Hi,
so, like many, I was very interested to hear about the Pocket Dot display:
which is an eight cell display that attaches through magsafe to the back of one's iPhone for on the go brail reading and practice.
I contacted David Madey, one of the developers, and he said, (pasted responce):
Hi Oliver,
No need to apologize for being curious and excited! Your message brought me so much joy! We are working to overcome some technical hurdles before doing beta testing. It’s taking longer than we thought!
He also kindly shared a video with me which outlined some of the uses of the pocket dot however he did ask I not share it. I only mention it as it seems they are looking toward marketting, what ever that tells us about the development cycle.
I'm not sure this is a very useful update, but I wanted to say it is still on the cards, which excites me.
Comments
It Does Sound Appealing
The devil will be in the detail, but I do look forward to hearing more. Braillists delight!
Thank you for sharing update
It would be nice if dev is more proactive in communicating. Glidance is like at next level in this regard.
Their website is so lean on details. No mention of Mag-safe. Hoping for the best.
From what I understand, it…
From what I understand, it is a spin out from a university. I don't think they'll be looking to create buzz until they've got the beta feedback. Glidance have taken a different approach, that's all.
Good to know it's still progressing
This is really intriguing - I've absolutely no idea how well it will work but I am looking forward to hearing more.
Can't Wait
I still can't wait for it. I signed up for the beta testing program but no indication status.
Hope to see something soon.
eight cell?
So I totally get I am not the target demographic for this ... but I'm struggling to see the uses of an eight cell display. I find 20 cells painfully constricting and 40 seems barely sufficient for serious reading. I don't know.
20 is ideal for me, I do…
20 is ideal for me, I do agree 8 might be constricting, though I know there have been devices liek the book worm that had 12. I'm not sure, at least it won't be much finger travel back. Might be a good compromise between portability and function, short form reading maybe.
IMO 20 is too small. For…
IMO 20 is too small. For reading I'd say 32 is perfect and the small format would be 24. There is the BraillePen24 by Harpo. Quite affordable given the number of cells we have in it I think. Unffortunately in Quebec we don't have that many options to choose from, 20, 40 or 80 cells.
Tool for the Job
Why must I have just one? Sighted people have all sizes of screens. You don't use one size fits all hammers - you don't use a sledgehammer to drive a penny nail and vice versa. Eight cells may be perfect to stick on the back of the iPhone to read and respond to a text or quick email. 40 is much more pleasant for longform reading. If I'm writing code or reviewing tables of data I prefer 80.
20 Cells
I like the 20 cells better because it's much more portable. It's the size of my iPhone 15 Pro Max anyway.
this is cool!
This is cool! will it be free? I hope yes. because if beta testing is free, let me know. if not, I'll pass.