How the iPhone 4 and iZ could cost more money for Deaf users

Let's look a little closer on this iPhone 4 and the recent iZ news on Video Relay Service (VRS) for iPhone 4 along with the reality of real time video bandwidth it can consume each minute. Let's see how this could put Deaf people at a financial disadvantage using the two technological wonders. Instead of getting overly excited, people should be concerned on how this could hurt their wallets if they're not careful.

With the recent AT&T change on how it would charge cell phone users on data download and upload it reverted to a capped usage amount for their tiered pricing plan which began last month.

For $15 a month, the DataPlus plan offers smartphone customers 200 megabytes of data. If customers exceed 200MB in a monthly billing cycle, they receive an additional 200MB of data for $15 until the end of that billing cycle. For $25 a month, consumers sign up for the DataPro plan and get 2 gigabytes of data. If subscribers exceed 2GB during a billing cycle, they will be charged $10 for an additional 1GB of data.

So, 2GB a month sounds alot doesn't it? When it comes to video downloading or uploading like real time video chat, real time video VRS, or uploading video shots to your Facebook page that 2GB limit could go fast before the end of the month is up in a non-WiFi scenario here.

Here are some numbers :

The front-facing camera resolution is 640×480. At 30 frames per second, with H.264 encoding, this would result in 5 MB per minute video.

The back-facing camera resolution is 1280×780. At 30 fps and H.264 encoding, this would be 12.8 MB per minute video (note that H.264 is generally more efficient at higher bitrates).

Netflix streaming onto an iphone would be about 2.8 MB per minute video.

Let's assume a 5 MB per minute through iZ VRS relay using the iPhone 4. Let's use the 30 frames per second (fps) standard since at a minimum for clarity sake in seeing clearly the signing a 15 fps would be required. And let's assume you only make one VRS call a day for 5 minutes which equates to 25 MB used for one day VRS call. All done on non-WiFi calls. Do that each day for 30 days you would then have used up 750 MB already, almost half of the 2 GB capped limit. But add the constant real time video chatting with your friends and any videos uploaded for email, on social networking sites, or even YouTube. Do all this along with checking your emails and surfing the internet would certainly and easily push you over the capped limit of 2 GB per month with AT&T's new tiered pricing plan for smartphones. But I think the additional use of the VRS with your smartphone streaming video could turn out to be the potential hidden killer here. And how it could help take a hit on your wallet and get slapped with overusage charges by going over your capped data limit.

Looking back now and into the future one will need to develop a strategy to prevent any possibility of going over the capped limit if you plan on getting the iPhone 4 and use iZ VRS. The key is to recognize and understand these things that could end up costing you an expensive monthly telephone bill. There are other ways to keep in contact and communicate like texting, email, or IM. After all, not everybody will use the video phone to communicate all the time. Especially not when you have AT&T and other telecommunication companies coming up with their tiered pricing plans. This marks the begining of the end of unlimited download on your smartphone. Watch your wallet.

The "everything technology" on communication for everybody

I am continually amazed with the ongoing improvements in the field of communication technology, especially benefitting those with hearing loss. And how technology can almost literally give people the gift of "hearing." In other words a way to communicate with hearing people through real time interaction such as using the UbiDuo face to face communication device as if you are a "hearing" person interacting with a hearing person even though no voices are used or exchanged. What makes UbiDuo unique is the real time conversation that takes place and without waiting for a typed response each time you send it out and wait for a reply. The key to this "everything technology" on communicating with deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people is the real time conversation nature it requires. The UbiDuo satisfies that. So does the video phone when it comes to signing and talking. So does using the phone for everyday conversations used by billions of hearing people when interactions are done in real time. Even Google has gotten into the act through YouTube by establishing a free service using their voice recognition software to transcribe the spoken words on YouTube videos into captioned words. A perhaps someday soon a much improved speech recognition software will able to transcribe the spoken words in real time. Though this YouTube's version is not entirely perfect but it's a start on the merging of communication technology with the growing social networking field.

Right now, I see on the horizon things will change and improve for the better on communication technology for deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people when this "everything technology" will gradually meet everybody's communication needs and be a part of the growing social network society. A society where we are tethered and connected to each other. Communication technology will continue to diversify, merge, adapt and change from the many hundreds of different companies from Research in Motion (they make Blackberries), communication carriers like AT&T and Verizon, YouTube, Facebook, sComm (the maker of UbiDuo) and many, many more. There is always room to grow while being resourceful and inventive with new ideas on how to make it all seemlessly work together. But some of the best inventive ideas comes from people with hearing loss. I can guarantee you one thing. We will see more of these things explode in the days, weeks and years ahead of us when it comes to communication technology. So, be sure to keep your eyes and ears open or you just might miss the ride.

