Mobile Accessibility for
AndroidTM
User Manual
for v1.00
Published
by:
Code Factory, S.L.
Making Mobile Phones
Accessible to the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Moving Accessibility
Forward!
Rambla Egara, 148, 2-2
08221 Terrassa (Barcelona)
Spain
Android is a trademark
of Google Inc. Use of this trademark is subject to Google Permissions. All registered
trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. The information
contained in this document is subject to change
without notice.
Copyright
© 2011 by Code Factory, S.L. All rights reserved.
Contents
3.1 Preparing
your phone to be used with Mobile Accessibility (may require sighted help)
3.2 Installing
Mobile Accessibility
3.2.1 Installation
using Computer over internet
3.4 Purchasing
the full license
4 Overview
of the Mobile Accessibility User Interface
4.1 Mobile
Accessibility Home Screen
4.2 Working
with the Home, Menu, Back, and Search keys
4.3 Working
with the volume keys
4.4 Working
with the Quick Menu
4.5 Working
with common user interface elements.
5.1 Basics
of the touch interface
5.3.1 Activating
or deactivating the virtual keyboard.
5.3.2 Enabling
the system wide virtual keyboard
5.3.3 Using
the virtual keyboard to enter text
5.3.5 Changing
the navigation mode and navigating text
5.3.6 Changing
the keyboard layout
5.3.8 Dynamic
Virtual keyboard
6.1 Tips
for speech recognition
6.1.2 Performing
tasks while on a call
7.1 Getting
started with the Mobile Accessibility web browser
7.2.1 Enter
the URL in the address bar
7.2.3 Adding
a website to your favorites
7.4 Reading
text on a web page
7.6.7 Show
System Notifications
8.1 Setting
up an e-mail account
8.1.1 Setting
up a Gmail account
8.1.3 Number
of items to be downloaded at once
8.4 Composing
and sending e-mails
8.4.2 Navigating
the message body
8.5 Reply
or reply all to e-mails
9 Other
Mobile Accessibility Apps
9.1.3 Calling
from the call log
9.2.3 Sending
an SMS to the contact
9.3.2 Reading
received Messages
9.3.3 Navigation
and reading in messages
9.4.3 Clearing
a specific Alarm
9.4.5 Stopping
the alarm when it sounds
9.6.1 Automatic
announcement of your location and connectivity
10 Configuring
the phone and Mobile Accessibility
10.1.1 Changing
ring tone or notification tone
10.1.2 Changing
sound profiles
10.1.3 Changing
vibration settings
10.1.4 Using
volume keys to answer / reject calls.
10.1.5 Using
system call screens.
10.2 Mobile
Accessibility Settings
10.2.1 Changing
speech settings
10.2.4 Changing
vibration and sound feedback settings for touch navigation
10.2.5 Changing
whether the proximity sensor is used to stop speech.
10.3 Mobile
Accessibility screen reader settings.
10.3.1 Notifying
when leaving mobile accessibility
10.3.2 Speaking
system notifications
11 Mobile
Accessibility’s screen reader capabilities
12.2 Setting
the default Home Screen to Mobile Accessibility
12.3 Clearing
the Home Screen default
12.9 Inputting
Text with Speech
12.10 Viewing
Registration Status and License Agreement
12.12 Submitting
a Support Ticket
14 Frequently
asked questions (FAQ)
14.1 What
is Mobile Accessibility for Android?.
14.2 What
can I do with Mobile Accessibility?.
14.3 Is
Mobile Accessibility a screen reader? Is it the same as Mobile Speak?
14.4 Why
didn’t Code Factory port Mobile Speak to Android?
14.5 Will
Code Factory ever consider making a Mobile Speak / Screen Reader for Android?
14.6 Which
voice synthesis can be used with Mobile Accessibility?
14.7 Will
you support voice synthesis from other providers?
14.8 Which languages
are supported? Will you support more languages in the future?
14.9 Can I
use Mobile Accessibility in different languages?
14.10 Which
Android phones are compatible with Mobile Accessibility?
14.11 Can I
use Mobile Accessibility on a touchscreen-only phone?
14.12 Where
can I buy Mobile Accessibility? And how much does it cost?
14.13 Will I
have to pay to use my license of Mobile Accessibility on another supported
phone?
14.15 Can I
use my Mobile Speak license with Mobile Accessibility?
14.17 Can I
get a free 30-day trial of Mobile Accessibility?
14.18 Where
can I get more information about Mobile Accessibility?
14.19 Is there
any demo video or podcast of Mobile Accessibility available?
14.20 Who can
I contact for technical assistance?.
14.21 Where
can I submit a feature request?
14.22 How can
I stay tuned with Mobile Accessibility news?
Welcome to the exciting world of Mobile Accessibility for Android phones. Thank you for choosing Code Factory products to provide you with the most comprehensive access to mainstream mobile technologies!
Mobile Accessibility is a suite of accessible applications especially designed for people who are blind as well as a screen reader for the Android standard user interface. Code Factory believes in developing simple but powerful solutions that help users to enjoy the mobile experience and be productive in their personal as well as professional lives.
The Mobile Accessibility suite of accessible applications provides powerful and efficient access to modern-day mobile phone features such as:
· Making and receiving calls.
· Hearing the name or number of incoming calls (caller ID).
· Managing contacts.
· Scheduling and viewing calendar events.
· Setting up alarms.
· Sending and receiving text messages or SMS.
· Reading and writing Emails.
· Browsing the Internet.
· Determining your location using GPS.
· Reading the date and time.
· Determining phone status, battery usage and network information.
In addition to the above features, Mobile Accessibility also provides the following:
· Touch friendly: You can use Mobile Accessibility with the trackball or the physical keyboard of your phone if there is one, but also with the touchscreen! You will only have to move around the screen and the voice synthesis will read the text under your finger. This includes typing text using the touch screen with our new virtual keyboard. In fact, no physical keyboard is required to use any of the features of Mobile Accessibility.
· Voice Synthesis: We’ve been making mobile phones accessible to people who are blind and low vision for many years now, and we know that the voice matters... and a lot! So we partnered with the text-to-speech provider who makes one of the most popular voices within the blind community: Nuance®! We are thus very happy to announce that Nuance® Vocalizer® will be the voice of Mobile Accessibility.
· Speech Recognition: If you have an Android phone with version 2.2 and above you'll be able to activate the speech recognition from anywhere inside Mobile Accessibility and type text. Imagine writing an SMS or an E-mail using your voice only?
· Screen Reader: So, what happens if you need to exit Mobile Accessibility and use the standard phone interface? No problem. Mobile Accessibility also makes use of Android's Accessibility API and works as a screen reader. Of course, the functionality is limited to what the API provides, but it is enough in order to do some basic things such as changing some phone settings. In addition, the virtual keyboard and speech recognition (if available) can be used with many popular applications and programs outside of Mobile Accessibility.
This document aims to be your guide in your journey of exploring Mobile Accessibility and it should be considered as an overview of the available functions and features of the software, not of the devices on which it runs. For more information about your mobile phone, please consult the user manual or contact your mobile operator’s customer service department.
For additional information on Mobile Accessibility and all Code Factory products, you can contact us through our Help Desk at http://www.codefactory.cat/helpdesk/
You may also wish to subscribe to the Mobile Accessibility mailing list. The Code Factory mailing lists serve as a rich source of information, as other users of our products are there to help answer questions, share tips and tricks they have learned from personal experience or other resources, and suggest ways to troubleshoot issues you may be encountering. These mailing lists are also monitored by Code Factory managers and developers for feature requests, reported bugs, suggestions and comments on how to improve the product, and other forms of constructive feedback. For more information and to subscribe, please visit http://www.codefactory.es/en/list.asp?id=88
If you are an advanced user and wish to use the Mobile Accessibility screen reader in order to navigate the standard Android user interface, you will also need a device that has a trackball or arrow keys, since navigating outside Mobile Accessibility using the touch screen is not supported by the Android platform.
Also note that Mobile Accessibility, like most of the applications running on the Android platform, requires you to have a data connection permanently active. This is used for many purposes, such as checking for updates, using speech recognition and checking the Mobile Accessibility's licensing status.
To prepare your device for Mobile Accessibility, it is strongly recommended to get sighted assistance as the initial steps are not accessible and need to be performed on the phone itself. Alternatively, if you have a screen reader such as Talkback or Spiel Installed on the device, you may try to follow the instructions on your own. Before starting the installation of Mobile Accessibility, you must ensure the following:
1.
The phone battery is charged: Make sure the charge is more than 50% to
avoid the device shutting down in the middle of installation. Check the battery
status under Phone Settings > About > Status > Battery Status and
ensure it is more than 50% or is full.
2.
Make sure you have enough free space: Mobile Accessibility only requires
approximately 7 MB on the device’s internal memory. Check the memory status
under Phone Settings > SD card and Phone Storage Settings > Internal
Phone Storage, and ensure the available space is more than 10 MB.
3.
Make sure your phone service is active (registered on a cellular network)
and the SIM card is properly inserted. The best way to check this would be to
call the number being used on the Android device you plan to use and make sure
the phone rings. Alternatively, you can check the cellular service / connection
status from Phone Settings > About > Status > Network, and make sure
it is showing the name of the network you are using.
4.
If you are planning to purchase Mobile Accessibility, be sure to have
your credit card or bank details ready to make a payment online. More
information on Google checkout can be found at https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=sierra&continue=https://checkout.google.com/main?upgrade%3Dtrue&hl=en&nui=1<mpl=default
5.
Be sure to have an Internet connection either by activating the data
connection over a cellular network or by connecting the phone to a Wi-Fi access
point. For data connection settings, contact your service provider and for
Wi-Fi access point configuration, please check the phone user guide. Upon
successful configuration of the Internet access on the phone, open a web page
from the mobile web browser and make sure the internet is working correctly.
Note:
Using the data connection may incur additional charges by your cellular service
provider, please contact your service provider for more information.
The
Messaging application on some phones overrides the default system settings when
a new Text-message comes in. This means that even if you set a notification
ring tone in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Notification Sound, it
will be ignored and the default sound will play. To make sure the selected ring
tone is heard when a new message comes in, follow the below steps:
-
Open the default Messaging application on the phone that is available before the installation of
Mobile Accessibility.
-
Press the Menu key and select Settings
-
Select "Default Ringtone" in "Select Ringtone" menu
option.
-
Select "Always" in "Vibrate" menu option.
The installation process of Mobile Accessibility is similar to other applications available for Android over the Android Market. Keep in mind that the licenses for Mobile Accessibility trial demo and Mobile Accessibility full are different applications. When installing the full version of Mobile Accessibility for Android, you must uninstall the Mobile Accessibility demo before installing the Mobile Accessibility full license. For more information on uninstallation, check the Uninstallation section of this document.
