Braille displays and apps with sluggish reading - Lire RSS as an example

By Scott H, 13 July, 2013

Forum
Braille on Apple Products

Hello all, I use a Refreshabraille 18 and switch off from reading with the display and listening to VO do the reading. I generally have not had any issues; however, certain apps tend to present some challenges. For example, I use Lire as my RSS reader and when I begin to read an article the Braille will become sluggish. Sluggish in that panning etc. takes several seconds for the display to update. Now Lire is not the only app I have seen this behavior with and there is another app called News Free which is an RSS app and it presents the same challenges. I tried the Feed Wrangler app and did not experience this issue at all. So, I'm not sure if the issue is related to something with the iPhone 4S, which i use or something else. I am curious if anyone has experienced anything similar and if so was there any way to address the problem? I have been working with Kunal the developer for Lire and we both are stumped. :) Thanks, Scott

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Comments

By Travis Roth on Monday, July 22, 2013 - 00:53

Hi Scott, I have seen this as well with my iPhone 4 and both a BrailleConnect 12 and the newer Focus 14. it just seems to depend on the app, and sometimes the content in the app. It may have something to do with how content is being created? For example, with the NFB Newsline app, some newspapers work fine with Braille. While others such as the Wall Street Journal, are so sluggish with braille it is not usable. Speech, on the other hand, works fine. It does not seem to necessarily have to do with the length of content overall, as for example, I can load very long chapters of books with the Read2Go BookShare app and braille works ok. So I suspect it has something to do with the construction of individual paragraphs or blocks, whatever VoiceOver accounts as an object when you flick gesture. I wish we had a solution.

By Aaron Linson on Monday, July 22, 2013 - 00:53

It may be apps with the braille display but it also might be the phone itself not having enough ram etc. Just a thought. I've never seen this happen on my iPhone 4S.

By Scott Davert on Monday, July 22, 2013 - 00:53

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
hello. I was able to duplicate this issue on my iPhone 4, but not my 5. It's certainly not something specific with the Refreshabraille, but I've seen this happen with the Braille Sense On Hand as well when I'm using it on the iPhone 4 or my old iPod 4G. The reason it may only happen with certain types of content could have to do with the amount of resources the app is using when displaying said content. That's pure speculation though.

Scott, I agree it may very well be the iPhone 4S just does not have the horsepower and resources that this app demands, but I'm also speculating. I certainly can say that the iPHone 4 had issues in this regard, yet the 4S has more to offer. ALthough I imagine depending on what is going on behind the scenes could simply require more than the 4S can handle when adding a Braille display into the mix. THanks all for the thoughts/input.