Generally speaking, the mobile industry isn’t all that geared towards the blind. We’ve seen plenty of handsets for the aurally and visually impaired, which is fantastic, but it’s understandably tough to manufacture a phone for those completely without sight.
Tough, that is, unless you’re OwnFone. Based in London, OwnFone has 3D printed a braille mobile handset which is not only small and easy to use, but incredibly cheap. £60 cheap, in fact, with monthly contracts between £7.50 and £15 available.
The £60 model features two pre-programmed contact buttons, whilst a model with four costs £67.50. You can even create your own model on the OwnFone website so that it’s exactly tailored to your wants and needs.
Creator Tom Sunderland told the BBC, “The phone can be personalised with two or four Braille buttons which are pre-programmed to call friends, family, carers or the emergency services,
“This is the first phone to have a 3D printed keypad and for people that can’t read Braille, we can print texture and raised text on the phone. Our 3D phone printing process is patent pending.”