In order to install Mobile Accessibility, follow the below steps. We strongly recommend sighted assistance for this process.
1.
Start Market application: The Market application is preinstalled on all
Android devices and is the application store for the Android platform and used
to search, download and update applications for your Android phone. The
Application can be launched from the device’s all application menu.
2.
Configuring Market application: When opening the Market application for
the first time you may be prompted to enter a Google / Gmail e-mail address.
This address is required to pass the validation process done by the device
operating system. If you do not have a Gmail address, please visit http://www.gmail.com to obtain one for free. Enter
your Google / Gmail e-mail address.
3.
Searching for Mobile Accessibility: In the Market application, there is a
search edit box to let you find applications available in the Android store.
Please type “Mobile Accessibility for Android” in the edit box and activate the
search button to let the application search for the program.
4.
Choosing the correct application: Upon completion of the search, the
Market application will present the list of applications available in the
store. In the list, you should find:
a.
Mobile Accessibility Demo US
b.
Mobile Accessibility Demo UK.
c.
Mobile Accessibility US
d.
Mobile Accessibility UK
If you want to try Mobile Accessibility
before purchasing or in other words, if you want to install the fully
functional 30 day trial version, you should select “Mobile Accessibility Demo”.
If you are ready to purchase Mobile Accessibility, select “Mobile
Accessibility” in the list.
5.
Reading the application description: upon selecting the application, you
will be presented with the description of the application. The description of
the application highlights the functionality of the application. Select the OK
button or Buy button to continue the download and installation process.
6.
Authorizing system access permissions: Upon selecting the OK / Buy
button, a screen with the list of access rights of the application appears.
Select the OK button to continue with the installation.
7.
Purchasing the application (not required for trial demo version):
Upon selecting OK button in the authorization screen, a notification window
containing the price of the application and an option to select form of payment
appears. Select the form of payment you wish to use. Continue to follow the
on–screen prompts to complete the payment process.
8.
Downloading and Installing: Upon Successful completion of payment or upon
authorization for system access rights, the market application takes the
control of downloading the application and installing it automatically.
9.
Checking the installation status: Open the notification window by sliding
your finger from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen. In the
notification window, check for the Mobile Accessibility installation status. If
the status Messages says successful, then you are done with the installation.
If you have problems, contact Code Factory support with the exact error message
you get in the notification window.
10.
Running the application: You can select the application from the
notification window and in the resulting screen, select open button to launch
the application. Alternatively, you can start the application from phone all
application list by selecting its icon.
You can install Mobile Accessibility from the android market available at https://market.android.com by following the below steps.
1.
Start Market application: The Market application is preinstalled on all
Android devices and is the application store for the Android platform and used
to search, download and update applications for your Android phone. The
Application can be launched from the device’s all application menu.
2.
Configuring Market application: When opening the Market application for
the first time you may be prompted to enter a Google / Gmail e-mail address.
This address is required to pass the validation process done by the device
operating system. If you do not have a Gmail address, please visit http://www.gmail.com to obtain one for free. Enter your Google /
Gmail e-mail address. After configuring the market application exit the
application and continue to follow the below instructions.
3.
Open the web page https://market.android.com on your
computer.
4.
Sign in to the market website using the email address configured with the
Market application on the phone.
5.
After sign in, navigate to Search edit box and type “Mobile Accessibility
Code Factory”, hit enter to start search.
6.
In result page, you would find
a.
Mobile Accessibility Demo US
b.
Mobile Accessibility Demo UK.
c.
Mobile Accessibility US
d.
Mobile Accessibility UK
7.
Select the install button against the version / language you would like
to install.
If you want to try Mobile Accessibility before purchasing or in other
words, if you want to install the fully functional 30 day trial version, you
should select install button after “Mobile Accessibility Demo”. If you are
ready to purchase Mobile Accessibility, select “Mobile Accessibility” in the
list.
8.
If you select one of demo version, a page appear with information on
application access permission, select the install button to continue and then
select OK button on the next page.
9.
If you select one of paid version, a page consisting application access
permission appears, select Buy button to continue to make payments. Follow the
on page instructions to complete payment.
10.
The market application on the phone should automatically start
downloading the Mobile Accessibility version that you selected and it will be
installed automatically.
11.
Checking the installation status: Open the notification window by sliding
your finger from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen. In the
notification window, check for the Mobile Accessibility installation status. If
the status Messages says successful, then you are done with the installation.
If you have problems, contact Code Factory support with the exact error message
you get in the notification window.
12.
Running the application: You can select the application from the
notification window and in the resulting screen, select open button to launch
the application. Alternatively, you can start the application from phone all
application list by selecting its icon.
Mobile Accessibility lets you evaluate the application for 30 days before purchasing it. The demo and the full version are two separate applications in the Android Market.
The 30 day trial/demo is called
"Mobile Accessibility Demo". You can get the fully functional demo
for free from the Android Market. Once your trial period has ended, the
application will stop working. At that point you will be able to purchase and
install the full version of Mobile Accessibility.
Once your trial period has ended, it is now
time to purchase and install the full version of Mobile Accessibility. Before
you do that, however, it is strongly recommended that you uninstall the Demo
version from your device in order to avoid problems when installing the full
version.
The full version of Mobile Accessibility is
available in the market under the name “Mobile Accessibility.” Follow the
instructions described above in order to purchase, download and install the
application.
In order to uninstall Mobile Accessibility,
go to your phone's Settings > Applications > Manage Applications. From
the list, select Mobile Accessibility and activate it. A new screen will show
up with an "Uninstall" button. Alternatively, you can get to your
phone’s settings from the Apps menu of Mobile Accessibility described below.
When Mobile
Accessibility launches, you are placed at the Mobile Accessibility Home Screen.
This screen displays 10 accessible applications which have been especially designed for
the blind and visually impaired. They all have a simplified interface whose
textual information is spoken using Vocalizer® voice
synthesis. Although Mobile Accessibility also allows
access to mainstream Android apps, the special applications that can be found
in the Mobile Accessibility home screen are those that are most frequently
used. Therefore, thanks to their very simple and intuitive design, they will
help you improve your productivity for your everyday tasks.
These accessible applications are:
1.
Phone: as the name suggests, you can
make or receive calls with this application. You may call by dialing a number,
selecting a contact, or calling from your recent calls log.
2.
Contacts: Browse, add, remove, and manage
contacts.
3.
SMS: Send and receive text messages
(SMS).
4.
Alarms: manage Alarms
5.
Calendar: Manage appointments from your
Google Calendar account and other calendars that have been shared with you.
6.
Email: Send and receive emails with
your Gmail account.
7.
Web: A very powerful web browser.
8.
Where am I: Lets you know your location with
the help of a GPS receiver and Google maps.
9.
Apps: Is a list of applications that
are available in your phone. This list is very accessible, but once the
applications in this list are opened, accessibility will depend on the
application.
10.
Settings: to configure Mobile
Accessibility and your phone.
All Android phones have several keys that are positioned at the bottom of the touch screen. On some phones these keys can be felt, but on others these keys can’t be felt with your fingers, so you will have to figure them out with the help of someone or by trial and error. While there may be additional keys on the bottom of your phone, there are 4 that are especially important to Mobile Accessibility.
Those keys are:
1. Home key: The Home key brings up the home screen launcher. Mobile Accessibility works by replacing Android’s default home screen with a completely accessible version. Upon first pressing the home key once Mobile Accessibility is installed, you will be asked to select the home screen you wish to use. Select Mobile Accessibility to launch the program. Check the box to make this your default selection, and then Mobile Accessibility will launch whenever the home key is pressed. Note that the home screen selection process will speak once Mobile Accessibility is enabled as a screen reader (described later in this manual)
2. Back key: The back key is used to close the open task. For instance, if you are in a menu, it will close the menu. If you are in any other screen, it will close that screen.
3. Menu key: This key is used to bring up application specific menu options. Within mobile Accessibility, it will bring up the quick menu which will have context specific menu options.
4. Search Key: The search key is also found on many Android phones. Within Mobile Accessibility, it will speak the current control that has focus.
The volume keys are used by Mobile Accessibility in several ways, including adjusting the speech volume or activating the virtual keyboard or speech recognition. Generally speaking, the volume keys can be found on the left side of the phone. Check your phone’s user guide if you need to determine their exact location.
Changing the volume of the phone’s loud speaker
By pressing the volume up or volume down key while in Mobile Accessibility, you can adjust the volume of the speech. Mobile Accessibility announces the new volume level.
Opening or closing the virtual keyboard
A long press of the volume up key, in other words, holding the volume key for about a second and then releasing it, opens and closes the virtual keyboard within Mobile Accessibility.
A long press of the volume down key starts speech recognition.
If the check box “Use volume keys to change modes” in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Text Input > Virtual Keyboard is checked, then volume keys can be used to change keyboard layouts or navigation modes.
When the virtual keyboard is open, volume up changes the layout of the virtual keyboard, and volume down changes the navigation mode.
If the check box “Enable volume keys to answer / reject calls” in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Advanced is checked, then volume keys can also be used to answer or reject calls.
Volume up answers an incoming call
Volume down rejects the incoming call or hangs up an active call.
Note: if the phone is near your ear, volume keys will increase / decrease the volume of the phone speakers. When the proximity sensor senses an object nearby, Mobile Accessibility disables the answer / reject function of the volume keys.
Changing the volume of the phone speaker
If the check box “Enable volume keys for answer / reject calls” in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Advanced is not checked, then the volume keys will change the volume for the phone speaker during the call. So if you are not able to hear the person on the other side of the call, you can use the volume keys to increase the volume.
Volume up increases the speaker or handset volume during the call.
Volume down decreases the speaker or handset volume during the call.
In any screen of Mobile Accessibility, you can access a Quick Menu which will present you with various options available for that screen. In addition to contextual options for a specific screen, the Quick Menu generally has the following 4 options:
· Date and time: Mobile Accessibility announces the current date and time.
· Phone status: Mobile Accessibility announces whether a charger is connected, the battery level, signal strength, active data networks such as 3G, and Wi-Fi status.
· Show System Notifications: Opens the system notification window, which includes notification such as missed calls, new SMS / E-mail, connection status etc.
Note: the notification window is part of the Android platform and is not accessible using the Mobile Accessibility touch gestures and must be read using the arrow keys or the track pad. To close the Notification window, you can use the device’s Back key or press the Home key to return to Mobile Accessibility.
· Settings: allow you to configure Mobile Accessibility’s options.
You can activate the Quick Menu in 4 ways:
- Press the Menu key
- Triple tap anywhere on the screen
- Long press of the track pad
- Long press of the enter key
Lists
A list presents various items, such as contacts or your call log. The Mobile Accessibility home screen is one such list. They can be navigated with the following commands:
· Move to next list item: swipe down or down arrow.
