BlindShell 2 accessible smartphone
HM78
Please retain these instructions for future reference. These instructions are also available in other formats.
Contents
Special warning
General description
Items supplied with the BlindShell 2
Orientation
Left edge
Right edge
Top edge
Getting started
Inserting SIM card and battery
Using the product
BlindShell gestures
The one-finger tap
The one-finger holding gesture
The two-finger tapping gesture
The two-finger holding gesture
Additional gestures and button presses
Access to status info
Quick help
End a call
Resetting the phone
Main menu
Spelling the last utterance
Locking and unlocking the phone
Starting BlindShell
Text inputting methods
The virtual keyboard
QWERTY keyboard
The QWERTY layout
Using the QWERTY keyboard
Keyboard modes
Dictation
Voice assistant
Calls
Messages
Alarm
Minute Timer
Calculator
Calendar
Notes
Radio
Weather
Localisation
Information about the state of the phone
Internet search
Jokes
BlindShell functions
Call
Call contact
Dial number
Call history
During a call
Messages
Contacts
Contact list
Add contact
Backing up and importing contacts
Import contacts
Backup contacts
More Applications
Tools
Alarm
Minute timer
Calendar
Notes
Voice Recorder
Calculator
Weather
Media
Music player
Internet radio
FM Radio
Song recognition
Books
The book reader
Book share
Librivox
Android Applications
Voice call in WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger
BlindShell gestures
Android TalkBack
Vision Aids
Colour detection
Illumination sensor
Magnifier
Localisation
Text recognition
Games
Chess
Pexeso
Settings
Control
Sounds
Customising ringtones and alarm tones
Display
Networks
Wi-Fi Settings
Wi-Fi connection via text file
Mobile data
Pin code
SIM cards
Google Account log-in
BlindShell update
Time and date settings
Phone shutdown
Main menu
Status information
Manual
Favourite contacts
Missed events
Technical specification
How to contact RNIB
Terms and conditions of sale
Special warning
The BlindShell device includes an interactive tutorial, which automatically starts when you first use the device. This must be completed before you can use the phone. It is available to access within the device any time thereafter in the Manual or you can access specific help by sliding one finger from the top to the bottom of the screen whenever you need assistance and you will get context based help.
In addition to the above, all RNIB customers will receive 1 free hour’s training with the RNIB Technology for Life - the phone must have been bought from the RNIB. This training is highly recommended before you start to use your BlindShell handset.
If you have any questions or require assistance, RNIB Technology for Life team will be happy to assist you. Call 0207 391 2280 or email
General description
BlindShell is a touchscreen phone for blind and visually impaired people. It is operated by hand gestures. Feedback is provided by the built-in synthetic voice, vibration and additional acoustic signals. There is also a Voice Assistance feature which enables you to control the phone by voice commands. It will allow you to open any application that is present in the phone by simply saying its name and will allow you to tell the phone to do something. For example, you can ask the phone to “open messages” or you can say “call John Smith”, or “send a message to 11122 333444 (or the person’s name)”.
Items supplied with the BlindShell 2
- BlindShell handset.
- Headset.
- Battery.
- Charger with UK plug.
- USB data cable.
Orientation
Hold your phone with the smooth screen facing upwards, so that there is a long button running down from the top of the left hand edge. On the opposite edge, about a third of the way down from the top should be a small, round button. The camera on the back of the phone should protrude out slightly and should be furthest from you.
Left edge
The long button on the left edge is the volume rocker. Pressing the upper end will increase the volume, pressing the down end will decrease it. In any text field, the long press of the volume button will start the dictation function.
Right edge
The small button on the right edge has three functions. It turns your phone on, locks the screen and acts as a home button. Pressing the button for half a second from anywhere within BlindShell will take you back to the main menu.
Top edge
On the upper edge of the phone, you'll find the socket for the charging cable to the left and the round one for the headset on the right.
Getting started
Inserting SIM card and battery
In addition to the BlindShell phone, all BlindShell phones are delivered with the charging cable, the power adapter and a headset. The SIM card is not provided with the phone and needs either a standard or micro SIM.
Before you can turn on the phone, you need to insert the battery and the SIM card as follows.
Hold your phone so that the rear side faces up and the camera is located furthest away from you.
