A simple picture exchange system developed by and for non-verbal people allowing the user to communicate their needs by building sentences from relevant images. It can be customised by the individual using their picture and photo vocabulary with the user taking photos and saving pictures to the app.

The application works in real time and allows the user to select their preferences, then rotate the device to present a full sized sentence to the listener – who will read it with them and respond to their request.

The beauty of Grace is that it ensures the interaction of the user with the listener, and mutual understanding of the user’s real needs help to increase communication opportunities and build trust.

The Grace app helps children with autism better develop their communications skills and is available in the App Store worldwide. It was developed by Lisa Domican in conjunction with software developer Steve Troughton-Smith, and with the support of O2 Ireland. The lovely Lisa has blogged about the development of the app and also about the benefits it has brought to her own children which is a great way to demonstrate the importance of such an app. The Grace App is now even available on the iPad, which is fantastic for anyone with motor problems, such as stroke victims.

If you have an old iPhone/iPod Touch or are thinking of upgrading, please consider donating your old iPhone/iPod Touch to a child with autism by contacting Lisa via email: hammiesaysATgmailDOTcom

You can also contact the Irish Autism Action charity direct about iPhone/iPod Touch donation, or you can donate to them directly via the I Want My Iphone for Autisim MyCharity.ie page.

You can learn more about Autism Action on their Blog Award winning group blog.

During this experiment I also had to discontinue using the Meteor network due the 2G to 3G handover problem (there’s a neat little video demonstrating this here) which left with me with no signal far too many times, but the phone worked perfect on O2. Hoping Meteor can fix that issue promptly, as many other HTC users are reporting this issue in the customer forums.

Day 4 With my Android

Day 4 was the day that I really started missing the iPod part of my iPhone, I especially wanted my podcasts back so I attempted to import/export files from the phone. It didn’t go too well. I had no MicroSD card adapter and Windows 7 just plain refused to recognise the SD card inside the phone. There are a few workarounds for this, for instance Google Voice is a great podcast utility for Android, but personally I like to manage things from my desktop (even if iTunes is still a bit rubbish).

I’m also really surprised that a phone of this calibre (and hefty price tag) comes with so little internal memory (384MB). Although, a 2GB SD card came with it, which is more than enough if you’re not going to use the phone as an MP3 player and you can of course upgrade that to a maximum 32GB if you have another €100 lying around. Speaking of music though, the FM Radio reception was exceptionally good, a feature I always miss on the iPhone.

The over-complexity I mentioned refers to the Android operating system. At first I was won over by the ability to multitask and was especially impressed by the taskbar like notification area. Overall I feel that the Android matches more of a desktop like environment than any other phone I’ve used, however, after only a few days I realised this was overly tiring and irksome on a smaller scale and without a physical keyboard. Managing software, settings, and files quickly became a chore. Also, typing on the HTC Legend did not become a forte of mine, I’m not sure if the responsiveness of the touchscreen on the iPhone has ruined me for all other touchscreen devices but I certainly couldn’t get used to the keyboard on the Legend.

Despite the fact that the HTC Legend and I didn’t work out, we’ve parted quite amicably. I still think it’s an extremely well built smartphone, very sturdy, sleek and fits better in the pocket that the iPhone. The physical keys underneath the touchscreen are very usable (though the optical navigation key is fairly useless). The call clarity is crystal clear. You can customise and personalise it to you hearts content. There are thousands of apps available that don’t have to go through the ridiculously moral Apple iTunes app store approval system.

As an alternative to an iPhone it is an extremely strong one, but as I’ve discovered, I quite like the simplicity of the iPhone and won’t be parting with mine anytime soon.

I will however be putting up the HTC Legend up on eBay in the coming days, and donating the proceeds to a really worthy cause that I’ll be writing about in my next blog post.

Only last week I had tweeted about how I really wanted to try out an Android handset to do a compare and contrast against the iPhone. I usually change my phone on a yearly basis, and my iPhone 3G is nearing its first birthday, so trying out an alternative is a great way for me to discover if I should stick with Apple or not.

Before I got my iPhone a year ago I had always been a huge Nokia fan, what changed my mind was trying out Jen’s iPhone (she’s an avid Apple fan, so of course she had one months before me) as I was simply blown away by the web browsing experience, something that previous Nokia smartphones (running the Symbian operating system) I had owned simply didn’t compare to.

First Impressions of Android

My first impression of the Android operating system is that it has definite similarities to Symbian – it’s highly customisable (like crazy customizable, it’s incredible), it’s more like a desktop environment where you are able to do things like create folders and install widgets, and you can run multiple applications at the same time. It’s also very much unlike Symbian because it runs exceptionally smoothly (at least on the HTC Legend), applications open lightening fast and it’s open source software so there are thousands of apps available for free in the Android market.

The big difference between my iPhone 3G and the HTC Legend is of course the ability to have multiple apps running, and it’s no surprise that yesterday Apple announced the ability to multitask in the next iPhone 3GS update (in fact it’s taken many of the great features of Android and applied them to OS 4), but the differences between Android and the iPhone don’t just end there.

Out of the box the HTC Legend just works. No connecting it to a computer, no software updates needed, no need to go register an account to start downloading new apps. The Android market is awash with amazing free apps that do amazing things – unlike the abundance of novelty junk you find in the iPhone App Store.

This is only my first day using the phone so expect more comparisons to come in a later blog post. Admittedly today I do miss some of my most used iPhone apps – like Tweetie, but I guess I just have to find the right collection of Apps for the HTC Legend to make it perfect for me.

