2014-09-23 01:30:13

So this is my first smart-phone. I have had iPads and iPods so, i know how touch typing works, and how IOS works, but i'm unfamiliar with the calling features and texting on the iPhone. I have used a bluetooth keyboard for most of my IOS devices and realize this will most likely be impractical when carrying my phone around, so i'll need to get more comfortable with touch typing. Is there any keyboard apps you guys could advise me on to make typing faster? I want to be quick about typing on that screen, which of course will require practice, but any tips would be helpful. Also, could you all advise on other apps that make using your phone that much more enjoyable? Thanks for the feedback.

2014-09-23 05:48:17

Before looking into separate keyboard apps, explore the built-in features first. For one thing, you have an option called direct touch typing. This is similar to regular touch typing, except instead of holding down your finger and moving it around the screen until you find the letter you want, which is quite slow, you simply tap the approximate location of the letter. Once you tap the spot where space is, you'll get word suggestions for the word you were trying to write. Another method which is quite fast, and quite awesome in my opinion, is the Braille input screen. This is an option in VoiceOver's router settings. More details on how it works can be found here:
http://applevis.com/guides/braille-ios/ … nput-ios-8

Also, don't forget the dictate button! Pretty nifty feature. And you can now also record voice clips, at least in IMessage.
So yeah, a couple things to get you started.

I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance, is futile. Your life, as it has been, is over. From this time forward, you will service---us.

2014-09-23 08:18:53

Hi.
I haven't looked at the build in braile keyboard yet, but MBraile is an awesome app! smile

Best regards SLJ.
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2014-09-23 08:54:47

unless MBraille has been added as a third party keyboard to ios8, the default braille keyboard would work much better than MBraille.
This wouldn't hold true for devices running IOS 7 or lower but ey, sinse a iphone6 comes with ios8 preinstalled and I don't think you could downgrade it even if you wanted to.
More enjoyable? that all depends on what kind of things you enjoy.
In games I would highly suggest nebula not eazy to do chapters,but not too hard,either.
As to social and chatting apps there's whatsapp which I think is quite useful and which I rairly use big_smile

apps such as Facebook do work as well,but their accessibility level gos up and down with new updates and changes
hth

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
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2014-09-23 11:08:32

Why would the build in Braille keyboard work better than MBraille? Have you tried it?
I have briefly tried it, but find it quite difficult to handle. It rotates automatically, difficult to use while editing text because that's still done by the rotor and it have some issues when typing contracted Braille in danish unlike MBraille. So I would like to know why you think it's better than MBraille.

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2014-09-23 17:08:39

Thanks guys. I think the default facebook and twitter apps should be just fine. I'll have to check out the braill option for the keyboard.

2014-09-23 18:54:13

For a simple reason being the default keyboard works everywhere and there is no jumping about, pasteing, app switching from one app to the other.
This despite the bugs slash issues present in the default braille keyboard (which aren't really so much of a pain) make the braille default keyboard much better as compared to MBraille

Just my opinion and all that

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
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2014-09-23 19:09:12

A great resource that has been mentioned here is AppleVis.  They've got podcasts, text-based tutorials, a blog/forum, and a massive app database of accessible apps.  I'd look there for tips.

iPhones contain GPS of sorts (it's not a GPS chip; rather, it uses carrier data and Wi-Fi to get your location) that is remarkably accurate, and opens up a lot of choices for navigation.  BlindSquare is a great app if you need blindness-specific navigation info; look it up in AppleVis for more info.

As far as making calls, it's not really that difficult.  The Phone app, located at the bottom left of the home screen (the first item in the dock) is obviously where that happens.  Tabs on the bottom of the screen can help.  To accept a call, perform the "magic tap" gesture (two-finger double-tap).

HTH.

2014-09-23 20:24:34

The new prediction is quite useful too I find, I've only just started to use it but it almost fills in half your message for you. As you type it gives three possible suggestions above the keyboard you can double tap or split tap on, where it really shines is after you hit space it tries to guess what the next word will be and it's scarily good at it. All those little words like and, the, etc are the ones it helps the most with.

cx2
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To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2014-09-25 12:56:22

Have you tryed to bend your iPhone? That's the latest feature. Lol.
But I wouldn't recommend it.

Francois

2014-09-25 15:31:04

That whole issue is the result of some less than smart individual most likely sitting on there phone. Man, i wonder if sitting on a smartphone is a good idea? I noticed people also said that the device would also warp if kept in the front pocket, and i thought, sure, i guess if you wear really tight pants, i could understand. Bottom line, treat your devices gently.

2014-09-25 16:00:13

MBraille presently has the option to flip dots 1 and 3 and 4 and 6, if that's helpful to you (it makes worlds of difference for me, personally).

Now isn't a great time to anticipate your iPhone 6, because Apple is playing silly buggers with iOS. Be glad of the wait. 6.0.1 was released, then pulled; 6.0.2 should follow in a few days time. And yeah, VoiceOver bugs. Nothing can do about those at this time, but that doesn't mean you can't look forward to your new iPhone.

Just myself, as usual.

2014-09-25 18:03:25

Yep, new what i was getting in to before taking the plunge. Not to concerned, it seems if apple screws up somewhere, they iron things out eventually.

