4 ms·

I’m now thinking of getting the Nexus 4 as a device to learn Android programming instead of the Nexus 7. Since I’m blind I actually prefer a smaller screen sinc

by jareds 13y ago

I’m now thinking of getting the Nexus 4 as a device to learn Android programming instead of the Nexus 7. Since I’m blind I actually prefer a smaller screen since there’s less blank space in between icons and it’s easier to keep track of where things are. Is it possible to use the Nexus 4 without a cell plan? I assume this would just involve putting in a deactivated sim. Is there any prior experience to guess at how long Google will support both the Nexus 4 and the new Nexus 7 with Android updates? If the Nexus 4 may only get one more update but the Nexus 7 will get 3 that would change my decision.

georgemcbay 13y ago
To answer your first question: You can use a Nexus 4 as a simple wifi device without a sim card at all if you don't want cellular data. As far as updates go, that is harder to say. I would be shocked if the Nexus 4 doesn't get Key Lime Pie. After that? Who knows... but I'd say the same for the Nexus 7, even the newer one. Key Lime Pie will probably be around for a long while with minor point upgrades much like Jellybean was. In any case, if this is for development I wouldn't worry about it that much. There are relatively few points where Android diverged enough that it makes a huge difference to developers if the OS they are developing on is the very newest or slightly older. For example, you can pretty much target Ice Cream Sandwich and above right now and it makes very little difference in terms of how you develop and which APIs you'd use. And if you have to develop on systems even older than that, the combination of the Android Support Library here: http://developer.android.com/tools/support-library/index.html http://developer.android.com/tools/support-library/index.htm... And ActionBarSherlock here: http://actionbarsherlock.com/ http://actionbarsherlock.com/ do a good job of smoothing this sort of thing out from a developer's point of view even if you're developing on Froyo or Gingerbread era devices.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
cko 13y ago
Sorry for my ignorance, and I'm sure you've answered this question many times before, but: how do you type and reply to comments and go about your daily routine while blind? Are there any links to articles you have written describing this? The reason I ask is because I enjoy being in possession of very few things, and those that I own should preferably be pocket-sized. I read about developers daisy-chaining multiple hi-res displays and developers who use 11" ultrabooks and presumably Alt-Tab to get to other windows.
- mstz 13y ago
  > how do you type and reply to comments ... while blind? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_reader http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_reader
- jareds 13y ago
  I'm the author of the top voted answer on this stackoverflow question. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/118984/how-can-you-program-if-youre-blind http://stackoverflow.com/questions/118984/how-can-you-progra... I think I'm going to buy a 11 inch MacBook Air with maxed ram and processor based on the fact that I don't need a big screen and like portability.
- SkyMarshal 13y ago
  Fwiw, one of my first mentors in college was a blind computer graphics specialist. He made 3D data visualizations for scientific computing jobs run on supercomputer clusters, and he couldn't even see them, except in his own mind. A screen reader read him the code, and he coded with a braile keyboard. It's pretty amazing what technology can enable these days.
jtheory 13y ago
Hey Jared, I've been looking to make contact with you but not sure how; if you see this could you drop a note to cto at patientsknowbest.com?

by jareds 13y ago

georgemcbay 13y ago

To answer your first question: You can use a Nexus 4 as a simple wifi device without a sim card at all if you don't want cellular data. As far as updates go, that is harder to say. I would be shocked if the Nexus 4 doesn't get Key Lime Pie. After that? Who knows... but I'd say the same for the Nexus 7, even the newer one. Key Lime Pie will probably be around for a long while with minor point upgrades much like Jellybean was. In any case, if this is for development I wouldn't worry about it that much. There are relatively few points where Android diverged enough that it makes a huge difference to developers if the OS they are developing on is the very newest or slightly older. For example, you can pretty much target Ice Cream Sandwich and above right now and it makes very little difference in terms of how you develop and which APIs you'd use. And if you have to develop on systems even older than that, the combination of the Android Support Library here: http://developer.android.com/tools/support-library/index.html http://developer.android.com/tools/support-library/index.htm... And ActionBarSherlock here: http://actionbarsherlock.com/ http://actionbarsherlock.com/ do a good job of smoothing this sort of thing out from a developer's point of view even if you're developing on Froyo or Gingerbread era devices.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

cko 13y ago

Sorry for my ignorance, and I'm sure you've answered this question many times before, but: how do you type and reply to comments and go about your daily routine while blind? Are there any links to articles you have written describing this? The reason I ask is because I enjoy being in possession of very few things, and those that I own should preferably be pocket-sized. I read about developers daisy-chaining multiple hi-res displays and developers who use 11" ultrabooks and presumably Alt-Tab to get to other windows.

mstz 13y ago
> how do you type and reply to comments ... while blind? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_reader http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_reader
jareds 13y ago
I'm the author of the top voted answer on this stackoverflow question. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/118984/how-can-you-program-if-youre-blind http://stackoverflow.com/questions/118984/how-can-you-progra... I think I'm going to buy a 11 inch MacBook Air with maxed ram and processor based on the fact that I don't need a big screen and like portability.
SkyMarshal 13y ago
Fwiw, one of my first mentors in college was a blind computer graphics specialist. He made 3D data visualizations for scientific computing jobs run on supercomputer clusters, and he couldn't even see them, except in his own mind. A screen reader read him the code, and he coded with a braile keyboard. It's pretty amazing what technology can enable these days.

jtheory 13y ago

Hey Jared, I've been looking to make contact with you but not sure how; if you see this could you drop a note to cto at patientsknowbest.com?