The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

LG engineers book-reading phone for the blind

Voice controlled

LG has demo'd the world's first ebook reading mobile phone, pitching the product at the visually impaired. The LF1300 is entirely operable, the company said, using voice commands relayed through a bundled Bluetooth headset.

The 16mm-thick handset's audiobook facility takes text files - some 300 of which will be made available free of charge from LG's website via a PC or downloadable straight to the handset - and reads them out loud using speech synthesis technology.

lg's lf1300 handset for the visually impaired

It's also got an MP3 player on board, though with only 17MB of memory, buyers will need to invest in a memory card to make the most from the phone.

The LF1300 will be made available through LG Telecom, LG's carrier subsidiary, for around KRW400,000 ($420/£223/€332). It will only be offered to the registered visually impaired, blind or dyslexic, LG said. ®

More from The Register

US boffin builds 32-way Raspberry Pi cluster
Beowulf cluster built for the price of a single PC
MYSTERY Nokia Lumia with gazillion-pixel camera 'spotted'
With 20Mp sensor - NOW will you try Windows Phone 8?
 breaking news
Review: HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook
All roads lead to Chrome?
Borked your iDevice? Pay EVEN MORE to have it fixed by Applecare
Or scream at their hapless techies on their forums
Euro PC shipments plummet into bottomless pit of DOOOOM
11th quarter of decline, 20pc drop on last year - Gartner
Dell's PC-on-a-stick landing in July: report
Wyse up, suckers, could this be a new set-side-stick?
Nintendo throws flaming legal barrel at YouTubing fans
All your walk-through vid revenue are belong to us
Report: AT&T dropping Facebook phone after dismal sales
Turns out folks won't buy that for a dollar