iPhone 4S accessible for blind people

DENVER, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Apple says a voice command application on its new iPhone 4S makes it the only smartphone blind people can use out of the box.

When the Siri app option is activated, the iPhone speaks almost everything that otherwise would be read on screen by the user, and can accept voice instructions from the user, The Denver Post reported Friday.

"The iPhone is the only fully accessible handset that a blind person can buy," said Chris Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind.

Previously, blind people had to purchase expensive third-party applications to make their cellphone accessible, Danielsen said.

"The blindness community is really hyped about what [the iPhone] does now and what it can do in the future," said Wes Majerus, a technology specialist and instructor at the non-profit Colorado Center for the Blind.

"There's something to be said for being on the move and just pulling out the phone and dictating a text to somebody and getting it sent off," said Majerus, who is blind and owns an iPhone.