Dear LPG

Even though there are quite a few mobile phones designed for older people these days, the older population of Lewisham has become more and more cosmopolitan, and many now recognise the advantage of having a smart or iPhone.  If you can work with one of these, being able to phone abroad to family and friends, leave texts, and see who you are talking to can only be a good thing.

You may remember a message that I wrote having worked out that it might make readers aware of a little habit that my mother needs to break, and that is the habit of not disconnecting her mobile telephone call before starting another conversation which so often can be about the person that she has just been talking to (►►►) and I bet she is not the only one…

But there is something that I did not mention and that is the difficulty that she has typing on the really small onscreen keyboard.  I just wanted to point out that where there is such a problem, a solution is never far behind and, in this case we have ‘speech to text’.

Nearly all mobiles will allow you to do this now and, if you have not tried it, it is worth having a go, though once it is set up, there are three things to be aware of.

1,         it is important to rehearse what you plan to say before triggering the recorder because a mobile that hears, hears EVERYTHING. 

2,         you still need to read through what you said to make sure that it makes sense before you press the ‘send’ button.  Editing a lengthy message can be a much easier and quicker exercise than actually having to type it on one of those really small on screen keyboards, especially if your fingers are not as dainty as they once were, but that needs to be the subject of a completely different post.

…and

3,         make sure that you stop the recording when you finish your message.  It is so simple to make a comment after pressing the send button that remains in the box, and then catch that send button again before you know it.  In fact I need to refer you back to my last message. 

It is true that mobile phones allow you to do so much more than your home phone, but when you press the disconnect button, your home phone is more likely to actually disconnect.

WT, Lewisham.

LPG has found some information on how to set up Speech to Text on a smart phone or iPhone although we suggest that using it may be sufficient an exercise for our readers to learn.  We suggest it may be a feature that you get one of your more IT savvy friends to set up for you.  LPG has found a couple of useful videos… 

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