PAC Mate: A Pocket PC for the Blind

The Pocket PC comes in many forms and brands, each designed to meet the specific needs of its owner. But for people with little or no useful vision, most models are useless. Their mobile computer must have a physical keyboard and some method of Braille or speech output to tell them what's displayed onscreen.

Enter the Pac Mate—the first true Pocket PC for the Blind. This is a true Windows Mobile device with all the same core applications and sporting a nice array of hardware accessories and customization schemes. This review takes a look at some of these features in detail, and describes the differences between this device and a traditional Pocket PC.

A big leap in computing technology for the blind

Most of us who know someone who is blind have probably seen them using a Braille Writer or Slate and Stylus. The latter is the equivalent of a pen and paper and involves punching out Braille letters dot-by-dot; it took time, but it was very portable. The Braille Writer, or "Brailler," is a sort of manual typewriter with six keys and a space bar, which simultaneously punches out the dots for you; it was much faster, but it was noisy, very bulky and VERY heavy. Getting Braille paper was also expensive because it was much heavier than normal print paper, (about 100-pound index.) Slates bent and had to be replaced frequently, and Braillers were prone to carriage and feeder problems and needed to be sent in for expensive repairs which could take 2-4 weeks. In both cases, it was possible to write or type on the paper crooked, and there was no such thing as Braille White-out. These problems continued even when the Electric Brailler, (much like an electric typewriter), was invented.

The 1980's brought many computer advances on the scene, one of them being the ability for a blind person to use computer and special software to hear, through synthetic speech, what was on the screen. When this method was perfected, the first "note takers" began to appear—devices that had no screens and were the size and weight of a large speakerphone. But the big leap came when Refreshable Braille came on the scene. Now, a blind person could read the content of the computer screen in Braille, on a special device called a Braille Display, with small pins that electronically push themselves up through a screened surface and form the dots that make up the Braille alphabet that the blind person "reads" with his or her fingers. Now, a user could focus on some part of the screen, and the information on the Braille Display would change to show that information. As they grew more portable, they were incorporated into note takers, so a blind person could choose to "read" their work using speech or Braille, to the great relief of teachers and co-workers, and to the delight of the deaf-blind community, who had no access until the advent of Refreshable Braille.

The first Windows Mobile note taker for the blind

Pac Mate from Freedom Scientific is the first "note taker" based on Windows Mobile 2003 software and running a Pocket PC version of JAWS (Job Access with Speech), a leading "screen reader" originally developed for Windows PCs. Screen readers are programs that "read" what's being display on the screen, translate it to audible speech, and play it through the computer's speaker. Pac Mate also has an optional Braille Display that can be removed and connected via USB to a full PC for reading the screen.

The Pac Mate BX series devices come with an 8-key Brailler-style keyboard. The QX series devices have a standard QWERTY keyboard. Both the BX and QX series offer models with attachable Braille pin displays. Like earlier Braille note takers, Pac Mates do not have screens. Like most current Pocket PCs they have a USB connection port and an infrared port. They have separate microphone and headset jacks with dual channel sound, allowing you to listen to speech and audio files simultaneously. In addition, they have two CompactFlash slots, which offer enhanced expandability.