Samsung India announced the release of a new mobile application designed to give deafblind people a way to communicate via a smartphone. The app is called Good Vibes and, as the name implies, it uses vibrations generated by the smartphone’s haptic motor to translate regular text into Morse code. The app has a secondary UI where it can also translate Morse code into text or voice, so it offers a two-way communication method.
Good Vibes is now available for download through the Galaxy Store and will launch through the Google Play Store for “for all other Android smartphone users soon.” Along with Good Vibes, Samsung India also announced – or rather re-launched –Relúmĭno. The app was developed by Samsung’s C-Lab division and was originally showcased way back at Mobile World Congress 2017.
Samsung taking ‘Do What You Can’t‘ to heart
Relúmĭno was created to assist visually-impaired people through heavy image processing. The app manipulates images by adjusting color contrast and brightness, highlighting outlines, magnifying, and reversing colors, intending to make images and objects easier to read. The app generally requires some accompanying hardware like the Gear VR headset, and Samsung along with the National Association for the Blind (NAB) Delhi will provide the equipment in classrooms to help students with low vision.
“We are happy we were able to develop technologies such as Good Vibes and Relúmĭno that will help improve quality of life of the deafblind and people with low vision […]” claimed Peter Rhee, Corporate VP, Samsung India.
Head of Advocacy and Networks at Sense India, Parag Namdeo, said “Good Vibes is going to create a platform where our society will be able to communicate with deafblind people using smartphones. Samsung is doing exactly what it believes in ‘Do What You Can’t.'”
The launch of the Good Vibes mobile application is accompanied by a new video ad by Samsung which is quite emotional and reminds us how technology can help to improve our lives when and where it really counts.
