Adding Voice to SMS

The telecom revolution is sweeping the world at a scorching pace. Nothing has changed the way people interact and transact as the humble mobile phone has. For the first time, an Information Technology device has become accessible to even the less privileged in developing countries. SMS has today become an integral part of inter-personal communication. Consider this: worldwide, 620 billion SMS messages were exchanged just in Q1 2007!

Unfortunately there is a vast community for whom SMS does not hold relevance- the visually challenged. Trust me, they DO use their mobile phones extensively and it IS a great blessing for them even if it just provides them a means to attend or make calls.

Back in 2003, we at Tinfo Mobile had realized this and did whatever little we could. We made a Java based application for Reliance India Mobile users. Most of the Reliance handsets being very limited B&W ones at that time, we made a lightweight client app that resided on the phone with the bulk of processing handled by on the server-side.

The idea was simple:
a. The client app would retrieve the SMS text and send it to the server.
b. The server would use a TTS (Text to Speech) engine and convert it into an audio stream.
c. The client app would play-back this audio stream.

We were able to create a working prototype which won us a Special Award. We also made a lightweight application that was client only which would read out just the missed / dialed /received calls. This app was named 'Call History' and was launched by them.

A few other softwares are also available:

1. TALKS. The most notable among them is TALKS for Symbian mobiles from Nuance. The only problem is - its limited to a slightly high end mobile phone category - Smartphones running on Symbian OS. Nevertheless its a great piece of software.

2. Mobilespeak. Developed by Code Factory, mobile speak has a braille hardware support option also.

3. Pocket HAL. Developed by Dolphin Computer Accessories, Pocket HAL supports Windows Mobile PDAs.

I wanted to provide more options if I could and thats when a new product idea struck. Most mobile phones (even the relatively cheap ones) support bluetooth, infra-red or cable connectivity. Quite a few visually impaired people (though I admit, only a small percentage) have access to a computer either at home or office and PC IR/ BT dongles and cables are pretty cheap nowadays.

The result is SMS Talkz - an advanced voice enabled SMS management software for plain old PCs supporting most handsets with bluetooth, infra-red or cable. A software that resides completely on the PC requiring nothing to be installed on the phone and still reads out your SMS in voice. (Its also designed to be a good companion to those blessed with a good vision too)

The first Release Candidate is being readied at the moment and we require people to use, test and report bugs. So, those who have a little time to spare, please pitch in by downloading the beta from the SMS Talkz site. Serious bug finders will be rewarded by serious discounts too (do sign up at the forum with valid email address for that) :)

Also, do help spread the word on the product by including any one of the following banner images on your blogs / sites:

Banner Code (copy paste to your page, replace IMAGE_URL):

<!--SMS Talkz Banner Begin. REMEMBER to replace IMAGE_URL below with the actual URL of the image banner you choose --><a href = "http://smstalkz.tinfomobile.com"><img src ="IMAGE_URL" alt = "SMS Talkz - Voice enabled SMS Management" /></a><!--SMS Talkz Banner End -->

Box banner 320 x 265:



Leaderboard: 750 x 80



Banner small: 505 x 70



In case you want to provide just a text link, please use the following code:
<!--SMS Talkz Banner Begin --><a href = "http://smstalkz.tinfomobile.com">Try SMS Talkz - Voice Enabled Desktop SMS Management</a><!--SMS Talkz Banner End -->

Thanks! Your help is appreciated.

The iconic iPhone

Most people I know are either stuck with 'I am speechless over iPhone' phenomenon or an overdose of iPhone on the iNet symptom.

Anyways, here's my take: (for those who've had enough already, do keep an Aspirin handy)

The good things- iPhone = iPod+video+camera+phone. - An important event in the Wireless World History. ("Chapter 2007 - The iPhone. 'While many folks were doing many interesting things in the Wireless World, along came the iPhone and....' the rest as they say, is history) - A great PR job. - A neat design job. - The usual Steve Jobs. - Simplified, glorified and intuitified the user interface. All the technologies existed earlier, they were all just given a dose of the Apple treatment. - It IS different.

The not so good things- Completely Cingular Centric. - If the data services till now were 'walled gardens', this is the great wall of China. I don't think any content provider would be allowed even a peek into the iPhone ecosystem! - No games, no apps no anything except what is already in it. - Talk-time (nope, the big bright beautiful display does not run on drool) - Its a longish Cingular-Apple honeymoon (2 years long I hear!). - It looks too fragile to be regular cellphone replacement (I can't even recall the number of times I have dropped my phone, picked it up and continued) - The price tag. - Accessibility. I wonder how a visually impaired person might use it. I don't know if it is mandatory, but I see a little tactile mark on the '5' button on most handsets which I am sure is put there to help those who cannot see, to feel and use the keys. Are there any laws governing accessibility?