Sprint Announces New Smartphone and Accessible Education ID Packs

Speaking at the M-Enabling Summit on June 6, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse announced that Sprint’s new LG Optimus F3 smartphone will be preloaded with TalkBack, Google’s accessibility app for the blind and visually impaired. Unlike other smartphones that require downloading and activation of Talkback, the Optimus F3 begins providing voice guidance to help with activation and setup as soon as the user powers up the phone.

Sprint also announced the release of its new Accessible Education ID Pack, adding to its inventory of Accessibility ID Packs developed by Apps4Android with support from the US Department of Education through the Wireless RERC. 

Sprint’s ID packs allow customers to download a bundle of content to select Android-powered devices, including the new LG Optimus F3. The Accessible Education ID pack features customized mobile Web services that eliminate clutter and display only the parts of Web pages of interest to the user. It also provides students who do not have computers or Internet connections at home with mobile-friendly interfaces and Web-based educational resources. The Accessible Education ID pack includes:

• Six applications that simplify access to WebMATH, a free Web site hosted by Discovery Education, that helps students learn how to solve math problems. Solutions to all problems are presented in a real-time, step-by-step, manner.
• KhAndroid:  a fully accessible Android application that enables its users to view Khan Academy's library of more than 2,200 micro lectures via video tutorials. Topics covered include math, history, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy and economics.
• IDEAL Equation Finder:  a speech recognition-based application, designed to take advantage of EqsQuest’s semantic search technology for math and science. Semantic search technology seeks to improve search accuracy by understanding a searcher’s intent and the contextual meaning of terms as they appear in searchable data spaces.