This week I celebrated having had Pocket in my life for a month. And it really was a celebration (well as much as we can in these restricted times!) I can genuinely say that, alongside my white cane, I have never had an aid to living with sight loss that
Tag: In Your Pocket

Listen to the Radio on In Your Pocket: An article by Red Szell
In his second Blog, RNIB Connect Radio presenter, Red Szell, explores how easy it is to access Radio Stations on In Your Pocket. And has found it very easy to tune in to his own show!
”Like a lot of people who received a new toy for Christmas, I’ve spent many happy hours getting to know my In Your Pocket (Pocket) device.
And as you might have guessed from last week’s blog, much of that time has been spent exploring the various libraries Pocket offers access to. So long as I know the author and / or title of the book I’m searching for, I’ve continued to find Pocket the quickest and easiest way to listen to Audiobooks.
Even when I have paused the book then returned sometime later, all I have needed to do is press the home button, say ‘find recent books’, and the book I was listening to is helpfully listed as the first suggestion. Moreover, Pocket has remembered my last listening position and I can get straight back into the book.
However RealSAM have asked me to do more than indulge my bookworm tendencies, and so I tore myself away from the libraries and decided to explore the radio waves instead.
It is a good idea to rehearse what you want to say to Pocket beforehand and keep your search terms as simple as you can. And if In Your Pocket can’t understand what you are looking for, it will repeat a little mantra:
‘It sounds like you are trying to search. To find news articles about speeding cars, use the phrase, find articles about speeding cars. Or to find podcasts about speeding cars, say find podcasts about speeding cars. Or to find books about speeding cars, say find books about speeding cars’
This initially threw me because I certainly hadn’t been looking for speeding cars, but it is a good reminder of how to phrase your search and to keep your instructions simple. And as always you can interrupt the voice by pressing the home button and giving your next instruction.
So I asked Pocket to ‘Find RNIB Connect Radio’. After a few seconds thought, the device gave me the following suggestion.
‘Say list radios or say listen to Radio BBC One, or say list radio stations from London, or to learn more please say user guide’
So I pressed home again and said ‘Listen to Connect Radio’ and had to smile when the result came back saying:
‘Listing stations to select from. First 5 of quite a few!’
The presence of idioms like this in In Your Pocket’s vocabulary makes the AI voice seem warmer and less artificial, and leaves me feeling less frustrated if my search doesn’t bear instant results. However in this case RNIB Connect Radio was the second suggestion on my list and I was able to tune into it with no problem.
I likewise found it easy to locate and listen to a range of other stations and was glad to find a huge selection of DAB and FM and even located BBC Radio 4 on Long Wave. I began exploring the airwaves to find out how well I could tune into broadcasts from around the country and jumped from Hartlepool to Cornwall with no problem, enjoying the local news and views from places I’ve heard of but never visited.
In fact I got so carried away that by the time I remembered that my favourite show on BBC Radio 4 was on, I’d already missed half of it. Oh well, I guess that means I will be finding out how to access podcasts on my Pocket for next week’s blog!”
RNIB Connect Radio 5 Jan 2020: Nicky Cockburn chats to Allan Russell
In Your Pocket ”Poster Girl” Nicky Cockburn chats to Allan Russell about how easy it is to access the latest news and her favourite books on In Your Pocket. As a self confessed technophobe, Nicky explains ”I love it. I don’t do technology, I can just about operate a microwave” but finds In Your Pocket so simple for reading today’s issue of the paper.
We love your enthusiasm for Pocket, Nicky! Thanks so much for the rave review
RNIB Connect / Pocket Device That Packs A Huge Accessibility Punch. (audioboom.com)
Learning to Use In Your Pocket – an article by Red Szell
We’re delighted to welcome renowned writer and broadcaster Red Szell to the In Your Pocket team. Red hosts Read On, the audiobook show on RNIB Connect Radio, and is a regular contributor on BBC Radio 4. Each week Red will be sharing his experiences as a Blind user of In
Read More Learning to Use In Your Pocket – an article by Red Szell
In Your Pocket Supporter Mike Brace CBE DL on RNIB Connect Radio: 1 Dec 2020
In Your Pocket supporter Mike Brace CBE DL chatted to RNIB Connect Radio this week about why he’s recommending us this Christmas.
The easy way to stream RNIB Reading Services
Interview with Red Szell from RNIB Connect Radio: 14 October 2020 We were delighted to be invited to join Red Szell and Paul Porter on RNIB Connect Radio to discuss how easy it is to access the RNIB Reading Services with In Your Pocket. Let us know what you think!
New Talent Added : Outdoor Locations
In the next few days you will receive an update for your In Your Pocket, which adds an amazing new feature to help you get around in their local area. Not only can you ask Pocket, “Where Am I?”, but you can now mark locations outside, and get “as the