Nokia has launched a mobile phone application that lets blind people read text messages.

Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com

The application requires the user’s phone to have a vibration mode, Nokia said, because it essentially turns the characters of a text message into Braille.

Nokia Braille Reader opens automatically when an SMS is received. However, the user has to hold their finger onto the screen before the application will start reading the SMS out letter by letter in Braille.

If the user takes their finger off of the phone’s screen then SMS read out is paused.

Nokia’s application was developed with help from Tampere University in Finland and the Finnish Federation of Visual Impairment. It is available – in beta format – to download online now for free.

Several applications have been developed over the past year that aim to help the blind take advantage of mobile phones, specifically touchscreen handsets.

For example, Stroke Dialler – launched back in April and for Android-based phones - lets users dial any number between zero and nine by stroking their fingers in a specific direction across the screen. ®

Related stories

• Descriptive Camera develops text instead of images (30 April 2012)

  https://www.theregister.com/2012/04/30/descriptive_camera_develops_text_instead_of_images/

• Universities avoid Kindle over accessibility barriers (15 January 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/01/15/kindle_university_blind_protests/

• IBM gives voice to your web (27 October 2009)

  https://www.theregister.com/2009/10/27/ibm_voice/

• Nokia phone combats domestic violence (2 October 2009)

  https://www.theregister.com/2009/10/02/nokia_2705_shade/

• Fujitsu develops motion-sensing golf phone app (30 September 2009)

  https://www.theregister.com/2009/09/30/fujitsu_golf_app/

• Nokia's 'Silver Bullet' phone leaked online (14 September 2009)

  https://www.theregister.com/2009/09/14/nokia_erdos/

• Nokia dumps candybar phones for squares (11 September 2009)

  https://www.theregister.com/2009/09/11/nokia_7705_square/

• Phone apps help blind 'see' (25 May 2009)

  https://www.theregister.com/2009/05/25/handset_apps_for_blind/

• Boffins develop sight-free touchscreen phone dialler (6 April 2009)

  https://www.theregister.com/2009/04/06/peffa/

• Stevie Wonder in touchscreen plea (9 January 2009)

  https://www.theregister.com/2009/01/09/stevie_wonder_touchscreen/