So I really want to hear people experience about those. A lot of amazing inovation is happening in the space of refreshable multi line braille & tactile graphics displays.
We have the Monarch sitting in a premium place of its own.
https://www.aph.org/product/monarch/
But much more affordable (relatively), we have dotpad x, of which I have heard great description on Double Tap.
https://www.dotincorp.com/en/product/dotpadx
But, recently, I have discovered this new kid in the place, nobody else seem to mention it. Canute console Premium.
https://bristolbraille.org/about-canute-console-the-next-generation-in-braille/
For the latter, it doesn't pretend to be in the same tactile graphic display as the two others, rather that it can mimick it in a very useful way, if what I understand is correct. Plus, its pricing is very competitive, and it's open source!
I saw and Canadian Assistive Technology sells the Canute 360 at around $4500. Expensive, but why would I ever purchase a 40 cells braille display instead of a 9x40 cells one for more or less the same price?
I really can't understand why Monarch is so expensive while DotPad X, another real tactile graphic display, is at least 2 times less expensive, and has a real 20 cells row below the actual display (for those who know, this was the innitial description of the graphity plus before Humanware partners with APH instead).
For those who have any of these, I would love to know what is your experience with it from a screen reader support point of view. Does VoiceOver actually shows more than one line as its doc pretends it can?
I saw that video of the canute 360 on youtube and the insane sound it makes, but I think that was a prototype device. And Monarch is just slightly quiter than that. I know somebody who works for Humanware and has Monarch for home because of that, and will try this as soon as I can.
I hope this thread can become something important for that emerging space, or at least start a conversation.
PS: if this actually works, how useful can Freeform on mac become with any of these devices?
PS2: something some people may mix: a tactile graphic/multi line braille display, is not aimed, nor can, replicate pixel by pixel an actual monitor. You really have to understand this subtle point. I was making this confusion before so...
Comments
The DotPadX
THis is one intriguing device I wish to get one day. I listened to a podcast recently where the device seems to achieve a lot for what it is sold for.
Their website is terrible though
I respect Dotincorp a lot for what they do, but they could care more about their website about specialist products for blind / low vision. It's infinitely worse on mobile.