Review Exclusive: Big Ben v1.00 -- Screensaver clock big enough for low-vision users on S60 3rd & 5th!
by Ted Mc from BlindMind.net
Fresh from the success of their last S60 3rd & 5th edition release "Ramblow", a utility which turned out to be vital for those of us still awaiting better memory-management fixes to come via software updates for Nokia N97, this time CellPhoneSoft went for a lighter touch, looking to tackle the not too crowded clock+reminder market.
What's to like about Big Ben? Well, the sound for starters. Including the actual Big Ben chime from the famous clock just sounds kind of majestic. And looks pretty good, too. CellPhoneSoft set out to provide a custom screensaver replacement that would show a large clock, with configurable background images and styles, colour scheme's for the clock itself, in both digital and analog, and also show upcoming and missed events via the screensaver, with intermittent audible & vibrating reminders at intervals set by the user, to continue to remind them that they have a missed call, text, alarm or other event.
Best of all in my opinion, is that they decided to include a special "low vision mode" that makes the giant clock even more so, and removes the initial application setup screen's interference with Nuance Talks. Since the app doesn't replace the built-in missed call or missed text events, but rather supplements them, there's really no reason to build in Talks support....totally blind users would not be relying on the screensaver's clock and missed call notification visually, but would rather hear the intermittent tone indicating a missed event. For such a small and useful little tool, I commend the folks at CellPhoneSoft for even considering taking the time to think of low-vision and blind users in the design of this program. Well done!
Ok, let's get into the features and options of Big Ben.
*** LOW-VISION/SCREEN READER USERS, please note, during install, when you get to the option "low vision mode off", be sure to untick it so that the clock will start in the best viewable mode, and also to prevent interference with Nuance Talks screen reader.
Initial application screen after installing the app
This screen shows the clock as it will look when in screensaver mode. It gives you softkey options to change 'settings', 'clock', 'background', or to 'lock' the device. Pressing the clock or background softkeys will cycle through the preset options of various background setup and types of clock. Pressing the settings softkey will get you to where the rest of the settings are altered.
Tab sheet 1: Auto-lock settings
Tab sheet 1 allows the user to specify an auto-lock timeout, and the option to turn on/or the 'use device lock' already specified.
Tab sheet 2: Screen settings
Background type allows you to change the background from preset images such as the Big Ben clock itself or an image of your choice, or in the style of your current theme or wallpaper. Or you can choose a transparent background which I believe is only on 5th ed devices.
Clock format toggles between analog and digital clock, or no clock at all.
Colours allows you to change the colour scheme of the clock (for digital clock only), and gives you control over background, text (custom text you add), and digit. You can also choose a different colour for reminders. Another neat consideration that will allow low vision users to choose a custom scheme that suits them best. This may seem trivial to some, but when is the last time a vendor gave you complete control over something like this, and not just a few presets that they like themselves? Well done!
Giant clock toggles yes/no.
Low Vision Mode toggles on/off, which makes the clock even more high-contrast and blod on the screen, filling it when in portrait, and nearly filling it when in landscape.
Tab sheet 3: Text settings
Show upcoming events toggles yes/no.
Show unlock help toggles yes/no. I found this a little irrelevant, as N97 shows the same message on the screen if you activate a button without first unlocking the screen, so it was redundant for my testing purposes.
Custom text allows you to place custom text that will appear at the top of the screensaver above the clock, so you could name your phone, or profess your undying love for Britney Spears...or NOT! Really, please note.
Tab sheet 4: Remidner settings
Reminders on events toggles on/off. When turned on, if you have a missed call, a large 'C' tells you so right on the screensaver, a 'T' for missed text, and so on.
Report on events allows you to choose which events are reported on. These include missed call, missed text, missed alarm, incoming email, and incoming MMS.
Notification interval lets you choose how frequently you are notified audibly that a missed event has occured in minutes (i.e. every 3 minutes, 5 minutes, etc.).
Reminder sound lets you choose what sound will play each time the interval is reached if you still haven't cleared the missed event.
Vibration alert toggles yes/no to add vibration to the audible alarm as well.
Tab sheet 5: Sound settings
Hourly chime lets you choose to hear the Big Ben chime on the hour, choose your own sound file, or hear no sound at all.
Sounds active from x. This lets you specify what time of day the hourly chime should start going off.
Sounds active until x. This lets you specify when the hourly chimes will stop, so your wife doesn't kick you out of bed. Not that this happened to me during beta-testing of this app or anything, of course.
So, all in all, another great little program from these guys. I'm very interested to see where they go from here. There could have been some additional things done for accessibility I suppose, but again, there was no real cause for adding screen reader support to it, being that it doesn't replace the existing S60 missed call notifications, so as soon as you unlock your phone, you'll get whatever missed event noticies you'd get from the phone anyway, and in the meantime, you still hear intermittent alarms to tell you that there is in fact a missed event to go and check.
I haven't seen what price they're offering this for, but as their other apps are extremely low-cost, I'm sure you'll find this one is also priced appropriately affordable, and worth every penny. Get the demo and try it out yourself!
Fresh from the success of their last S60 3rd & 5th edition release "Ramblow", a utility which turned out to be vital for those of us still awaiting better memory-management fixes to come via software updates for Nokia N97, this time CellPhoneSoft went for a lighter touch, looking to tackle the not too crowded clock+reminder market.
