Excellent description. What a generous man Mr. being us to put all this together for us. I did put a 32 inch TV on top of my husband’s laptop and got to lose the magnifiers on that. But having it all together the way, Gerry has designed it looks like something I can use in my old age! Congratulations on all, you do please keep it up!
You can also thank my mother-in-law! When she developed macular degeneration and could not read books any longer, she was really, really unhappy. She did not want to go the audible book route. She wanted to read on her own. My wife asked if there was something I could do to help and that's when I came up with my first app, the book reader that allows importing purchased Kindle books for reading. EZReader has grown from that one app into the suite of software that I now offer.
Thanks for the video. It looks like a very accessible piece of hardware. Unfortunately, the website doesn’t offer a lot of details about the computer, just a description of the software included. Although AMD Ryzen 5 processors are generally good, not having the model of the processor may be a great deal. For me, the website needs additional technical information. For the premium price the developer is asking, we should or must know way more about it. Remember, we are paying the blind tax.
I might point out that I can run my software on a Lenovo Stick PC! I've also run it in a Mini-PC. I only go with an Ryzen 5 to give the PC itself a better feel of responsiveness, particularly when the user works outside of EZReader. For my customers, I typically get an HP all-in-one which has a Ryzen 5 (5500U), 250GB SSD and 8GB RAM. I don't always buy the same model, so sometimes the system may have 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM - whatever my local MicroCenter has at the time I buy inventory.
On the "premium price" comment - the $3900 price for my EZReader includes an all-in-one 27" touchscreen PC, over 75 software apps, a document camera, a high contrast keyboard and external speakers. It also includes free lifetime software upgrades and free tech support 7 days a week. If you compare that to a typical video magnifier, which has just a monitor and camera and runs in the $3K-$4K range, I would argue that EZReader provides a lot more capability and is more than price competitive! That said, it is indeed a sizeable investment and you definitely deserve to know exactly what you are getting for the money.
Hey Sam, awesome video and great product review. Really seems like a pretty cool set up and I could see it being very helpful for a lot of people not quite as complicated as using something like fusion or one of the other screen readers that are out there and simple enough that deal people can use it without a whole Lotta training, which is always important, I will be checking into the software a little bit. I have a computer that could handle it and already have the camera for doing text. Josie are and everything but sounds pretty cool. Thanks Sam.
Hey Sam! This system is unbelievable! I did notice, though that a lot of the applications in the easy reader look like basic applications that you would normally see on a cell phone. And many of us of course you sell phones nowadays instead of computers because it’s easier to use. I do have one question though, can you hook up your iPhone to this computer? Or is this just a android cell phone that can be connected? Thank you Sam for this awesome video.! Definitely going to share it with others on my Facebook page!
Very nice. Was great seeing you at CSUN. This could be valuable for our older customers and basic computer users. How would you say this compares to Dolphin’s Guide Connect
It's definitely not as graphical as guide connect, but Seems to be much more robust. You can do a lot more with this system. However , if your vision is too low , you probably won't be able to useIt because of its much more text based nature.
Hi Sam, I'm an advanced computer user. However, at 62 I'm finding my needs for a computer have decreased greatly. I have a CCTV that is ancient and on its last legs. I think this might be a nice step down system. I have two questions. First, can I add programs to the EZ Reader system? I have a budgeting app that I would like to use unless the EZ Reader has a money management app. Second, does it have a DVD player? Thanks so much for your help. I really love all the wonderful reviews you have on your channel!
Yes, you can add any programs you want to the all-in-one computer. The systems I deliver normally do not have a DVD player - you'd have to use a $25 external DVD player attached through a USB port. I've not created a money management app. Would you mind telling me what software you use for that purpose? I'll consider what I might do in that category.
By any chance, is the software available for purchase outside of the US? I live all the way here in the Philippines, and the shipping for a whole unit would be expensive.
My EZReader software includes a music app which can play MP3 and WAV files. I'm not that experienced with using podcasts but from what I read on the web, the MP3 is a common podcast file format. Do you have some podcast file formats that are of particular interest? Are podcast files generally available for download onto a PC and can placed in a folder of choice? I'll look into the topic some more to see what additions to EZReader might be possible, specifically for handling podcasts.
After some initial research I see that there is a way to download Google PodCasts to the Windows "downloads" folder. Based on that, I've already modified EZReader to locate and play podcasts (of the MP3 format) found in that folder. I'll continue to work on the capability, particularly to make the downloading procedure easier for low vision users.
Is it possible to search inbox? I have tens of thousands of email and you didn't demonstrate search capabilities as just a long list emails with only the contact name and date visible is going to be difficult to navigate.
Will it ever become available for my new iMac? Will never go back to Windows. All my devices are Apple to stay within one simple system. They can all access every one of my files.
I should note that there are Windows emulators that can run on a MAC and should be able to run EZReader. I haven't tried them out because I don't own a MAC myself. It's on my GoDO list to check out!
Hey Sam been looking for a new laptopI am so use to zoomtext even though my sight is going. Would you recommend this or another laptop with just using zoomtext
Most of my customers prefer a larger screen, such as the 27" PC that is part of the EZReader system. The only ones who put EZReader on a laptop are those who also attach a large screen TV to the laptop via an HDMI cable. But for a mobile system, and if your vision is particularly poor, then a laptop with ZoomText might be the better answer. But if your vision allows you to see the EZReader screens reasonably well on a small-screen laptop, then you might be better off with EZReader. Be sure to get a touch-screen laptop!
EZReader is not currently available in the UK. I've had interest from the UK and intend to sell there, but it will take a while to work through the registration/paperwork requirements.
