While flipping through Flipboard the other day, I was stopped dead in my tracks (or flips) by the BBC headline “Braille phone goes on sale in ‘world first‘”.  I laughed at the thought as I tried to picture it and also at the title of the article – the world’s first – really? you mean it being the first was even a question.  But back to the phone.  Previously, I’ve written about the genius of Apple’s Siri for how it could revolutionise life for blind people – I don’t think I ever imagined a Braille phone that’s customisable thanks to 3D printing.

These braille phones are created by “OwnFone” in the UK – it’s a simple design idea that seems to work.  I share the author of the BBC article’s uncertainty of the market for such a phone given the advances in smartphone capabilities like Siri, but a braille phone is interesting nonetheless.