S1: Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: February the 25th, 2025. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have
S1: you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated
S1: stations of the Radio Reading Network or the Community Radio Network.
S1: There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you
S1: need to do is search for the two words talking
S1: tech and Danica. Nor come usually on a Tuesday afternoon
S1: just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask
S1: your Siri device or smart speaker to play. Vision Australia
S1: radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast
S1: with me. Vision Australia's national access technology manager. Damo McMorrow. Hey, Damo.
S2: G'day, Stephen.
S1: Damo, we've got news of another in the iPhone series.
S1: The iPhone 16 series was released in the last few days.
S2: Yes, this is the iPhone 16 E. The iPhone 16
S2: E is available to order from February the 21st and
S2: start shipping, I believe, on the 28th of February. This
S2: one replaces the iPhone SE variants, so it is a
S2: well as budget a model as you get with an iPhone. Um,
S2: it's still sort of starts at, I think around $999 Australian.
S2: It's a bit of a change from the SE format.
S2: It's not a small phone, but this one is actually
S2: based on the body of the iPhone 14. So you're
S2: still talking about a, you know, a six inch screen
S2: and that sort of thing. The other significant change that
S2: people will notice is the departure from the home button.
S2: I know we've sort of been anticipating that for a while,
S2: but it's now not possible to buy an Apple iPhone
S2: with a home button. So this one, as with the
S2: other models in the 16 lineup and ones that have
S2: gone before it, Now you're sort of utilizing face ID
S2: to unlock the phone and using a swipe up gesture,
S2: rather than tapping the the physical or haptic home button
S2: that we've had on the seas for a number of years.
S1: For those who have never used face ID, it shouldn't
S1: be all that daunting these days, should it?
S2: No it's not. And if you have voiceover running when
S2: you set it up, it does give you some pretty
S2: good guidance on how to set it up. Um, I
S2: don't find it a problem. It works in the dark.
S2: So if you're the sort of person that reads a
S2: book in the middle of the night, that kind of thing,
S2: you'll still be able to unlock your phone. It just
S2: takes a little bit of getting used to. In terms
S2: of knowing where to position it relative to your face,
S2: and also if you don't use VoiceOver but you have
S2: limited or no eye control, there is a thing which
S2: you can switch off, which they call attention mode, where
S2: you have to actually be looking at the phone with
S2: your eyes so you can turn that off, which will
S2: help to make it easier to to unlock and recognize
S2: your face. So that's just something to sort of be
S2: aware of.
S1: Remind us of the differences between the iPhone Sixteen-e, this
S1: new one and the others. It's sort of like a
S1: budget model, isn't it?
S2: It is when you consider that some of the Pro
S2: models are up over the sort of $2,000 mark. There
S2: are a few differences, and there are a few things
S2: that are the same. So the things that are the
S2: same are it does have the Apple intelligence features which
S2: the SES didn't have. It has the A18 chip, which
S2: is the same as the other iPhone 16 seconds. There
S2: would be a difference in weight because the newer the
S2: iPhone 16 seconds were, I believe, a titanium case, whereas
S2: this is using the body, if you like, of an
S2: iPhone 14, which is the sort of glass and aluminium setup.
S2: So it would be heavier than a regular 16. It
S2: doesn't have the camera button, it does have the action
S2: button that is present on the iPhone 15. You know
S2: where the mute switch used to be? It's now a
S2: button that you can set up to still function as
S2: a mute button, but you can do other things with it.
S2: But there's no camera button, and there's also just the
S2: one camera. It is a 48 megapixel camera. So it's
S2: an improvement on the previous cameras in the SE. They're
S2: also saying that it does contain a 5G modem, and
S2: the 5G chip is extremely power efficient. So I guess
S2: it remains to be seen what the battery life is
S2: going to be in practice. But, uh, the fact that
S2: we are starting to increasingly see more 5G towers around
S2: and that kind of thing is probably a useful thing. So, um,
S2: they would be the main differences. It is also USB-C,
S2: which is in line again with the the other iPhone
S2: 16 seconds. So it's goodbye lightning. The other difference, though,
S2: between it and the 16 is that it doesn't support
S2: the MagSafe wireless charging, so you can still charge it wirelessly,
S2: but only at sort of seven watts. So it's going
S2: to be a fairly slow charge. So there is wireless
S2: charging but not the not the magnetic. There's a number
S2: of sort of magnetic type wireless chargers these days that
S2: you can get for your your iPhone 15 and 16
S2: and so on. It doesn't support that magnetic charging standard.
