Michael Hansen unboxes, sets up, and shares his first hands-on impressions of the iPhone 17E, Apple’s new budget iPhone starting at $599. He outlines the phone’s place in the iPhone 17 lineup, describes the included case and packaging, and walks through the hardware design, including the 6.1-inch display, USB-C port, Action button, MagSafe support, and single camera system. He compares the 17E to his personal iPhone 17 Pro Max, focusing especially on speaker sound, VoiceOver performance, keyboard click volume, and general usability for blind users. He also notes the absence of certain higher-end features such as precision finding support and the camera control button, while emphasizing the phone’s value and practical appeal for most buyers. The episode also includes brief setup impressions, an accidental drop test that highlights the phone’s durability with Ceramic Shield 2 and case protection, and an invitation for listeners to submit questions for a future written review on AppleVis.

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI Note Taker – VoicePen, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Michael: Hello, AppleVis friends. This is Michael Hansen. Thanks so much for joining me. I hope that today finds you well wherever you are. In this podcast, I'm going to be unboxing, setting up, and giving my initial first hands-on impressions of the all-new iPhone 17E. The iPhone 17E is Apple's new budget iPhone. It starts at 599 US dollars. For that price, you get an A19 series processor. You get 256 gigabytes of storage. You get MagSafe charging up to 15 watts. You get a phone with a 6.1 inch display. You get a whole lot more. And all of it, again, for the same starting price of $599 as last year. Looking at it kind of in terms of the other iPhone 17 models, we, of course, we have our iPhone 17E, which is kind of the entry level. the the basic iphone at 599 us dollars you have your iphone 17 which is 200 more at 7.99 you have your iphone air at 9.99 your iphone 17 pro at 10.99 and you have an iphone 17 pro max at 11.99 Now, my personal device is an iPhone 17 Pro Max. I like big phones. I like big batteries. And so... It's not lost on me that the phone that we're looking at here is half the price of the iPhone 17 Pro Max. And last year I reviewed the iPhone 16E and I really had a blast with it. Battery life was really good. Speakers were really good. It did not have MagSafe, which of course this year's model does. Apple has corrected that. It also does not have the precision finding support. So for precision finding for your air tags and things like that. And I don't think this year's model does either from what I was able to see. And it doesn't look like this one has dual frequency GPS. Whether or not that is important to you is totally a personal thing. Just giving you information here so you kind of know what's going on. But in many other ways, I really, really, really liked the iPhone 16E. And so I kind of am going into this review with some expectations. I'm expecting and thinking that the iPhone 17E is going to be a year's newer iPhone 16E with MagSafe and a newer processor. And so I'm really excited about this to kind of see where this goes, because I think this and the lower cost iPhone is going to be what a majority of people are probably going to want to buy. So as much as I like my big, super big…

Welcome to Gamers Corner, your roundup of accessible games for blind and low vision gamers. In this October–December 2025 edition, we share our latest iOS game picks, highlight three runner-ups, revisit a classic Blindfold Games Vault Treasure, and close with a Crossing Consoles recommendation—plus a quick look at end-of-year awards.

Hosts: Thomas Domville, Aaron Spelker, and Jesse Anderson

Links (Quick Access)

• Adventure To Fate: Dungeons (iOS): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adventure-to-fate-dungeons/id6743055907
• Dungeon Scoundrel (iOS): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dungeon-scoundrel/id6756222423
• Echo Chain: Multiplayer (iOS): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/echo-chain-multiplayer/id6751758104
• Lane Defender: Haptic Arcade (iOS): https://apps.apple.com/at/app/lane-defender-haptic-arcade/id6749909197
• Lenguard (iOS): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lenguard/id6747782520
• Blindfold Games Launcher (iOS): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/blindfold-games-launcher/id1067124446
• Stories of Blossom (Steam): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1581680/Stories_of_Blossom/
• Stories of Blossom (Itch.io): https://softleafstudios.itch.io/stories-of-blossom