Communication Technology - the ultimate aphrodisiac for Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing people

The one thing I can safely say that everybody can agree on is that communication technology is probably the ultimate aphrodiasic for Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing people. The kind of technology that gives us the ability to communicate with anyone, including hearing people. And vice versa, too. Gone would be the identity of who's exactly behind that cell phone you're talking with. Perhaps there would be no distinction on what cultural group a person would be identified with. No distiction whether if one is deaf or not simply because there is no communication barrier to begin? Would that be possible someday within our lifetime? With the way communication technology has been progressing I'd say very much so. And I think many of us deaf, Deaf, hard of hearing, CODA, parents of deaf/hh children, late deafened people and even the deaf and blind are certainly hopeful at this prospect. Meanwhile with the communication technology we have today, it has transformed many of us in how we continue to interact with the deaf, Deaf, deaf/blind and hearing communities. This will bound to improve over time. There's no doubt in that.

We're not yet at the tipping point but technology is certainly paving the way on voice recognition to text such as YouTube, text to speech, and even ASL or sign language recognition to voice or text. I believe we'll see one technology wave after another over the next 10 to 20 years regarding communication access and improved interaction between people with hearing loss and hearing people. Things will be done much more automatically and without the need of a 3rd party to intervene if one chooses so.

We are slowly becoming a highly interactive and connected world. Communication barriers are slowly coming down in many areas. The tipping point for the deaf and hard of hearing community is yet to come but its coming. The day will come that no matter who you communicate with using your preferred mode of communication it will be understood by anyone, deaf or hearing. Don't believe that? Try and remember what it was like exactly 10 years ago and compare to what you have today. Imagine what it might be like 10 years from now. And with communication technology today, it has the ability to help preserve, enhance, and even promote Deaf culture such as ASL. Imagine that!

Ask this question yourself. How many communication technology companies do you know of that were run by deaf/hh people ten years ago? What about today? What do you think it'll be like 10 or 20 years from now? What kind of communication technology devices will you have on you that will enable you to communicate with others in face to face situations more readily and easily? What about wirelessly like smart phones? On demand remote captioning? On demand remote ASL interpreter? Communication devices that will enable deaf and blind become even more independent than ever before? And so on? Maybe a futuristic iPad that would enhance Deaf people communication experiences through it's own version of the video phone? The possibilities are endless when you have technology on your side.

This is a roller coaster ride and we've just begun. In twenty years from now you'll look back and say, "Wow! What a ride!" And what was that ride like since 1990, twenty years ago? That was the kiddie ride. Next, it's the quadruple loop with a 200 foot drop roller coaster ride. Hang on! And, oh, bring your vomit bag, too.

Thumbs of Fury.... the fastest deaf Blackberry text user?

Do you think you have what it takes to type 75 wpm (words per minute) on a Blackberry phone QWERTY keyboard? Well, Mark Rejhon, a deaf Blackberry smart phone user thumbs his way into YouTube fame (not smashingly famous but you get my drift) my texting out words with his two thumbs at a rate of 75 wpm. Now, my little birdie tells me that perhaps a similar contest may take place later this year using only the Blackberry smartphone's QWERTY keyboard to become the fastest "thumberry" person alive, and win cash prizes. There's a twist to this contest I'm hearing but won't explain until later (if it is true about the contest and all). So, I guess there's time to practice and get your "thumberry" into hyperdrive. Meanwhile, enjoy Mark's "Thumbs of Fury" as he thumbs his way to 75 wpm.


Link to YouTube video

Closed Captioning support for Blackberry Phones

Just like the iPhone, Blackberry fans can access a new version of a "do-it-yourself caption-authoring" tool for digital media. ow buy phones that have captioning support for uploaded videos that come with captioning.

which can be used to create closed-captioned videos formatted for playback on BlackBerry® smartphones. As before, authors can continue to write captions once and export them to formats compatible with QuickTime, Windows Media, RealPlayer and Flash.
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Support for closed-captioned content playback is available on BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry Device Software version 5.0 and newer, including the BlackBerry Storm2™ smartphone, BlackBerry Bold 9700™ smartphone and BlackBerry Curve™ 8530 smartphone models.

Very cool, and very savvy in the marketing sense that takes aim at a potential market of 30+ million people with hearing loss in the U.S. (and even more outside). And if you have a Blackberry Storm2 9520/9550 smartphones then you're in luck since they already come with captioning support.

I'm sure from now on all newer BB phones will have closed captioning support just like the Blackberry Storm2 phones.

Do deaf and hard of hearing people prefer Blackberry smartphones over others?

Blackberry? A better smartphone for deaf and hard of hearing? It would seem so base on my ongoing and current poll result with overwhelming differences compared to other smartphones. I suspect that with the current poll results would be the likely overall picture with Blackberry as an obvious favorite among deaf and hard of hearing users. The question is why? Why choose Blackberry? For a start, RIM (Research in Motion) is known for their addressing accessbility issues as seen on page 2 in the Blackberry Java Application Accessibility guide might be key in their philosophy and view when it comes to increasing accessibility to smartphone users:

Accessibility refers to the extent to which a product or service can be used by as many people as possible. In this context,accessibility means designing applications so that people with disabilities or impairments can use the applications on a BlackBerry® device.

