Sprint Releases New Accessible Smartphone

mz22 — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 13:12:58 +0000

September 2013 — Sprint has announced the release of Kyocera Kona, a new smartphone with multiple accessibility features. The compact flip phone provides users with a tactile keyboard, verbal descriptions of on-screen menus, “high-contrast user interface options,” 911 shortcuts, and “verbal translation enabling internet browsing.” The phone is also being currently offered free of charge, following a $50 mail-in rebate. Of the service, David Owens, Vice President of Product Development at Sprint, stated, “Sprint has always been dedicated to ensuring accessibility – whether it’s our award winning accessibility Sprint ID application bundles or a device like Kona providing first–of-its-kind features for the visually impaired. We are providing the product free of charge because we want anyone who has a unique need to be able to take advantage of this great new offering.”

Sprint Receives U.S. Disability Matters Awards

mz22 — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 17:01:13 +0000

March 27, 2013 — On April 16, 2013, Sprint will be honored as the Marketplace winner at the Seventh Annual U.S. Disability Matters Awards Banquet and Conference for innovative accessibility solutions. Sprint will receive the award for the Sprint Relay ID pack and four accessibility-themed Sprint ID packs. The packs were funded and developed through Apps4Android and the Apps Factory project of the Wireless RERC. Sprint customers that have an Everything Data plan can download the ID packs for free, which will enable non-visual access to smartphone, apply text-to-speech for reading RSS news feeds and YouTube content, utilize GPS-based navigational directions when driving or walking, and allow for the use of a phone to locate and identify objects in the home and workplace. The Sprint accessibility ID packs in particular allow individuals with disabilities “to more easily and fully use their devices, often in ways that weren’t previously possible.”

Wireless RERC - Sprint ID packs

Sprint Releases New Accessible Smartphone

Sprint Receives U.S. Disability Matters Awards