PocketDot 8-cell Braille display that MagSafe onto back of iPhone

This is great. Hopefully not too thick so can remain attache. Not sure how they'll get around the camera bump though and may mean certain cases are out.

Did it kind of spill over the sides of the phone? I'm just holding my 15 pro and trying to work out how I could have eight keys on the back and space bar. Seems it would be very cramped. I'm thinking I might be misunderstanding how this works.

I'm being stupid. It's a display and not a keyboard. My bad!

Hi there, this is very cool! question: do you get to keep it once they send it to you?

I love this idea so much! Thank you for sharing!

Well...Dunno if I signed up for the beta or not. The form seems to just clear, giving no indication of whether the signup was successful or not. No confirmation email either.

Wait, is it a keyboard or a brail display, or both? This post says an eight cell brail display but the description of the nine by nine grid suggests a keyboard... I'm confuddled...

To me, this just seems to be too few cells. I remember having a Brailliant BI14 and foudn that too few cells. 20 is about right for a portable display, I think. But I laud the concept and I am willing to be told otherwise. So if you end up reading your newspapers on this thing I would be interested to know how that goes.

I've always wanted a physical keyboard on the back of my iPhone. I'd buy it for that alone. (Side note, I was tempted to get the Click keyboard but decided it'd make the iPhone too long to carry.) Eight cells isn't a lot but it'd be fine for texting or checking directions. Different devices for different jobs. Want to read a book? Get out a bigger display.

Cool.

there is so little info on the device.

I love most things braille, so I signed up.

Their website is kinda short on information.

Hi ,I love the idea.
A Braille Display sounds good.
I love the 8 cell for use an iPhone.
I'll check it out.
Just it's pitty teat it does 6 dots Braille.
I'll be happy to see a Display with 8 dots Braille.
Maybe I didn't undrstand correctly?
I'll be happy to understand more and to read more about that.
Thank’s

How many people use eight dot? I'm in the UK and think I've only ever used six dot. Am I correct in thinking eight dot was a Canadian enhancement? I'd be interested to know what the extra couple of dots allow for, aside from blinking cursors.

sorry, a little off topic.

In English at least, eight dot is for computer braille. I also prefered it for math when I was in high school.

Interesting. ONly used six dot for maths here. Guess it was because we were using perkin's style braillers.

I will be interested to see how useful just eight cells is though. It wouldn't even hold a phone number. One that ran the length of the phone would be able to take 20 cells, which would be epic. Maybe v2.

Also, dot 7 is used for capital letters rather than a separate cell.

If I am not mistaken, aren’t dots 3, 6, 7, & 8 use also for numbers? I seem to remember, back in the day, that JAWS used to ship out their CDs with the serial number brailled out this way. Where letters would use the traditional 6 dots, but numbers would be exclusively dots 3, 6, 7, & 8.

Bonjour,
À quoi consiste le beta testeur d'un produit, de quelle destination vient le produit prêtée ?

Si on a une pochette peut-on la garder ?
Sinon, je trouve le concept plutôt bien, je pense qu'il y a trop peu de cellules exemple pour écrire un sms mais pas pour un mail.
J'ai une plage braille de 14 caractères et ce n'est pas mal.
Par curiosité j'aimerai bien le voir c'est juste comme cela qu'on peut s'en faire une idée.

Hi Friends,

Does anyone know when the PocketDot be released? Or in other words, do you'll know when it will be out of its beta stages? Please get back to me as soon as posible.

Thanks,
Ayub

Hi again,

I'm confused of what this is. So, is this a 8-cell braille display? or is this an 8-dot braille display? I saw some people call it 8-dot Braille Display so that's why i'm asking.

I believe it is a hardware braille keyboard that fits magnetically to the back of your iPhone.

Anyone heard anything more on this? I've had the humanware BI20X for the last few days and, though it's okay, I'm not super impressed or, more accurately, I'm not £1700 impressed. I far prefer my old Vario Ultra which was far better designed, but is having connectivity issues as tempest is fugetting.

This little device sounds spot on for what I really want, just to be able to read books, though I do wonder if 8 cells will be enough...

Anyway, I was wondering if any had heard any more about it.

Has anyone heard more details also? I'd love to learn more.

For those of you who signed up to be a tester, have you received any kind of response yet? This sounds like a neat device for short texts or notes.

Hi Folks,

I recently signed up for the beta and I haven't gotten a sjatus of whether signing up was successfull or not. Is the website outdated or somethidg?

Yeah, it does feel a little like vapourware. I understand that someone in the community actually saw it in action?

As this thread was started six months ago, I do wonder if it is still happening. I might do some more digging, try and contact the developers of the product.

