Question regarding Mobile Speak and Accessible phones

[Brent Reynolds]

Well, Steven, you are usually right and right-on with the information you
post.  When you stated, though, that the N75 is the only accessible phone
AT&T supports, you were not correct.

As of about this time last week, AT&T was officially supporting five phones
to go with their $89-dollar license price for MobileSpeak.  These are the
Nokia E62, which is no longer being sold by AT&T, but if you find one, or
have one, they will allow you the MobileSpeak license for 89 dollars.  Next
is the N75, which is being sold and supported, and is widely available at
probably every AT&T store, either the company stores, or the contract
stores.

Then, there are the Pantech Duo; the Samsung Blackjack; and the Motorola Q,
which I believe is the version 9.something.  The Pantech, the Samsung, and
the Motorola run on Microsoft Windows Mobile, either version 5 or 6, and
would use MobileSpeak SmartPhone.  Whether your supported phone from AT&T
uses MobileSpeak, or the smartphone version, the license from AT&T will
still cost you only $89.

I have a friend who acquired the Samsung Blackjack II, and said he was able
to convince the AT&T disability department to allow him the MobileSpeak
SmartPhone license for the $89.  AT&T is no longer selling the original
Samsung Blackjack, and you will most likely not find one in any of the AT&T
mobile phone stores.  The Blackjack has been replaced by the Blackjack II.
The Blackjack runs on Windows Mobile 5 and the Blackjack II on Windows
Mobile 6.

Even though my friend in Florida said he was able to get the disability
department folks to sell him the screen reader license for $89, they told me
that they were not currently (as of last week) supporting the Blackjack II
for MobileSpeak, because they had not yet tested it and that, according to
the info I was given, "some of the menus don't work propperly with the
screen reader".

There is another downside to AT&T's trying to tie the license deal with
specific phones.  They should allow it at the subsidized price to any of
their customers who have verified officially that they qualify based on a
disability for the lcense, as long as they have a GSM phone that is
supported by a version of the screen reader, and are using that phone under
a two-year AT&T service contract.

I am quite sure that, since the E62 has basically gone away, and had done so
within at least two weeks of AT&T's original December 17, 2007 press puff
piece about the MobileSpeak deal, and since the BlackJack has already been
replaced by the Blackjack II, that leaves only three, and who knows how long
that will last, of the original phones supported under the deal still
available, they should be soon announcing additional "supported devices".

Of the smartphone models, I liked the keys on the Blackjack II best of the
lot I saw at my local store last week, but will probably end up going with
the N75, since I can't afford the N82, and the N73 might be somewhat
difficult to come by.

Brent Reynolds, Atlanta, GA  USA
Email: reynolds53 at bellsouth.net  Phone: 1-404-814-0768