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(01/07/2010) Mobile Speak 4.5 for Symbian is Now Available

Touch Screen, Web Browser, Calendar, TweetS60, Nokia C5, C6, E5 & E73 Mode, and More!

Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain, July 1st, 2010

Mobile Speak 4.5, a free update for all users of Mobile Speak 4.0, is now available! Since the release of Mobile Speak 4.1, Code Factory’s Symbian development team has focused its efforts on two main areas: Touch Screen and Web Browser support.

Using a Touch Screen Becomes as Easy as Using a Phone with Physical Keys

Mobile Speak 4.5 includes two new touch screen interaction modes, based on the concept of a standard joystick and a standard numeric keypad. All of the physical keys used to control the screen reader and phone in non touch screen devices have now been converted by Mobile Speak into very intuitive virtual touch keys. It is therefore easier and faster to enter text, dial a number or navigate through the menus of your touch screen device

The two new touch screen input methods are named Keypad mode and Joystick mode. The Keypad mode is the default touch mode. You can switch to the Joystick mode with command + volume up key, and then use command + volume down key to go back to the Keypad mode.

In Keypad mode, the touch screen is divided into 12 virtual keys, arranged just like a phone keypad (1, 2, and 3 at the top; 4, 5, and 6 in the second row; 7, 8, and 9 in the third; and the star, 0, and hash keys in the bottom row). By accessing the Keypad mode, you can type numbers and letters just as with a physical keypad, including using predictive text to compose text messages and email. This input method allows you to enter text faster than either a virtual keyboard or a review cursor with an onscreen keyboard.

In addition, you can combine these virtual numeric keys with the command key to perform command shortcuts, just as in previous (non-touch) versions of Mobile Speak. For example, to mute Mobile Speak, press the command key followed by the virtual 0 key at the bottom center of the screen. Long-time users of Mobile Speak will find this method of accessing commands familiar, and new users will also find it a convenient alternative to the standard touch gestures.

To access the left and right softkeys, delete characters, or press enter, you can use a gesture called a "slide back" in one of four directions. For example, to access the left softkey, you can perform a "slide left and back" by sliding your finger right-to-left and then left-to-right without releasing your finger or pausing between the two motions. This gesture may take a few tries to be able to perform it smoothly, but once you familiarize yourself with it, it provides a quick and easy gesture to access common functions.

Tip: To quickly become familiar with the virtual touch keys, gestures and commands in Keypad mode, use the Keyboard Help mode. This is activated and deactivated by pressing the Command key + long press on the virtual key 5.

Besides this Keypad mode, Mobile Speak 4.5 also features a Joystick mode in which the touch screen is divided into 9 virtual keys, arranged in a 3 x 3 grid. This touch input mode is intended for users who prefer to interact with the phone using taps rather than by slide gestures. The central key is joystick Enter, while the 4 keys directly above, below, left and right of the joystick correspond to the joystick up, down, left and right keys. The bottom left key is the left softkey, and the bottom right key is the right softkey, and the upper right key is the delete key (upper left is unassigned). Therefore if you are scrolling a list, you only have to make taps on the top center or bottom center of your touch screen to scroll up and down the list. 

Improved Web Browsing Experience

Based on the extensive feedback of Mobile Speak’s users and beta testers, many bugs have been fixed in order to provide a much more advanced web browsing experience. These include:

  • Fixed problem that prevented some pages from being accessible on certain devices.
  • Fixed problem where reading whole screen by pressing 9 would sometimes finish before the end of page is reached.
  • Fixed problem on many newer devices where the amount of kilobytes downloaded and remaining was not being spoken when pressing joystick up (or down) while a page is loading.
  • Fixed problem when entering text in Text Area field on some web pages. Pressing joystick enter will now open the Text Area so that text can be entered.
  • Fixed problem where Combo boxes were not always selectable. Pressing joystick enter will now open Combo boxes so that the selection can be modified.
  • Fixed problem on some newer phones which could cause a combo box to open unintentionally when passing over the element with joystick moves.
  • Fixed problem where a Combo box's contents were not immediately refreshed with the new data after changing the combo box selection.
  • Fixed problem where some in-page links were not being jumped to correctly.
  • Fixed problem where the text of some elements was not being spoken (affected some images, links or headers).
  • Fixed various problems when moving up with joystick up, such as: End of lists/tables was not spoken; all elements of combo box were spoken; not symmetric to moving down with joystick down.
  • Fixed problem when entering web address with T9 predictive text active: it is no longer repeating full address each item a new character is entered if the address starts with "http".
  • Editor state is now spoken correctly (e.g. T9, alpha, number).
  • After entering a password, its value is now displayed as "****" when passing over the element with joystick moves, to improve privacy.

