Information For Customers That Are Blind Or Visually Impaired

Phones with Text-to-Speech Capability

Sprint is committed to working with phone manufacturers and with the Blind and Visually Impaired community to deliver user-friendly, accessible phones for our customers with vision loss.

Over the years, phones have becoming increasingly accessible particularly as text-to-speech (TTS) capabilities have improved. TTS is particularly important because the user interaction with mobile phones is often dependent on information displayed on the phone’s screen.

Sprint recommends the following phones for our Blind and Visually Impaired customers:

• LG Rumor2 - this phone, operating on Sprint’s CDMA network, offers several features that make it appealing to many blind and visually-impaired users:
  • Slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
  • Voice Guide- when the Voice Guide feature is turned on, the phone is capable of converting much of the Menu and sub-menus from text-to-speech (i.e., “Talking Menu”) and allowing the user to change settings
  • Text Message Readout- when the Voice Guide feature is activated, this phone will read text messages.
  • Alpha and Numeric Key Echo- the phone will repeat back to the user either an alpha or numeric key. This allows a blind/visually-impaired user to enter Contact information and respond to text messages. For example, press the “H” key and phone voices “H” or press “8” key and phone says “Eight.”
  • Talking Caller ID and Missed Alerts
  • Voice dialing including Digit Dial and Name Dial w/ natural command such as “Call Mom’s Mobile”
  • Phone Status including Time, Date, Battery Level, Service Coverage and Signal Strength
  • Adjustable Text Size (Small, Medium, Large)
• LG Lotus - this phone, operating on Sprint’s CDMA network, offers several features that make the phone appealing to many blind and visually-impaired users:
  • Voice Guide- when the Voice Guide feature is turned on, the phone is capable of converting much of the Menu and sub-menus from text-to-speech (i.e., “Talking Menu”) and allowing the user to change settings Text Message Readout- when the Voice Guide feature is activated, this phone will read text messages.
  • Alpha and Numeric Key Echo- the phone will repeat back to the user either an alpha or numeric key. This allows a blind/visually-impaired user to enter Contact information and respond to text messages. For example, press the “H” key and phone voices “H” or press “8” key and phone says “Eight.”
  • The phone also provides “Talking Caller ID” and Missed Alerts
  • Voice dialing including Digit Dial and Name Dial w/ natural command such as “Call Mom’s Mobile”
  • Phone Status including Time, Date, Battery Level, Service Coverage and Signal Strength
  • Adjustable Text Size (Small, Medium, Large)
• Motorola iDEN and PowerSource Phones
  • Sprint recommends the Motorola i580 and i880 for customers who prefer the Nextel iDEN network. These phones have high-quality speech output for a variety of phone functions including Phone Status, Call History and Caller ID. These phones also have TTS for limited portions of the phone Menu. The phones also include Key Echo, Name Dial, and adjustable text and digit size.
  • Sprint PowerSource Phones- For customers with vision loss who enjoy the WalkieTalkie feature in iDEN phones and the voice and data of CDMA phones, Sprint recommends the ic502, ic602 and ic902 phones. These phones incorporate portions of the TTS software found in the Motorola i580 and i880.