According to statistics, it is estimated that worldwide a child is born with cleft every 3 minutes—or about one in every 500 to 750 births. Depending on the type and severity, a cleft can create serious health and social issues if not corrected early. Some could have difficulty with feeding that could lead to malnutrition, while others might experience recurring ear infections that could lead to hearing loss. Speech and language development can also be impaired making children more susceptible to bullying and social isolation.
This is why for children born with a cleft, speech therapy is an essential need. Unfortunately, because of the the Covid-19 pandemic, access to speech therapy services has been disrupted and almost inaccessible.
Smile Train, the world’s leading cleft charity recently introduced a new Speech Therapy app that aims to help parents, guardians and children access speech therapy services online. The app, developed in partnership with Nifty Hero, features a wide array of educational videos and speech therapy sessions, all in Filipino, with kid-friendly features and lively graphics. The app teaches kids how to properly pronounce words through fun and engaging exercises. It also aims to serve as a platform for cleft patients and their families to connect with health-care professionals. Smile Train, however, advised that the app should only be used for kids with cleft and is not designed to help kids with different other speech impairments.
Smile Train envisions the app to be more than just a platform for learning, seeing it as a way to bring more smiles to cleft-affected families in the Philippines.
Since the start of the pandemic, Smile Train’s speech telehealth program in the Philippines has treated over 200 patients, providing them with more than 1,000 cleft care-related sessions—including speech therapy, nutritional support, breastfeeding guidance for mothers of babies with clefts, pre-surgical consultations, and psychosocial care.
“Technology has allowed us at Smile Train to deliver the speech therapy needs of children with cleft throughout this pandemic. Safety is our foremost priority, and I am glad that this app allows us to safely serve the needs of these kids in the comfort and safety of their own homes,” said Smile Train South East Asia Director Kimmy Flaviano.
The Smile Train app also addresses a glaring gap in reaching kids with cleft. “With the app, distance is no longer a problem. Kids may start their speech therapy sessions which they otherwise would not have started without the app. Furthermore, the app encourages more speech pathologists to partner with Smile Train,” said Veronica Yu, a speech pathologist and the lead content creator of the app.
The app is available for download on the App Store and Google Play.
A HOT UPGRADE FOR INFINIX
FOR those who haven’t heard of Infinix Mobile, it is a Hong Kong-based company that was established in 2013. Its part of the Transsion Holdings Group, which also owns Tecno Mobile and Itel Mobile. The smartphone brand has research and development centers in France and Korea, and the devices are manufactured in France, Bangladesh, Korea, Hong Kong, China, India and Pakistan. It currently has a presence in 70 countries worldwide, covering Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.
It was only a few years ago when it began marketing its phones in the Philippines, but it has gained quite a loyal following because of its affordability and features. The online-driven smartphone brand currently has five product lines—Zero, Note, Hot, S, and Smart and targets millennials as its main market.
Earlier this week, the brand launched an upgrade to its Infinix Hot 10 Play with a bigger memory and internal storage while retaining all its best features.
The new Infinix Hot 10 Play now has 4GB RAM and 64GB storage (from 3GB+32GB), a MediaTek Helio G35 chipset, and a monstrous 6000mAh battery.
Build quality is satisfactory and though its made out of plastic, the glasstic finish combined with its gem cut texture design which looks like “flowing pipelines,” does make it look a bit more premium. The one we have is in Obsidian Black, the safest color choice, but you can also get it in Aegean Blue, Morandi Green, or 7° Purple.
The Infinix Hot 10 Play is a pretty lanky device sporting a 6.82-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 720 x 1640; a 90.66 percent screen-to-body ratio, and 20.5:9 full view offering a worthwhile mobile cinematic experience. As a budget device, the screen is good enough with nice color temperature, but it’s best suited for indoor viewing.
While Infinix identified its main 13MP rear shooter and 8MP AI Front Camera, it didn’t specify the secondary AI rear camera. As per our initial tests, the cameras do produce acceptable results in good lighting, and is passable enough for social-media posting. The front camera does take decent selfies and quality is comparable to other cameras in its price point.
The Infinix Hot 10 Play tries to make its mark in the affordable gaming smartphone category, hence the MediaTek Helio G35 processor that is further enhanced by Infinix’s HyperEngine technology. The Hot 10 Play is said to provide smoother performance, faster response, more reliable Wi-Fi and LTE connections, and enhanced power efficiency over its predecessor. In daily use, however, its not the fastest and smoothest, and you’ll likely experience some slowdown when a number of apps are open. As for gaming, I’d stick with casual games with fairly simple graphics.
Other extra features include a face unlock and fingerprint security, XOS 7.0 system, an image compressor for more storage, and a convenient split-screen mode for multitasking.
Perhaps the biggest reason to get the Infinix Hot 10 Play is its battery. With a huge 6000mAh battery and its Power Marathon Technology, the brand says it can last a whopping 55.7 days on standby mode, with 53.4 hours of call time, 13.8 hours of continuous gameplay, 155 hours of non-stop music playback.
The Infinix Hot 10 Play does live up to its cost-to-performance ratio, and it’s a capable device as long as you are aware of its limitations. The upgraded Infinix Hot 10 Play is available for P4,990 but you could get it for even less during sale events and by using discount vouchers.