· Move to previous list item: swipe up or up arrow.
· Jump ahead several list items: swipe right or right arrow.
· Jump back several list items: swipe left or left arrow.
· Activate or open the current list item: double tap or enter on the trackpad or hardware keypad.
· Jump to top of the list: swipe up with two fingers.
· Jump to bottom of the list: swipe down with two fingers.
Note: the number of list items that are jumped depends on the screen size or phone orientation.
A button can only be activated, so only double tap or enter works with it. You can either press the hardware enter key on a physical keyboard or press the trackpad button. If there are other user interface elements in a screen, then navigation commands would move focus away from the button.
A check box can be either checked or unchecked. Mobile Accessibility will announce the state of the check box each time the focus moves to it. The state of the check box can be changed with either double tap or enter. You don’t need to select save or press any other button to accept the check box, it is automatically saved.
You can either enter text in an edit field or read the existing text. You can use the virtual keyboard or hardware keyboard to enter the text. Speech recognition is also available in any Mobile Accessibility edit field. To review the text in the edit field, you work with navigation commands.
Navigation commands depend on your current navigation mode. The available navigation modes are: character, word or sentence. Navigation left or navigation right behave differently depending on the current navigation mode. For example if the current navigation mode is character, navigation left (swipe left or left arrow) moves the cursor to the previous character.
Navigation modes can be changed with a long press of the menu key or by selecting Navigation from the Quick Menu.
Remember, the quick menu can be activated with the menu key or by triple tapping anywhere on the screen.
You may also delete a character with backspace. Mobile Accessibility will speak the deleted character if speak deleted character is checked in settings > text input.
While in an edit box, you can adjust how the arrows and swipe gestures behave while navigating and also move to the beginning or end of an edit field. To activate the navigation menu, triple tap or press the menu key, and then select the first option Navigation. From this menu, the following options are available.
1. Move to top: Moves the cursor to the top or beginning of the edit field.
2. Move by characters: Moves the cursor by characters when swiping left or right or using the hardware arrow keys or the trackpad.
3. Move by words: Moves the cursor by words when swiping left or right or using the hardware arrow keys or the trackpad.
4. Move by sentences: Moves the cursor by sentences when swiping left or right or using the hardware arrow keys or the trackpad.
5. Move to bottom: Moves the cursor to the bottom or end of the edit field.
While typing text into an edit box, you can tell Mobile Accessibility to read various parts of the text you are entering. To activate the read menu, triple tap or press the menu key, and then select the second option Read. From this menu, the following options are available.
1. Read from top: Reads the entire contents edit field from the beginning.
2. Read from current position: Announces the contents of the edit field from your current cursor position to the end.
3. Read current word: Announces the current word under the cursor.
Menus
Menus are used to display a list of options, such as the Quick Menu described above. The following commands can be used to navigate in a menu:
· Move to next menu item: swipe down or down arrow
· Move to previous menu item: swipe up or up arrow
· Jump ahead several menu items: swipe right or right arrow
· Jump back several menu items: swipe left or left arrow
· Activate the current menu item: double tap or enter.
· Jump to top of Menu: swipe up with two fingers.
· Jump to bottom of menu: swipe down with two fingers.
· Exit menu: Swipe left with two fingers.
Note: the number of menu items that are jumped depends on the screen size or orientation.
As most android phones today come with only a touch screen, Mobile Accessibility has developed a simple but powerful touch interface for blind users. The biggest challenge was to allow blind users to be able to use the touch interface with ease, even when outside of the Mobile Accessibility window. So Mobile Accessibility provides a system wide virtual keyboard that can be used to enter text.
Before we go in to details about the touch interface, let’s understand some basic concepts about the gestures used by Mobile Accessibility. Interaction with the touch screen can be done with swipes as well as with taps on the screen. With a little practice, these gestures can be easily mastered and will become second nature.
Exploring the screen with your fingers
In Mobile Accessibility screens, you can just put your finger on the touch screen, and Mobile Accessibility will let you know the item beneath your finger. For example, on the Mobile Accessibility home screen, if you put your finger close to the top left of the screen in portrait mode, you may hear “phone” because the short cut for the accessible phone application is located there. Mobile Accessibility will also move the focus at that point so that pressing enter or other commands to activate the current item will activate the item last spoken. With some practice, you can become quite familiar with the layout of many of Mobile Accessibility’s screens, and save time while navigating them. For example, the home screen, which displays the 10 Mobile Accessibility applications, is laid out in 5 rows of two columns. So the top left of the screen has the phone option, while the next option, contacts, is in the top right. The next row has SMS and Alarms, and so on. Move your finger around the screen to explore the various options and learn the layout of the screen.
Mobile Accessibility allows you to perform what is called taps. Whenever this user guide mentions the word tap, it means that you might touch the screen once, twice, or even three times, but you do not slide your finger or stylus when performing that command.
Generally speaking, a single tap on the screen will speak the item at the position and move the focus to that item. While in the virtual keypad or dial pad, however, a single tap immediately activates the button at that point and will type the character.
Touching the screen twice in quick succession is referred to as a double tap. Whenever you want to activate any focused item (similar to an enter key on a keyboard), you can double tap anywhere on the screen.
In most places of Mobile Accessibility, you may bring up the quick menu by performing a triple tap anywhere on the screen. The quick menu provides commands that are relevant to the current screen as well as access to global settings and information such as date and time and phone status.
To perform a swipe, touch the screen and slide your finger over it in the desired direction, then release the screen. Touch movements should cover a distance of about 30% of the screen length or greater, but do not need to span the entire width or height of the display. Swipes should also be performed around the center of the screen, since many phones have a non-touch-sensitive area around the edges of the device. Note also that you do not need to swipe very fast; it should take between a half and one second to swipe the whole screen in either direction.
Swipes may be done with one or more fingers, and depending on the number of fingers, the commands may be different. To simulate the arrow keys, a swipe up/down/left/right with one finger may be performed. Swipe up or down with 2 fingers to move the focus to the first or last item in the list. Swipe left with two fingers to exit or go back from the current screen.
Mobile Accessibility provides gestures that help you to navigate various screens:
· Go to next line or control: swipe down with one finger.
· Go to previous line or control: swipe up with one finger.
· Go to last item in a list: swipe down with 2 fingers.
· Go to first item in the list: swipe up with 2 fingers.
· Go to next navigation element: swipe right with one finger.
· Go to previous navigation element: swipe left with one finger.
· Go back to the previous screen: Swipe left with two fingers.
Mobile Accessibility includes an accessible on-screen virtual keyboard which allows you to enter text using the touch screen. When you activate this input method, a virtual keyboard is enabled on the screen. When you navigate on the virtual keyboard with your finger or stylus, you will receive audio and vibratory feedback to help you know the character which is currently focused. When you find the character that you want to enter, you can remove your finger or the stylus in order to enter the character.
The method to activate or deactivate the virtual keyboard is different depending on whether you are inside or outside of Mobile Accessibility.
Inside Mobile Accessibility
To toggle the virtual keyboard within Mobile Accessibility, long press the volume up key.
Outside Mobile Accessibility
To toggle the virtual keyboard outside Mobile Accessibility, long press the menu key. Note that on some devices this will not work, but the virtual keyboard will automatically show when focus lands on an edit field.
You can also close the virtual keyboard by pressing the back key.
Note: the virtual keyboard outside Mobile Accessibility is only available if you enable Mobile Accessibility as an input method. For more information, read the below section.
Note: Mobile Accessibility must be enabled as a screen reader to perform the below steps.
· Go to the Android settings by selecting Apps > settings from the Mobile Accessibility home screen.
· Open either language and keyboard or locale and text depending on the phone model.
· Check the box “Mobile Accessibility for Android” under input methods.
· Press Back to exit the settings Window.
· Open any application (other than Mobile Accessibility) which has an edit box.
· Move to an edit box and Press Long enter to bring up the context menu. If the menu does not appear, with sighted assistance, long tap the edit box to bring up the context menu. Also note, while doing this, if your device has a slide-out keyboard it should be closed.
· In the resulting list, select input method.
· In Input method, select Mobile Accessibility for Android.
· The virtual keyboard will be activated and can be then used to type text in edit boxes anywhere in the phone.
Typing characters
There are 2 ways to enter the text using the virtual keyboard.
1. Explore and type: in this method, you would use the stylus or your finger to find a character, keeping contact with the screen as you move through the characters. When a character is selected, Mobile Accessibility will speak that character. To insert the character that is currently selected, just lift your finger or the stylus from the screen. Note that as soon as you release the character held at the tip of the stylus or finger, it is inserted. The stylus or your finger should therefore remain pressed to the screen until you find the character that you wish to insert.
Also Note that if you stay on one character for more than 2 seconds, Mobile Accessibility will activate alternative characters and continue to cycle between alternative characters and the actual character with a 2 second interval, so that you do not have to change the keyboard layout to find that character.
2. Touch typing: In this method, you would use your existing knowledge of the key location to just touch the screen and release your finger or the stylus. This method allows fast typing for advanced users.
Erasing characters
If you have selected a character and wish to erase it you can simply swipe (slide quickly) your finger in any direction. For example, if you start swiping on the virtual keyboard and reach a character but then you realize, the character you are looking for is in some other keyboard layout or for any reason would like to discard the current selection, you may quickly swipe in any direction and then remove your finger from the screen. This tells Mobile Accessibility to discard the current selection and the character will not be entered or typed.
There are 4 layouts available in the virtual keyboard. Upon opening the virtual keyboard, the first layout is lower case QWERTY. You can toggle the layouts by pressing the volume up key. The sequence is lower case, number, symbol, and upper case.
Entering alternative characters
Each character in the virtual keyboard has one or more alternative characters which can be activated without changing the keyboard layout.
While you're selecting a character with your finger, keep it pressed for 2 seconds. The alternative character will be announced. Releasing your finger will insert the alternative character.
Some keys have more than one alternative character. Continue to press on the screen to cycle through the list of available alternative characters for that key. Note that alternative characters usually match those from the Symbol layout. So, if a user doesn't know the concept of alternative characters they will still be able to insert them by toggling the current layout.
