Engadget RSS Feed

Clarity's Ensemble: an amplified and captioned phone (hands-on)

Sean Cooper — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 19:10:00 -0500

Plantronic's Clarity announced a first with the Ensemble at CES 2013, an accessible amplified phone that also telephone-captions your call in near-real time. The set's display is actually a 7-inch Android tablet -- version 2.2 if you must ask -- and the heart of the system. When a call is placed or comes in the caller's speech is passed off to FCC-certified telephone-captioning company ClearCaptions and the results are then written to the phones display -- while the audio is amplified in the Ensemble's earpiece. Font size can be changed on the fly, as can the audio processing which, like a hearing aid makes soft sounds easier to listen to and loud sounds quieter. If a user has trouble Clarity's support folks can actually get in the phone and make changes, Clarity's rationale here is it lower hardware returns and helps out the customer.

Clarity and ClearCaptions have an impressive product in the Ensemble, it is both attractive and quite useful for anybody with hearing issues frustrated with conventional telephony. Interestingly, the final link, the actual speech to text is done by people and not some slice of technology on a server somewhere and the service won't cost you one red cent. Unfortunately a data connection wasn't available for us to test the captioning but we're hopeful we can rectify that before the end of the show.

Gallery: Clarity's Ensemble: an amplified and captioned phone (hands-on)

Filed under: Peripherals

Comments

Clarity Pal hands-on, a new phone for senior citizens

Zachary Lutz — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:30:00 -0400

In a perfect world, your grandparents wouldn't need a lick of help getting the most out of a smartphone, but let's face it: the devices are complex, and if you don't have the proper motivation, they can be a bit difficult to learn. You've previously seen the C900 from Clarity, and tonight we stumbled upon its second generation of handsets for senior citizens known as the Pal.

Similar to the predecessor, the phone features a panic button on the back that'll call and text message up to five people in the case of an emergency. Other features consist of a backlit keypad that can read aloud the numbers that are pressed, along with a talking caller ID and up to 26dB of amplification for the earpiece. We received a quick demo of this last feature, and the volume was sufficient enough to cut through a noisy room while allowing us to hear everything that was said -- in other words, we have no doubt that the Clarity Pal will be perfectly suitable for those with moderate hearing impairment. The phone is compatible with GSM networks in the US and Canada, and for more ambitious seniors, it features SMS functionality and Bluetooth for pairing with Clarity's headset. Fortunately, the company has gone through a good amount of effort to refine and simplify the menu scheme, which is quite helpful for those wanting only the basics. The Clarity Pal will be available on May 28th through the company's website and will sell for $99. If you've got someone in your life who might need a simpler phone, take a peek at the gallery below.

Gallery: Hands-on with the Clarity Pal, a new phone for senior citizens

Sean Cooper contributed to this report

Filed under: Mobile

Comments

Plantronics Clarity Fortissimo speakerphone hands-on (video)

Brad Molen — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:10:00 -0500

Music aficionados will recognize the term "fortissimo." It's used to signify belting out the tunes as loud as humanly possible, which is exactly what Clarity is hoping to achieve with its speakerphone that uses the name. The Clarity Fortissimo is geared toward those who are mobility-challenged, offering a massively loud 95dB speaker, huge buttons, voice activation, Bluetooth and DECT connectivity, and a large touchscreen display. The Fortissimo offers Plantronics' Vocalyst technology, which has the ability to push emails, messages and even social network updates. It also has a dedicated button that automatically dials Clarity's support center, where a rep can then program the phone remotely for you. Expect to see the Fortissimo available this spring -- we were quoted April / May -- and will retail for $500. We have images and video after the break.

