[Promotion-technology] New Mobile Phone Can Read Digital Audio Books For Visually Impaired

[David Andrews]

>
>Mobile Phone Can Read Books
>
>
>
>  By Kim Tae-gyu, Staff Reporter
>
>  Korea Times, South Korea, September 19, 2006
>
>
>
>  LG Electronics, the world's fourth-largest cell phone vendor, has added
>
>  another compelling feature to the mobile handset - reading books for the
>
>  visually impaired.
>
>
>
>  The Seoul-based company yesterday started marketing the model, the LF1300,
>
>  through LG Telecom, the country's smallest wireless operator, at around
>
>  400,000 won.
>
>
>
>  Only the blind, visually-impaired and dyslexic can buy the talking phone
>
>  after presenting a government certificate at sales outlets of LG Telecom.
>
>
>
>  ``The LF1300 is the world's first mobile handset that is capable of
>
>  reading books for the print-disabled, who otherwise could not enjoy them,"
>LG Vice
>
>  President Cho Sung-ha said.
>
>
>
>  ``This is not about making money at all but about contributing to society.
>
>  We will continue to put forth efforts to bridge the digital divide for the
>
>  disabled," Cho said.
>
>
>
>  Users of the gadget can download approximately 300 audio books from the
>
>  Internet site of LG Sangam Library to their handsets in two ways.
>
>
>
>  One is to access the digital library's Web site (
>
>www.lg.or.kr) on a computer specially designed for the blind to get the
>audio books and transfer them
>
>  to cell phones.
>
>
>
>  The other is to download the digital books directly with cell phones
>
>through the wireless network by touching a hot key on the LF1300 handset.
>Both
>
>  methods are free of charge.
>
>
>
>  On top of its unique feature of reading books, the LF1300 is not inferior
>
>  To the contemporary top-line phones in both outlooks and functionalities.
>
>
>
>  The sleek 16-millimeter-thick gizmo is armed with an MP3 player and a
>
>  Bluetooth headset, which enables users to listen to the music or talks
>
>  without a cord.
>
>
>
>  The user interface of the LF1300 is also customized for the blind,
>
>  Enabling handset users to control it through a voice guidance system.
>
>
>
>  However, there is a hitch because the phone's internal memory of 17
>
>  megabytes is small even for a single audio book file, which takes up 80 MB
>
>  on average.
>
>
>
>  As a result, a high-volume external memory, which is available at
>
>  electronics shops, is a must for the talking book services.
>

David Andrews and white cane Harry.