S1: So it's USB charging you need to go with for it.
S2: It's USB-C or it will support the older wireless charging standards,
S2: but it'll only charge at 7.5W. So you're going to
S2: be waiting a while if you charge it using anything
S2: other than USB-C.
S1: Yep. So that's the new iPhone 16 E. We talked
S1: about the new mobility aid, the Walk Smart Cane two
S1: last week. You've discovered a little more.
S2: I have there's a couple of things that I wanted
S2: to share, I suppose as a follow up from the
S2: discussion we had last week. First of all, if you
S2: were to buy it from the We Walk website. You
S2: need to be aware that even if you tell it,
S2: your country is Australia and it's a little bit sort of, um,
S2: confusing because they say put in your email address and
S2: your country to get the pricing for your country. However,
S2: the pricing that they quote is in US dollars, but
S2: it doesn't say that anywhere. Which means you'll you know,
S2: you think, oh, that's pretty good for $850. But then
S2: when you get your credit card bill, it's going to
S2: be the 1300 with the currency conversion or 1370, I
S2: think it was the other day when I checked. So
S2: just be aware of that and then you may get
S2: hit with the customs duty. On top of that, it
S2: would be GST exempt, but you're still going to get
S2: hit with the customs duty. Now the other thing that
S2: I can now confirm as well is that Vision Australia's
S2: Vision store will be carrying the we walk to Smart
S2: Cane as well. So you can just get it from there,
S2: get it shipped to you and you're not having to
S2: mess about with, uh, you know, currency conversions and all
S2: of those sorts of things. And the price is essentially
S2: what it would cost you by the time you imported
S2: it anyway. So if it's not on the web shop already,
S2: it will be available quite soon, I believe from Vision Store.
S1: You've had a little play with one?
S2: Yes, I took it for a wee walk. Quite impressed
S2: with it actually. We mentioned last week that there is
S2: a Harman Kardon speaker in the end of the cane
S2: in the end of the handle. Um, and I do
S2: have to say the audio quality is pretty good. It's
S2: good and loud and it sounds quite reasonable. Um, it
S2: is nice to use because all of the buttons are
S2: on the handle of the cane, so you can access
S2: them with your finger or your thumb. And the other
S2: thing that I discovered as well is that the handle
S2: unscrews from the rest of the cane. So if you were,
S2: you know, unfortunate enough to snap the cane further down
S2: the shaft, you could just replace the shaft and screw
S2: your handle onto it. So you haven't sort of completely
S2: ruined a $1,500 cane, essentially. A couple of other things.
S2: The obstacle detection does work well, so it gives you
S2: either haptic feedback or audio feedback. So you get the
S2: sort of. Dink dink dink dink sound. And it gets
S2: faster as you get closer to the object and you
S2: can adjust the range. Um, there's sort of three different
S2: range settings, and the pairing to the app works quite well.
S2: So once it's paired to the app, you know you
S2: can activate the navigation features, uh, select, you know, some
S2: somewhere that you want to go, etc., from the handle
S2: of the cane so you can leave your phone in
S2: your pocket or your bag or whatever and drive the
S2: app from the cane. So it is, I think, quite
S2: well thought out. What I'm hoping to do is to
S2: get my hands on one for a little bit longer
S2: than sort of half an hour, and actually do a
S2: little audio demo, which we might be able to feature
S2: on a future edition of the program.
S1: So we walk Smart Cane two. It's coming to a
S1: vision store near you. Tell me about network radio.
S2: This is one that I've been tinkering with for a while,
S2: but I've recently started experimenting with it a little more
S2: and upgraded my hardware. For those of you that don't know,
S2: I am a licensed ham radio operator, but you don't
S2: need to be one to use this technology. It's a
S2: good way. If you sort of were thinking about maybe
S2: getting into ham radio and you, you're not quite sure.
S2: This provides a way of doing a similar thing without
S2: having to be licensed. So there's two components to this.
