Phones for Mobility Challenged

[renreq]

My name is Rene and I have Muscular Dystropy. I am currently with Sprint and use an LG Fusic phone. Thanks to a Blue Tooth headset and the option my phone has of automatically answering incoming calls and passing those calls automatically to my headset, I'm able to be reached by those who wish to call me.

But what do I do if I want to place a call? Because I'm unable to move my hands or press the buttons on my phone, I've been quite limited in the use of my phone.

With the growing popularity of Smart Phones / Pocket PCs that can be programmed and customized to do amazing things that even their designers had never anticipated, I'm wondering if a device like the HTC Mogul could be programmed to allow me to place calls by voice. Surely, I'm award this can be done already, but activating the voice feature still requires pressing a button or some other physical action before you get the recording that asks, "Who would you like to call?"

What I need is feature that allows you to program the phone to automatically activate the voice dialing feature at user defined intervals, so that if I wanted to be able to make a call every 15 minutes, I could get the phone to ask me if I wanted to make a call, and then I'd response with either a YES or NO. If I say no, the phone goes idle and doesn't ask me again until 15 minutes have passed. If I say yes, however, then the phone would prompt me to speak a name of the person I wish to call and place the appropriate call.

My questions: Can this be done? What phone would you recommend?

As I'm planning to upgrade soon, I'd really appreciate any suggestions!

Sincerely,
Rene

[D/\SH]

Originally Posted by renreq

My name is Rene and I have Muscular Dystropy. I am currently with Sprint and use an LG Fusic phone. Thanks to a Blue Tooth headset and the option my phone has of automatically answering incoming calls and passing those calls automatically to my headset, I'm able to be reached by those who wish to call me.

But what do I do if I want to place a call? Because I'm unable to move my hands or press the buttons on my phone, I've been quite limited in the use of my phone.

With the growing popularity of Smart Phones / Pocket PCs that can be programmed and customized to do amazing things that even their designers had never anticipated, I'm wondering if a device like the HTC Mogul could be programmed to allow me to place calls by voice. Surely, I'm award this can be done already, but activating the voice feature still requires pressing a button or some other physical action before you get the recording that asks, "Who would you like to call?"

What I need is feature that allows you to program the phone to automatically activate the voice dialing feature at user defined intervals, so that if I wanted to be able to make a call every 15 minutes, I could get the phone to ask me if I wanted to make a call, and then I'd response with either a YES or NO. If I say no, the phone goes idle and doesn't ask me again until 15 minutes have passed. If I say yes, however, then the phone would prompt me to speak a name of the person I wish to call and place the appropriate call.

My questions: Can this be done? What phone would you recommend?

As I'm planning to upgrade soon, I'd really appreciate any suggestions!

Sincerely,
Rene

im sorry currently at this time there isnt an app that will do it automatically it would have to be triggered by a button press........ but i will keep a special eye out for something you could use. my buddy has muscular dystropy also and his is getting worse by the day so this would be a big help to him also..... i will keep you informed in this thread as well as through a pm if i were to find something for you.

[renreq]

I really appreciate you looking out for me. I've been trying without much success yet to get in contact with the folks who design these phones because I believe that people who have mobility impairments like me and your friend could really make a positive contribution towards offering suggestions on how to make their products reach a wider audience. So far, I keep having problems getting through company representatives who don't offer much help in getting me into direct communication with the product managers who make the big decisions.

If you ever need support in helping your friend access his computer, this is my area of expertise and would be delighted to help. I finally resolved my computer access problem through eye tracking software/hardware that works beautifully! All I need now is to talk to the developer of the onscreen keyboard program I'm using to suggest a few speed enhancements; I'll be accomplishing this goal in July. :)

On a side note, I'm getting ready to purchase a new phone and have had my eyes on the HTC Mogul, Samsung Instinct (available July 20th), or the HTC Touch Diamond (rumored to be available in September). The problem is that I'd like to get into the SERO program before Sprint no longer allows people to enroll. My contract ends in September. Any advice?

Thanks,
Ren

[raybond25]

Originally Posted by renreq

I really appreciate you looking out for me. I've been trying without much success yet to get in contact with the folks who design these phones because I believe that people who have mobility impairments like me and your friend could really make a positive contribution towards offering suggestions on how to make their products reach a wider audience. So far, I keep having problems getting through company representatives who don't offer much help in getting me into direct communication with the product managers who make the big decisions.

If you ever need support in helping your friend access his computer, this is my area of expertise and would be delighted to help. I finally resolved my computer access problem through eye tracking software/hardware that works beautifully! All I need now is to talk to the developer of the onscreen keyboard program I'm using to suggest a few speed enhancements; I'll be accomplishing this goal in July. :)

On a side note, I'm getting ready to purchase a new phone and have had my eyes on the HTC Mogul, Samsung Instinct (available July 20th), or the HTC Touch Diamond (rumored to be available in September). The problem is that I'd like to get into the SERO program before Sprint no longer allows people to enroll. My contract ends in September. Any advice?

Thanks,
Ren

For contacting executives at Sprint there is a bunch of direct numbers to Sprint execs. which can be found in a thread located here https://www.wckediden.com/showthread...sprint+numbers. I hope this helps a bit and welcome to Wckediden.
ps. i feel for ya...my dad fell off a bridge working and broke his back..thankfully he can still walk but is disabled to some extent (which is not helped by the rare disease he has called primary central nervous system vasculitis) so good luck