Portability troubles with BrailleNote

By Karen Keninger
Contributing Writer

I wanted a highly portable way to blog while I was on vacation recently. My solution was to use my Nokia 6650 phone as a modem and my BrailleNote Mpower as the input device. It worked beautifully during all the trials.

I used the Bluetooth connection between the two gadgets, and had full access to the web, including Facebook and my Gmail account. Only two problems–the non-swappable battery in my BrailleNote began failing, and there were so many people using their cell phones when I needed to connect that I couldn’t get online.

Nevertheless, it is a slick and very portable system. It does, of course, require a data plan on my phone. I could use the phone alone to do the web, but inputting on the phone’s keypad is slow and unfriendly for me. And, alas, even using just the phone I couldn’t get connected because of the traffic.

*Editor’s note: Keninger’s partial story of her travels, before connectivity blackout, is posted here.