I’m looking into a new braille display, and since I prefer a QWERTY keyboard over braille input, I’m a little interested in the Mantis Q40. Does anyone own it and use it with iOS? any quirks to know about? Does the QWERTY input actually work with iOS? (I own an apex QT where it doesn’t.) https://www.aph.org/product/mantis-q40

I also saw that Orbit Research is coming out with, basically, a screenless windows 11 laptop with a built-in braille display (the Optima) but that isn’t shipping til 2024. Not sure if it might be worth waiting to see what it looks like when it comes out. https://www.orbitresearch.com/product/optima/

Alternately, what braille displays are currently worth looking at? My primary interests are basic reading on the device (bonus if it supports epub) and using it on iOS and windows.

  • Samuel ProulxMAEnglish
    3·
    8 months ago

    Personally, I’m saving up for the Optima as my next big tech purchase. My understanding is that it will support terminal mode, so you can just use it as a Braille display for IOS if you don’t want to fully boot into Windows. I currently have the Orbit Writer, and it works well, though it doesn’t support QWERTY input. I did find this discussion on Applevis from someone who’s using the Mantis QWERTY input on IOS, for what it’s worth.

    • shackleboltOPAEnglish
      2·
      8 months ago

      Appreciate the input. Do we have any idea the price range of the Optima yet?

      • Samuel ProulxMAEnglish
        5·
        8 months ago

        The company has done multiple interviews with the Double Tap podcast, and they’ve been pretty cagy about that. Makes me going to believe it’ll be hire than I would like. It’s based on the framework laptop, and if you look at the cost of the Frameworks themselves (even as a non-AT product without a Braille display), they’re quite on the high end. My guess would be take the price of the framework laptop you’d want, and add the price of the Orbit Reader 20 to that, and you’d be in about the range. So probably something like 2 grand US for the starter model, with more if you want upgrades in memory/CPU/hard disc.

        • shackleboltOPAEnglish
          3·
          8 months ago

          Honestly, I’d be super impressed with a $2000 price point, especially when you consider the only all-in-one “alternative” is $4000 or more notetakers that have less processing power and capabilities than my phone.

          • Samuel ProulxMAEnglish
            3·
            8 months ago

            I suspect that’ll be the starter model, though. The stats on the cheapest framework just aren’t that impressive. If you want more CPU cores, enough disc space to actually get things done, or a useful amount of RAM (I think the starter framework is only 8 gig but can’t recall), the price goes up quickly. Yes, it makes me sad that 8 gigs isn’t enough memory to browse the web or run the dozens and dozens of bloated apps I need to run daily.