What I have enjoyed about it so far though is the 5megapixel camera – the autofocus, a light flash and ISO settings make a big difference, I also love the radio (that actually works – unlike iPhone FM radio apps like Wunderadio that need a consistent 3G signal to run), and the ease at which you switch between apps – there’s practically no lag on this phone either, it’s so fast and it’s a joy to use. I thought I would dislike the physical keys underneath the touchscreen, after getting so used to just the one on the iPhone, but I actually really like them. The menu, back and search buttons all have corresponding actions within each app, them being there means it frees up a lot of screen space, especially when surfing the net. I am however finding it a little hard getting used to the touchscreen keyboard, but as with anything new I probably just need some practice.

I’m very much looking forward to seeing the outcome of this phone experiment, as I’ll be making myself use the HTC Legend for at least a week to make a truly informed decision about my next phone (it’s possible that I’ll stick with the HTC Legend itself). It’s just a pity I’m having some connectivity issues with Meteor, in the first day alone, three times I’ve had to force disconnection and reconnection of the phone from the network because of a loss of any signal, data or phone. I’m hoping they resolve this issue soon or I might have to unlock the phone and put my O2 sim into it.

Am I the only one who has ever noticed how expensive ALL of the mobile phone tariffs are (especially the data charges), on ALL of the networks in Ireland, in comparison to the U.K? The phone prices are also very different, and the range of phones.

It’s nothing to do with the iPhone itself, it’s the same old adage in this country it’s “what the market can bare” rather than “best value for money”. O2 keeps its prices high because they can, and people are still going to buy the iPhone despite the download cap and excessive pricing.

As far back as September 2007 I suggested that those desperate for an iPhone would be better off with an iPod Touch instead. The iPod Touch has everything the iPhone has except it’s not a phone (though the iPhone isn’t exactly brilliant at being an actual phone – no MMS messaging, difficult SMS input etc.,) oh and let’s not forget that the iPod Touch doesn’t have that god awful 2 megapixel camera, what a loss.

Buying the iPod Touch is even better advice today because of the Joikuspot Software. Or, you could take Pat Phelan’s advice and go to the North, buy the iPhone and get it unlocked to use on any network. But that means being stuck in an 18-month contract and paying a monthly fee for minutes you will never get (though I doubt this is possible as you need to be a resident of the U.K to sign up to a mobile contract IN the U.K).

Even if you DO have an unlocked iPhone and use it on another network – you will still have to pay the high prices for Edge mobile data, so what’s the point?

Speaking of which – I’ve finally hit the 1GB download allowance (a.k.a fair usage policy) on the Three Network. Considering its taken me 6 months to do so, and at only €20 for the privilege, I’m very impressed. 1GB went a very long way – from checking my email every available second using the fantastic Gmail Java Application, to looking up cinema times, browsing Bebo and even the occasional “attempt” at cheating in quizzes. If I was on O2, this would have cost me over €800.

I’m uncertain as to whether my next Internet bundle purchase will last as long, as they are supposed to expire after the allowed 1 month but if my previous experience is anything to go by it should be fine. This is just another fuel to my disappointed over the iPhone being released without 3G capabilities. Not only would have it been cheaper to run (on the Three Network at least), it would have made my mobile browsing a much more enjoyable experience.

Using EDGE technology is slow and O2 are quoted as having only 30% coverage in Europe. In the UK, O2 have attempted to overlook this issue by offering free access to over 7,000 wifi hotspots. I can’t imagine them being able to pull off a similar deal in Ireland – especially when the major wifi hotspot provider is Eircom.

All usability studies show that fast response times are essential for web usability. The lesson from this? If you want Internet on the move that is actually usable rather than frustrating, don’t even bother with an iPhone – it’s a glorified widescreen iPod, overpriced and over-hyped. I’m not slating the device itself, as it does boast a very user centred design. The user interface is beautiful and intuitive. A list of its strengths and weaknesses can be found here. (It does fail to mention the lack of multimedia messaging (MMS) capabilities though). Also check out “Living with the iPhone” over on Infosync.

My advice to you, prospective Irish iPhone buyer – try to get an unlocked one online, choose whatever network you want for voice and txt, then forget about connecting to the Internet unless you’re at home in your own personal wifi network, otherwise this thing will cost you a fortune in monthly voice, text and data from O2. And no, there won’t be any pay-as-you-go iPhone out there.

Or, you could just buy an iPod Touch. It’ll definitely work out cheaper.

The problem with any kind of mobile Internet is that none of the current networks in Ireland offer any kind of reasonably priced data packages that will allow for anything more than e-mail usage from the iPhone (unless connected to a wifi hotspot – pretty slim chance of finding many of those in Ireland). It’s a real pity the iPhone isn’t 3G compatible as it would be perfect for the 3 network’s eagerly anticipated X-Series. Unfortunately the iPhone currently only supports EDGE.

EDGE and 3G are the technologies that allow for high-speed mobile data transmissions, the most notable difference between the two is the speed. With EDGE you can connect to a mobile network at up to 384kbps but with 3G it’s up to 3.6mbps. It’s that huge difference in speed that allows you to make video-calls on a 3G network, which means no video-calls on the iPhone.

Currently only O2 and Meteor support EDGE, Vodafone and 3 surpassed this lesser technology to install a 3G network. Therefore the iPhone, as it is now, will only work on O2 or Meteor. It definitely limits your options and seeing as O2 is already a Apple Reseller, for now I’m going to assume that when the iPhone does launch in Ireland, it will launch on O2, only.