What do you find unsatisfactory about the BI20X? I'm on record describing it as the best Humanware product I've ever owned. I also note that on another thread I might have had some influence in your opting for that display. Wehre does it fall short for you?

I've just done an (albeit very unscientific experiment) 20 cells would fit comfortably along the length of the back of the 16 Pro Max. Now, what a device that would be!

Price, the customer service, mainly that there was a deal of £200 off which they wouldn't apply to the multi month pay back scheme, lack of RNIB library support though this is down to RNIB not Humanware. The lack of rapid switching to terminal as there is on other products. The quality of the build, I'd expect more for a £1900 device. And, this is the main thing, I've already got the Vario Ultra which is a significantly better put together machine. the engineer in me was disappointed with the ergonomics of the BI20X, I think there were some poor design choices. I'm going to stick with my Vario Ultra, there is, apparently, an update coming for it in the future... Not holding my breath.

I think, if I didn't already have a 20 cell display and had come directly to the BI20X, I'd be very happy with it. My issue is, I've come from something I prefer but is flaky. the question was, is the removal of flakiness work £1700? The answer was no.

I'm also annoyed there is no way of treating the BI20X as a hard drive on the mac and that the updates are so infrequent, there are many useful updates they could implement, use of an external bluetooth keyboard, parity between Mantis and BI20X with wikipedia, ability to play audio files, use the audio jack...

Humanware, to me, are a lazy technology company reliant on the fact there aren't many competitors in the market. It's not just them, of course, but I'm kinda sick of companies being unprofessional because their customers just have to eat it.

sorry, that was a more involved rant than I intended.

And yes, a 20 cell on the back of an iPhone would be perfect. Make it happen, gods of the blind.

Apple would make a killing, if they designed a 20 cell braille display roughly the size and dimensions of an iPhone 16 Pro Max.
True story.

Or they'd boast about it and quietly discontinue it... That's some topical humour for you.

Oliver, press dots 7 and 8 with T and you'll be able to switch directly to terminal mode. It even switches straight back to your iPhone if the connection is already active.

On the other points, I hear you. I suppose it really comes down to the features you want to prioritise. For me, I don't want to control the BI20X with a qwerty keyboard so that doesn't matter. I'm also not at all bothered about not being able to play audio files on it - the headphone jack for when I want to switch to speech in order to read quicker is fine by me. By contrast, I've been on at them for ages now to implement a stopwatch and timer in the clock app as this would be an enormous help with my professional activities; and yet, I doubt those features really figure at the top of many people's wish list. The ~RNIB library thing is very annoying indeed. you'll get no argument from me on that one. But it is, as you say, the RNIB's fault. I take your point about the slowness of updates and so on but that, again, seems to be a pervasive thing in this space. Not being able to open Powerpoint or excel documents is something I find a little annoying.

Never got my hands on a Vario Ultra but I hope they release and update for you. I'm sorry you're disappointed with the BI20X. I've personally found Humanware is best in terms of Braille translation - though I wish you could get the thing to represent a new paragraph with a two-cell indent, like you could get the dear old Apex to. How I miss some of those older machines which focused more on loyalty to paper Braille.

Hi Bingo, I really like that braille display. I most appreciate its portability and it is very quiet when using.

I have used a number of Braille displays. So far, none of them have been perfect. Anyone got a billion dollars to give me to make a Braille display foundation? I have lots of ideas for the perfect display. Actually in truth, I'd end up with several as I find different sizes, different button configurations, different firmware, are differently suited to different tasks. So kind of back to the same problem we have.
I'd love a Braille display on the iPhone. At one point there were rumors that the iPad screen were going to get haptics, kind of by electric stimulation, that would potentially be able to make virtual Braille. We're still waiting though.
I think in terms of form factor, I really liked the BrailleConnect 12 from Humanware except I'd like it with 20 cells. It had an aluminum body and very low profile and the keys were indented down, so it didn't catch when sliding into a pocket. (Ironically, after all this clver design they put a cheap very flimsy plastic power button on it that tended to break off.) I suppose its mostly cost, but it seems aluminum is mostly out for displays now. But man I hate that cheap plastic feel.

Yeah, I just think we deserve something nice in terms of build and, if I'm honest, linux so, for those of us who are so inclined, can mod to our hearts content. Really, these days, they should be treated like full blown computers, of course they don't need to run graphics, but really there should be a kind of app store where we can log on and choose community created apps, email, for example, timers, magazine readers etc.

I know there was the android attempt from humanware, but it's a really poor showing and the version of android is like android 9 or something nuts.

