Posted Tuesday, December 3, 2019
One of the bigger challenges for a blind person is quickly identifying things that aren’t physically unique or labeled in braille. This is one of the frustrations technology has helped in a big way.
The first device that made a significant breakthrough in this area, was the I.D. Mate. A talking barcode reader with a built-in database of products. It was very cool, very efficient and also very expensive; still costs $1299 today. I considered buying one in the fall of 2007, but now am happy I didn’t.
I did however, in late 2009, buy a $300 USB barcode reader and attach it to a netbook which I already owned and had been using. Still expensive, but way less than the I.d. Mate. It also meant I had to keep the netbook on top of the microwave and plugged in. It did work though, was faster than more modern solutions still today, but it was also cumbersome and I finally gave up on it.
There are several nice apps, like Seeing AI, for either or both iOS and Android that can identify barcodes today. The problem is the APIs assume that the barcode can be visually aligned in the camera view. The app developers have offered beeps to help the blind user do this, but it’s still not as efficient as a dedicated scanner. Smartphones are way more mobile than my old USB barcode scanner attached to my netbook though, so it’s still somewhat of an improvement.
The only annoyance for me in using a smartphone is placing round containers on the counter and then them rolling around; even holding them with one hand, I wished that I could have both hands free to position the item I was identifying.
Enter the Echo Show from Amazon. When the first generation Echo Show was announced with it’s flashy screen so you could watch videos in the kitchen I thought that was the most useless thing ever for a blind person; but then Amazon announced the “Show and Tell” feature in their September 2019 release. I was interested, and decided to go for it.
The Echo Show 5, their most recently announced version seemed the best for me. It was small and cheap, too cheap. I got it and then found it didn’t support Show and Tell. Amazon still says the feature is supported by Echo Show, first and second generation. The Echo Show 5 doesn’t have generation anywhere in its name, but I figure it’s new why wouldn’t it support show and tell. I then found it can’t, because its camera is only 1 mega pixel; I’m still wondering why anyone would want a camera that anemic. Pretty bad if i, totally blind knows 1 megapixel is that bad.
The problem is though, that it really is that bad, it means that a blind person, who doesn’t need a screen at all can’t buy the least expensive visual models, grumble. This also excludes the new Echo Show 8, still only 1 megapixel camera, frown. The Echo Show first generation is the best way to go. It’s around $100 for as long as it’s still available, the second generation is $230. More than twice the price, with very little benefit if you can’t see it.
It’s been setup in my kitchen for almost two months now, on top of the microwave, but still smaller than my old netbook. I find identifying food faster and do find having both hands to hold items as convenient as I had imagined. Its database is somewhat limited, but still not bad. I’m guessing it will grow over time. Some times if it can’t identify something exactly, it will read some of the text it can see which can be just as successful in my opinion.
turning on VoiceView, Amazon’s screen reader is easy, and adds some nice capabilities to the Show, and VoiceView gestures are very similar to those in VoiceOver on Apple’s iOS. The Echo Show, first generation, is definitely worth it, even if you’re totally blind and can’t see the screen. The Show and tell feature is more convenient than scanning barcodes with a smartphone, and it will be able to use the “cook to scan” technology if you ever decide to get the new Amazon smart oven in the future.
Yes, I later realized I could put the phone on the counter face down, and then have both hands to position items to be identified, but am still glad I got the Echo Show. It is always ready to identify things for me, even if my phone is in another room, or doing something else.
Accessibility Insights 