Author Archives: pbravin

A Samsung Epic Videophone for the Holidays? (Holiday Update #2)

With the holidays coming around the corner, Dr. Z has been asked in his recent travels–“which videophone should I get?”

Dr. Z would not want to tell you which car to get for the same reason he would not tell you which videophone to get.

The Samsung Epic mobile videophone is covered here. Dr. Z will cover other mobile models in following blogs.

Here is a list of who you can call with the Samsung Epic:

  • any videophone (Z150, Z340, ZOjo, VP200, P3) (using downloaded Z4 Mobile app)
  • iPhone 4 (using downloaded Tango software)
  • Apple Mac (using Z4 software downloaded to a Mac and downloaded Z4 Mobile to an Epic)
  • any PC with a webcam (using Z4 software downloaded to a PC and downloaded Z4 Mobile to an Epic)
  • ZVRS interpreter for relay calls (using downloaded Z4 Mobile app)

The Samsung Epic is sold by Sprint and you can click this link to the Sprint Relay website (link). It currently sells for $249 after discount and rebates. The monthly cost is $39, but Dr. Z strongly suggests you contact Sprint for more specific cost information.

To get started with a Samsung Epic:

  • Buy one from Sprint
  • If you do not have a ZVRS account, set one up (link)
  • Set up your profile on the ZVRS website (link)
  • Download the Z4 Mobile Application from the Android Market icon on the unit.
  • Click the Z4 Mobile icon–it will ask for your phone number and password. Use the phone number you have for the Z4 or the one that ZVRS assigned to you and use the same password that you used when you created your profile.
  • You can add your contacts using the My Contacts link after you bring up your profile on the ZVRS website. You can also add your contact information using the Epic.
  • Click the contact you want to call, or type the phone number to the left of the red/green phone icon on the top of the screen.
  • If you are calling a hearing person, a ZVRS interpreter will come on the screen.
  • If you are calling a deaf/hard of hearing person, the person you are calling will come up on the screen.

Happy calling!!

Feel free to contact Dr. Z with your thoughts using the contact form on the left side of the web page.

Happy shopping (and decisionmaking.)

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

Which Mobile Videophone for the Holidays Should I Get? (Holiday Update #1)

With the holidays coming around the corner, Dr. Z has been asked in his recent travels–“which videophone should I get?”

Dr,. Z would not want to tell you which car to get for the same reason he would not tell you which videophone to get.

In the next few posts on this site, Dr. Z will go into detail on the following videophones out there to guide you in making a decision as to which one to get for the holidays.

  • Samsung Epic
  • Apple iPod Touch
  • Apple iPhone 4
  • Samsung Tab

All of these videophones have functions that differ from one another. In a few months, most of these videophones will be about the same in their ability to call other videophones.

Feel free to contact Dr. Z with your thoughts using the contact form on the left side of the web page.

Happy shopping (and decisionmaking.)

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

Happy Thanksgiving from Dr. Z and his Friends

In only a year, how things have changed!

Last year, at Thanksgiving time, we had wired devices to enable video communication.

This year, at Thanksgiving time, we have mobile and wireless devices to enable video communication.

It is time to give thanks to all those who make video communication and independence from wires possible.

Here’s a simple poem for you all…and a Happy Thanksgiving from Dr. Z and his friends at ZVRS…

He who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart.

–J. A. Shedd

Editorial #68-Using 2 Remote Controls to Make a Videophone Call-Does this Make Sense?

Dr. Z has an observation and it occurs to him that many deaf and hard of hearing people have been conditioned to use 2 remote controls to make a videophone call. It is beginning not to make sense. One remote control to control the TV (turn it off/on, control the input) and another remote to control the videophone. All this with a set of 5 wires attached….

It is really time to cut or reduce the leash! The leash of 5 wires is not necessary in today’s age and time. When we look at our hearing counterparts–their phones do not have wires–the sight of a wired telephone in hearing people’s homes is practically nonexistent. All they use are wireless phones. There is an emerging trend of wireless videophones—the Apple iPhone 4, the Apple iPod Touch and the Samsung Epic. Those videophones put us on a level playing field with our hearing peers. And sets us free from the wires.

Some wired phones such as the Z-150, Z-340 and the Z-Ojo have a place in the home office or office at the workplace, just like hearing people who have wired telephones in their workplace. But for communication anytime, anywhere–wireless is the way to go!

It’s time to CUT the leash!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

Who Can You Call with Your iPhone, iPod Touch and Epic?-(Smartphone Update #7)

Dr. Z in his travels gets this question all the time, so he is hoping this information will be useful. It tells you which mobile phones can communicate with other phones. This is only for the 3 phones that ZVRS supports with their app as well as Tango.

Apple iPhone 4

  • iPhone 4 (using FaceTime)
  • iPod Touch (using FaceTime)
  • Apple Mac (using FaceTime)
  • Samsung Epic (using downloaded Tango software)
  • ZVRS interpreter for relay calls (using downloaded ZVRS app)

Apple iPod Touch

  • iPhone 4 (using FaceTime)
  • iPod Touch (using FaceTime)
  • Apple Mac (using FaceTime)
  • ZVRS interpreter for relay calls (using downloaded ZVRS app)

Samsung Epic

  • iPhone 4 (using downloaded Tango software)
  • Apple Mac (using Z4 software downloaded to a Mac and downloaded Z4 Mobile to an Epic)
  • any PC with a webcam (using Z4 software downloaded to a PC and downloaded Z4 Mobile to an Epic)
  • any videophone (Z150, Z340, ZOjo, VP200, P3) (using downloaded Z4 Mobile app)
  • ZVRS interpreter for relay calls (using downloaded Z4 Mobile app)

Note: The Z4 Mobile app for the Samsung Epic should be released in a few weeks.