Give me a brail display in a thin, light aluminum housing with a raspberry pi inside, and we'd be off to the races. It's similar to what the Blazy Pro is doing, but, you know, with a brail display.

It's all rather antiquated.

Bingo, Yes I was aware of the terminal jump, I just prefer how they did it on the various, a physical switch. To be fair, the Vario was considerably more expensive than the BI20X, so the better build quality and the abundance of input options is to be expected.

Apparently, talking to Visio Brail, there will be an update coming out for the Vario, they still sell it, so they do need to get it up to date. Fingers cross this lovely little machine will rise again.

Is my memory correct the Vario was based on Windows CE 6.0? I never had the opportunity to try one out, so I could be misremembering.

Oliver, sounds like you want something like an android notetaker i.e. a much better version of something like the brailleNote Touch. I've gone into why the fact the Brailliant can't do things like that is not only good, but essential in some professional environments. I love therelatively low-tech online offerings. An app store and that sort of thing would obviate the pad and paper ideal which is what I'm after in a product like this. I've got mi' iPhone for email and that sort of thing.

My thought was a platform that could be built up or down dependent on user. This one size fits all isn't great, or it's not what we've come to expect in other devices. Basically things just need to modernise in the brail display world.

You are quite right, the brains can be the iPhone, which is probably the argument made for just having terminal and a handfull of onboard apps. Also, from the length of time it takes for apps to boot on the BI20X, or load a book, even a short one, I think they've gone for a pretty low power processor.

think this is why the Pocket Dot concept is interesting. It's a purely terminal device. There are others on the market, far larger, the Activator, I think it is called, comes with a dock for iPhone, the idea being it's simply an IO device letting all the heavy lifting occur on the iPhone whilst the display just does the display.

Still, the idea of having a kindle like machine where one can disconnect from screen time, is appealing, through temptation or notification, we do tend to get dragged back in to the emptiness machine, and then made guilty to feel we weren't strong enough to avoid temptation... That's a subject for another ramble though.

For any looking for a larger yet portable display, the BI20X is great, it's probably the best you can get at present, it's thoughtful, intersects cost, usability, functionality, portability etc very well. I think, for me, paying out of pocket for something so expensive, I just want more. Previous to this I've had devices purchased for me, access to work, DSA with university, and I just think, pound for pound, brail displays aren't a good cost/value proposition, which is really sad, brail is awesome. I know I could go down the orbit reader road, but I hear it's not a very pleasant experience... Maybe someone could speak on that if they have one. It might work well for me as a kindle style device though...

Well, Orbit doesn't have internet access. So any file reading or writing you do on it has to be manually transferred in and out. So as far as getting rid of notifications, it'd solve that problem.
The Orbit Slate is an interesting device and the one I have. Sadly what I was hoping for, screen reader support to make multiline truly useful on the PC, is still not here. But if you have the patience to load a book onto its sd card, it's not a bad book reader.
The Orbit Braile is a bit different, especially refresh rate. It takes a bit of getting used to coming from piezo-electric cells. I think the feel is ok, the frefresh rate isn't my favorite though.
I agree that for longevity the more dumb terminal style displays are better. The software side changes so much so quickly, and we dont' really want to be upgrading our displays every two years at least financially. The downside is portability when you got so many pieces to haul around and set up. Also ergonomics. If I could have a desktop display that is thin to sit in front of my desktop keyboard for my desk that'd be so nice. I really dont' need the perkins keyboard when my keyboard is right there. Please let me stop having to stretch out so far to type. Actually one used to exist, the Optelec Alva BC-680.

I think this sort of device could be great for learning. I used an app called Talking Typer to help me improve my touch typing, where you had to type the words it speaks to you and you get a score depending on how quick you were and how many mistakes you made. Something like that but where you feel braille words and speak them back to your phone would be pretty neat.

I have the APH Chameleon 20 by APH and it's great for my Personal use. I really like my Chameleon because you can switch devices easily.

I believe that is a rebrand of the BI20X, is that right?

@Oliver, yeah, pretty much a rebrand. Exact same hardware, slightly different firmware. It got TTs first. Our National library service here in the states has their own artificially limited rebrand, pretty much a BI20X sans notetaking and TTS.

Ah, gotcha. Wish there were something similar in the UK. We can apply for £500 toward a brail display but have to prove we've approached local councils first which is a waste of time because many of them are on the brink of bankruptcy.

I know there are issues for other aspects of disability in the states, but, you do seem to have brail literacy nailed down. I think the problem is too many sighted people just ask why you can't use a screen reader. My sister asked the same question, she's not daft, so there is still a long way to go explaining the benefits of brail to someone who will never have to use it. It's like a fish describing the benefits of water to an eagle.