A Comparison of the Brailliant BI 40X and Braille eMotion Smart Displays
by Karl Belanger
From the Editor: Karl Belanger is a nonvisual accessibility analyst with the National Federation of the Blind Center for Excellence in Nonvisual Accessibility (CENA). In addition to technology, he is a fan of sports and video games (yes, some blind people play those, and Karl can tell you all about how they do it). Many readers will have met Karl virtually through CENA’s accessibility boutiques and seminars, if not in person at convention or while visiting the NFB Jernigan Institute. In this article, he provides an overview of two Braille displays that are packed with useful features and produced by two reputable access technology companies. Pricing information is not included; prices often change, and it’s even possible that one or both of these vendors will have promotions available at the National Convention. Karl assures me that the prices of these two units are comparable, which is to say that there is not a dramatic price difference as the prices of Braille devices go. Here is what he says about them:
Braille displays continue to play an important role in the lives of many blind people. Recently, both HumanWare and Selvas, formerly HIMS, have released their latest displays. These displays not only provide output from a connected computer or smartphone but also have a fairly robust suite of onboard applications. They are often referred to as smart displays, since they are an intermediate point between traditional displays with no internal features and full notetakers such as the BrailleNote. Both the Brailliant BI 40X and the Braille eMotion are 40-cell displays with a Perkins-style keyboard and a variety of navigation and function keys. Both displays have USB type C ports for charging and connecting to devices via USB, plus USB type A ports for connecting flash drives. The Braille eMotion also has a Micro SD card slot. They each also have internal applications such as a text editor, file manager, calculator, and the ability to download books from various sources. HumanWare offers two other versions of the Brailliant: the Brailliant BI 20X, which has a 20-cell display, and the Mantis Q40, which has the same 40-cell display with a regular computer keyboard in place of the Perkins-style one. Both these displays have the same software as the Brailliant discussed in this article. Selvas only has the one 40-cell version of the eMotion.
Physical Descriptions
Brailliant BI 40X
The Brailliant has the standard thumb key layout on the front edge that has been on HumanWare devices for a while now. In the middle of the front panel is a Home button, which is used to go back to the main menu or exit terminal mode. The right side contains the Volume buttons and a headphone jack behind them, while the left side has a USB A port, the Power button, and the USB C port from front to back. The back edge of the device is empty. On the top of the Brailliant, the 40-cell display is along the front edge. There are cursor routing keys above each cell, and three navigation buttons arranged vertically at each end of the display. Behind the display is the standard Perkins-style Braille keyboard, with two spacebars in front of the display. Lastly, two small speakers are positioned behind and at each end of the keyboard.
Braille eMotion
The front edge of the Braille eMotion has two panning keys at either end, with the F1 through F4 keys commonly found on Selvas devices from left to right in between them. In the middle is a Home button with two microphones on either side of it. All of the controls except the Home button and microphones are slightly angled toward the rest of the display. The right side includes the Volume buttons, plus a Mode button to change their function. Behind those are the headphone jack and USB C port. The left edge has the USB A port near the front and a Record button behind that. The top has the Braille display along the front edge, with the Spacebar, Control, and Alt keys in front of it. The display has cursor routing keys, and two capsule-shaped panning buttons at either end of the display. This is actually the first Selvas display to allow you to pan the display either with the panning buttons at the ends of the display or with the keys on the front similar to the Brailliant. Behind the display is the Perkins-style keyboard, with a center key between dots 1 and 4. There are also two speakers at the back corners of the top, with the Power button just to the left of the right speaker. Just to the right of the left speaker are three small keys, labeled W, B, and C in Braille from left to right. These are the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and connectivity keys. Press either the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth keys to toggle the feature on or off or hold each key down for a second to open the relevant settings. Pressing the connectivity key will open the Connectivity application allowing you to use the eMotion as a display with other devices, as discussed later in this article. Holding it down will open a menu where you can choose the type of connection you want.