 More New Features
  • Support for the Nokia calendar application in several new devices where it was not yet supported (e.g. E52, E72, E75, 6730, C5) when in Month, Agenda or To-do views.
  • Support for TweetS60, the popular 3rd party Twitter client.
  • Support for the Focus 40 Blue Braille portable device from Freedom Scientific. Listen to Jonathan Mosen's demo at http://www.codefactory.es/descargas/Audio/focus_40_blue.mp3
  • Support for new phones: Nokia C5, Nokia C6, Nokia E5 and Nokia E73 Mode (for T-Mobile USA).
  • Changed T9 predictive text functionality so that, when entering text in predictive mode and with Keyboard Echo set to Characters, the whole word it spoken (just like it currently is when Keyboard Echo is set to Characters and Words). Also speaking the whole word when typing a space in predictive mode with keyboard echo set to "Characters".
  • Added feature to the user dictionary to allow the copying of dictionaries between different voices.
  • Added "Include in Toggle Profile command" setting in General Tab. When set to Off, the Mobile Speak Profile is not included when toggling profile with Command + Clear. Default is On for all profiles.
  • Touch devices: Added new commands: Command + volume up and Command + volume down. These allow you to easily cycle through Mobile Speak's touchmodes : Keypad, Joystick, Quadrant, Review Cursor and Stylus mode.
  • Touch: Added Configuration option in General tab called "Touch mode on startup" which allows you to select the Mobile Speak touch mode that will be first active when Mobile Speak is launched.
  • Activation: issues with SMS and Internet activation that existed with some operators (e.g. AT&T) have now been resolved.

Don’t forget that Mobile Speak 4.5 is Cross Platform! Visit http://codefactory.es/en/press.asp?id=388&y=2010&n=84 to read the Mobile Speak 4.5 for Windows Mobile press release.

If you are a new user, download Mobile Speak 4.5 now at http://codefactory.es/en/downloads.asp?id=347 and try it for 30 days for free. 

If you are a user of a previous version from Mobile Speak 4.0 and wish to upgrade to Mobile Speak 4.5, contact your distributor to purchase an upgrade license. In addition to all the improvements and new features of Mobile Speak 4.0 and 4.5, if you purchase an upgrade license, you will also get Mobile Magnifier, Mobile DAISY Player, Color Recognizer  and the Games for free! To consult the complete list of Code Factory’s official distributors, visit http://www.codefactory.es/en/page.asp?id=351

To learn how to install Mobile Speak 4.5 for Symbian for the first time, follow the instructions at http://www.codefactory.es/descargas/family_4/ms45_userguide_symbian.html#_Toc265236570

If upgrading from version 3.XX of Mobile Speak, make sure to FIRST UNINSTALL all the Code Factory packages you have installed and then RESTART the device. However if you already have  version 4.XX installed, just stop Mobile Speak and install v4.5. None of the TTS packages have changed since v4.0, so there is no need to reinstall them. For more information about upgrading, follow the instructions at http://www.codefactory.es/descargas/family_4/ms45_userguide_symbian.html#_Toc265236574  

To read more about Mobile Speak 4.0 visit http://codefactory.es/en/products.asp?id=318

About Code Factory  

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain, Code Factory is the global leader committed to the development of products designed to eliminate barriers to the accessibility of mobile technology for the blind and visually impaired. Today, Code Factory is the leading provider of screen readers, screen magnifiers, and Braille interfaces for the widest range of mainstream mobile devices. Among Code Factory's customers are well known organizations for the blind such as ONCE, and carriers such as AT&T, Bouygues Telecom, SFR, TIM and Vodafone. Code Factory has also built strong partnerships with mainstream multinational companies like RIM, Nokia, Microsoft, and Hewlett Packard as well as leading assistive technology companies such as HumanWare, Optelec and Sendero Group.