In this episode, Dennis Long introduces us to the Hable One, an external Braille keyboard designed to make using a smartphone simpler and more convenient. He describes the Hable One and its six Braille buttons with two additional function keys for typing and intuitive operation of VoiceOver. Dennis explains how the Hable One can help you use your phone more efficiently and easily in any situation, whether you're a fast navigator but slow typer, or have difficulty controlling VoiceOver. He demonstrates how the small size of the Hable One allows you to take it anywhere and control your phone in a fast and intuitive way.
Comments
Interesting podcast
Thanks, Dennis, for your in-depth look at this great keyboard.
Hable keyboard
One thing I don't think I said that I probably should've you can turn on and off voice over on either phones with or with out a home button do dictation and the magic tap to answer and end calls. Bottom line this is the best purchase I have made in years. I have two of them. I got my first one last March.
Amazing! where did you purchase yours from?
Amazing! where did you purchased yours from? just wondering. I would purchase one myself, hopefully once I upgrade to my iPhone 14 pro, I'll be able to invest on the Hable One.
purchasing my hable one
You can purchase it if you are in the USA from
www.mysticaccess.com/buyhableone
that is a affiliate link. The actually company that ships is north state. They are a excellent company they even offer affirm financing if you want to buy something big and need it.
your welcome for the Hable demo
I was very nervous doing this podcast. I didn't cover everything it could. I would've been there for hours if I did that. If you have questions I will answer them.
Orbit Writer
I've had the Orbit Writer for a while now, and it seems like a very good alternative to the Hable One and definitely better for my situation, and it is a lot cheaper as well since the purchase link in the previous comment says the Hable One is $349 while the Orbit Writer is only $99.
The Orbit Writer is probably larger than the Hable One; it has the 6 braille keys arranged like a standard braille display or braille writer, with dots 7 and 8 on the far left and far right, a long space bar below the braille keys, and a circular arrangement of four arrow keys surrounding a small select button in the middle between dot 1 and dot 4. You can purchase a lanyard for wearing it around your neck, as well as a leather case for protecting it in a pocket, from the website.
It also supports pairing with up to 5 Bluetooth devices and switching between them with one keyboard command, while the Hable One only seems to support pairing with one device. This can be useful if you want to control other devices in addition to your phone, such as tablets, ChromeBooks, or even Apple Watches, since it is one of the braille displays supported by WatchOS and lets you type in braille as well as navigate on the watch. The Orbit Writer does not have a custom set of commands like the Hable One, but uses the braille commands and braille translation of the screen reader you are using, although the arrow keys and select button enable more convenient navigation with VoiceOver since the left and right arrows act like swiping left and right, the up and down arrows move to the previous and next rotor item, and the select button activates the current item.
In addition, it also can appear as a Bluetooth keyboard instead of a braille device and has commands for sending different modifiers and other keys on a standard keyboard, although I have not yet figured out if there is a way to simulate the VoiceOver commands except for arrow navigation. However, this mode can be useful for typing text with no translation using computer braille, or at least to have limited functionality when VoiceOver will not connect to the braille device for some reason, or to be able to do anything not usually possible on a braille device but that is possible using a keyboard command.
The battery can often last for days, longer than any other braille display I have used although I have never tested the Hable One. It also seems to support more operating systems than the Hable One, since the Hable website only lists iOS and Android while the Orbit Writer can be used with iOS, Android, FireOS (which uses a screen reader based on TalkBack but with some differences including different braille commands), ChromeOS, Windows, MacOS, and Linux, and it can be used through USB as well as Bluetooth.
Like most braille devices with VoiceOver, it sometimes refuses to connect at random times, which can usually be fixed by turning Bluetooth off and on, forgetting the device, ETC, so the Hable One may be more reliable in that regard. I did have a problem before where it suddenly stopped connecting to all my devices, but a firmware upgrade (using a file provided to me by tech support) and a special reset fixed it.
The Hable One also has a few convenient features the Orbit Writer lacks, like the ability to unlock an iOS device, turn VoiceOver on and off, and better double tap and hold support. Overall, it seems like the Orbit Writer is better for more advanced users or people who don't mind a slightly bigger device or lacking those specific features for a lot cheaper.
Hable is looking into adding multiple connections
Hable is looking into adding multiple device connections such as the orbit Writer. I would like to also see apple watch support for the Hable one. The good thing is Hable seems to add things based off customer feedback. If you have things you want to see added either post them to the official hable list which you can subscribe to at
hablecommunity+subscribe@groups.io
you can also email support at
support@iamhable.com