What's to like about Big Ben? Well, the sound for starters. Including the actual Big Ben chime from the famous clock just sounds kind of majestic. And looks pretty good, too. CellPhoneSoft set out to provide a custom screensaver replacement that would show a large clock, with configurable background images and styles, colour scheme's for the clock itself, in both digital and analog, and also show upcoming and missed events via the screensaver, with intermittent audible & vibrating reminders at intervals set by the user, to continue to remind them that they have a missed call, text, alarm or other event.
Best of all in my opinion, is that they decided to include a special "low vision mode" that makes the giant clock even more so, and removes the initial application setup screen's interference with Nuance Talks. Since the app doesn't replace the built-in missed call or missed text events, but rather supplements them, there's really no reason to build in Talks support....totally blind users would not be relying on the screensaver's clock and missed call notification visually, but would rather hear the intermittent tone indicating a missed event. For such a small and useful little tool, I commend the folks at CellPhoneSoft for even considering taking the time to think of low-vision and blind users in the design of this program. Well done!
Ok, let's get into the features and options of Big Ben.
*** LOW-VISION/SCREEN READER USERS, please note, during install, when you get to the option "low vision mode off", be sure to untick it so that the clock will start in the best viewable mode, and also to prevent interference with Nuance Talks screen reader.
Initial application screen after installing the app
This screen shows the clock as it will look when in screensaver mode. It gives you softkey options to change 'settings', 'clock', 'background', or to 'lock' the device. Pressing the clock or background softkeys will cycle through the preset options of various background setup and types of clock. Pressing the settings softkey will get you to where the rest of the settings are altered.
Tab sheet 1: Auto-lock settings
Tab sheet 1 allows the user to specify an auto-lock timeout, and the option to turn on/or the 'use device lock' already specified.
Tab sheet 2: Screen settings
Background type allows you to change the background from preset images such as the Big Ben clock itself or an image of your choice, or in the style of your current theme or wallpaper. Or you can choose a transparent background which I believe is only on 5th ed devices.
Clock format toggles between analog and digital clock, or no clock at all.
Colours allows you to change the colour scheme of the clock (for digital clock only), and gives you control over background, text (custom text you add), and digit. You can also choose a different colour for reminders. Another neat consideration that will allow low vision users to choose a custom scheme that suits them best. This may seem trivial to some, but when is the last time a vendor gave you complete control over something like this, and not just a few presets that they like themselves? Well done!
Giant clock toggles yes/no.
Low Vision Mode toggles on/off, which makes the clock even more high-contrast and blod on the screen, filling it when in portrait, and nearly filling it when in landscape.
Tab sheet 3: Text settings
Show upcoming events toggles yes/no.
Show unlock help toggles yes/no. I found this a little irrelevant, as N97 shows the same message on the screen if you activate a button without first unlocking the screen, so it was redundant for my testing purposes.
Custom text allows you to place custom text that will appear at the top of the screensaver above the clock, so you could name your phone, or profess your undying love for Britney Spears...or NOT! Really, please note.
Tab sheet 4: Remidner settings
Reminders on events toggles on/off. When turned on, if you have a missed call, a large 'C' tells you so right on the screensaver, a 'T' for missed text, and so on.
Report on events allows you to choose which events are reported on. These include missed call, missed text, missed alarm, incoming email, and incoming MMS.
Notification interval lets you choose how frequently you are notified audibly that a missed event has occured in minutes (i.e. every 3 minutes, 5 minutes, etc.).
Reminder sound lets you choose what sound will play each time the interval is reached if you still haven't cleared the missed event.
Vibration alert toggles yes/no to add vibration to the audible alarm as well.
Tab sheet 5: Sound settings
Hourly chime lets you choose to hear the Big Ben chime on the hour, choose your own sound file, or hear no sound at all.
Sounds active from x. This lets you specify what time of day the hourly chime should start going off.
Sounds active until x. This lets you specify when the hourly chimes will stop, so your wife doesn't kick you out of bed. Not that this happened to me during beta-testing of this app or anything, of course.
So, all in all, another great little program from these guys. I'm very interested to see where they go from here. There could have been some additional things done for accessibility I suppose, but again, there was no real cause for adding screen reader support to it, being that it doesn't replace the existing S60 missed call notifications, so as soon as you unlock your phone, you'll get whatever missed event noticies you'd get from the phone anyway, and in the meantime, you still hear intermittent alarms to tell you that there is in fact a missed event to go and check.
I haven't seen what price they're offering this for, but as their other apps are extremely low-cost, I'm sure you'll find this one is also priced appropriately affordable, and worth every penny. Get the demo and try it out yourself!
| TITLE: | Big Ben 1.0 by CellPhoneSoft |
| TYPE: | Application, phone lock, big clock, and reminders |
| PLATFORM: | Symbian S60 3rd and 5th Editions |
| DOWNLOAD: |
Posted by Ted Mc at 4 Mar 2010, 9:21 PM 
Categories: Visual Impairment, S60 5th Edition, Handheld Devices, Symbian, S60 3rd Edition, Reviews - Software, Accessibility, Smartphones
Tags: Big Ben CellPhoneSoft visually impaired S60 Application Review accessibility
Categories: Visual Impairment, S60 5th Edition, Handheld Devices, Symbian, S60 3rd Edition, Reviews - Software, Accessibility, Smartphones
Tags: Big Ben CellPhoneSoft visually impaired S60 Application Review accessibility
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