What is Pac Mate?

Computer technology plays an essential role in our everyday lives. We bank, pay bills, and shop online. We use computers to read mail, catch up with news, perform research, work from home remotely, and do school work. We often require our computers to travel with us so we can keep in touch with others, write documents, or work while away. The Pocket PC delivers many benefits of a full-size desktop computer, but in a size so compact that it can go almost anywhere, without needing to be continuously connected to an electric power source.

What is a Pocket PC?

A PDA (personal digital assistant), commonly called a Pocket PC, is a small and powerful hand-held computer. A stylus, rather than a mouse, is used to tap a miniature touch-sensitive screen to enter commands, open menus and files, and use applications. A Pocket PC can access special versions of applications written for the Pocket PC environment to play music files and access calculators, word processing, and spreadsheet software, among other applications. With a Pocket PC, you can even read and send e-mail and surf the Internet when a modem or wireless Internet connection is available and the PDA is synchronized with a desktop or laptop computer. Teachers use Pocket PCs to accept, check, and return classroom assignments. Families and professionals may use them in conjunction with GPS (Global Positioning System) software to route trips and locate lodging, restaurants, and services. Teens use Pocket PCs to communicate with friends – some more often than they use telephones. People synchronize their PDAs with home and office computers to keep up with e-mail, schedule meetings, and work remotely.

The PAC Mate Solution

The PAC Mate is a Pocket PC solution that makes the benefits of a mainstream Pocket PC accessible to blind and low vision users. In 2003, Freedom Scientific released the first PAC Mate, based on the Windows™ Mobile operating system. In 2004, Freedom Scientific released the next generation in the PAC Mate's evolution, the QX and BX series.

Because the PAC Mate is so lightweight and portable, it can go almost anywhere, extending to the user on-the-go access to notetaking, working or studying remotely, reading e-books, and many other uses. It also is easy to learn and use. It comes with a typewriter-style (QWERTY) keyboard or a braille keyboard. The keyboard replaces the traditional PDA stylus that is used to select items from a mainstream Pocket PC screen. The PAC Mate also is integrated with JAWS® for Windows, the world’s most popular screen reader for the blind. JAWS “reads” aloud screen information, dialog boxes, and documents via a speech synthesizer, eliminating the need for the screen. JAWS users find that working with the PAC Mate is very similar to using a desktop computer.

Because it is based on mainstream Windows Mobile technology, many off-the-shelf applications are available to add on to the PAC Mate. Some of these include accessible e-book reading programs and GPS solutions. Pac Mate users even design and share their own applications all the time!

The PAC Mate also is affordable and easy to upgrade. Its modular design makes it possible to purchase a PAC Mate unit, complete with a 20-cell or 40-cell PAC Mate Braille Display, or to purchase the PAC Mate unit only, and later add a braille display, without having to purchase a whole new unit.

The PAC Mate is the perfect choice for an accessible, powerful, on-the-go computer for the visually impaired.

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