Dr. Z swears by his iPad for video communication and uses his iPad and his iPhone for a lot of things during the day.

It is called Spotlight. It is not an app, but it is part of your iPad!

What is Spotlight? It is a built-in search engine for your iPad, like Google search for your iPad.

How do you get it? Simple–click the home button (the button on the bottom of your iPad)–click it slowly, twice (or maybe 3 times), until you see the image below:

Enter anything you want to look for–your friend’s name, a hotel you want to stay in, an email you want to find.

You will get a list of the results of your search. If it is an email, the email will show up in your list. If it is a hotel and it is not on your device, click “Search Web”, it will then do a Google or Yahoo search and you will see the results on your iPad!

Try it, you will love it!

Also, do not forget to download the NEW Z5 Mobile app for video communication (you can’t use paper for this) (link.) You can make video calls with Z5 on your 4G/4G LTE connection!

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Try Z5 Mobile, you will LOVE it, just like Dr. Z!

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Dr. Z swears by his iPad for video communication and uses his iPad and his iPhone for a lot of things during the day.

Sometimes, we need a break from all the seriousness of the day and enjoy a bit of humor.

But, honestly, there are a few things the iPad can’t do–it can’t replace paper. And when your wifi iPad is not in an wifi environment, it can’t do a lot of things, including what the video attempts to tell.

Also, do not forget to download the NEW Z5 Mobile app for video communication (you can’t use paper for this) (link.) You can make video calls with Z5 on your 4G/4G LTE connection!

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Try Z5 Mobile, you will LOVE it, just like Dr. Z!

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

When you buy a new mobile phone or want an iPad with 3G connection–you have a lot of choices to decide–3G, 4G, 4G LTE?  ATT, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile?

Which should you pick first?

First of all, you must check with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile on their website for coverage maps for where you live.  If you see that the data (not voice) map shows 4G or 4G LTE, that means you have a good chance of having your mobile device be able to do video communication.

Today, if you have 4G or 4G LTE coverage on your mobile device, it usually means you can do video communication outside of a wifi area.

Remember, those 4G and 4G LTE plans have a data cap of 2 or 3 GB, which only allows a couple hours of video calls per MONTH!

The older iPad2 does not have 4G, only 3G.  Sometimes 3G will work for video, but not as good as 4G/4G LTE.  The later models after iPad2 have 4G LTE as an option.

Try to use wifi first if you have coverage in your area.  If not, you can then use the 4G or 4G LTE coverage.  In many cases, 4G or 4G LTE gives better quality video calls than wifi because of the stability of the signal.  Wifi signals sometimes drop in middle of call due to internet connections, while 4G and 4G LTE are cellular connections which are usually more stable.

If you are a passenger in a car or if you have an emergency on the road, 4G and 4G LTE — if there is coverage– will allow you to make video calls.

Also, do not forget to download the NEW Z5 Mobile app (link.) You can make video calls with Z5 on your 4G/4G LTE connection!

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Try Z5 Mobile, you will LOVE it, just like Dr. Z!

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Captioning on the iPad?  What about television?

Yes, you can have both!

But the problem here is to have captioning on the iPad, every app has it’s own way to make captioning work.

Some apps like ABC Player are easy to enable captioning.

The iTunes store on your iPad will allow you to download movies and TV shows.  But before you download and pay for them, check for the “CC” symbol in the summary of the program.

The Communications and Video Accessibility Act, passed by Congress and now enforced by the FCC mandates that any movie or TV show that were previously captioned on TV must be shown with captions on the internet!  But this is not 100% done yet…we will get there eventually.

On YouTube, there is no requirement to caption because it was never shown on TV before. However, YouTube can caption for you by clicking on the “CC” symbol on the lower right and clicking “enable captions”–some captions are better quality than others, because YouTube is transcribing speech into captions! And some people speak more clearly than others.

One of the better captioned sites is TED (www.ted.org).  It has some great lectures that are captioned and some are long and some are short and some of the stuff is great.

One of the developments that Dr. Z is looking forward to is radio captioning, which is pioneered by National Public Radio (NPR).  It should come out within the next few months in the form of an app for your iPad!

While we don’t yet have everything now, we are getting there.