Take the back cover off the phone by pulling the piece of paper that protrudes out of the back, upwards away from the phone. This paper piece should help with taking the back cover off the phone for the first time; you can dispose of it afterwards. If you need to take the back cover off later, hook your finger nail into the socket in the bottom part of the phone and pull the back away from the device until you hear a clicking sound. Move your finger around the phone through the little gap that has now appeared and remove the back completely.
With the phone face down with the camera furthest away from you, in the upper third of the phone, you will find three card slots. The left slot is the standard SIM slot, the middle one is the micro SIM slot and the right slot is for a micro SD card, which serves as an extension of your phone's memory. Remove the plastic “dummy” from the standard SIM slot and insert your own SIM card so that the cut off corner is located in the upper left corner of the slot. The same applies for the micro SD card.
Note: In BlindShell you can use up to two SIM cards at once. Each SIM card can have assigned one of the following services: Outgoing Calls, Outgoing messages or Mobile data. Calls and messages can be received on both SIM cards at once. The setting of the SIM cards can be found under Settings, then Networks and then SIM cards.
To insert the battery first locate the protruding rubber bump on the upper side of the battery. Position the battery so that the rubber bump is facing upwards and slides in first, towards the sim card slots. As you push in, lay it in the designated space. When it lies flat, the battery is inserted.
Now put the lid back on the phone so that the camera protrudes from the whole and carefully press down along the edges of the phone until the lid clicks back into place.
Using the product
Before you start using the phone, you should take a few minutes to familiarise yourself with the gestures that enable you to control BlindShell.
BlindShell gestures
BlindShell is operated with only four gestures. The following gestures ensure full control over your phone:
The one-finger tap
This gesture is accomplished by tapping the screen once and helps you to navigate through menus and lists. Depending on if you tap the left or right half of the screen, you can move either backward or forward
The one-finger holding gesture
This gesture is accomplished by holding your finger on an item for about half a second.
Depending on the context, the one finger holding gesture has the following functions:
- Selection of a list or menu item.
- Accepting an incoming call.
- Confirming a dialogue or question.
- Turning off the alarm.
The two-finger tapping gesture
This gesture is accomplished by taping on the screen with two fingers; this is required to read the text on the current active screen. In a menu, this will be the selected item and in a text field this will be the complete text. The following functions are accomplished with the two finger tap:
- Reading text on the current active screen.
- Reading of a complete text in a text field.
- Reading the contact name or caller ID from an incoming call.
- Play or pause the book reader.
The two-finger holding gesture
This gesture could be described as an escape or cancellation/decline gesture. Put two slightly splayed fingers on the screen for about half a second to accomplish the following:
- Go back one level.
- Answer no to a question.
- Decline an incoming call.
- Escape of tasks (creating contacts, writing messages, etc.).
Additional gestures and button presses
Access to status info
Sliding one finger from the bottom to the top of the screen will read you back status info like time and date, battery charge, etc.
Quick help
Sliding one finger from the top to the bottom of the phone will get you a quick help explaining the most important BlindShell gestures.
End a call
A short press on the power button will end a call.
Resetting the phone
In case your phone becomes unresponsive or misbehaves, you can reset the phone by holding the power button for ten seconds.
Main menu
On an unlocked phone, pressing the power button for about half a second will always take you back to the main menu. If your phone is locked, it will “wake” up.
Spelling the last utterance
If you perform the two finger tapping gesture twice in quick succession, the last utterance will be spelt out, instead of just read. The gesture can be used in keyboard mode as well when security over input is needed, like with passwords.
Locking and unlocking the phone
Short press of the power button will either lock or unlock the phone, depending on the state in which the phone was in before pressing the button.
Starting BlindShell
To start your phone, press the power button for about half a second. You will get vibration feedback for confirmation. You will hear a short melody when BlindShell has booted up.
The phone is ready to use when the first menu item "call 1 of 9” is read back to you. If you are prompted for the pin, please enter it. The keyboard design is the alpha numeric design used by old phones. Underneath the numbers you will find an additional row with three keys.
The function of the middle key will vary depending on the context, the left and right buttons, however, always have the following functions:
- “Delete” on the right.
- “Send”, “Save” or “Call” on the left.
