Hi, hope this is the right forum for this. If not I'll change it. I received my Nls Ereader in the mail the other day. I Really like it! I'm using it to type this actually. Which is in relation to the next question I have. Has anyone here used the ereader as a braille display for their Iphone? Because it has this weird thing it does when you want to insert a new line in some edit boxes, it brings up a context menu with items like Select, Select All, Scan Text, and Dismiss Context Menu. Has anyone else come across this? The device is made by Humanware but when I called them I was told to call my Talking Book library for tech support. I've never had another braille display that has done this that I can remember and I have hooked up three to my iphone in the past. It doesn't always bring up this menu, but it does it in Safari and Mail I think. Usually in multi-line edit boxes. I just don't know the behind the scenes interactions of how the display sees these fields. I've tried using several ways to press the Enter key but all of them bring up this context menu instead. Am I alone in having this problem? And if you know anyone else who is just as nerdy like me and has done something similar, could you please connect me with them? Thanks. Running ios 16 iphone 12 pro
Comments
This happens with the Chameleon20 as well
Hi, this is quite frustrating. I use many displays with my job and have only seen this behavior with the chameleon display from APH/humanware. This issue appears in iOS apps like notes, messages, mail etc. I reached out to APH and they said it was an Apple issue. I'll update if I find a solution.
I also am using a brailliant…
I also am using a brailliant bi 20 and the same issue happens. I do not see a work around at present. For me, the issue did fix itself but naturally i had to restart the display and the same issue reappeared. I also posted to the Brailliant facebook user group but no one there has a fix yet. I believe this is strictly a Humanware issue because my old focus 14 5 gen does not do this.
it's an Apple and IOS 16 issue
You're doing nothing wrong. I'm using a Brailliant and I have also used an ereader, and can confirm that this is an IOS 16 and Apple issue. However, I have a solution for some things. Mainly text fields. Here it is.
Hit the space bar, and dots 2 and 7 I think it is,(I just know it as the backspace key) that simmulates the option key on a BT. keyboard. You'll see a status message come up that says option. After that, hit the enter key. Once you press a cursor routing key, the option message will be dismissed, and you'll find a new nine in its place! Apple is aware of this, they are WELL AWARE of this. I called and spoke to an awesome rep from accessibility about another isue and also added my voice to the collected howl. When I said something, she said, "O you're having this issue too?" andtook down my braille display and Ipad info.
I'd still urge you to reach out to them. The more people that reach out, the better, and it'd help them figure out which displays are having the issue and which aren't. Hope this helps, and know you're not alone.
yes it helps a lot thanks.
The interesting thing is that this action also effect space with DOTS 1, 5 which is the e or enter cord. also, if you do a k cord for theoiceover help, it does not say "Dot 8, presses the return key." or something like that. it shows the following sign, Ê Ê. I put it twice so people can see this on a braille display.
Oh thank God I thought I was going nuts
Ok great thanks everyone I am glad I am not alone with this issue. Who should I contact at Apple about it? Just call the accessibility line? thanks all for writing hopefully it can get fixed soon.
question
One question. Is there a way to have the Enter key send messages like it should? The work around of dots 2,7 space to turn on option will insert a blank line but I find it does not always send messages.
Enter key
The other thing that you will find with these displays running firmware 2.0 on these devices is that commands for select all, cut, copy, paste and undo will not work. You must utilize the edit rotor to work around this. As for sending a text, pressing space with dot 4 will land you on the send button, so just press a cursor routing button on send. All of these things take work arounds and extra stuff, but they seem to work.
Another note, even if you have a different braille display connected along with the Brailliant BIX, Chameleon, NLS E-Reader or BrailleONE, you will have the problem when switching to a Focus or other device unless you completely forget the above mentioned display.
I don't suppose
I don't suppose there is a way to get the Brailliant to go into emulation mode like the old aultra use too?
Emulation
Sadly, no. The only way you can get this functionality back is by running firmware 1.2. The problem with that is that once you upgrade to 2.0, there doesn't appear to be a way to downgrade. It's yet another case for emulation in the Brailliant BIX and associated devices, since Google doesn't support the new HID standard they promised to back in 2018.
Thanks for the work arounds
Well thank you all for the work arounds and such. A bit clunkky but it works.
Workaround for enter key bringing up context menu
Hi. I find that if I show or hide the onscreen keyboard, all is well and the enter key behaves. So, if you press the enter key and the context menu pops up on your iPhone, dismiss it by double-tapping the screen on the Dismiss button. Then, press dots 1,4,6 with the spacebar. This will hide or show the onscreen keyboard. It doesn't matter which one happens; you either hide or show the keyboard. Then, press the Enter key. It should behave normally. I have contacted Humanware about this and they admitted this may be easier for some folks to do rather than the lengthy explanation they gave me of how to fix this. I do hope it is resolved soon, but for now, this is a reliable way to get around this odd behavior.
Haven't Gotten That Far Yet
I ordered and received my e-reader last week and have been doing some things with it. But I admittedly have not gotten that far, primarily because I'm used to only 6-dot Braille and this thing seems to do that as well as 8-dot. It's a very nice device, but I just haven't used many Braille displays. The ones I did use, I only used very briefly here in Illinois. So while I am excited about my e-reader, it is rather daunting at present. But I am familiar with HumanWare, as I used a Toshiba laptop back in high school which they outfitted with speech. You cannot beat the price of these e-readers, and I sincerely thank the company and NLS.