Staff Picks (iOS)

Adventure To Fate: Dungeons — Platform: iOS — Price: $4.99 (one-time purchase) A turn-based roguelike RPG featuring handcrafted dungeons, multiple character classes, loot collection, and both casual and permadeath modes. App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adventure-to-fate-dungeons/id6743055907

Dungeon Scoundrel — Platform: iOS — Price: Paid one-time purchase (no ads, no in-app purchases) A tactical roguelike card-based dungeon crawler built around a fixed 55-card dungeon deck, designed for quick 5–15 minute sessions. App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dungeon-scoundrel/id6756222423

Runner-Ups (iOS)

Echo Chain: Multiplayer — Platform: iOS — Price: Free (in-app purchases; full unlock around $2.49) A rhythm and memory-based multiplayer puzzle game for up to four players, with modes like Battle Royale and Arcade and full accessibility support. App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/echo-chain-multiplayer/id6751758104

Lane Defender: Haptic Arcade — Platform: iOS — Price: $0.99 (one-time purchase) A minimalist, haptic-first…

In this episode, Tyler demonstrates how to disable Hot Corners on macOS.

Hot Corners are areas of the screen that perform a specified action when the mouse pointer is hovered over them. As a VoiceOver user who doesn't use the mouse, you might want to configure them to do nothing, so you don't inadvertently cause an action to be performed if you accidentally brush your fingers against the trackpad or use trackpad gestures to control VoiceOver. To do this, go to System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Hot Corners, and make sure the popup menu for each screen corner is set to hyphen (-) rather than any of the actions in the menu.

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI Note Taker – VoicePen, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Tyler: Hey, AppleVis-ers. Tyler here with a quick tip for how to disable hot corners on macOS. Hot corners are areas of the screen that, when hovered over with the mouse pointer, cause certain functions to be performed, such as locking the screen, starting screensaver, or creating a quick note.

Tyler: If you're a voiceover user who doesn't use the mouse, you may want to disable these so you don't inadvertently trigger them in the course of using your Mac, say, if you accidentally brush your fingers on the trackpad or if you use trackpad gestures to control voiceover. To do this, you go into System Settings, Desktop and Dock, click the Hot Corners button, and make sure each of the four corners is set not to perform any action. And I'm going to demonstrate that now on my Mac.

VoiceOver: Menu bar Apple. Apple, system settings. System settings. T7, volume, systems, general, window, sidebar.

Tyler: D for desktop and dock.

VoiceOver: Desktop and dock. Desktop and dock, scroll area.

Tyler: Interact with scroll area.

VoiceOver: Desktop and dock, scroll area. 77 up.

Tyler: And because the Hot Corners button is located near the bottom, I'm going to jump to the bottom of VL Globe, right?

VoiceOver: Help button.

Tyler: VL left.

VoiceOver: Hot Corners button.

Tyler: Hot Corners.

VoiceOver: Dialog hyphen top left Hot Corner pop-up button.

Tyler: Here we are. So at the top of the dialog, VLGlobe left arrow. Okay, so that's hyphen. And that means that there is nothing, no action bound to that hot corner. But if I go into the pop-up menu. Mission control. Application windows. Desktop. Notification center. Apps. Quick note. Start screensaver. Disable screensaver.

Tyler: And hyphen, which is do nothing. So if that corner, the top left corner on your Mac is set to do something else and you don't want it to do that, just change it to hyphen. And if you go VL right, bottom left, same deal.

VoiceOver: Choose hyphen.

Tyler: And top right is hyphen. Hyphen, bottom right. So if all of these are set to hyphen,

Tyler: there will be no actions performed when moving the mouse to the corners of the screen. So no hot corner is active. And when you're done, just feel right again, hit done. Hot corners button. And here you are back in system settings. So that's a quick tip for how to disable hot corners on Mac OS. It's a quick set it and forget it task that can help if you…