Honda Clarity is your new fuel cell future vehicle

Posted on 28/10/2015 by Autoblog

We know it will go on sale in the US next spring. We know it will have an estimated range of over 300 miles. We know it will start sales in California, since that's where the hydrogen stations are. But perhaps the one key detail about Honda's new f...

Clarity’s Ensemble: an amplified and captioned phone (hands-on)

Posted on 10/01/2013 by Sean Cooper

Plantronic's Clarity announced a first with the Ensemble at CES 2013, an accessible amplified phone that also telephone-captions your call in near-real time. The set's display is actually a 7-inch Android tablet -- version 2.2 if you must ask -- and the heart of the system. When a call is placed or comes in the caller's speech is passed off to FCC-certified telephone-captioning company ClearCaptions and the results are then written to the phones display -- while the audio is amplified in the Ensemble's earpiece. Font size can be changed on the fly, as can the audio processing which, like a hearing aid makes soft sounds easier to listen to and loud sounds quieter. If a user has trouble Clarity's support folks can actually get in the phone and make changes, Clarity's rationale here is it lower hardware returns and helps out the customer.

Clarity and ClearCaptions have an impressive product in the Ensemble, it is both attractive and quite useful for anybody with hearing issues frustrated with conventional telephony. Interestingly, the final link, the actual speech to text is done by people and not some slice of technology on a server somewhere and the service won't cost you one red cent. Unfortunately a data connection wasn't available for us to test the captioning but we're hopeful we can rectify that before the end of the show.

Gallery: Clarity's Ensemble: an amplified and captioned phone (hands-on)

Filed under: Peripherals

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Clarity Pal hands-on, a new phone for senior citizens

Posted on 09/05/2012 by Zachary Lutz

In a perfect world, your grandparents wouldn't need a lick of help getting the most out of a smartphone, but let's face it: the devices are complex, and if you don't have the proper motivation, they can be a bit difficult to learn. You've previously seen the C900 from Clarity, and tonight we stumbled upon its second generation of handsets for senior citizens known as the Pal.

Similar to the predecessor, the phone features a panic button on the back that'll call and text message up to five people in the case of an emergency. Other features consist of a backlit keypad that can read aloud the numbers that are pressed, along with a talking caller ID and up to 26dB of amplification for the earpiece. We received a quick demo of this last feature, and the volume was sufficient enough to cut through a noisy room while allowing us to hear everything that was said -- in other words, we have no doubt that the Clarity Pal will be perfectly suitable for those with moderate hearing impairment. The phone is compatible with GSM networks in the US and Canada, and for more ambitious seniors, it features SMS functionality and Bluetooth for pairing with Clarity's headset. Fortunately, the company has gone through a good amount of effort to refine and simplify the menu scheme, which is quite helpful for those wanting only the basics. The Clarity Pal will be available on May 28th through the company's website and will sell for $99. If you've got someone in your life who might need a simpler phone, take a peek at the gallery below.

Gallery: Hands-on with the Clarity Pal, a new phone for senior citizens