QWERTY LOWERCASE Layout with Number row
|
1st Row |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
0 |
Backspace |
|
|
Alternate |
! |
@ |
# |
$ |
% |
^ |
& |
* |
( |
) |
|
|
|
2nd row |
q |
w |
e |
r |
t |
y |
u |
I |
o |
p |
|
|
|
Alternate |
Q “ |
W |
E = |
R |
T ~ |
Y |
U _ |
I |
O |
P + |
|
|
|
3rd row |
a |
s |
d |
f |
g |
h |
j |
k |
l |
|
||
|
Alternate |
A ‘ |
S |
D |
F |
G > |
H |
J |
K |
L < |
|
||
|
4th row |
z |
x |
c |
v |
b |
n |
m |
|
||||
|
Alternate |
Z |
X |
C ˘ |
V |
B | \ [ ] |
N |
M - ∙ |
|
||||
|
5th row |
shift |
, |
space |
. |
/ |
Enter |
|
|||||
|
Alternate |
Toggle Keyboard layouts |
; |
Toggle Navigation Mode |
: |
? |
|
||||||
QWERTY LOWERCASE Layout without Number row
|
1st row |
q |
w |
e |
r |
t |
y |
u |
i |
o |
p |
Backspace |
|
|
Alternate |
Q 1 ! “ |
W 2 @ |
E 3 # = |
R 4 $ |
T 5 % ~ |
Y 6 ^ |
U 7 & _ |
I 8 * |
O 9 ( |
P 0 ) + |
|
|
|
3rd row |
a |
s |
d |
f |
g |
h |
j |
k |
l |
|
||
|
Alternate |
A ‘ |
S |
D |
F |
G > |
H |
J |
K |
L < |
|
||
|
4th row |
z |
x |
c |
v |
b |
n |
|
|||||
|
Alternate |
Z |
X |
C ˘ |
V |
B | \ [ ] |
N |
M - ∙ |
|
||||
|
5th row |
shift |
, |
space |
. |
/ |
Enter |
|
|||||
|
Alternate |
Toggle Keyboard layouts |
; |
Toggle Navigation Mode |
: |
? |
|
||||||
QWERTY UPPERCASE Layout with Number row
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
0 |
Backspace |
||
|
Alternate |
! |
@ |
# |
$ |
% |
^ |
& |
* |
( |
) |
|
|
|
2nd row |
Q |
W |
E |
R |
T |
Y |
U |
I |
O |
P |
|
|
|
Alternate |
q “ |
w |
e = |
r |
t ~ |
y |
u _ |
i |
o |
p + |
|
|
|
3rd row |
A |
S |
D |
F |
G |
H |
J |
K |
L |
|
||
|
Alternate |
a ‘ |
s |
d |
f |
g > |
h |
j |
k |
l < |
|
||
|
4th row |
Z |
X |
C |
V |
B |
N |
M |
|
||||
|
Alternate |
z |
x |
c ˘ |
v |
b | \ [ ] |
n |
m - ∙ |
|
||||
|
5th row |
shift |
, |
space |
. |
/ |
Enter |
|
|||||
|
Alternate |
Toggle Keyboard layouts |
; |
Toggle Navigation Mode |
: |
? |
|
||||||
QWERTY UPPERCASE Layout without Number row
|
1st row |
Q |
W |
E |
R |
T |
Y |
U |
I |
O |
P |
Backspace |
|
|
Alternate |
q 1 ! “ |
w 2 @ |
e 3 # = |
r 4 $ |
t 5 % ~ |
y 6 ^ |
u 7 & _ |
i 8 * |
o 9 ( |
p 0 ) + |
|
|
|
3rd row |
A |
S |
D |
F |
G |
H |
J |
K |
L |
|
||
|
Alternate |
a ‘ |
s |
d |
f |
g > |
h |
j |
k |
l < |
|
||
|
4th row |
Z |
X |
C |
V |
B |
N |
M |
|
||||
|
Alternate |
z |
x |
c ˘ |
v |
b | \ [ ] |
n |
m - ∙ |
|
||||
|
5th row |
shift |
, |
space |
. |
/ |
Enter |
|
|||||
|
Alternate |
Toggle Keyboard layouts |
; |
Toggle Navigation Mode |
: |
? |
|
||||||
|
1st Row |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
Alternate |
< |
> |
- |
|
2nd Row |
4 |
5 |
6 |
|
Alternate |
? |
@ |
= |
|
3rd Row |
7 |
8 |
9 |
|
Alternate |
/ |
( |
) |
|
4th Row |
* |
0 |
# |
|
Alternate |
* |
+ |
# |
|
5th Row |
Shift |
Enter |
Backspace |
Symbol Layout
|
1st Row |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
0 |
Backspace |
||
|
Alternate |
! |
@ |
# |
$ |
% |
^ |
& |
* |
( |
) |
|
||
|
2nd Row |
“ |
= |
€ |
~ |
_ |
+ |
|
||||||
|
3rd Row |
‘ |
Ł |
{ |
} |
> |
« |
» |
< |
|
||||
|
4th Row |
[ |
] |
˘ |
\ |
| |
∙ |
- |
|
|||||
|
Shift |
, |
Space |
. |
/ |
Enter |
|
|||||||
While composing text, it is important to be able to move through the edit field in order to make sure what you are typing is correct. In order to toggle the navigation mode, press the volume down key. This will toggle between characters, words and sentences. One can also change the navigation mode by holding the Space key on the virtual keyboard.
Using swipe left / right on the screen will move the cursor in the editor using the selected navigation mode.
You can use the volume up key to toggle the current layout. When the virtual keyboard is activated, the layout is QWERTY lower case. Pressing the volume key in succession will change the layout to numeric mode, symbol mode, and QWERTY upper case. Alternatively, one can hold the Shift Key on the virtual keyboard to change layouts.
By default, the virtual keyboard operates in landscape mode.
When the landscape setting of the virtual keyboard is off, the virtual keyboard always adapts to the current orientation of the device (regardless of the orientation of the current application). When holding the device in portrait mode, the virtual keyboard adapts itself and will work only in the lower half part of the screen. This makes typing with the device upright and only using a thumb feasible.
Similar to Mobile Speak for Windows Mobile, the dynamic virtual touch keyboard has been implemented with Mobile Accessibility as well. This means that wherever you first put your finger becomes the letter H for lowercase and UPPERCASE or the number 5 for numeric keyboard layouts. You can move your finger in any direction to locate the desired character. This option is off by default, but can be turned on from Settings > Virtual Keyboard.
Mobile Accessibility includes an easy-to-use and powerful speech recognition feature. Please note that your phone must be running Android 2.2 or later and be connected to the Internet using Wi-Fi or a data plan to use this feature. Speech recognition can be used both in edit fields of Mobile Accessibility but also in edit fields outside of Android. Consult the above section on enabling the virtual keyboard outside of Mobile Accessibility, as these steps will also allow for speech recognition when using the screen reader.
To begin speech recognition, long press the Volume down key. The device will vibrate twice when it's ready to listen. When you're done speaking, release the volume down key. A list of possible matches will be spoken. You can use the arrow keys or swipe up and down to move through them. To accept the current suggestion, double tap, press enter or the volume down key. To review the current suggestion by word use the volume up key repeatedly.
Speech recognition can be used to enter a single word or an entire text message. Speak slowly and clearly, and try to limit background noise whenever possible. You may wish to speak your message one sentence or a few words at a time to more quickly gain matching results.
Mobile Accessibility makes it easy to determine who is calling and answer phone calls using the touchscreen or volume keys. When you receive a call, double tap anywhere on the screen to hear the name or number of the person who is calling. To answer a call, swipe up with one finger. Swipe down with one finger to reject a call. Please note to avoid accidental answering or rejecting of a call, you will need to use a longer swipe to answer or reject a call. If you have enabled the setting under Settings> Advanced > Enable Volume Keys to Answer / Reject calls, you can also press the volume up key to answer a call or the volume down key to reject a call.
While on a call, it is possible to perform several commands, including placing the phone on speaker phone, answering or rejecting additional calls, or entering numbers for interactive telephone systems.
Simply double tap to toggle the status of speaker phone. The phone will toggle between using the speaker for your ear or the louder, room speaker.
Call Waiting
If you receive another call, you can use double tap to hear the caller ID for the additional call. Use swipe up to answer or swipe down to reject the call. If you have enabled the setting under Settings> Advanced > Enable Volume Keys to Answer / Reject calls, you can also press the volume up key to answer the additional call or the volume down key to reject it.
Adjusting Call Volume
To adjust the call volume, use the volume up or down keys. If you have enabled the setting under Settings> Advanced > Use Volume Keys to Answer/Reject calls, be sure to press the volume up or down keys while the phone is near your ear to avoid hanging up the call. Alternatively if you have this setting disabled, the volume keys will also allow you to adjust the speaker volume when the speaker phone is enabled.
Entering numbers while on a call
Sometimes, it may be necessary to dial additional numbers while on a call, such as a voicemail password. To do this, press the menu key. The default Android call screen will be activated. Please note this feature works best with phones that include a dedicated hardware keyboard.
The web experience has become an integral part of our lives. It is hard to imagine life without the Internet, and especially on our mobile devices. So, Mobile Accessibility provides easy to use and powerful access to web content with an accessible Web browser, allowing you to navigate web pages in the way you are used to with your desktop screen reader.
Let’s understand how to work with the Mobile Accessibility Web Application. To start browsing the web, go to the Mobile Accessibility home screen, and navigate to the web application using the arrow keys or the touchscreen. Then activate the browser by either double tapping on the screen or pressing the center of the trackpad or the enter key of your phone keyboard.
Once launched, the Mobile Accessibility web app will load the home page. The default page is code factory’s home page. If you want, you can change the default home page in the web settings dialog described in section 7.7.
While a page is loading, the mobile accessibility web app announces your download progress in percents, i.e. 44 percent. Once a page is fully loaded, a page summary with the number of frames, headings, elements and links will be spoken. At this point, you can begin to navigate the page using Mobile accessibility’s web commands.
You can navigate a web page using Mobile Accessibility navigation commands. To make the interface simple, Mobile Accessibility uses navigation modes. You can change the navigation mode and then use the Navigate To Previous Element or Navigate To Next Element commands to explore the web page. Use the long press of the menu key to toggle navigation modes. The default navigation mode is navigation by links, so if you want to navigate to the next link, you would use the swipe right gesture or press right arrow, which is the navigate next element command. If instead, you want to navigate to the next heading, you would long press the menu key once to change the navigation mode to navigate by headings and then swipe right or press right arrow to Navigate to the next element.
Similar to other Mobile Accessibility apps, another important feature of the Mobile Accessibility Web App is that you can press the menu key or triple tap to bring up a quick menu to change some options and issue a few commands that are not available using gestures.
Please keep in mind that you will need an Internet connection in order to use the Mobile Accessibility Web application. If you do not connect via Wi-Fi, please check the data plan of your operator so that you know exactly what charges are involved with downloading Internet data.
The first thing that you may want to do after opening the Mobile Accessibility Web application is visit a web site. There are two ways to do so:
· Once the Mobile Accessibility web application is open, use the menu key or triple tap anywhere on the screen to bring up the quick menu.
· The first item is address bar, use double tap or enter to open it.
· You are now in an edit box, with www. Already entered. Use the virtual keyboard or the physical keyboard of your phone to enter the URL.
· Locate the ok button and activate it with either double tap or enter.
· If the URL is correct, the Mobile Accessibility Web app will load the web page.
