Background information
digitec for dyslexics: breaking down barriers on the Internet
by Dominik Bärlocher
Honor PocketVision: the yellow/blue eye for the visually impaired with a twist
9.9.2019
Translation: machine translated
Honor wants to make the world readable for blind and partially-sighted people. PocketVision is certainly useful, but it has one major flaw.
If you can't see well, your day-to-day life is not always easy. For this, you don't need to be blind or partially blind. It's enough to be at the station without glasses and having to look for your train. Or having to read price labels at the Migros. But if you are severely visually impaired, you will have acquired some tricks of the trade over the course of your life to help you master everyday life. Putting two fingers on the banister to 'see' where the stairs start and end, for example.
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor has launched PocketVision; an app designed to make life easier for the visually impaired. Personally, I think it's great. We're on the right track. We mustn't stop there.
However, doing more is still a bit of a problem at the moment.
The principle behind the app
PocketVision uses the smartphone's cameras, takes a picture of the world, then throws massive amounts of artificial intelligence at the problem. According to Honor, 1.3 billion people could benefit. In a video with British youtuber Ricky West - himself visually impaired - the Huawei subsidiary shows off the app for the Honor 20 Pro.
When you point PocketVision at text, such as a menu, the camera reads the text, displays it with a selection of filters to make it easier to read the text on screen, and even reads the text aloud if reading is too difficult.
In addition, the filters with which interpreted text can be displayed are not just useful for the visually impaired. People with dyslexia or learning disabilities could also benefit from the app.
It's not just for the visually impaired.
The problem
The app arrives with a big problem that suggests a marketing stunt. Sure, PoketVision is a great help for visually impaired people, but the app is only compatible with the Honor 20 Pro. The official reason is that the app needs the Honor 20 Pro's specific camera configuration.
Yes, of course.
Come on, Honor, you can do better than that. You have to do better than that.
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
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