To enter your PIN, slide your finger across the screen and listen until you hear the digit you want to enter. After finding the requested digit, hold your finger on it and simultaneously tap anywhere on the screen with a different finger. When you remove both fingers from the screen, you will hear the written digit, a typing noise as additional acoustic feedback, and the whole number entered so far.
Note: Should it be necessary to delete everything you have entered, find the delete key with one finger, hold it and tap the screen anywhere on the screen until you hear "delete all". When you remove both fingers from the screen, you are prompted to confirm that you want to delete all. Confirm this with the one finger holding gesture.
After you entered your pin and selected "Use", BlindShell is ready to use.
Text inputting methods
The virtual keyboard
The handling of the virtual keyboard doesn't differ from the numeric keyboard you operated when entering your pin. However the layout of the keyboard changes. On key two for example, you will find the letters a, b, c and the number 2. If you want to write the word “hello”, repeat the following steps for every letter:
- With one finger, find the letter “g”, (in the position of the number 4).
- Hold your finger on the “g” and tap the screen anywhere twice with another finger.
- After the first tap, you will hear “g”, then after the second, you will hear “h”.
- Remove both fingers from the screen. A clicking sound confirms that the selected letter has been written. After you have repeated this procedure for every letter, the word “hello” will be read back to you after either typing a space or punctuation mark. In case you want to delete the last letter, hold delete with one finger and tap anywhere on the screen with a second finger. Removing both fingers from the screen will delete the last written letter.
With the hash key, you can switch between the numeric and alpha numeric keyboards and manipulate capitalisation. The first letter after any punctuation mark is capitalised.
QWERTY keyboard
The QWERTY keyboard is an alternative way to write texts on BlindShell. Some people may find using QWERTY keyboards faster than the traditional one. You can select your preferred keyboard in Settings - Control - Keyboard – Keyboard style.
When you select the QWERTY keyboard, only keyboard screens used for entering the text will be affected, like the SMS or note writing keyboard. The dial screen or the screens for numeric input, as well as screens for date and time input, will continue using the traditional keyboard layout.
The QWERTY layout
For ergonomic reasons, the QWERTY keyboard has a different orientation than most screens in BlindShell - it requires the screen to be oriented landscape. The longer side of the phone should be horizontal and the volume rocker should be facing upwards.
The QWERTY keyboard layout has five rows, ten columns and is akin to the keyboard used with a computer. The keyboard has three switchable modes; lowercase letters, uppercase letters and special characters.
- The topmost row contains numbers 1 to 0.
- The second row contains letters only.
- The third row contains mostly letters, the last key being reserved for a backspace.
- The fourth row starts with the shift key and its last two keys of the row are reserved for arrow keys, to navigate within the test.
- The last row contains the special character key, spacebar, three punctuation keys and the “ok” button, which submits the text and closes the keyboard.
Using the QWERTY keyboard
To use the QWERTY keyboard, drag one finger over the screen until you find the key you want to use. Release the key to type it. In most cases, there will be no need to use the second finger.
There are two exceptions:
- The delete key can delete by word or to delete all.
- Non-English words use the second finger to enter accented versions of letters.
To trigger the alternate characters or functions, tap your second finger on the screen like when using the standard keyboard. We recommend that you keep enough distance between the first and second finger; if you find it easier, you can do the second taps with your other hand.
Keyboard modes
As there are too many characters to fit on a single keyboard layout, the keyboard can be switched to different modes:
- The default mode is the lowercase mode, it contains lowercase letters and numbers.
- The uppercase mode can be triggered by pressing the shift key, which also contains a selection of most common special characters and punctuation marks, as well as the ability to form capital letters.
- The special characters mode contains the rest of the punctuation marks not displayed by the shift key. It also includes special characters and emoticons.
Dictation
Instead of a keyboard it is possible to input text via voice dictation. While using a keyboard press either of the volume buttons for about half a second to start this function. After being prompted and hearing a beep, you can start dictating the text.
Dictate the text in short sentences or in a few words. After each dictated segment the phone will slightly vibrate. At this moment you can either continue in dictating more text or close the voice dictation by long pressing either of the volume buttons, or by long pressing the screen. If you don't close the voice dictation function manually, it will be closed automatically after a few seconds.