Reviews

The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses launched last October and succeeded the first-generation Ray-Ban Stories. They are a collaboration between Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, and Ray-Ban, the iconic eyewear brand. They are designed to offer a range of features, such as camera, audio, and AI, in a stylish and comfortable form factor. They come in two styles: Wayfarer and Headliner, and various colours and lenses. They cost from £299 and are available in selected countries. While Meta does not explicitly market the smart spectacles’ accessibility potential, what sets these glasses apart from other smart wearables is their capacity to enhance accessibility and improve the quality of life for disabled people. This blog post reviews the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and explores how...

In today’s digital world, talking instead of typing has become a game-changer. With voice dictation, you can easily turn your spoken words into written text, making tasks like sending emails and messages super easy. And what makes this magic happen? Microphones! These little gadgets aren’t just extras; they’re the heroes behind clear communication. A good voice dictation microphone is like the secret sauce that makes talking to your computer more accurate and efficient.

When it comes to home security, there are a lot of options out there. From traditional alarm systems to smart video doorbells, it can be hard to know what’s right for you. One product that has recently caught my attention is the Ring Intercom. A major reason this smart tech product interested me is because of upper limb disability I have never been able to pick up and use the communal intercom in my block of flats. In the 32 years I have lived here it has been a constant source of frustration, and security concern, that I can’t have two-way conversations with people who ring my doorbell from the front entrance. So when the Amazon-owned company Ring announced in September it was launching a new intercom that works with the Alexa smart assistant I couldn’t wait to try it out. Rin...

Freedom: the ability to do what I want to do, when I want to do it, with the minimum of fuss. It’s what I value most in life. And Speechware’s TwistMike means I get to enjoy a lot more freedom. I have muscular dystrophy, which means I can’t take to the keyboard to type emails, Facebook updates, or WhatsApp messages – things we all take for granted these days. Instead, I use speech recognition software like Nuance’s Dragon Professional, and Apple’s Voice Control app, to get things done. Whilst I have been using the TwistMike as a table microphone plugged into SpeechWare’s 9 in 1 TableMike base you can also use it around your neck, or even clamped to a wheelchair. It offers freedom and comfort because you don’t have to wear anything on your head and in your ears, no battery to charge, ...

Last year I reviewed the TwistMike by SpeechWare, a company with a strong reputation for professional microphones in the speech recognition industry. I was amazed at the accuracy of my voice dictation when using the company’s longest and most flexible microphone boom. The TwistMike solved a problem I’d been experiencing for a long time; being unable to sit comfortably close enough to the microphone capsule to help with accurate voice dictation when using speech recognition applications like Dragon Professional, and Apple’s Voice Control. However, whilst the TwistMike certainly helps with getting close, it does come with one fairly major compromise – and that’s the amount of deskspace it takes up. It’s a large beast at 30 inches long and takes up quite a lot of...

After three months of beta testing over the summer Apple has released iOS 14 to the public. It includes a range of new features, including widgets on the Home screen, an all-new App Library, and much more. Having tried the software over the past couple of weeks this is my take on the good, the bad and the work still to do to make iOS 14 and the iPhone accessible for people that have a difficult or impossible time using their iPhone with their hands. I have a severe physical disability, muscular dystrophy – a muscle-wasting disease which leaves me effectively quadriplegic, unable to do much with either arms or legs. I rely on my voice to control and interact with my Apple iOS gear. Phone calls iOS 14 introduces a minimised phone call pop up that doesn’t take over the entire screen, wh...

SpeechWare is a Belgian company with a great reputation in the speech recognition industry for professional microphones that are regarded as among the very best you can get. I have been using the company’s USB 9-in-1 TableMike for about three years and have always been impressed with the accuracy of dictation when using it with Nuance’s Dragon Professional Individual 15 speech recognition software. You can read more about the USB 9-in-1 TableMike in this excellent online review. Before I discovered the TableMike I had used many different kinds of microphones, including wired and wireless Bluetooth headsets, with fairly mediocre results when it comes to dictation accuracy. Few consistently delivered the 98 per cent plus accuracy, which should be the minimum acceptable for speech...

Echo Frames are an Amazon Day 1 product released earlier this year. Day 1 products are pilot products for testing that may or may not get released to consumers. In autumn 2019 Amazon announced it would be launching smart glasses with Alexa built in called Echo Frames as a Day 1 product. The company invited people to register their interest to get the glasses at a lower price than what the full price will be if they get released to the public. As a early tech adopter I couldn’t wait to get hold of them so I registered for an invitation on the Amazon website but didn’t receive an invite to purchase the device at a reduced $179.99 preview price until mid July. I am based in the UK and was surprised that despite making my location known, when I registered my interest in testing the...

I took delivery of Apple’s new second-generation Airpods on release day last week. After months of speculation and rumour about what the new earbuds would include, as I will explain, I had a particularly urgent reason for waiting for their release – and it seemed like an eternity. I have muscular dystrophy, which causes severe muscle weakness in my limbs, including my hands and arms, meaning I rely on a truly hands-free solution for messaging, making phone calls, listening to music, controlling my environment, and getting things done on my mobile devices. I am unable to touch the Apple Watch face, or the iPhone screen, in many situations with my fingers. I am 100 per cent reliant on using Siri and voice commands to control my devices, stay connected, and do the things I need to do to...

On 17 May Global Accessibility Awareness Day Apple marked the occasion by highlighting its accessibility credentials on its apple.com homepage. Under the heading it proudly announced, “technology is most powerful when it empowers everyone,” with a link pointing to the company’s accessibility site, introduced by a film. Everyone? Well, not me. I’m not feeling very empowered by Apple’s latest offerings released a few weeks ago in mid-September, at least when it comes to improvements to accessibility for people like me who have physical disabilities. Let’s get one thing out of the way. Apple, to its credit, does offer a range of accessibility features for those with physical, sight, hearing, and learning impairments. Arguably, these features are better than those offered by its co...

I have just added another accessory to my growing Amazon Echo device family, which is cheap and extremely useful for people like me. With Amazon’s recent release of Echo Connect in the UK, and a landline, you can now use your Echo smart speaker to call any number supported by your home phone service. It turns your Echo device into a voice-controlled speakerphone for making and receiving phone calls. Until now, you could only call someone who had an Echo device and Alexa app on their smartphone. Not many of my family and friends do. Now with the release of Echo Connect you can phone practically any phone number including emergency services from any Echo smart speaker device you have in your home using just your voice. For someone like me, with a physical disability that includes extre...

The first thing to say about Apple’s new flagship iPhone X is that it is very different to any iPhone released over the past 10 years. Different in terms of design, look, feel, navigation, features and capabilities. At £999 for the 64 GB version, it is also the most expensive iPhone ever released. In the box Included in the box you will find: iPhone X Wall charger Lightning cable EarPods with Lightning adapter SIM ejector tool Apple logo decals Leaflets Setup One out of the box initial setup was very easy. iOS 11 has Automatic Setup, which is a feature that allows you to quickly and easily transfer information from your old iPhone to your new one. As soon as I power up the new iPhone X, with my old iPhone 7 close by, a message comes up on the 7 saying “set up new iPhone” ...