OwnFone has released the world's first Braille phone to the U.K. market, selling the highly customizable device for the low price of £60.
The phone, which is designed to allow visually impaired users to have an instant and easy means of communication with their friends and family, uses 3D printing techniques for its front and back.
As per Tom Sunderland, the inventor of the Braille phone, 3D printing allowed the company to keep the phone's costs down, making it possible to sell it at £60. 3D printing also allows the phone to be fully customizable, with several design options available at the company website.
"The phone can be personalized with two or four Braille buttons which are pre-programmed to call friends, family, carers or the emergency services," Sunderland said.
"This is the first phone to have a 3D printed keypad and for people that can't read Braille, we can print texture and raised text on the phone. Our 3D phone printing process is patent pending," Sunderland added.
The tasks that the Braille phone can carry out are limited to basic communications, as the phone only has buttons and no screen. The phone only allows the users to answer incoming call or to make outgoing calls. The phone also has buttons to adjust its volume and to switch on/off its speakers.
Below the volume and speaker buttons are keys for answering and rejecting calls. The rest of the phone's front is made up of buttons for the user's contacts, with each key representing one number and the name of the contact written in Braille. The phone is not capable of calling any other numbers aside from the contacts programmed into it as they are ordered from OwnFone.
In 2012, OwnFone released one of the first phones that was partially 3D printed, and in 2013, the company invented a child-friendly edition called the 1stFone, which has programmable buttons for important contacts. The Braille phone is based on the design of these two previous devices, keeping the phone's small size and colorful designs.
While this is the first Braille phone to be widely available in the market, the idea is not originally OwnFone's. In 2013, India-based Kriyate developed a prototype smartphone that featured a repressible Braille display and haptic touch, or feedback controls, that vibrate or beep after commands are inputted.
The Braille phone can be customized and ordered through OwnFone's website.