S2: One is an app called Zello, and you can use
S2: the Zello app on your iPhone if you wish, or
S2: your Android phone. Or you can get a dedicated network radio,
S2: which feels like a walkie talkie. Okay, so it has
S2: a push to talk button on the left hand side.
S2: It's got a little screen, it's got a little stubby
S2: antenna on the top, and it's got a tactile rubber keypad.
S2: These things run Android, so you can install talkback on
S2: them and you've got a radio where everything talks and
S2: you can use Zello on that. Um, and it essentially
S2: it allows you to talk, you know, all the way
S2: around the world. Um, as long as you've got either
S2: Wi-Fi or cellular coverage. The audio is really, really clear
S2: and you can set it up in different ways. So
S2: there's a number of public channels. I use a group
S2: of channels called the network radio channels, which are set
S2: up by a guy called Carl G. One Ypc in
S2: the UK. And if you just Google Network Radios G1 Ypc, uh,
S2: you will find the website for that. There's a lot
S2: of helpful information there and tells you the names of
S2: the different channels, but you can also set up private channels.
S2: So you could have a family channel that's password protected
S2: and so on. You know, if you've got, um, kids
S2: or parents who are travelling, you know, maybe interstate, overseas,
S2: that sort of thing, you could set up a channel
S2: and have a talk to them as though you're on
S2: a walkie talkie and, you know, chatting from one house
S2: to another, as it were, so you can set it
S2: up in a number of different ways. And you can
S2: you can access a number of different types of channels
S2: depending on what you're interested in. For those that are hams,
S2: if you are using a network radio, you can also
S2: run other ham specific apps. So there's one called DV
S2: switch and there's another called Echolink, which are also ways
S2: of sort of talking around the world from these devices.
S2: But if you're not licensed, Zello is a really good
S2: thing to experiment with on the network radios group of
S2: channels that Carl runs. Their motto is play nice or
S2: play somewhere else. So you don't sort of get some
S2: of the undesirable behaviors that you get on some of
S2: the local CB radio channels and that kind of thing.
S2: So it's something I've been messing around with for a
S2: while and trying different hardware. The other thing I should
S2: mention too, if you do want to use it on
S2: the iPhone, you can get hold of a Bluetooth microphone,
S2: which you can pair to your phone and still have
S2: that kind of push to talk, sort of, uh, walkie
S2: talkie feel, if you like. It's a thing called an Enrico.
S2: Enrico B01 Bluetooth microphone. The network radio I've got is
S2: an Enrico T320. But there's a number of different ones
S2: out there, or most of them are fairly similar. But, yeah,
S2: it's a good a good sort of way to experiment.
S2: If you're thinking about perhaps getting into ham radio.
S1: The accessibility of the app. Zillow.
S2: Zillow itself is extremely accessible. If you're using it on
S2: iOS to activate your Push to Talk button, you can
S2: do the sort of two finger double tap to press
S2: the talk button down, and then do it again to
S2: to let it up. If you're using a network radio,
S2: the only problem is that they don't come bundled with
S2: the Google Accessibility suite. So I ended up using IRA
S2: to get it connected to my Wi-Fi. And then I
S2: went to the play Store and installed it that way. So, um,
S2: that's the only gotcha is that some of the Android
S2: based network radios don't include Talkback and the Google Accessibility Suite.
S2: You have to install it once it's installed, though. Yes, absolutely.
S2: Very accessible. And because these radios have got a rubber.
S2: Like a tactile keypad, you don't even have to use
S2: the touch screen. You can just use the little navy
S2: circle to move around the screen and then press the
S2: middle of it to do your double tap. So once
S2: you've got talkback installed, it's pretty accessible.
S1: Very interesting network radio. Before we go, a reminder there
S1: are details of this and previous editions of the program
S1: available by going to VA radio.org/talking tech, VA radio.org/talking tech
S1: to write to the program Damo.
S2: Damo dot McMorrow MC m o r o w at
S2: Vision Australia.
S1: Org Damo dot McMorrow at Vision australia.org. This has been
S1: talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national access
S1: technology manager Damo McMorrow. I'm Stephen Jolly. Take care. We'll
S1: talk more tech next week. See you.