Mobile Accessibility allows you to visit pages you have marked as a favorite, for easier retrieval.
· Once the Mobile Accessibility web application is open, use the menu key or triple tap anywhere on the screen to bring up the quick menu.
· The first item is address bar, use double tap or enter to open it.
· You are now in an edit box, with www. Already entered. Use navigation commands such as swipe up or swipe down to navigate to the list of favorites.
· Activate the desired favorite with either double tap or enter.
· Open the web page that you want to add to your favorites.
· Use the menu key or triple tap anywhere on the screen to bring up the quick menu.
· The first item is address bar, use double tap or enter to open it.
· You are now in an edit box, with www. Already entered. Use navigation commands such as swipe up or swipe down to navigate to the Add button.
· Activate the Add button with either double tap or enter.
Once a page loads, you might want to explore its structure. The Mobile Accessibility web application provides simple gestures and keyboard commands to help explore the web page. Use the following commands to navigate the current page:
· Move to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard or trackpad
· Move to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard or trackpad
· Move to next navigation element: swipe right or right arrow of the keyboard or trackpad
· Move to previous navigation element: swipe left or left arrow of the keyboard or trackpad
· Move to top of page: Swipe up with two fingers.
· Move to bottom of page: Swipe down with two fingers.
Navigation modes can be changed either by using the long press of the menu key or from the quick menu > Navigation menu item. The default is navigation by links. Long pressing the menu key changes navigation modes between links, Headings, Lists, Tables, and Forms.
A more complete list of navigation modes is available in the quick menu > navigation menu item as well.
· Bring up the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping anywhere on the screen.
· Move to the “Navigate” option using swipe gestures or the arrow keys.
· Double tap or press enter on the navigate menu item and locate the desired navigation mode.
· Double tap or press enter on the desired option to set the navigation mode.
For reading text on web pages you can use the following options:
· Move to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard
· Move to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard
· Read from cursor: quick menu (menu key or triple tap) > read > read from cursor.
· Read from top: quick menu (Menu key or triple tap) > read > read from top.
· You can also set the navigation mode to paragraph in the quick menu > Navigate and then use next / previous navigation commands to read the text.
Forms are used on web pages to get input from the users. Some form elements such as edit boxes, combo boxes and list boxes must be activated before you can modify them, while other elements such as check boxes, radio buttons or push buttons may be modified straight away.
In order to work with a form element, you first need to find it. To find a form element quickly, set the navigation mode using a long press of the menu key or quick menu > navigation > forms and then use either next or previous navigation element commands to find the desired form element.
If you are on a form element such as a check box, radio button or push button, just activate it using double tap or enter to change its state.
If Mobile Accessibility announces “text”, then you are on an edit box. Activate the edit box using double tap or enter. You will be placed in a dialog titled “enter text“.
This dialog has an edit control, and 2 push buttons labeled “ok” and “cancel”. If you do not want to change anything, just move your focus to the “cancel” button and close the dialog. If you want to enter the text or edit the existing text in an edit box, just make the changes using either the virtual keyboard or the phone keyboard, locate the “ok” button and activate it using either double tap or enter. Remember that speech recognition can be used in edit boxes, including in the web browser.
Whenever you find a combo box or a list box, activate it using double tap or enter, and the Mobile Accessibility Web application will then show a list of items that you can select, just as you would do while within a list. Once you have made your choice, you can double tap or press enter to finalize your selection. If however, you don’t want to change the existing entry, then use the back key to cancel it.
The quick menu can be used to activate several additional options. You can bring up the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping anywhere on the screen or by long press of the trackball or long press of the enter key of the keyboard. The following items are available from the quick menu.
As explained earlier, the address bar is used to enter the address for the target website or to choose a web address from your favorites.
The browser menu item includes the following options:
· Search: finds an item in the currently-opened web page,
· Go home: opens the default home page.
· Stop: stops loading a page.
· Back: go to the last visited page,
· Forward: visits the next page after pressing the back button, and
· Reload: reloads the current web page.
This menu item has all of the navigation modes available in the Mobile Accessibility web application. While navigation modes can also be changed using the long press of the menu key, that option only has a few navigation modes such as links, headings, lists, tables, and forms. But in Quick menu > Navigation the complete list is available. The options are: top to go to the top of the current page, Jump by links, Jump by non links, Jump by in-page links, jump by tables and lists , Jump by lists, Jump by tables, Jump by same control, Jump by different control, Jump by graphical control, Jump by forms, Jump by editors (edit boxes), Jump by buttons, Jump by check box and radio button, Jump by combo box and list box, Jump by heading and frames, Jump by heading, Jump by frames , Jump by paragraphs and block quotes, Jump by paragraph, Jump by block quotes, Jump by 2 percent, Jump by 5 percent, Jump by 10 percent, and bottom to go to the bottom of the current page.
In the reading menu, the options are: Read from current position, Read from top, read summary of the page, and read the title of the page.
This option will speak the current date and time, just as in other quick menus.
This option will speak phone details such as the battery level, signal strength, current phone network or unread messages.
If Mobile Accessibility is enabled as a screen reader, this option will focus the list of system notifications.
This option will allow you to configure various settings for the Mobile Accessibility web application and general Mobile Accessibility options. For more details, see the next section.
The Mobile Accessibility Web Application can be configured to suit requirements of various users. In order to customize the web app according to your requirements, open the web settings window by going to the quick menu and selecting settings.
· Home page: This option allows you to set the home page that the Mobile Accessibility Web app will load on startup. By default it is set to the code factory home page. You can change it by doing a double tap or enter on the home page option and then editing the address in the dialog.
· Notify download progress: if this check box is checked, Mobile Accessibility will announce the download progress, uncheck this box if you don’t want Mobile Accessibility to announce the progress. By default this check box is checked.
· Read whole page on download: if this check box is checked, Mobile Accessibility will start reading the web page as soon as the download is finished. Uncheck this box if you don’t want Mobile Accessibility to start reading automatically. By default this check box is checked.
· Zoom level: Mobile Accessibility can enlarge the text up to 2 times the original text size. The increments are in percents, and they are 100%, 125%, 150%, 175%, and 200%. This can be very useful for people with low vision. The default is 125%.
· Remember last visited web page: if this check box is checked, Mobile Accessibility will automatically open the web page that was open when the last session was closed. Keep it unchecked if you want Mobile Accessibility to open the home page instead. By default this check box is checked.
· Reset navigation on download: if this check box is checked, Mobile Accessibility will set the navigation mode to the default option when the download is finished. The default navigation mode is links. Uncheck this box if you want Mobile Accessibility to remember the navigation mode across pages. By default this check box is checked.
· Display page in a single column: if this check box is checked, Mobile Accessibility will display the web page in a single column irrespective of the page layout. Uncheck this box if you want Mobile Accessibility to display the web page as per the page layout. By default this check box is checked.
· Touch screen works as arrow keys: if this check box is checked, touch slides would work as arrow keys allowing you to navigate the page elements. If it is unchecked, slide gestures will scroll the page. By default this check box is checked.
· Use device back button to navigate history: if this check box is checked, the back button can be used to go back to previously visited pages, same as quick menu > Browser > back. If it is unchecked, the back button will close the browser. By default this check box is unchecked.
Mobile Accessibility provides an accessible e-mail application that is intuitive and easy to use. It is an e-mail application built on android’s e-mail system, and a Gmail account is required in order to use the e-mail application. This e-mail application allows you to send and receive e-mails and organize them in various folders.
To access the email app, select the “email” shortcut from the Mobile Accessibility home screen. Using the touchscreen, Email is located about halfway down the right side of the screen.
To configure the e-mail account from the e-mail app, activate the quick menu by pressing the menu key, triple tapping anywhere on the screen or a long press of enter or trackpad. Then choose the settings option which is the last item in the menu.
Once the e-mail preferences window is open, the first item in the list is Gmail account. Open the Gmail account screen in order to enter your Gmail ID.
Once the screen is opened, the focus will be in the edit field. If this is the first time you are configuring your e-mail, the edit field may have the text “my e-mail”. Otherwise the edit field should have the existing e-mail address. Note: You can also use a Google Apps e-mail account by typing the complete address in this box.
Note: in the virtual keyboard, a long press of the s key will add the at (@) sign.
Once you’ve entered your Gmail ID, select the ok button by navigating to the bottom left of the edit field. Your focus will return to the e-mail preferences window.
The second item in the list is password. Password editing is similar to editing the e-mail ID.
In most cases, these are the only options required to set up your e-mail. Other advanced options are available, however.
The Mobile Accessibility e-mail application downloads e-mails in groups. This helps to prevent unnecessary downloads. For example, the default group size is 25, so when you open the inbox, It will show the 25 latest messages. At the bottom of the list, there is an item called “get more messages”. You can change the number of items displayed by changing the value of “Download items in groups of”. Once you open this setting, you will get 5 choices: these are 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100.
By default Mobile Accessibility checks for new e-mails every 15 minutes. You can choose the desired interval from the following 7 options: 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, one hour, and 2 hours.
Once your e-mail is configured, the e-mail app will show all the folders that are available your Gmail account. You can navigate among those folders with the next or previous item commands Such as swipe down or swipe up. Press double tap or enter to open any folder. Select quick menu > close folder to go back to the previous window. You can use the same navigation commands to navigate in the message list, i.e. swipe down or up for next / previous message, swipe left or right to navigate to the previous or next 5 messages.
Navigate to the message that you want to read and activate it by either double tap or enter. Once the message is opened, the navigation and reading commands for web also work for message text. Some of these commands are also available from the quick menu.
· Read from cursor: quick menu > read > read from cursor.
· Read from top: quick menu > read > read from top.
· Go to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard
· Go to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard
· Go to next navigation element: swipe right or right arrow of the keyboard
· Go to previous navigation element: swipe left or left arrow of the keyboard
Navigation modes can be changed either by using the menu key or from the quick menu > Navigation. The default is navigation by links. The menu key cycles among links, Headings, Lists, Tables, and Forms.
To compose a new message, choose new message from the quick menu. The compose e-mail window will open. The layout of the compose e-mail screen is given below:
<To: edit field> <Add recipients button>
<Subject: edit field>
<Message body edit field>
<Send button> <save as Draft button> <discard button>
(IMPORTANT NOTE! Drafts are saved under [Gmail]/Drafts folder.)
In the To: field, you can enter the e-mail address by either using the virtual keyboard or select it from your contacts using the add recipient button.
In this screen, you can either use swipe gestures or exploration of the touch screen to navigate among the various controls. If you choose to use the touchscreen to navigate, Mobile Accessibility will, by default, generate an audio beep and vibratory feedback whenever you move from one control to another.
