Mobile phones have been out of reach for visually impaired people up until now but not anymore.
The world’s first ever Braille phone has been produced by London firm OwnFone and has been released on sale already.
How did they do it? Well, according the company behind this revolutionary Braille phone, the front and back were printed off using a 3D printer. This has the added advantage of meaning that it can be customised to suit the individual customer’s needs.
In fact, this isn’t the very first Braille mobile phone ever made. However, it is the first to be available for public sale, according to the makers.
You Don’t Need to Read Braille to Use It
The phone can even be used by people who can’t read Braille, as it can be made to show raised text on the keypad instead. For the moment it is only for sale in the UK at a price of £60. Tom Sutherland is the inventor behind it and he said that the use of 3D printing to produce it helps to keep down the production costs. He called it a “fast and cost effective way” to produce the personalised Braille buttons needed for the phone.
Of course, the big benefit of this phone is that would allow blind and visually impaired users to stay in touch with their friends and family easily from wherever they are.
This isn’t the first innovation by OwnFone. A couple of years ago they developed one of the first partly printed 3D phones ever, while they also brought out a child friendly model going by the name of 1stFone.
Do you know anyone who could benefit from owning one of these phones?