2014-09-25 18:32:56

so... sitting on a 7 mm thin piece of metal and tempered glass and expecting it not to bend kinda seems stupid to me. Just because you bought an iPhone it doesn't mean that the laws of physics suddenly stop applying to you.

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.

2014-09-26 09:45:35

It's a feature not a bug, who wouldn't want a phone that moulds itself to the shape of your buttock?

On a more serious note though hardware design for something like a phone should expect at least a little rough handling, we all know what users are like. While I wouldn't sit on my phone I can admittedly imagine a situation where I was sat in the window seat of a crowded bus and being squashed up against the window to the point where my phone in my pocket may be pressed against the interior panelling of the bus, though I do tend to keep my phone in a case so this would probably be less of a concern for me personally. When you throw devices out into the real world, especially when it's a device you expect people to carry with them on a fairly regular basis, crap happens. That doesn't even count people who get a bit careless after a drink or two, which while it may arguably be their own fault is something that is known to be fairly common and will result in the user blaming the hardware design.

Like with software people can have some pretty ridiculous expectations of hardware. They expect it to be powerful yet with enough batteries to last a massively long time, they expect it to be compact and light yet they also expect large screen size and near indestructability. Intellectually they may not know they do so but when it comes to real world use if the device fails to meet expectations they'll label it as junk without rational consideration. The designer has to balance these in a way that meets the needs of the userbase in the best way they can, the durability factor of the new iPhone may or may not be an error in this balancing act but time will tell. We may see Apple offering free rudimentary cases in the same way they offered bumpers after the antennagate fiasco if there's enough of a backlash from users and/or the media.

Makes me wonder if this will become known as "bend gate".

cx2
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To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2014-09-26 17:49:18

Actually, i saw someone in an article i was reading on the issue call it bend gate already. Doesn't surprise me.

2014-09-27 10:40:06

BBC's technology show Click got one of their guys to try putting an iPhone 6+ in his back pocket and repeatedly sitting on it, then leaving it there for an entire day of going around and sitting on it. No negative effects at all. It looks like this may be a quality control issue in the machining of the aluminium shell in some units. Some people have reported the bending from having their phone in their front pocket and a few even claiming it was able to be bent by hand.

cx2
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To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2014-09-27 11:30:29

Meh. I'm still looking forward to mine. I'll be gentle with it--then again, I always have. smile

Just myself, as usual.

2014-09-27 13:01:24

Same here. Should get it this comeing week, shipped from china.

2014-09-27 16:03:03

Someone managed to fit the iphone 6 plus in their pocket? That's impresive... considering from all I hear it might as well be an ipad mini.

Discord: clemchowder633

2014-09-27 16:07:55

I just watched a video of a guy bend his gold iPhone by hand. According to him, he didn't exert a lot of force on the device but you can see him pull faces and his knuckles turn white as he puts pressure on the phones casing. People will do anything for attention I guess.

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.

2014-09-27 16:12:02 (edited by KG4RDF 2014-09-27 16:13:30)

I had a 4S stolen in December, have never used anything besides that iPhone wise, so I am anxious for Tuesday when my Silver 64GB iPhone 6 gets here from T-Mobile, probably also shipping from China, well probably was shipped from China to whatever T-mobile warehouse/store it is being shipped to me from!

Edit: What is this Gate business? Antenna gate, bend gate...Sounds like a fence with a lot of issues. Some people's ignorance kills me.

My opinions are my own. I try not to state them as facts and if I'm not sure about something, I do whatever research I can. I feel everyone should consider doing the same.

2014-09-28 12:42:53

KG4RDF, it's a reference to the old scandal in the Watergate hotel. Ever since then whenever a scandal happened they added gate on the end, then it spread to things that were less a scandal and more a debacle.

Assault Freak, the iPhone 6+ is 5.5 inch while the iPad mini is 7.9 inch, that's quite a difference. I haven't had my hands on a 6 or 6+ so I can't say how big they are in absolute terms, I expect they are fairly big in terms of a phone, but they're still not close to the iPad mini.

cx2
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To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2014-09-28 13:06:05

I've actually read some people saying that if they'd known about iPhone 6 plus, they wouldn't have bothered with an iPad Mini, but it really is just a very wide phone that fits across your palm (if you have chubby hands) so that you can no longer wrap your fingers around it to meet. I think that's a perfectly reasonable form factor, if you're willing to adapt. And yes there will be fewer pockets, but front pouches (I still wear mine sometimes) should pose no obstacle.

In related news, Apple have finally shipped mine out and I should have it by the 6th October. Woo bloody hoo! big_smile

Just myself, as usual.

2014-09-28 15:04:32

By front pouch I assume you aren't a kangaroo? Just kidding, I figured you mean a bum bag, commonly and for us Brits rather unfortunately known in certain countries as a fanny pack... which would be something entirely different to us.

I can understand how some people would rather have an iPhone 6+ than an iPad mini, that being said it's good to have both options. Some people would be happy with what could be seen as a smaller iPad mini, an iPad mini mini if you will, while others would rather have the normal iPad mini or even a full size iPad. It's all about choice.

cx2
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To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.