The Interface
When turning either display on, they will go through a startup sequence and display progress as they go. Both will then come up to the main menu by default. Both take around twenty seconds to start, though the Brailliant finished loading three or four seconds faster. The main menu for both devices contains the main applications that each device has. These include the editor, called Notepad on the eMotion; the app for connecting to other devices, called Terminal on the Brailliant and Connectivity on the eMotion; and apps for accessing online books and changing settings. If you have used a BrailleNote before, the Brailliant uses many of the same interface conventions and status keys. This also holds true for BrailleSense users with the Braille eMotion. In addition to the main apps, both devices have other basic utilities, such as a clock and calculator, and the ability to directly install software updates. Unique to the Brailliant are exam mode and the ability to customize the main menu. In the Brailliant’s options menu, you can enable or disable any of the apps from showing in the main menu. This could be useful for newer users who find themselves getting lost or just to hide applications you aren’t interested in. Exam mode locks down the display for up to six hours. Only the terminal application functions, and you can only connect to a computer via USB. This will prevent students from accessing notes or other information to which they should not have access during tests.
The Editors
Both devices have basic text editors, allowing you to write documents, take notes, or do anything else with text. However, neither of them offer any advanced formatting or other features of a full word processor. The Brailliant can open PDF, Word, text, and Braille files, but will only save a document as a text file. The Braille eMotion will open all the same formats as the Brailliant, but can also open ePub books. The Braille eMotion can save files in Word or RTF formats, but they will be unformatted. If you open a Word file with formatting such as heading structure, you will lose the formatting if you save the file. The eMotion will also save files as BRF from the notepad, while this function is reserved for the separate Braille Editor application on the Brailliant. They both have standard cut, copy, and paste commands, search and replace, and the ability to insert the time and date. The eMotion also has a read menu for reading different portions of a document and a layout menu for setting the paragraph and page layout for embossing documents. Unique to the Brailliant is the ability to search Wikipedia, Wictionary, or WordNet. Select a word in the document and then use the menu option or shortcut key to perform a search with your desired service.
The Brailliant’s Braille Editor
The Brailliant has a specialized Braille editor designed for the opening, editing, and saving of BRFs. It has all the same functions of the standard editor and adds the Format BRF option. This will allow you to specify the desired number of characters per line and lines per page for the embossed file. Once these values are set, it is possible to enter a mode in which the Braille is displayed using these settings so you can get an accurate representation of what the embossed file will look like.
Searching, Downloading and Reading Books
Another major feature of both these displays is finding, downloading, and reading books from multiple online services. You can access these services from the Online Services menu on the Brailliant or the Library menu on the eMotion. Both displays provide access to Online Daisy, Bookshare, NFB-NEWSLINE®, and NLS Braille books. The eMotion also has a downloadable version of the BARD Mobile Android app for listening to NLS audiobooks, as well as a Bible app. For most of the services, you can log in, browse, or search for books, and download them. Books will be in the Books folder on the Brailliant or the Downloads folder on the eMotion. Once you have a book downloaded, you can read it in the appropriate app: Victor Reader or the editor on the Brailliant or the DAISY player or document reader on the eMotion. While both devices can read Braille books downloaded from NLS, only the eMotion can play audiobooks, and only through the optional BARD Mobile app, which is discussed next.
BARD Mobile: eMotion
The Braille eMotion has a version of the BARD Mobile app that can be downloaded through the Optional Services option from the Library menu. Once installed, opening it launches the standard BARD Mobile app for Android. After logging in, you can browse and download audiobooks the same as you would on your phone. These books are not stored in your normal books folder and cannot be played outside the BARD Mobile app.
Connecting to Other Devices
Through the Terminal app on the Brailliant, or the Connectivity app on the eMotion, you can connect to other devices via Bluetooth or USB. Both displays support connecting to, and switching between, multiple Bluetooth connections plus one USB connection. Both displays can connect to Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android, though the Brailliant can only connect to Android devices running Android version 15 or higher via Bluetooth. Android 15 was the first release supporting Braille devices using the HID standard over Bluetooth. You can connect an older Android device to the Brailliant via USB as long as it is running a recent version of TalkBack. For both displays, you can be connected to up to five Bluetooth devices and one USB device simultaneously.
