Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones

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Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones

• Michel Pepin, HumanWare

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Presentation Topics

• About HumanWare
• About Research In Motion (RIM)
• Accessibility BlackBerry Accessibility
• The State of Smartphone Accessibility
• Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones
• Additional Information
• Questions Answers

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About HumanWare
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About HumanWare

• Based in Canada
• RD and Productions Sites
• Drummondville, Canada
• Three Sales Division
• HumanWare NA, Concord, CA
• HumanWare Europe, Raunds, UK
• HumanWare Australia, Sydney, AU
• 200 Employees

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Our Mission

• Focused on enhancing the lives of people with
  visual and learning disabilities
• HumanWare provides intuitive, intelligent
  solutions that enable their customers to
  participate effectively in today's information
  intensive and highly mobile society.

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HumanWare line of Product

• Braille and Speech
• Low Vision
• Orientation
• Trekker
• Trekker Breeze
• Digital talking book players
• over 250,000 units sold worldwide
• Learning disabilities
• ClassMate Reader

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About Research In Motion (RIM)
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About Research In Motion

• More than 25 Million subscribers worldwide, and
  growing
• Available from 425 carrier partners in 150
  countries
• Portfolio of innovative wireless products
• Technology for multiple wireless networks
• Approximately 13,000 employees

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About BlackBerry Products

• Award-winning BlackBerry smartphones
• Desktop Software and Developer Tools
• Enterprise and Internet Data Services
• BlackBerry Accessories
• Third party solutions from Alliance partners

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About BlackBerry Smartphones

• Mobile communication devices for people on the go
• Supported by all major carriers and communication
  solution vendors
• Includes many features for all customers,
  including persons with disabilities

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About BlackBerry Accessibility
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RIM Accessibility Program

• Initiated in 2002 and organized within RD
• Focused on ensuring BlackBerry products meet the
  needs of customers with disabilities
• Collaborate with partners in the Accessibility
  Ecosystem (AT vendors, advocates, policy makers,
  customers, and carriers globally)
• Conduct and fund accessibility research

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BlackBerry Accessibility Solutions

• Focus on whole product solutions for
• Visually impaired (low vision, colorblind)
• Hard of Hearing
• Deaf
• Mobility Impaired
• Cognitive Impaired

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Low Vision Solutions

• Customizable font settings
• Reverse Contrast, Greyscale settings
• Voice Activated dialing
• External Bluetooth Keyboard for alternative
  keyboard input
• New Clarity theme

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State of Accessibility for Mobile Phones based on
JavaME
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State of Accessibility for Mobile Phones based on
JavaME

• Java Micro Edition (JavaME) does not provide
  programmatic access to Assistive Technology
• TTS software not available for J2ME
• Screen reader software vendors need programmatic
  access to user interface elements and TTS
  software
• Screen reader vendors cannot support mobile
  devices based on J2ME

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Requirements to Support Blind Users on BlackBerry
Smartphones
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Supporting Requirements

• Collaboratively develop the first mobile
  Application Programming Interface for
  Accessibility (BlackBerry Accessibility API)
• Develop a set of accessible User Interface
  Components for applications to use
• Port a high quality TTS to BlackBerry
• Document and work with developers to ensure
  application accessibility

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Introducing Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones
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Orator for BlackBerry Smartptones

• Screen reader from HumanWare, the leading vendor
  of Assistive Technology solutions for the blind
  and visually impaired
• Developed in collaboration with Code Factory and
  RIM
• Powered by Mobile Speak
• Supports multiple languages (US English available
  first)

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Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones Features

• Intuitive and familiar audio user interface for
  blind customers
• Easy-to-use customization options for frequently
  used settings
• Supports core applications found on BlackBerry
  smartphones
• User documentation included on device for easy
  reference
• Enables blind customers to use mass market
  BlackBerry smartphones

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Additional Features

• Auto start when device is power on
• Quickly indentify incoming callers
• Training wizard to help get started
• Key describer mode
• Verbosity prefererences
• Keyboard echo seetings
• Audible Notification

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What You Can Do With Orator for BlackBerry
Smartphones

• Send and receive SMS and emails messages
• Send and receive phone calls
• Stay on top of appointments with Calendar
  application
• Organize personal and work contacts with Contacts
  application
• Synchronize email, calendar, notes and contacts
  recorded in Microsoft Outlook

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Additional information

• Supported devices
• BlackBerry Smartphone Curve 8520
• BlackBerry Smartphone Tour 9630
• Availability
• USA base language
• UK base language
• Spanish and French
• Other
• Pricing

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Demonstration
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QA
Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones www.oratorforbl
acberry.com Michel Pepin Projects
Manager michel.pepin_at_humanware.com 888 723-7273
ext 331
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