When you design your BlackBerry device application, consider the following users:

• blind people
• visually impaired people
• colorblind people
• deaf people
• hearing impaired people
• speech impaired people
• people with motor impairments
• people with cognitive or learning disabilities

Like any other group of users, people with disabilities or impairments have needs, wants, and expectations about the behavior of applications. Some of the reasons to make your applications accessible to as many users as possible include the following possible benefits:
• Social responsibility: Making it easier for people with disabilities or impairments to benefit from the functionality that your application provides can promote equality and is the right thing to do.
• Market share: Ensuring that your application can be used by people with disabilities or impairments increases the number of people who can purchase and benefit from your application.
• Compliance: Addressing the applicable guidelines and regulatory requirements (such as Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in the United States) that dictate that your application must be accessible by people with disabilities or impairments can allow you to enter certain markets.

Blackberry or other smartphone makers cannot afford to alienate the 30+ million people with hearing loss in the United States by making smartphones not-user-friendly. Though the popularity of Blackberry may be due to issue of reliability and ease of use. There was a clue in a forum back in 2004 with thread titled, "Benefits of BlackBerry for the Deaf & Hard Of Hearing" that may have initially gotten deaf and hard of hearing to consider Blackberry first. The reliability factor came up again in 2007. Though things have changed over the last 6 years since 2004 but that may be changing again in favor of Blackberry once again. Perhaps the changeover was due to a recent snafu from T-Mobile's Sidekick data plan last year. Did the well advertised snafu that affected 800,000 subscribers in 2009 helped shape the perception of Sidekick as unreliable seeing the Blackberry as the better and stable option, not to mention reliable?

Because the Sidekick didn't evolve as fast as other smartphones, many users--deaf and hearing alike--moved to the BlackBerry and other devices. And after their recent experiences, many of the remaining Sidekick users in the deaf community have said they are considering jumping ship, once their T-Mobile contracts end.

"I am going to look into Sprint's BlackBerry, which more and more deaf people are taking up, and have complimented, and (said) that it is a lot more reliable," McCraw said.

Lisa Gault, a deaf Sidekick owner in Katy, Texas, said she in an e-mail interview that she relies on the Sidekick as a means to stay in touch with her family.

"It's a way for the school to get a hold of me, if something were to occur with my son who is (not deaf)," Gault said.

Gault said that even short of an emergency, it is a problem not to get her e-mail for an extended period.

"It's annoying, as my friends think I'm ignoring them, when in reality, I didn't get the e-mails yet," Gault said. "It really put the deaf community at more of a disadvantage--more so than for hearing people, since we're so reliant on e-mail (devices) to keep in touch."

Not only it wasn't about the lack of evolving but about a total failure when the Sidekick was announced by Microsoft with grim news last year, a hard lesson when things do fail catastrophically much to consumers' horrors.

There is no official word on the death of the Sidekick from Microsoft or Tmobile, but it certainly looks bleak for the iconic device.

This week, Microsoft announced that they had lost all Sidekick user data including pictures, contacts, calendars and other information from the Danger's servers. Since the devices sync with the servers, the devices also lost the data. The Sidekick data services had amazingly been out over a week.

From what they say, after a week of investigation, there is no way to retrieve the user data. Customers will have to start over. The word on the street is that it was a Hitachi SAN upgrade failure.

But customers will be happy to know that Tmobile is offering a free month of data (not a free month of service, just the $20 unlimited data plan) for all of their information. I really hope a lot of Sidekick users used the Intellisync software that pushes data to the desktop and would have backed their data up.

T-Mobile has halted the sale of new Sidekicks. All models are now showing "temporarily out of stock" on the company's website.

No back up servers? No built in redundancy to ensure smooth flow of communication and saved data? I may not know much of what transpired but a failure of this magnitude isn't a good thing in anybody's book. Might as well see it as "DOA" and no need to try resurrect an image brand that was mortally wounded. People will jump ship because of that.

I'll continue my investigation about Blackberry among deaf and hard of hearing users and why they use the smartphone. If you're deaf or hard of hearing and use a smartphone, go to my poll and select a phone brand that you are currently using.

Blackberry Smartphones and Closed Captioning

Here's a good announcement for deaf/hh Blackberry smartphone enthusiasts who might be interested in helping or creating a closed captioned content for Blackberry smartphones which will take place this March at CSUN.

Creating Closed Captioned Content for BlackBerry Smartphones

This hands-on lab will demonstrate how you can develop, deploy and distribute accessible, close captioned multimedia content for and to BlackBerry smartphones.

Greg Fields
Research In Motion (RIM)

This will take place at the 25th Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference in San Diego, Ca on March 22nd - 27th. Seats are limited to 31 seats. Get 'em while they're still hot!

Also, a poll for all you deaf and hard of hearing users of smartphones.