Photos: Sumit Dagar's Braille smartphone Turning email to e-Braille – Indian engineer Sumit Dagar is creating the world's first smartphone for the blind. Hide Caption 1 of 10

Photos: Sumit Dagar's Braille smartphone Turning email to e-Braille – Dagar (center) has described his creation as "a companion more than a phone." Hide Caption 2 of 10

Photos: Sumit Dagar's Braille smartphone Turning email to e-Braille – The engineer is driven by a desire to use technology to improve the lives of disadvantaged members of society and, he says, to help them participate in it more fully. Hide Caption 3 of 10

Photos: Sumit Dagar's Braille smartphone Turning email to e-Braille – Dagar is seen here testing a prototype interface with a visually impaired volunteer. Hide Caption 4 of 10

Photos: Sumit Dagar's Braille smartphone Turning email to e-Braille – Dagar's first working prototype of the Braille smartphone was little more than an exposed circuit board with moveable pins. Hide Caption 5 of 10

Photos: Sumit Dagar's Braille smartphone Turning email to e-Braille – For this design, Dagar was selected as a 2012 Laureate in the Rolex Awards for Enterprise Hide Caption 6 of 10

Photos: Sumit Dagar's Braille smartphone Turning email to e-Braille – A mass-market version of the phone will have a screen which is composed of a grid of pins. Hide Caption 7 of 10

Photos: Sumit Dagar's Braille smartphone Turning email to e-Braille – The pins move up and down to form Braille shapes when the phone receives a text or email. Hide Caption 8 of 10

Photos: Sumit Dagar's Braille smartphone Turning email to e-Braille – The smartphone design incorporates "Shape Memory Alloy" technology, based on the concept that metals remember their original shapes, expanding and then contracting after use. Hide Caption 9 of 10