CC or BCC fields allow you to carbon copy or blind carbon copy additional recipients. If you wish to add cc or bcc fields, you can add them by selecting quick menu > cc or bcc. Once cc and bcc fields are added, the layout of the compose e-mail screen becomes as follows.
<To: edit field> <Add recipients button>
<CC: edit field> <Add CC button>
<BCC: edit field> <Add BCC button>
<Subject: edit field>
<Message body edit field>
<Send button> <save as Draft button> <discard button>
(IMPORTANT NOTE! Drafts are saved under [Gmail]/Drafts folder.)
Once you are in the message body when composing an e-mail, you can use navigation commands to read the message.
· Go to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard
· Go to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard
· Go to next navigation element: swipe right or right arrow of the keyboard
· Go to previous navigation element: swipe left or left arrow of the keyboard
Navigation modes can be changed by using a long press of the menu key. The key cycles among characters, words, and sentences.
Options to Reply or reply to all are available in a quick menu when an e-mail message is open.
Mobile Accessibility provides an accessible phone app that is intuitive and easy to use. It is a full featured phone application that allows you to call by entering numbers, call from your contacts, or call from the call log.
To access the phone app, select the “phone” shortcut from the Mobile Accessibility home screen. The phone option is located near the top left corner of the screen, and if the first option on the home screen menu. Once the Phone app is open, you can swipe up or down to navigate between one of 3 options:
· Call number
· Call contact
· Call log
Call number is a button on the top of the phone screen and you can use double tap or enter to open the number pad. Once the number pad is active, you can use touch gestures to dial a number in one of 2 ways.
· Touch and explore: In this method, you can touch the screen and without lifting the finger or stylus explore the screen until you find the desired number to be dialed. Once the desired number is found, lift your finger or stylus, and Mobile Accessibility will enter the number in the edit box and generate a long number tone to indicate the number entered. The number entered will also be spoken.
· Touch and dial: if you have enough practice, you can just tap at the right position for a specific number, and Mobile Accessibility will enter the number in the edit box and generate a long number tone to indicate the number entered. The number entered will also be spoken.
The number pad layout is a standard phone keypad, with the following layout:
Top row: <Edit field> <backspace>
2nd row: 1 2 3
3rd row: 4 5 6
4th row: 7 8 9
5th row: * 0 #
Last row: <Dial> <Cancel>
When you enter numbers, they are stored in the edit field and you can edit these numbers in case there is an error. Whenever you make a mistake, you can use the backspace key to delete the last character.
Navigation commands
You can use navigation commands to navigate in the edit box. For example, swiping left or right allows you to review the entered numbers. In order to reach the number edit field, navigate towards the top by using the swipe up gesture repeatedly until you hear “number, edit field”. You can also place your finger near the top of the screen to find this field.
Deleting numbers
The backspace key is positioned on the top right of the number pad, and you can press it the same way as you do the other number keys. So you can touch and explore to find the backspace key or use touch type directly. Backspace will only delete the last number, no matter where the cursor is in the edit box.
Dial / cancel
Once you are satisfied with the result, navigate to the bottom left of the screen until Mobile Accessibility announces “dial”. Then activate the dial button by either double tap or enter. In case you decide to not dial this number, navigate to the bottom right of the screen until Mobile Accessibility announces “cancel”. Then activate the cancel button by either a double tap or enter.
If you want to call someone from your contact list, select the call contacts option. Call contact is the second button from the top of the screen. Once you activate the call contacts button, you will be placed in the list of your contacts. You can navigate in this list in the same way as you do it in the contact application using the standard list navigation commands.
Double tap or press enter to call the selected contact.
Directly below the call contact button is the call log. The call log is a list of all the calls that you have made, received or missed. You can call any of the items in the call log by activating the quick menu. The first menu item is “call”. Once you double tap on this item, you will be asked if you want to call this contact. You can press double tap to accept ok or swipe right to locate the cancel button and then double tap to cancel.
Actions in the call log
While focus is on any item in the call log, the following options are available via the quick menu by pressing the menu key, triple tapping, or a long press of the enter key.
· Call: call the selected contact
· Send Message: Send an SMS (text message) to the selected contact.
· Create new contact: brings up the new contact dialog in which the number from the selected log item is already filled in.
· Add to existing contact: Add current number to an existing contact. This brings up the list of contacts from your contacts stored in your phone. Choose the contact to which you want to add this number.
· Filter: Filters the call log to display specific types of calls. The available options are all calls, missed calls, outgoing calls, and incoming calls. The default is to display all calls.
· Delete: Delete the current item from the call log.
· Clear All: clear the call log.
· Date and Time: announces the current date and time.
· Show system notifications: If Mobile Accessibility is enabled as a screen reader, this option will focus the list of system notifications.
· Phone Status: Gives the battery status, number of missed calls, etc.
· Settings: this contains Speech settings, Text input, audio and vibration, and screen reader settings.
The contacts application allows you to manage your contacts. You can add new contacts, delete existing contacts, or call / send messages to a contact.
Upon opening the contacts application, you are positioned in a list box with all of your contacts. You can navigate in the contact list with the help of navigation gestures. Swipe down or swipe up moves in the list by one contact at a time, and swipe left or swipe right moves several contacts at a time (usually 5).
You can filter contacts to quickly find a particular person or business. In order to filter contacts, you can either move to the filter edit box at the top of the screen, or use the physical keyboard.
With each character entered, Mobile Accessibility will filter the list to only show contacts which match the text you’ve entered. When you are satisfied with the results, use navigation commands to locate the desired contact.
Once you’ve found the contact that you want to call, activate the quick menu by pressing the menu key, triple tapping on the screen, or a long press of enter or the track pad. IN the quick menu, the first option is call. Once you double tap or press enter on this option, you will be asked if you want to call this contact. You can press double tap to accept ok or swipe right to locate the cancel button and then double tap to cancel. Note: if there are multiple numbers associated with a contact, you will first be asked to select the appropriate number.
Once you’ve found the contact to send an SMS, activate the quick menu by pressing the menu key, triple tapping on the screen, or a long press of enter or the track pad. IN the quick menu, the second option is Send Text Message. Once you activate this menu item with double tap or enter, a new message window opens. You can compose your message using the virtual keyboard, phone keyboard, or speech recognition. When you have composed your message and want to send it, navigate down once with the swipe down command to find the send button, and activate it with double tap or enter. If however, you do not want to send the message, you can move further down with another swipe down to find the cancel button, and activate it with double tap or enter to discard the message.
The third option “new contact” in the quick menu lets you create a new contact.
Once you activate this option, the new contact window opens. The first field is first name edit field, and second is last name edit field. Enter the details using your virtual keyboard or phone keyboard.
Adding a phone number
Next, move down to find the add phone number button. If you want to add a phone number, activate this button. Upon adding a phone number, your focus will move to the “phone number: edit field”. There are three fields for each phone number. Left most is the type of number button, on the right of that is the “phone number: edit field” and on the right of that is the remove phone number button. You would enter the phone number in the “phone number: edit field”. If you want, you can also change the type of phone number (the default type is “home phone”). To change the phone number type, move your focus to the phone number type button by using the swipe left gesture from the phone number field. Mobile Accessibility will announce “home Phone” button. To change this value, activate this button with either double tap or enter. You will get a list of options including home phone, work phone, mobile phone or other phone. Choose the desired option with up or down swipes and then select with double tap or enter. Once you have made your selection, Mobile Accessibility will announce the new value. You can navigate back to the phone number field by swiping right.
If you want to remove the phone number, navigate right to the remove phone number button. Once the focus is on this button, activate it by double tap or enter.
You can add more phone numbers by repeating the above process.
Adding e-mail addresses
The basic method to add e-mail addresses is the same as adding phone numbers, except for a couple of differences. For e-mail type, the options are home e-mail, work e-mail and other e-mail. And for removing the e-mail, the button has a label of “remove e-mail”.
Note: in the virtual keyboard, long press of the s key will add the at (@) sign.
Adding an address
Again, the basic method for adding addresses is same as adding phone numbers, except for a couple of minor differences. For address type, the options are home address, work address and other address. And for removing an address, the button is labeled “remove address”.
Saving or discarding the contact information
To save the contact information, navigate to the bottom left of the contact window until Mobile Accessibility announces “Save” button, and then activate the button by double tapping or pressing enter. to discard the contact information, navigate to the bottom left of the contact window until Mobile Accessibility announces “Cancel” button, and then activate the button.
The SMS application allows you to view and send SMS messages, also known as text messages. The SMS application can be launched by selecting the option from the Mobile Accessibility main menu, or sliding your finger partially down the left side of the screen until you hear SMS and then double tapping. When you open your SMS application you will find a compose button and a list of existing messages in your inbox.
To create a new SMS, you can activate the compose button with double tap or enter. Once the compose window is open, you will see the following fields in the order given below, and you can navigate among them with swipe down or swipe up commands.
· To: field: in this field, you can enter the phone number for the recipients. You can enter multiple phone numbers by separating them by semicolon “;”. You can enter the recipients either using the virtual keyboard or from your contacts. In the To: field, the virtual keyboard will open in numeric layout.
· Add From Contacts button: activate this button to get the list of your contacts. Select the desired contact and activate it by either double tap or enter. You can repeat this process for multiple contacts.
· Message edit field: type the body of your message using either the virtual keyboard or the physical keyboard of your phone. You can also use speech recognition if your phone supports it. You can use navigation and reading commands to edit the message body. Navigation and reading commands are explained in section 5.2.
· Send button: activate this button to send the message to the recipient.
· Cancel button: activate this button if you want to discard the message.
In the main SMS application window, below the compose button, you will find a list of received messages. Mobile Accessibility displays messages in a threaded conversation view, that is, The messages from one contact are grouped under one conversation. So to read those messages, you would open the conversation and then see all the messages from that contact. This is also handy if you want to delete all the messages from one contact.
Once you are in the message body of the compose window or while reading a message, you can use navigation commands to read the message.
· Go to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard
· Go to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard
· Go to next navigation element: swipe right or right arrow of the keyboard
· Go to previous navigation element: swipe left or left arrow of the keyboard
Navigation modes can be changed by long pressing the menu key. The menu key cycles among characters, words, and sentences.
To access the Alarm app, select the “Alarm” shortcut from the Mobile Accessibility home screen. You can also slide your finger partially down the right side of the screen until you hear “alarms” and then double tap to select it.
Once the Alarm application opens, you will find a button labeled “create new alarm”. To set a new alarm, activate this button with either double tap or enter.
The new Alarm screen has the following options from top to bottom.
· Alarm description: enter a suitable description for your alarm for future reference.
· Time fields: hour, minute, and AM/PM. These fields are navigable from left to right. To change the value, double tap or arrow to these fields and then select the desired value.
