There is a market for such a device alright and not just amongst the Deaf-Blind
community, how else could you check time, notifications etc in silence? You
certainly can’t do that with a Apple Watc so a Dot Watch would be absolutely
perfect in an environment where you didn’t wish to cause interruption to the
meeting or lecture etc.
From: mac4theblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mac4theblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On
Behalf Of Deb Cook Lewis
Sent: Monday, 10 February 2020 11:49 AM
To: mac4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [mac4theblind] Re: Dot Watch - In touch with the world. From your
wrist.
Well, if you just got it, you may be able to return it. I know something like
that I won’t buy sight unseen without the option to return it. I rarely do
return anything, but in this case I think I would have wanted to. When I saw
that I was going to be giving it a significantly negative review I shut my
mouth and let my husband try it. He absolutely wants a real Braille watch, not
dots around the rim, but as this watch is advertised. He also wasn’t really
that interested in seeing notifications, texting etc. He just wanted to use all
the time related things well with it. But even as much as he was set to like
it, he definitely did not.
I thought they might listen to me because they had specifically solicited me to
test it because they thought it was the be all device for deaf-blind folks and
I was working in that program at the time. Well it most definitely wasn’t for
all the reasons we’ve talked about, but also because many of them learned
Braille as adults, they didn’t have the flexibility about the dot issues or the
strange spacing etc. So I gave them all that and more in a really organized way
and sat back to wait for the big revision. Instead, we got the big release. I
still think there’s definitely a market for this type of device, and if I ever
see it I’ll tel the world.
From: mac4theblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:mac4theblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:mac4theblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Wendy
Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2020 4:07 PM
To: mac4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:mac4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [mac4theblind] Re: Dot Watch - In touch with the world. From your
wrist.
Thank you for the feedback, I’m sorry that you were disappointed as well. Do
you think there’s anyway we can hold them accountable? I sure would like my
$200 back but even more than that I’d like to not see anybody else get sucked
in the way I did. Let me know if you have any ideas, thanks.
Wendy
On Feb 9, 2020, at 4:35 PM, Deb Cook Lewis <deblewis53@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:deblewis53@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
I was a beta tester for this when they were releasing it. It was a total piece
of garbage and the advertising is completely that, just advertising.
It’s such a great concept. My husband wanted one almost no matter what, but
even he had to admit that it was a total loser. The dots did not raise and
retract accurately as you noted, it had trouble staying connected to the phone
although I’ve heard that’s going better, and the entire cell spacing in the
cells and between them was actually not to the specifications for braille.
We gave them a lot of feedback as did other testers, but I don’t think they
really took much if any of it.
From: mac4theblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:mac4theblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:mac4theblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Wendy
Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2020 8:04 AM
To: mac4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:mac4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [mac4theblind] Re: Dot Watch - In touch with the world. From your
wrist.
I bought one of these and I was very excited. It feels great until.dot.
All cells do not fire at all times and there is no pattern to when and why they
do or do not. You might see a time as zero 123 just to find out it should have
been zero 623 or zero 723. Additionally, sometimes it takes a long time went
touching the advance bar to get The new set of four braille cells. I contacted
the company about five times within the first seven days they we are very
responsive sending instructions after that they stopped responding to me. When
I finally sent a rather threatening note telling them that if they would Not
respond I would start posting negative commentary on their product and,
surprise, they wrote back. They had no solution they just told me not to touch
the cells cells until all pins are up and ready to be touched. I don’t know how
you could possibly know when that time is. It’s a wonderful concept for a
watch but it is far from being stable and the company I find to be very
dishonest. $200 and I’m stuck with something I will never use because of it’s
unreliability. Very sad.
In conclusion the Bluetooth connectivity is very weak so if you get two rooms
away from your phone you lose the connection and often you have to go in and
pare it again. Wendy
On Jan 16, 2020, at 12:25 AM, Rikki Chaplin <rikkichaplin@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:rikkichaplin@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
It has four cells. I wouldn't use it for reading long messages but it's fine
for simple ones. It has a timer though which is really cool! You can seamlessly
tell the time in a meeting or any context where you need discretion with it
barely making any sound. You can also do that with an Apple watch in vibrate
mode, but this is much faster! One press of a button and the time comes right
up on the display in braille. Hope that helps.
On 16/01/2020 4:15 PM, Dane Trethowan wrote:
How many cells does this device actually have and do you find it easy to scroll
through those longer messages or eMails?
On 16 Jan 2020, at 4:26 pm, Rikki Chaplin <rikkichaplin@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:rikkichaplin@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
I bought one of these and indeed found it great! However, take note when they
tell you to ensure that you replace the cylicone covering over the display if
it tares. Mine came off eventually and I hadn't gotten around to replacing it.
In the meantime, because I used it everywhere, the braille cells clogged up due
to it getting dust and pobably oil in it. I concluded that this device should
be used selectively rather than in places like the kitchen for example, where
you're dealing with oil and ingredients that generate crumbs, remnants etc.
I've since gone back to alovely standard braille watch by Auguste Raimond, but
I may well get another DotWatch.
Cheers,
Rikki.
Sent from my iPhone
On 16 Jan 2020, at 3:18 pm, grtdane@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:grtdane@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
So here we have a device which is truly worth owning in my opinion.
The article doesn’t mention just how unobtrusive this device can be, no voice
to distract others for example.
Anyway take a look at the page and decide for yourself.
https://www.dotincorp.com/
