At the Assistive Technology Industry Association conference in Orlando, Florida, Humanware announced an upgrade to the BrailleNote Touch. The unit is called the BrailleNote Touch Plus, and it features an upgrade over it's older counterpart. It's available in 18 and 32-cell configurations.
They feature the Snapdragon 820 (APQ8096) paired with a Quad-core Kryo 2.2 GHz 64-bit CPU.
Memory is doubled from 2GB to 4GB, while internal storage also doubles to 64GB. The storage is now built-in to the unit as opposed to being on a removable memory card. The removable cards allowed users to move to a new unit if theirs was damaged by inserting the card, but Humanware says that a backup utility will be available. Other modern conveniences include Wi-Fi 802.11AC with both 2.4 and 5GHz support, Bluetooth 4.2, and USBC for charging. The size, weight, and battery appear to be largely unchanged.
On the software side, the Touch Plus will run Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, and be more likely to get updates to Android in the future because of the use of more mainstream parts. Android 8.1 also brings with it support for the Google Assistant, the Chrome web browser, and enhanced printing capabilities.
The units are available for order now, with the 32-cell version available for $5,695 and the 18-cell going for $4,195. These are both a slight $200 bump over the original touch.
Current Touch users can transplant their braille cells to a new model for $1,295. Users who recently purchased a BrailleNote Touch may be eligible to receive further discounts or a free upgrade.
https://www.blindbargains.com/bargains.php?m=19950
So, what are your thoughts?