It is expected that over time the Apple products (iPhone4, iPod Touch) will be able to call other videophones. Apple has not yet released the specifications for their FaceTime software to make it possible to call other videophones.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

Interesting Stories on Using Mobile Devices (#2)

Dr. Z has been on the road and while on the road he picks up interesting stories on how people use mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone, the iPod Touch or the Samsung Epic.

Here’s another one…

An husband went shopping with a shopping list provided by his wife. The problem—his wife wrote “bread” on the shopping list and when the husband went to the store–there were 25 varieties of bread on the shelf and he wasn’t sure which one was the one his wife wanted–so he pulled out his videophone and signed to his wife via video–his wife tried to explain what she wanted but the husband couldn’t figure it out–the solution was to use the videophone to show his wife which loaf was the right kind to buy by using the videophone to video the loaves….after several loaves, the wife said “yes, that’s the one!” End of dilemma–a husband and wife lived happily ever after—we husbands know sometimes we bring the wrong loaf, the wrong container home– a videophone can come to your rescue!

Thanks to a mobile phone!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

At the Seattle Airport with Samsung Epic

Dr. Z is now on his road tour conducting town halls all over the country–everyone continues to be awed by the mobile offerings from ZVRS!

While waiting to check in at the Seattle Airport yesterday for a flight to Portland, Dr. Z pulled out his Samsung Epic which had a beta version of Z4 Mobile to call his wife while standing up.

Lo and behold, his wife answered the call on her Z4 and they had a great chat. There were people around the terminal looking out the corner of their eyes seeing someone signing on video in the middle of a terminal. What a sight! The feeling of being able to connect with my wife while standing up in a strange place was an astounding one!

Go mobile go!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

Video Mobilizing America–Dr. Z Goes On Tour!

With so many choices for mobile video today–Dr. Z is on his way to share information with you so you can make your choices by going on a nationwide tour.

At each stop, Dr. Z will demonstrate the iPhone, iPod Touch and the Samsung Epic along with Mobile Z4, FaceTime and Tango software. When Dr. Z demonstrates–all of these will be live video calls to allow you all to appreciate and understand what the latest in video communication brings to us–MOBILE VIDEO COMMUNICATION! To give you an appreciation of how technology is changing our lives along with mobile video, Dr. Z will demonstrate Apple TV as well.

At each event, there will be a drawing for a FREE iPod Touch along with some refreshments.

Dr. Z has already visited 4 cities with over 20 lined up in the weeks to come–look for it in your city/state. For his schedule, look at “Dr. Z Mobile Tour” at the following link. At the present time, he is scheduled to be in Washington, DC, Washington State, Idaho, California, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida.

Look forward to seeing you at those events!

Dr. Z will explain what is meant by “It’s time to cut the leash.”

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

Mobile Z4 for the Samsung Epic-(Smartphone Update #6)

Time is drawing near…the launch of Mobile Z4 for the Samsung Epic!

There will be a sneak preview (tweetup) on November 4th in Schaumburg, Il (link) and again at the Deaf Nation Expo at Harper College in the metro Chicago area on Saturday, November 6th (link).

Dr. Z has had a beta copy of the Mobile Z4 app for just a day and he is in LOVE with it. It can do what a videophone can do–and more. It even has the capability to do MCU calls (link to video of multipoint control unit), meaning several people at the same time.. It can call a Z-Phone, even a VP-200, receive video calls–and yet it is MOBILE! There are more features which will be revealed in the next few days and at launch.

As part of the ZVRS team, Dr. Z is proud of the efforts our people in Clearwater did and will do in making this possible. Way to GO!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

What is an Eco-System–Apple and Google?

Many people wonder what the term “eco-system” refers to?

It means devices in a family of products work together in many more ways than one. To use the Apple eco-system as an example–you have the Mac (computer), iPhone 4 ( mobile device), iPod Touch (mobile system) and the Apple TV (TV interface). All of these units work to exchange information. You can have the Mac taking information from the iPod, and then show it on a TV using Apple TV. Or you can use Facetime on the Mac to communicate with an iPod or an iPhone.

Dr. Z on his tour has demonstrated the Apple eco-system and people walk away awed at the possibility of how technology can change our lives in so short a time. Apple has thought everything out and this is only the beginning.

This is not to ignore Google. Google has their Android system– the Android mobile phones, their Chrome browser, their Google TV. They are still putting the pieces together to communicate seamlessly. Dr. Z had the opportunity to sit down with a knowledgeable Google TV person at a Best Buy store recently and he walked away awed at the possibilities it will bring. The major difference is that you can do a videochat on a Google TV device. Dr. Z needs to do more research on how interoperable it is with the current crop of videophones.

We have begun to scratch the surface of how everything ties together. In a year, we will have a better idea and then enjoy what technology has to offer, The age of set-top videophones with a single purpose (video conferencing) will still have a place but with very defined settings, such as a workplace.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access (and is excited about what the future has to offer.)

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.