While SMS and mobile email are great, they still can't match the emotion, interaction, and intonation of a live conversation with someone -- that's why our phones still ship with microphones and speakers, apparently. Of course, this is much more difficult when one of the parties is deaf or hard of hearing, which is where video relay services come in. With the help of a videophone or your computer's webcam, you can make a call with a live translator, who speaks your signed ramblings out loud to the hearing person on the other end. Of course you're usually stuck at a desk when doing this, but now ZVRS is going to be supporting calls made from the iPhone 4 over
FaceTime. It might not be quite as sexy as Apple's goosebump-raising
iPhone 4 commercial, since the phone obviously makes two-way sign language calls possible, but if the person on the other end doesn't have an iPhone 4 or doesn't know sign language, ZVRS seems like the next best thing. The new service will launch on July 26th. Check out a video of it in action after the break, the actual call starts at 2:25.
posted July 14th 2010 5:18PM
I can't wait until they come out with FaceTime Roulette.
Happy to see SOME good things coming from the iPhone 4.
@THJ
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/07/14/ichatr-random-iphone-facetime-video-chat/
knock yourself out?............
@skyblaze Awesome! I'll never be lonely while fapping in an alley ever again.
@THJ
As long as the alley has WiFi coverage!
@THJ
Your avatar pic and your comment - they totally give contradictory vibes. Please change at least one of them.
@THJ Exactly. Once again, Engadget is glossing over the fact that you have to be within WiFi range to use this service and quite often there is a computer there anyways. Also, I fail to see how a deaf person would be able to use this to communicate. I have always seen deaf people signing with two hands and unless they are going to suspend the iphone in front of them, they will have to prop it up on something which is essentially what a laptop with a webcam is.
@THJ
this is stupid. deaf people can text, and its a lot easier than sign language. plus its not easy to sign with 1 hand
@MicrosoftOwns Not only is it difficult to sign everything with only one hand, you're also simultaneously trying to make sure that your movements are actually being transmitted on the video phone which is frankly a pain in the butt and requires you to hold the phone out super far like the lady on stage is doing (and even then you can tell that a lot of her signing is getting cut off on the video feed). The people at the live demo are doing a translation of what the lady is signing but it's not really clear to me whether the interpreter on Facetime is actually seeing everything.
Holding your phone like 3 feet in front of you nonstop is a pretty impractical way of talking so I can only see this being useful if you have a stand for the iPhone and are in a place where you can put it on a shelf or something-kinda like how the interpreter lady has her camera mounted pretty far away.
This is of course made more useless by the fact that Facetime doesn't work over 3G anyways so it basically reduces a supposedly mobile phone to something you can only use when you have a shelf and stand to put the phone on, and only in range of wifi.
I can see someone using it when they have to call a landline for some reason or another but if you're gonna chat with your hearing friends this seems like a pretty obnoxious way to do it compared to just texting them.
@MicrosoftOwns
You sir, are an idiot. Learn something about ASL and Deaf culture and you'll realize that texting is English and not a Deaf person's primary form of communication.
@NikAmi Well, people have been using 3G videochat for sign language here in Austria for years, so I guess it is feasible...
@THJ There's an app for that- 'chatr' I think it's called.
@who said what I know, that fat guy holding me is way creepy.
I wonder if it'll censor out some of the more obscene signs.
It's a good thing that both hand will be in use so they don't loose the call...
@MrCheeks I think the horse is dead and buried but I guess you can always dig it back up right? Anyway, I think this could be a great solution for the for the deaf community but only when the iphone is freed from the WIFI chains.
@IHEARTFANGIRL
It's not dead until it's not a problem
@MrCheeks Agggghhhh! Though you may lose the signal, try to correct your loose spelling and grammar rules.
How do you use this with two handed signs????
@johnvillar
With two hands????
@Meekermoloko
I think he's wondering more exactly how you hold this while you're signing with both of your hands. I suppose you could have it on a little stand, but then that isn't entirely portable.
@Dafrety Exactly... that's what i mean.... not very usable, still.... a HUGE step for deaf people.... first time i can say apple wins big time.... props to the cupertino gang
@johnvillar
signers can quite effectively sign with one hand. i'm an asl 3 student and i've worked with many deaf people.
