The Relay ID Pack from Sprint Provides Accessible Apps

Back in September I wrote about the top 8 Android apps I consider best for the deaf and hard of hearing. Of course, by now that list might have changed - in the world of cellphone applications, there is always something new, different, and changed.

Sprint has become the first cellphone provider to provide a collection of apps, called the Relay ID Pack, intended especially for their deaf and hard of hearing customers.

Sprint's ID packs are basically bundles of apps targeted around something specific. Other ID packs from Sprint are Disney, Green, and Entertainment, for example. The nice thing about Sprint's ID packs is that they require just one single download - you don't have to find each app and download it separately. 

Photo from Flickr by Mike Saechang
Image of balloons with Sprint and HTC EVO 4G logo

What's It Compatible With?

• LG Optimus S
• Samsung Epic 4G
• Samsung Galaxy Tab
• Samsung Transform
• Sanyo Zio
  

What Does it Contain?

• AIM Instant Messenger, which allows access to telephone relay services
• Calendar Notifier for visual reminders of upcoming events
• Captionfish.com to look for captioned movies in the area
• GMail Notifier for notifications of emails through GMail
• Google Voice for transcriptions of voicemails
• Handcent SMS for notifications of texts
• Sprint Mobile Video Relay Services for sign language relay
• TuneWiki for song lyrics
• VideoPlayer

All of these apps look pretty good and I think they're useful - especially Google Voice (one of my favorite apps) and Captionfish.

However, apps can definitely clutter up a smartphone. I know I always have to go through and see what apps I'm actually using. Some of the apps listed above just might not be useful enough on their own, so I would probably download each interesting item separately myself.

I like how Sprint has done the legwork in this case and bundled together useful apps people may not know about - and some of these apps are probably difficult to find if you're just browsing. It's really great to see a large company considering the needs of the deaf community.  

(via Android Guys)