstream accessible devices… Hello, convenience, solid support and updates, myriad apps… Hello, future.

Tags: braille, hims, Humanware, notetakers