2017-07-08 18:50:05

The good news is they aren't ditching the stream. Whether you purchase the Trek or not, you won't necessarily be using a dying platform.

2017-07-08 21:17:49

So what happens to all the people who have already bought either of these two devices, will these features not be rolled out to the older versions as well?
I have absolutely no interest in a GPS, but would still find bt speaker connectivity rather helpful.

Prier practice and preparation prevents piss poor performance!

2017-07-08 22:53:06

Unfortunately no, because all these new features requires hardware that isn't present in the Trekker or Stream devices.

2017-07-08 22:59:45 (edited by cw 2017-07-08 23:01:42)

I would think that bluetooth could not be added to the older moddles without some hardware changes. I am not sure that the latest stream's wifi chip is also a bluetooth chip or not. Do not get me wrong, I would like bluetooth on the stream, but not having is not a big deal to me. As for GPS, I can see having on a stream, but like others have said, having it on my phone is good enough for personal reasons I have stated earlyer, Mainly that I do not have the extra cash laying around to make such a buy without a really good reason to do so. I hate the battery drainage when using GPS, and looking at a touch screen can be a problem at times with your hands full. On the other hand, GPS apps are usually alot cheeper than buying a stand allone device seeing that the needed hardware is there and the app and or apps offer alot of the same info that this new victor reader trek is offering. I am thinking that this might be a hard sell for humanware, but I will see. They may deside to sell it as a victor reader that happens to have a GPS chip in it. Then again, a gps reciever with a victor reader built in. From what I understood  when listening to the interview, they may do either depending on who they are selling it to. How much do you wish to bet they will try to sell it to voc rehab here in the US? I am not to sure what it is called over in the UK and or other parts of the world.
EDIT
LOL. It looks like someone posted right before I did. LOL.

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
DropBox Referral

2017-07-09 00:13:45

Not too long ago I would have been pleased with a device like this; now I find this kind of umbrella device is the kind of thing I just absolutely and exceptionally hate.

When life gives you oranges, demand lemons since everyone else is obviously getting them.

2017-07-09 02:59:30

I'm stuck on trying to come up with names following the theme established by

看過來!
"If you want utopia but reality gives you Lovecraft, you don't give up, you carve your utopia out of the corpses of dead gods."
MaxAngor wrote:
    George... Don't do that.

2017-07-09 03:00:12

I'm stuck on trying to come up with names following the theme established by "Stream" and "Breeze". What do you get when you combine a stream and a breeze? I'll have to pull up Aprone's whatchamacallit to check, but I think the answer is "decent conditions for a very small sailcraft". ... I like "gail".

I wonder if there's any benefit to mobility discussion, in the sense of tell vs show? Because I notice I've seen the topic come up from time to time in different places, but it's always almost entirely meta.

看過來!
"If you want utopia but reality gives you Lovecraft, you don't give up, you carve your utopia out of the corpses of dead gods."
MaxAngor wrote:
    George... Don't do that.

2017-07-09 06:23:14

Well then, so that people can use their mobile gps apps, how bout a remote control that posed as a bluetooth keyboard for the phone, but had key mappings for each of the functions of the gps apps. Great idea, but, bluetooth...add that to the list of devices to charge. Even if such a remote were to use standard batteries it wouldn't change the fact that your phone's battery will drain quicker. Don't get me wrong, I'm an avid Nearby Explorer user, but there are definitely times where a dedicated device is still very necessary. And remember, you're buying a device that's set up for the future, no matter how custom it is. The Galileo system doesn't even have all the phones ready for it, yet the Trek will be getting that. Kyle made a great point in the braille innovations topic abou t beacons and carrying your phone around. Well, 1stly, Trek has beacon support so you can use your bluetooth headset or speaker and never once take the device out of your pocket. Second, I stand corrected, beacons are not nfc as I had thought. Nowhere did they mention the Trek having an nfc chip, so they must be Bluetooth. I guess they just skip the pairing and authentication altogether , then, like a bluetooth transmitter looking for any speaker in range. These beacons, in a sense, are always in pairing mode.

2017-07-09 07:13:44

Well again the trekker was just too much hassle for me what with sensor speaker, god knows how many cables etc. I also found it rather unreliable, what with it being essentially a hacked tablet running custom software with  keyboard bolted on to the touch screen rather than a truly dedicated device.

I suspect for me I would be better saving my money and investing in a new IPhone with satnav software when the galileo system becomes live, indeed if anyone has any projected dates for that or information about whether series eight or later 7 Iphones will  connect to it I'd be very interested to know, since as I have to buy a new IPhone anyway this is definitely something that interests me, but I  think this is a case where the mainstream alternative just works out as both cheaper and more convenient than the dedicated specialist device, or at least it does for me.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2017-07-09 15:18:07

Not sure if the iphone is or will be galileo ready. Some android phones already are, but hopefully the iphone 8 will be galileo ready. The Trek will have the galileo chipset when it comes out in October, and Galileo itself will be out sometime in 2018 and, for devices like that one that already have the chipset installed, will only need a simple firmware update to get it up and running.