Brailliant: Terminal
Choosing the Terminal option from the main menu opens a submenu where you can see the list of connected devices or add a Bluetooth device. The connected device menu will always have the USB connection first, followed by the list of Bluetooth devices you have paired. Pressing Enter on a Bluetooth device will attempt to connect to it if it isn’t already, or switch to the connection if it is already active. The last options in this menu allow you to reconnect all devices and go back. The add device option displays a prompt to select the Brailliant from the Bluetooth list on the device you want to connect to and go through the pairing process. No matter how you initially connect, once you’ve established the connection, you will see the output from the connected device on the Braille display and can control the device from the keyboard. Pressing the Home button will take you back to the Terminal menu, where you can switch devices or go back to the internal applications. In the Options menu, you can also enable “Start in Terminal” to have the device always go into terminal mode when it starts. This could be useful if you primarily use it as a display with other devices.
Connectivity: eMotion
Choosing the Connectivity option from the main menu, or pressing the Connectivity key, will open the Connectivity application. By default, it will either reconnect to the last connection or put you in pairing mode if that connection is unavailable. If you have no Bluetooth devices saved, choosing Connectivity from the menu will also bring you here. Once in Bluetooth pairing mode, you can pair to the eMotion from your other device. Interestingly, the eMotion shows up as a BrailleEdge when pairing to other devices. Once a device is connected, you will see the output on the display and can control the device from the eMotion. The eMotion also has a terminal clipboard that can be used to edit blocks of text before sending them to the connected device all at once. This can be used to copy text from an internal file on the eMotion or if you prefer editing on the eMotion rather than the device you’re connected to.
Other Features of the Braille eMotion
The Braille eMotion has a few extra features that are not present on the Brailliant that may be worth considering when deciding which display to get.
Media Player
The eMotion contains a basic media player. You can load a file or folder of files from either internal storage or a USB drive and play them back. The player supports saving the current files as an M3U playlist. You can navigate within files and set bookmarks to return to a point in an audio track. The player does have a fairly robust set of settings. You can adjust the equalizer, set repeat and shuffle settings, change the minimum length of a file for the player to remember your position, and more. The media player supports most common audio file formats, plus it can play the audio from video files.
Recorder
Pressing the Record button on the left side of the eMotion opens the voice recorder. This app allows the user to record MP3 or WAV files at a variety of sample rates, choose how files are named, and choose whether recordings are done through the internal microphones or through a headset. This should be sufficient for recording voice notes or possibly lectures or meetings, though external microphones or headsets should be used for longer recordings since sounds from handling or using the device will be picked up on its internal microphones.
Send Device Audio, (Bluetooth Speakerphone)
When connecting to another device such as your phone, you can play the device’s audio through the eMotion’s speakers. To do this, enable Send Device Audio in the Options menu. Once you’ve connected the devices, press the center key+enter+A to toggle whether the device audio is played through the eMotion’s speakers. The speakers sound decent and should be fine for playing music or listening to podcasts. The eMotion can also handle calls, with your voice being picked up through the eMotion’s internal microphones. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any noise canceling applied. Any key presses, sounds from moving your hands on the device, or anything else in the environment will be picked up clearly, so this is likely to be unusable for calls unless the eMotion is sitting untouched on a desk in a quiet room.
Text to Speech Support
Both displays support Text to Speech (TTS) while navigating menus and for reading content. The Brailliant uses Acapela voices, while the eMotion uses Vocalizer voices. Both displays have options to set the Volume, Pitch, and Speed of each voice, as well as to download other voices to use on the display. Both displays also support having two voices installed simultaneously and using them for different purposes, such as one for menus and the other for reading. Having speech capability is useful for when you’d rather listen to a book and give your fingers a break, and it can also be helpful for new users who may still be learning Braille.
Final Thoughts
Both the Brailliant BI 40X and the Braille eMotion are solid displays with a very similar feature set. Both allow for basic notetaking and can download and read a variety of books from several sources. The eMotion can handle audio playback and may be a better option if you want to use a display with older devices or Android versions prior to 15 because of its support for legacy Braille display drivers. The Brailliant contains a number of options for customizing the interface and may be a better option for education or corporate environments with limited internet access or where there is a need to restrict access to certain applications, such as during educational testing. In general, both of these displays are solid options, whether you want to download and read books on the go or work in Braille with your smartphone or computer. The right device for you will come down to the extra features you want and the online libraries you access.