· Select alarm reoccurrence: Allows you to set the occurrence of the alarm. If you want to set a onetime alarm, you don’t’ need to change this option. Once you press enter on this combo box, it will open and give several options. The first option is none and it is the default option. Other options allow you to set the alarm to repeat for various days of the week. Check the check mark for the day or days for which you want the regular alarm. You could check several days, such as Monday through Friday, if you wish the alarm to sound each weekday.
· Select alarm tone: to choose the alarm tone that you want.
Please note that if your phone has been completely powered off, it will not wake up when the alarm is activated. Please make sure you put your device in standby rather than powering it off when you set alarms.
In the Alarm window, just below the new alarm button, you will find a list of all of the alarms you have added. You can select an alarm and activate it with double tap or enter to change the details.
From the list of existing alarms, select the alarm that you want to remove, and then activate the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping.
Choose delete alarm, which will be the first option from the menu. You will be asked to confirm that you really want to delete the alarm. Select the OK button to confirm.
To clear all of your scheduled alarms, when you are in the alarm window, choose the delete all alarms option from the quick menu. You will be asked to confirm that you really want to delete all of your alarms. Select the OK button to confirm.
When you hear your alarm, you have the option of turning it off or activating the snooze feature. Swipe down to turn off the alarm or swipe up to activate the snooze feature which will sound the alarm again in 10 minutes.
The calendar application allows you to review scheduled events or add new ones, and is linked to your Google calendar. To access the Calendar app, select the “Calendar” shortcut from the Mobile Accessibility home screen. Alternatively, the calendar option is located about halfway down the left side of the screen. Slide your finger to this option and double tap to select it.
To add a new event, choose new event from the quick menu.
· Activate quick menu with menu key or triple tap.
· The first item in the quick menu is new event.
· In the add new event dialog set the fields that you need for your event. The start and end date fields will be filled in with the day which had focus in the calendar when you selected the create event option. Use the all day event checkbox to mark an event as occurring for an entire day. Use the calendar combo box to select the calendar you wish to place your new event on. Normally, there will be only one calendar available, your default calendar.
· Arrow to, or use touch exploration to find the OK button to save your new event or cancel to quit without saving.
You can view your calendar events in various views. There are 4 views: Agenda view, Day view, week view, and month view.
Agenda view
The agenda view screen has a list of events for the day and 2 buttons labeled previous and next.
Navigating among the events
For each event, Mobile Accessibility speaks its subject and duration. You can move up and down with swipe up and swipe down and Mobile Accessibility announces each event
Once you’ve reached the last event for the selected day, navigating down will bring your focus to either the previous or next button.
If you want to change the day for the agenda view, activate the previous button to move to the previous day and next button to move to the next day.
To find the previous or next button when the focus is in event list, swipe left for the previous button or swipe right for the next button.
You can check details for an event by opening it using either double tap or enter. Then use swipe up or swipe down to navigate among various fields of the event.
Day view
The day view allows you to check events for each hour. The day view screen has a list of time intervals for each hour and 2 buttons labeled previous and next.
When you navigate up and down with swipe up and swipe down, Mobile Accessibility speaks each hour interval and also announces the number of events for that hour.
If you want to change the day for the day view, activate the previous button to move to the previous day or next button to move to the next day.
To find the previous or next button when the focus is in the hour interval list, swipe left for the previous button or swipe right for the next button.
Opening an hour interval with either double tap or enter will open the agenda view, so that you can review the event details.
Week view
The week view allows you to quickly review the events for each day. The week view screen has a grid with a day of the week in each column and each day’s hours in the row.
When you navigate up and down with swipe up and swipe down, Mobile Accessibility speaks each hour interval and also announces the number of events for that hour.
To change the day in week view, you can navigate left and right with swipe left and swipe right. While navigating among various days, Mobile Accessibility speaks each day and also announces the number of events for that day.
Opening the selected day or hour with either double tap or enter will open the agenda view, so that you can review the events for that day.
Month view
The month view allows you to quickly navigate by week or day. The month view screen has a grid of days in each column and weeks in rows, similar to the layout of a typical calendar.
When you navigate up and down with swipe up and swipe down, Mobile Accessibility jumps to the previous or next 7 days and speaks each day’s number of events.
When you navigate left or right with swipe left or swipe right, Mobile Accessibility moves to the previous or next day and speaks each day’s number of events.
Opening the selected day with either double tap or enter will open the agenda view for that day.
Use the quick menu to switch between the various calendar views. Use swipe gestures to move to the desired view and then double tap or press enter.
Returning to Today
Mobile Accessibility includes a shortcut to return to the current day from within the calendar. To do this, select the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping on the screen and then select the today option.
If you want to know your current location, select the where am I app in the Mobile Accessibility home screen. Where am I tries to locate GPS satellites and if possible, announces your current location and address.
You can also swipe up or down to repeat your current location.
You can choose which information to automatically announce while in the Where Am I application as well as controlling the showing of coordinates. To change these options, go to the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping and then selecting settings. There are 3 check boxes:
· Speak connection status: if this check box is checked, Mobile Accessibility will inform you about your current GPS satellite status. The default option is checked.
· Speak location automatically: if this check box is checked, mobile Accessibility will announce the location whenever it changes. If it is not checked, you must use swipe up or down to know your current location. The default option is checked.
· Show coordinates: You can display your current GPS coordinates on the screen. If this option is checked, coordinates will be displayed. If it is not checked, coordinates will be hidden. The default is not checked.
Accessing System Location Settings
It may be necessary to adjust your system location settings to configure the behavior of your phone’s GPS receiver. A handy shortcut to this page of the Android settings has been included in Mobile Accessibility. To view or change these options, go to the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping and then selecting System Location Settings. Please note that Mobile Accessibility must be enabled as a screen reader for these settings to be spoken.
The apps list allows you to launch other programs on your phone, such as Android's settings or the Android Market. Please note that while the apps list is completely accessible, some of the listed programs may not be compatible with the Mobile Accessibility screen reader. To launch the apps list, select the option from the Mobile Accessibility main menu or slide your finger to the bottom left of the screen until you hear the word apps and then double tap to open the list.
The list of available apps is presented in alphabetical order. You can use standard list navigation commands to move through the list of apps. If your phone has a hardware keyboard, you can press a letter to jump to apps beginning with that letter. Once you have found the app you wish to start, double tap or press enter to open it. By default, you will be alerted that you are about to leave Mobile Accessibility. Select OK to continue and load the app or cancel to return to the list. To turn off this warning, change the setting located under Settings > Screen Reader > Notify when leaving Mobile Accessibility.
A shortcut is available if you wish to uninstall an application. Press the menu key or triple tap to activate the quick menu and then select Uninstall. Please note that Mobile Accessibility must be enabled as a screen reader for the uninstallation procedure to speak.
Various phone and Mobile Accessibility settings can be configured in the settings application. To access the settings application, select the “Settings” shortcut from the Mobile Accessibility home screen or from the quick menu in Mobile Accessibility’s home screen. Some settings are also available from various Mobile Accessibility applications. To do this, just bring up the quick menu and navigate to the last item in that menu. Mostly Speech settings, text input, audio and vibration and screen reader settings are available from other Mobile Accessibility applications.
To change the ring tone for your phone,
· Open the settings application.
· Find the first item “Incoming call ring tone” and open it using double tap or enter.
· In the open list, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the ring tone of your choice. As you navigate in the list of ring tones, each tone is announced and then played back.
· Select the tone of your choice with double tap or enter.
To change the notification sound for messages etc
· Open the settings application.
· Find the second item “Notification sounds” and open it.
· In the open list, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the message sound of your choice. As you navigate in the list of message sounds, each sound is announced and then played back.
· Select the sound of your choice with double tap or enter.
Sound profiles allow you to quickly change all the settings for ring tone and message sounds etc. there are 3 options, mobile, silent, and vibrate.
To change the sound profile:
· Open settings application.
· Find the third item “sound profile” and open it.
· In the open list, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and choose one of three profiles.
· Select the profile of your choice with double tap or enter.
There are 2 settings, one vibrate when receiving a call, and second vibrate on notification. Both settings are changed with a check box.
To change the vibration setting for calls:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the fourth item which is a check box “vibrate when receiving a call”, and uncheck it if you do not want the phone to vibrate when receiving a call or check it if you want the phone to vibrate on receiving a call. The default option is unchecked, so the phone will not vibrate.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
To change the vibration setting for notifications:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the fifth item which is a check box “vibrate on notification”, and uncheck it if you do not want the phone to vibrate from a message notification or check it if you want the phone to vibrate for message notifications. The default option is checked, so the phone will vibrate when receiving a notification.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
If you want, you can use the volume keys to answer or reject calls. If this setting is enabled, volume up will answer the call, and volume down will reject the call. If this setting is not enabled, volume keys can be used to change the volume of the speaker.
To change the volume keys to answer / reject calls:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the sixth item “advanced” and open it.
· Find the first item in the advanced screen, a check box “Enable volume keys to answer / reject calls”, and check it if you want to answer / reject the call with the volume keys or uncheck it if you do not want to use volume keys to answer / reject the calls. The default option is unchecked, so the volume keys will be used to increase / decrease the volume during the call.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
It is also recommended that you configure your phone to automatically reject or hang up a call by pressing the power button. This setting cannot be changed from Mobile Accessibility, but from the standard phone's settings screen under Settings > Accessibility. Note this setting is only available in Android 2.2 or greater.
If you want, you can use the system call screen to make and receive calls. If this setting is enabled, your focus will move out of the Mobile Accessibility Phone Application when you receive a call.
This option is only recommended for advanced users. To change whether you want to use the system call screen:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the sixth item “advanced” and open it.
· Find the second item in the advanced screen, “system call screens”, and uncheck it if you want to use the Mobile Accessibility Phone application or check it if you want to use the android phone application. The default option is unchecked, so you would use the Mobile Accessibility Phone application for receiving or making calls.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Mobile Accessibility allows you to make changes to the following speech settings: rate of speech, pitch, punctuation verbosity, indicate capitalization, spell phonetically, and number processing.
Note: Currently there is only one voice, so you can’t change it.
Rate of speech
You can change the rate at which Mobile Accessibility speaks the text. To do so:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
· Find the first item in the speech settings screen “rate” and open it.
· In the rate dialog, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the desired rate. Rate ranges between 0(slow) to 10(fast). The default rate is 5(normal).
· Select the rate of your choice with double tap or enter.
Pitch
You can change the pitch of the synthesizer to suit your requirement. To do so:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
· Find the second item in the speech settings dialog “Pitch” and open it.
· In the Pitch dialog, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the desired pitch level. The pitch ranges between 0(low) to 10(high. The default Pitch is 5(normal).
· Select the pitch of your choice with double tap or enter.
The option allow you to use the System Default TTS / Voice. Should you wish to use some other voice with Mobile Accessibility, you can download it from android market and can set it as system default TTS. To configure TTS options, go to Phone Settings > Voice Input and Output. By default all android phones have at least one default TTS installed.