By the way, if you want to call someone via video on your iPad, don’t forget to download the NEW Z5 from ZVRS.  (link)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Try Z5 Mobile, you will LOVE it, just like Dr. Z!

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Dr. Z has been using his iPad for some time now.

He has come across some apps you may want to look into.

All those recommended apps are free from the Apple App Store.

Click on the screens below to get a bigger screen.

Also, do not forget to download the NEW Z5 Mobile app (link.)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Try Z5 Mobile, you will LOVE it, just like Dr. Z!

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

The best video communication software for VRS and point-to-point–Z5 Mobile for iPhone and iPad!

It is available now!

What makes the Z5 different from the other software videophones–many things, and it can be used anywhere to communicate via video!

You can use Z5 to communicate via video by making video calls anywhere using a 4G connection!

When receiving calls, it will vibrate and you can answer the call!

If you are not available, or in a different room of your house, your mobile phone will ring, your Z-20 will ring, your ntouch will ring. All at the SAME time, not one then the other…

How? Simple! 1Number from ZVRS!

Z5, Z Alert, Videomail, 1Number–you will never miss a call!

For more information on the Z5 Mobile for iPhone and iPad, click this link.

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Try Z5 Mobile, you will LOVE it, just like Dr. Z!

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

The best video communication software for VRS and point-to-point–Z5 Mobile for iPhone and iPad!

It is available now!

What makes the Z5 different from the other software videophones–many things, and it vibrates for incoming calls!   

LOOK AT THE CARTOON. You won’t have this problem when you have Z5! It vibrates when you get a call! If you forget to start Z5, Z Alert will also vibrate as it sends you an email. If people leave a video message for you, it will vibrate as it sends you an email notifying you about the video message. You are never out of touch with Z5 and ZVRS!

Z5, Z Alert, Videomail–you will never miss a call!

For more information on the Z5 Mobile for iPhone and iPad, click this link.

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Try Z5 Mobile, you will LOVE it, just like Dr. Z!

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

The best video communication software for VRS and point-to-point–Z5 Mobile for iPhone and iPad!

It is available now!

What makes the Z5 different from the other software videophones–many things, but you can have avatars!   

What is an avatar? It is a picture or a sketch of the person calling you. It is like caller id, but instead of a text caller id, you will see the person’s picture or sketch! It’s really cool and more personal.

It also appears on the list of contacts as you can see on the images below.

It is very easy to add an avatar to the Z5. When you create a contact, you can add the avatar at that point.

The pictures below show how it looks!

For more information on the Z5 Mobile for iPhone and iPad, click this link.

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Try Z5 Mobile, you will LOVE it, just like Dr. Z!

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

The best video communication software for VRS and point-to-point–Z5 Mobile for iPhone and iPad!

It is available now!

What makes the Z5 different from the other software videophones–many things, but calling 911 is quick.  After you enter the app, you see yourself.  

To make a 911 call, click the information icon (upper left), then click 911, a message will come on to make sure this is a 911 call. If it is an EMERGENCY , just click “YES”, and in a short time an video interpreter will come on to facilitate the call. If this is not an emergency or you clicked “911” by mistake, just click “NO”.

Only a few steps to call 911–this saves critical minutes in an EMERGENCY! Other apps require many steps to make a 911 call.  So easy.  So simple.

There is another way to call 911, by clicking “9 1 1” on the dialpad and then the green video icon. See this link. When you do this, you will not get a yes/no popup to verify. It will go directly to the video interpreter.

REMEMBER–911 CALLS ARE FOR TRUE EMERGENCIES ONLY!!

For more information on the Z5 Mobile for iPhone and iPad, click this link.

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Try Z5 Mobile, you will LOVE it, just like Dr. Z!

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

The best video communication software for VRS and point-to-point–Z5 Mobile for iPhone and iPad!

It is available now!

What makes the Z5 different from the other software videophones–many things, but the videomail is quick.  After you enter the app, you see yourself.  

To check your videomail for missed calls, click the information icon (upper left), then click videomail, then click the message you want to check–simple as that! heck the photo sequence below.

Only a few steps to pick up a message! Other apps require many steps to pick up a message.  So easy.  So simple.

For more information on the Z5 Mobile for iPhone and iPad, click this link.

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Try Z5 Mobile, you will LOVE it, just like Dr. Z!

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development