Before You Buy Checklist
Twenty questions I ask before I buy any gadget, from the return window to whether the screen reader reads every button.
What I Kept
Gadgets I use every day, reviewed by touch and sound
A short letter every Sunday: what I am using, what I stopped using and why.
Latest videos
A review or a follow-up about once a month. Each one says what I bought, how I use it and how it works with a screen reader.
A thin laptop and a screen reader, two years on
Two years with the same thin laptop: what still works with the screen reader, what the keyboard taught me and the one update that broke something.
Earbud touch controls, learned by feel
Every tap, hold and swipe on my earbuds, and how I learned them without looking at a diagram or opening an app.
Three months with a tactile watch
How I read the time by touch, how alerts feel on the wrist and what the watch does badly on a long walk.
Finding my way around a new neighbourhood with a phone and a cane
The apps and settings I use to learn a new street, and the parts I still ask a person about.
Downloads and courses
Shop
Download as soon as you pay. Yours to keep.
PDF and text file
$6
Text and Word file
$9
Test Notes Template
The page I fill in for every device I test: what I did, what the screen reader said and what I would change.
PDF and text file
$7
Screen Reader Setup Sheet
The settings I change first on a new phone or laptop, in the order I change them, with the reason for each.
PDF and text file
$14
Braille Display Buying Guide
What to check before you buy a braille display: the number of cells, the keys, the battery, the pairing and the repair route.
PDF
$8
Earbud Touch-Controls Cards
One card for each kind of earbud control, written so you can learn the taps and holds by feel and keep them in a drawer.
Spreadsheet
$7
Month With a New Device Log
A table for the first thirty days with a new gadget, with a line a day for what worked, what did not and whether you keep it.
Five files
$19
Daily Drivers Bundle
The checklist, the test notes template, the setup sheet, the buying guide and the touch-controls cards in one download.
Video course
$59
Testing Gadgets by Touch and Sound
How I test a phone, earbuds, a laptop or a braille display with a screen reader and my hands, and how to write up what you find.
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About
About me
I live in Amman, and I started reviewing gadgets in 2022 because the reviews I could find told me about screens and cameras and almost never about how a device works with a screen reader. I buy everything myself, I use it every day and I say how it works by touch and by sound: the buttons, the ports, the gestures, the speech and the battery.
I work at a table by a window, with a braille display, a pair of headphones and a notebook with raised dots on the cover. I do not review in a day. A phone gets a year, and I post a follow-up when the year is up. Some gadgets stop working or stop being useful, and I say that too, which is why the page shows each device with the day I started and the day I stopped.
What I sell are the sheets and guides I use myself: a checklist before you buy, a template for your own test notes, a setup sheet for a new phone, a buying guide for braille displays and a set of cards for earbud controls. There are also two video courses, on testing gadgets by touch and sound and on setting up a new phone without sighted help. The videos and the letter are free.