2017-07-09 20:02:57

in that case, that is a really good reason to wait for the IPhone 8 on my part since there! is a feature I would indeed pay extra cash for.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2017-07-09 23:19:48

Dark wrote:

Well again the trekker was just too much hassle for me what with sensor speaker, god knows how many cables etc. I also found it rather unreliable, what with it being essentially a hacked tablet running custom software with  keyboard bolted on to the touch screen rather than a truly dedicated device.

Well I don't know what you got but that doesn't sound like the Trekker Breeze Plus I got. What was a dedicated device in handheld case with handful of buttons and only one wire if you chose to use the clip on speaker or headphones instead of its built in one.

The only other cable is the charging / data cable for hooking it up to a USB port or an AC adaptor, which you wouldn't use if you were out walking around with it.

Now with it becoming part of the Victor Reader the case will get even smaller.

2017-07-09 23:26:53

What Dark was talking about was the original trekker. About 39 functions, and a rap-around elastic keyboard that pushed buttons on the screen of a mainstream pda. This was one of the applications on the Maestro pda from Humanware. A now discontinued product.

2017-07-10 00:45:11

That was indeed the one Jack, as I said it was about in 2005 or so that I tried the thing and it wouldn't surprise me if things have progressed since then, however my experiences with that device don't particularly incline me to try out another.

It's the sort of thing that if it were thirty quid and I could try it out to see if it worked I'd be willing to give it a go, but for the price they're asking, and given the fact that I do in this case find the IPhone alternative quite a workable one, failing me winning the lottery I probably have better things to do with my rather limited finances right now big_smile.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2017-07-10 16:52:21

To each his own and not one damn thing wrong with any choice you make as long as it works for you.

2017-07-14 02:00:58

I don't think I can afford that much, but maybe I can sell my Trekker Breeze for around that price so I can buy it? I'd love to have one! :-)

Ulysses, KJ7ERC
She/they
Reedsy

2017-07-14 04:15:39

If you have an old stream or similar gadget you could probably bundle it with the breeze. I've seen breeze's go from $300 to $350 on Blind buy-sell-trade.

2017-07-14 05:05:38

I would be interested enough to try one of these at some stage or other so I('ll likely look around until someone is doing a demo of it, albeit I suspect it'll probably still work out that the price is too high for me, particularly as compared to using my IPhone.

If someone gets one I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on it.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2017-07-14 06:54:20

I do have have plans on preordering because the price is $100 lower than the original up until December 31, and if I want it it's in my best interest to get it before the price goes up.

2017-07-14 14:38:50

I'll be getting one. Mine was pre ordered before I started this thread.

2017-07-14 15:50:19

I need to pay  $700 for a daisy player plus a blue toot and a GPS? I would have soled this on $400, not $700!

If life gives you communism, become a communist dictator.

2017-07-14 16:28:06

Well, I guess a lot of people disagree with you  as I've heard that Humanware reported that preorders are coming in fast and furious.

2018-04-08 15:56:54

Bringing this topic back so that the Google Home Max thread doesn't need to have anymore trek-specific posts.

2018-04-08 18:27:59 (edited by Orko 2018-04-08 18:42:38)

Thanks, Jack! I had forgotten this thread from when I first heard about the Trek. Seems like ages ago.

I actually haven't done all that much with the GPS as I'm not all that confident in my mobility skills, so I tend to limit going on foot to just those places that are within a block of home, and don't really need a GPS for getting there.

One time I tried it was while in a car going to my folks house for a visit, after putting on headphones, and switching to orientation mode and switching on the GPS, and putting it on the dash so it had nothing but the wind shield above it, it couldn't acquire a signal.

I've also tried it just to learn how to use it while walking to the grocery store, it got a signal but had a hard time keeping it. I eventually gave up and switched it off.

I don't know whether I have a defective unit, or it just needs some software bugs fixed, I tried reaching out to humanware but got less than reasonable support. The impression I got was they didn't want to hear about a possible warranty repair or replacement.

2018-04-08 19:09:33

It's quite possible you may have a defective unit. Mine's had its fair share of software issues - map expiration on April1, among other things. We also have audio only playing the left and center channels and muting out the right, which is something the stream2 did not have an issue with despite both units having a mono speaker. I called tech support about both issues and they said it was either an issue with the audio processing as I had thought it was, or that the map license expired and I should just change the date back to 2017.