Gallery: Plantronics Clarity Fortissimo hands-on

Comments

Clarity reveals Fortissimo speakerphone for folks with mobility issues

Michael Gorman — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:00:00 -0500

It's not often that speakerphones grace Engadget's pages, but Plantronics' Clarity division has created a new such device tailored to the needs of folks with mobility issues and difficulties using their hands. Called the Fortissimo, it's got an outsized LCD touchscreen for easy viewing and prodigious voice command capabilities courtesy of Plantronics' Vocalyst technology. Vocalyst lets users send emails and texts, update social networks, and access other phone functions with the spoken word, and can connect with headsets via Bluetooth. Physical phone interaction's on tap too courtesy of air switches activated by blowing on them and oversized pillow switches that are as easily hit with arms and legs as they are heads and shoulders. Lastly, there's ClarityLogic customer service that gives company reps the ability to adjust settings and upgrade Fortissimo remotely. Clarity's showing it off this week at CES, and the Fortissimo will be released this summer. PR's after the break.

Comments

ClarityLife C900 caters to old people, pwns the Jitterbug

Darren Murph — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:02:00 -0500

There are phones for the geriatric set, and then there's the ClarityLife C900. This mobile makes no bones about what it is -- a dead simple candybar that's meant to easily place / receive calls and give owners access to an impossible-to-miss red emergency button. It also boasts large buttons for easy dialing, a large backlit screen with humongous text, a fierce vibrating ringer, inbuilt flashlight and a speaker that's "twice as loud" as an ordinary cellphone. Ironically, there's two full paragraphs explaining how to actually get a SIM card from your preferred carrier, so there's still a learning curve to overcome. At least Clarity makes the process of handing over $269.99 as easy as possible.

[Via UnwiredView]

Filed under: Handsets, Others, GSM, Mobile

Comments

Serene scenes on HDTV no substitute for nature

Darren Murph — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:20:00 -0400

Ruh roh. Seems you can't use the "it's good for my health" excuse to watch just one more hour of Sunrise Earth, as a recent study has shown that watching serene scenes on HDTV just doesn't have the same calming effect as does watching a similar scene in nature. The University of Washington-based study discovered that heart recovery rates in people exposed to minor stress were the same when viewing peaceful imagery on a plasma or starting directly at a blank wall. Yeah, a blank wall. It was also noted that heart rates dropped more quickly when these same folks viewed a calming scene through a window, suggesting that technology may not be ready to replace reality just yet in this particular case. We just have to wonder if they were using true HD signals on the display -- nothing gets our heart racing like a bad episode of Pool Watchers in SD.

[Thanks, Ben]

Filed under: Misc, Plasma, HD

Comments

Hawaii volcano film to be released on Blu-ray... and HD DVD?

Darren Murph — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:06:00 -0400

There's simply no question that the beauty of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (above) can only truly be appreciated after a winding drive down from Kailua Kona (or Hilo, for those who love the rain), but for folks without weeks on end to spare waiting to see lava flow from some of those majestic creations, a forthcoming film should give you the next best look. Volcanographer Mick Kalber has assembled an hour-long movie entitled Kilauea's Flow to Waikupanaha, and while we'd generally brush something like this off, a recent writeup about it most definitely caught our eye. We thought we had already seen HD DVD's last hurrah back in March, but if KHNL-8 is to be believed, the forthcoming flick will be available on Blu-ray and HD DVD. Granted, there's no release date mentioned, but given that red has been decomposing for months now, we're tempted to believe someone was simply misinformed.

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray, HD DVD, HD

Comments

HD clarity paves the way for new channels

Darren Murph — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:17:00 -0500

No real surprises here, but a recent writeup over at USA Today proclaims that the sheer clarity provided by HDTV could pave the way for a whole new pool of channels. We've already found that sports fans in general typically enjoy watching a game in HD regardless of what teams are competing, and the same seems to prove true when looking at nature. The report pinpoints Discovery's Sunrise Earth and The Smithsonian Channel (among many others) as programs that simply wouldn't have the same allure if not shot in HD. Additionally, Comcast's Derek Harrar even suggested that "pretty-picture content" could prove to be just as desirable as movies and sports. Personally, we've all watched quite a few programs for no other reason than to bask in the glory of how stunning HD can look, but only time will tell if there's a real market for picturesque programming.

[Via The HDTV Blog]

Filed under: Industry, New content, HD

Comments