[petrahele]

Hello,
I'm interested in long-term propagation of free Nokia Screen Reader (NSR) among Czech visually impaired mobile phone users. However, recently I feel a big indignation, because Nokia does not communicate with me or does not want to solve my questions.

The problem is in the Czech Zdena voice that reads some words wrong, which is very annoying. I reported this problem to Nokia (via @NokiaHelps) in May 2012 and was told that they are working on correcting errors. Since then, I have no news. I doubt therefore that they are working on something.

Another annoyance now came in November, when the certificate for the Zdena voice and  Czech installation package for NSR expired. I contacted local Nokia support and its about one month ago and I still have no reply.

So now the Czech NSR users cannot install this program. I have an article with instructions and tutorial for Czech NSR users here:
http://petrahele.webnode.cz/news/mobilni-telefon-s-hlasovym-vystupem-dostupny-kazdemu-uzivateli/
English translation via Google Translate available here:
http://bit.ly/NSR_czech

Currently, it looks like I will have to write there that Nokia probably lost the interest in helping visually impaired users (simple phones like C5-00 with standard keyboard are very popular among visually impaired users, but need some a11y software to be able to use them) as it does not communicate with me and the NSR cannot be installed due the problems mentioned above.

So I have two questions:
1) how difficult it is to extend the validity of certificates for Zdena voice (TTS_Zdena-Czech.SIS) and Czech language (TTS_Czech.SIS) for NSR?

2) is there anybody who would fix the bugs in the Zdena voice, as I was told?

3) is Nokia able to communicate with us? Yes, they talk to me only via customer support, where they know almost nothing about NSR, and they are unable (or are not allowed) to let me contact anybody able to give me any relevant information.

I am afraid that the Nokia support guys do not want to say me directly, that the company lost interest in this case and that they are going to abandon it and not to extend the validity of the certificates.

regards

Petra

[aspergerguy]

@petrahele

Unfortunately a number of these Symbian certificates have now expired with little expectation of renewal and your workaround of "to push the date back to the year 2011, after installing it without any problem, you can reset the current date' is likely to be increasingly needed.

[petrahele]

Hi,

the main problem here is that visually impaired users were hardly able to install the app on their Nokia phone using Nokia suite and PC a11y support program like Jaws, NVDA etc. as the installation is relatively easy using the suite, but they are not able to change the date on phone without TTS or any a11y.

So this is a step backwards as they now need to ask sighted person for asistance while they were able to do it by themselves. Looks silly, but it is a big limitation of their independence. It is a pity as this is official Nokia app which do not affect only visually impaired but probably also other people using the TTS feature.

[aspergerguy]

@petrahele

Don't get me wrong here as found it quite unacceptable that Windows Phone 7.5 and MeeGo OS both paid scant regard to accessibility, although there is slight improvement with Windows Phone 8 in this respect a screen reader has yet to appear. As accessibilty has to be built into the OS as on iPhone, I was hoping for better things with Windows Phone 8 and now realise with both Codefactory and Nuance upon Symbian we were spoilt for choice!

[petrahele]

@aspergerguy:

I agree that the situation is quite bad. Before choosing the C5 + NSR we also found Samsung U320 Haven - it would be perfect choice for most of undemanding visually impaired mobile phone users (and for elderly also), but unfortunately it was only U.S. and not GSM...

As Nokia had a good reputation as manufacturer of good simple and user friendly phones (like 5110, 3310 etc.), the C5 looked to be good choice - simple, low price, basic features needed for calls, SMS etc., big and tactile keyboard...

The touch only smartphones like those iPhones, WP phones etc. are maybe good for geeks and people working with emails internet etc. but not for users needing something like 3310, which had all that needed features but with voice output.

So, this looks like Nokia is trying to bury itself as it is ignoring needs of current users. If we wanted smartphone, we would rather choose something like HTC Cha Cha with hardware QWERTY and Android. WP devices do not offer what we need...

Finally, why should we spend about 300 USD for smartphone being used in the same way as the 3310 when we could have working C5-00 for much less money. There are many happy C5 users among visually impaired (and not only there) so why should we again look for other solution when this one works?