@v3xx
Thanks for clearing that up. It's amazing the lengths haters will go to in order to put down what is actually a really nice service.
Of course to sign with FaceTime you need o put the phone down on a stand of some sort. Still not entirely mobile.
How long until we see trendy FaceTime hands free headsets- a fitted hat with a counterweighted "fishing pole" style boom to hold the phone? Sign me right up... until the iPhone 6 or so features the capability of untethered flight.
This is simply brilliant.
@Dafrety
about as brilliant as....txt messaging?
You can sign with one hand.
it'd still probably be easier just to text. can't the iphone multitask now? facetime + text = happiness for you and your deaf friends.
@ummhello
What?
Are you proposing friends open messaging to send a text, leave messaging, open facetime to express a delayed reaction, then go back to messaging to send a reply?
That's not convoluted at all!
I'm confused.
If a deaf person is communicating with a hearing person over video, wouldn't both of them have to know sign language already? Otherwise the "conversation" would be one way only, as the hearing person would not be able to sign back...
@tikigawd
No cause all this does is make a 3 way call. It's pretty much you having a facetime call to an interpreter who is on a regular phone call with your friend. Their is no science here.
@tikigawd
Please read the article. The service provides an ASL translator.
@tikigawd The woman with the iPhone is deaf. The woman in the FaceTime call is an interpreter. Interpreter calls the hearing person, tells them what the deaf person is signing, and signs on their behalf to the deaf woman with the iPhone.
@RawlsRorty
I read it. It mentions how the hearing person will hear the translated sign language:
"With the help of a videophone or your computer's webcam, you can make a call with a live translator, who speaks your signed ramblings out loud to the hearing person on the other end"
But I didn't see anything about how the hearing person will talk back to the deaf person. Perhaps there is a speech-to-text function there, but I didn't see it mentioned. I also can't see the video here I am at the moment, in case it's evident there.
@tikigawd
It's actually a simple concept (VI = Video Interpreter)
Deaf person video connection VI voice Hearing person
The VI has both video and voice equipment on his/her station.
@tikigawd
The hearing person does not talk back to the deaf person. They are speaking by phone to the interpreter, who interprets the message into ASL for the deaf person. Therefore, both the hearing and deaf person are speaking through the interpreter... Does that help?
Also to clear up some misconceptions, texting is not an adequate form of communication for the majority of the Deaf community. Using a VRS service (like this one), utilizes their natural language, some type of sign language, instead of having to use English, which they've never heard.
Since it's using facetime, additional coordination will be required. Both parties will have to be using an iPhone 4, and both will have to be using Wifi. Not as portable as it could be.
It's so nice that every so often Engadget offers a story that is significant to people that don't live in their mother's basements and don't work jobs that require the wearing of a nametag. Kudos Engadget!
uhh.... why don't they just use texting? or do it instant-messaging style if they still want video?
@ngom52
why don't u try video calling without talking. would you rather talk or type a message. exactly.
There's nothing new that FaceTime does that thousands of other video chat can't. Really? People just knew that they can sign language on video chat? Make FaceTime translate sign language then that's news. Sick of this FaceTime smoke.
@cdf74dc9
I guess it's news, but not exactly cutting edge. In my native Finland they've had a service like this for at least four years. It was one of the most obvious application areas when video calls over mobile networks became possible.
@cdf74dc9
Actually this is not really a promotion of the Iphone technical expertise but more or less a service provided by a company. All your doing is facetime chatting a translator who is on a phone call with your friend. The translator is a paid middle man in this setup.
Next a braille app... or not.
@mmafighter077
Haptic braille app!
@Spaceshipped
You actually have something there... patent it before I do!
@Dafrety
Well, since this is supposed to be using FaceTime ... which is currently Wi-Fi only ... you'd be limited in your portability anyway. I personally wouldn't have trouble setting the phone down on a desk, table or counter while making a call.
But like v3xx said, you can sign with one hand.
Suppose a deaf person's car broke down and theres no wifi available... how can he/she make emergency call through ZVRS's service?
@jxs1984
umm i assume you're assuming cell service is out too, otherwise the answer is a text message...
also contrary to popular belief, deaf people can walk to a gas station or fix a flat tire.