It was time to upgrade our mobiles, so I’d been looking around to see what is the best option for me. I’ve felt left out by not being able to text (not an issue with my phone of course, an issue with me…) For the last few months I’ve looked at a couple of the Droids and the iPhone. I always came back to the iPhone because of the reviews from blind or visually impaired users. I got my phone about two weeks ago. I’m now wondering if I’ve made the correct choice.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of having it. The ability to tweet, send and receive texts, shoot and upload images and videos is truly awesome. Oh, and the ability to listen to Absolute Radio is well beyond that. The learning curve for me has been huge. I’m trying to be patient with it, but it has been frustrating.
I’ve been using the VoiceOver feature for the last week. This feature reads the screen to me. The feature works pretty well, but there are some issues (probably me not the device) that drive me a little crazy. Today, for example, I wanted to tweet. It wasn’t anything exciting, but I was sitting at Martin Main Line Honda and wanted to “practice.” Since there was a little noise, I had trouble entering in the letters. I could enter them, but there were times that I couldn’t hear what letter I had selected. When using VoiceOver, to enter text, you’ve got to tap three times. Once to hear the letter, then twice when you’re sure it is what you want. If I was unsure of a letter, I would lose track of the word and if it was spelled correctly.
I probably should have tried the VoiceOver before I tried the large text and zoom feature. When using the large text (which doesn’t work on menu items, by the way,) you use the iPhone just like normal people would, by tapping on an item once. After trying the zoom feature for a few days, I ended up changing some settings because I couldn’t see what I had actually touched while trying to maneuver around the screen (while being zoomed in.) You can’t use both the zoom feature and the VoiceOver feature at the same time. I’m not sure why.
I know that I’ll get the hang of it sooner or later, but like anything else I do, I want to do it NOW. It doesn’t help that I’ve been trying implement things I’ve learned at Affiliate Summit East, go live with a couple of affiliate marketing sites I’ve been working on, learn to use WordPress so that I don’t have to ask anyone for assistance to launch those sites and others, keep running ForYourSalon.com (since that is where most of our revenue comes from,) process orders we receive through Amazon.com (we sell beauty stuff there too,) and move Jake into his dorm at Westtown. Not to mention local beauty deliveries with Eliz and some Digital Graphics Design work. I’ve been averaging about five and a half hours of sleep and I don’t see an end to that.