Punctuation verbosity
You can change the punctuation verbosity level so that you don’t have to listen to unnecessary punctuation. The levels are none, some, most, and all.
To change the punctuation verbosity level:
11 Open the settings application.
12 Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
13 Find the fourth item in the speech settings dialog “Punctuation verbosity” and open it.
14 In the punctuation verbosity level dialog, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the desired punctuation level. Punctuation verbosity levels are: none, some, most, and all. The default punctuation verbosity level is none.
15 Select the punctuation verbosity level of your choice with double tap or enter.
Indicate capitalization
To configure whether Mobile Accessibility should indicate capitalization:
16 Open the settings application.
17 Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
18 Find the Fifth item in the Speech settings dialog, a check box “Indicate capitalization”, and keep it checked if you want Mobile Accessibility to announce capitalization or uncheck it if you do not want Mobile Accessibility to speak capitalization. The default option is checked, so Mobile Accessibility will speak capitalization.
19 Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
20 Close the dialog with the back key.
Spell phonetically
To configure how Mobile Accessibility spells text:
21 Open the settings application.
22 Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
23 Find the Sixth item in the Speech settings dialog, a check box “Spell Phonetically”, and keep it unchecked if you want Mobile Accessibility to spell the text with characters or check it if you want Mobile Accessibility to spell phonetically. The default option is unchecked, so Mobile Accessibility will spell the text with characters.
24 Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
25 Close the dialog with the back key.
Speaking List Numbers
Mobile Accessibility normally speaks indexes in a list, such as “1 of 3”. This behavior can be turned off.
To adjust the list numbers setting:
26 Open the settings application.
27 Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
28 Find the seventh item in the speech settings dialog “Turn off list numbering”. To no longer speak list numbers, uncheck this box. Check the box to speak list numbers. The default is checked, meaning numbers will be spoken.
29 Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
30 Close the dialog with the back key.
Number Processing
You can change the way Mobile Accessibility speaks numbers. The options are none, singles, pairs, and triplets.
To change number processing:
31 Open the settings application.
32 Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
33 Find the eighth item in the speech settings dialog “Number Processing” and open it.
34 In the Number Processing dialog, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the desired number processing option. Number Processing options are: none, single, pairs, and triplets. The default Number processing option is none.
35 Select the Number processing option of your choice with double tap or enter.
Changing keyboard echo
The Keyboard echo setting is valid for input from the virtual keyboard and the hardware keyboard.
To change the keyboard echo:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the first item in the text input dialog “keyboard echo” and open it.
· In the keyboard echo dialog, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the desired keyboard echo option. Keyboard echo options are: none, character, words, and characters and words. The default keyboard echo option is characters.
· Select the keyboard echo option of your choice with double tap or enter.
Speaking Deleted Characters
To configure whether Mobile Accessibility speaks deleted characters:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the second item in the Text Input dialog, “speak deleted character”, and keep it checked if you want Mobile Accessibility to speak the deleted character or uncheck it if you do not want Mobile Accessibility to speak deleted characters. The default option is checked, so Mobile Accessibility will speak the deleted character.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Speaking Line numbers
To configure whether Mobile Accessibility speaks the current line number:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the third item in the text Input dialog, “speak line numbers”, and keep it unchecked if you do not want Mobile Accessibility to speak the current line number or check it if you want Mobile Accessibility to speak the current line number. The default option is unchecked, so Mobile Accessibility will not speak the current line number.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Configuring secret mode
The secret mode option controls how passwords will be spoken when typed.
To configure the secret mode:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the fourth item in the text input dialog “secret mode” and open it.
· In the secret mode dialog, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the desired secret mode option. Secret mode options are: star, character, and silent. The default secret mode option is character.
· Select the secret mode option of your choice with double tap or enter.
Configuring Virtual keyboard orientation
The virtual keyboard can be set to change orientation automatically or may be kept in landscape mode.
To configure virtual keyboard orientation:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the sixth item “Virtual Keyboard” and open it.
· Find the first item in the virtual keyboard dialog, “always landscape”, and keep it checked if you do not want virtual keyboard to change its orientation or uncheck it if you want virtual keyboard to change its orientation based on the device orientation. The default option is checked, so virtual keyboard will always remain in landscape mode.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Controlling whether volume keys are used to change modes
When the virtual keyboard is active, volume keys are used to change modes. Volume up is used to change keyboard layouts, and volume down is used to change navigation modes. If however, volume keys are needed for changing volume, Mobile Accessibility allows for disabling this option.
To configure whether volume keys are used for changing navigation modes:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the sixth item “Virtual Keyboard” and open it.
· Find the second item in the virtual keyboard dialog, “Use volume keys to change modes”, and keep it checked if you want to use volume keys to change modes or uncheck it if you want to use volume keys to change volume. The default option is checked, so volume keys can be used to change modes.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Displaying the keyboard on the screen
To configure whether the virtual keyboard is visible on the screen:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the sixth item “Virtual Keyboard” and open it.
· Find the third item in the virtual keyboard dialog, “Display keyboard on the screen”, and keep it unchecked if you do not want the virtual keyboard to be visible on the screen or check it if you want the virtual keyboard to be visible on the screen. The default option is unchecked, so the virtual keyboard is not visible on the screen.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Showing the numeric row in QWERTY layout
In the QWERTY layout of the virtual keyboard, the numeric row is not shown by default to avoid a cluttered keyboard layout and to allow for more space for each row.
To configure whether the QWERTY layout of virtual keyboard has a numeric row:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the sixth item “Virtual Keyboard” and open it.
· Find the fourth item in the virtual keyboard dialog, “Show numeric row”, and keep it unchecked if you do not want the numeric row in the virtual keyboard or check it if you want the numeric row in the virtual keyboard. The default option is unchecked, so the numeric row is hidden from the virtual keyboard.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Using the dynamic keyboard
With the dynamic keyboard, the keys are based off of where you initially place your finger. Once you place your finger on the keyboard, you are placed on the letter H for the QWERTY layout or the number 5 for the numeric layout. Then you can just navigate the keyboard as any other QWERTY layout or numeric layout. This feature will be familiar to users of Mobile Speak.
To configure whether Mobile Accessibility uses the dynamic keyboard:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the sixth item “Virtual Keyboard” and open it.
· Find the fifth item in the virtual keyboard dialog, a check box “Use dynamic keyboard”, and keep it unchecked if you want the standard keyboard or check it if you want a dynamic keyboard. The default option is unchecked, so Mobile Accessibility uses the standard keyboard.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Mobile Accessibility provides sound and vibration feedback during touch navigation. Such feedback helps you to know the boundaries of various elements on the screen. For example, during exploration of the home screen, when your fingers cross over from one shortcut to another, you will hear a sound as well as feel vibratory feedback. But if you do not need such feedback, you can disable it.
To configure whether Sound Feedback for navigation is available:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the ninth item “Audio and vibration” and open it.
· Find the first item in the audio and vibration dialog, “Sound feedback for navigation”, and keep it checked if you want Sound Feedback for navigation or uncheck it if you do not want Sound Feedback for navigation. The default option is checked, so Mobile Accessibility provides Sound Feedback for navigation.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
To configure whether vibration Feedback for navigation is available:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the ninth item “Audio and vibration” and open it.
· Find the second item in the audio and vibration dialog, “vibration feedback for navigation”, and keep it checked if you want vibration Feedback for navigation or uncheck it if you do not want vibration Feedback for navigation. The default option is checked, so Mobile Accessibility provides vibration Feedback for navigation.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with back key.
You can use your phone’s proximity sensor to stop speech. If this setting is enabled, moving your hand close to the proximity censor, on the top left of most phones, would stop the speech. The same can also be accomplished by bringing the phone close to your ear, as the proximity sensor would be activated.
To configure whether the proximity sensor is used to stop speech:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the ninth item “Audio and vibration” and open it.
· Find the third item in the audio and vibration dialog, “stop speech when tapping proximity sensor”, and keep it checked if you want to stop speech by tapping the proximity sensor or uncheck it if you do not want to use the proximity sensor for stopping the speech. The default option is checked, so Mobile Accessibility uses the proximity sensor for stopping the speech.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Mobile Accessibility also works as a screen reader out of Mobile Accessibility. The screen reader allows you to work with other applications. You may navigate using the virtual keyboard provided by Mobile Accessibility, or use the hardware keyboard if available on your phone. You can also enter text using the virtual keyboard as well. The following options are related to using the screen reader.
Whenever you leave mobile Accessibility, if this option is enabled, you will get an alert message and be asked to confirm your intensions.
To configure whether Mobile Accessibility notifies you when leaving Mobile Accessibility:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the tenth item “Screen reader” and open it.
· Find the first item in the Screen Reader dialog, “Notify when leaving Mobile Accessibility”, and keep it checked if you want to be notified when your focus moves out of Mobile Accessibility or uncheck it if you do not want to be notified when your focus moves out of Mobile Accessibility. The default option is checked, so Mobile Accessibility notifies you when leaving Mobile Accessibility.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
To configure whether Mobile Accessibility speaks system notifications:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the tenth item “Screen reader” and open it.
· Find the second item in the Screen Reader dialog, “Speak System Notifications”, and keep it unchecked if you do not want Mobile Accessibility to Speak system notifications or check it if you want Mobile Accessibility to Speak system notifications. The default option is unchecked, so Mobile Accessibility doesn’t speak system notifications.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Mobile Accessibility is a powerful screen reader similar to TalkBack or Spiel and is capable of rendering audio prompts when you navigate in the phone’s menu or in other application. If you start navigating in the phone’s menu, Mobile Accessibility will announce the menu icons and upon activating the focused icon, it will read the controls of the application. In order to navigate in the phone menu or in applications, one must use the track pad or arrow keys available on the phone. To read the currently focused element, one can use a short press of the search button on the phone. Keep in mind, when using Mobile Accessibility as your screen reader, the touch screen of the phone will be used for normal functions of the touch screen. It is important to note that as of now, Mobile Accessibility does not provide an accessible touch interface to navigate or control the touch screen of the phone. Phones that include a trackpad or dedicated arrow keys will work best when using applications outside of Mobile Accessibility.
Mobile Accessibility works with a wide variety of third-party applications available from the Android market. To ask about specific applications, consult the Code Factory mailing lists or simply download an app from the market to try it for yourself.
In addition the following things should be noted and will prove helpful when using Mobile Accessibility as a screen reader outside the Mobile Accessibility window.
To activate options in a menu, to activate buttons in an application or to check or uncheck check boxes, you must use the trackpad or keyboard Enter key.
To navigate one step backward use the back button on the device. The back button is also used to exit an application. For some applications, you should use a Long press of the back key to exit the application.
To silence Mobile Accessibility speech, tap the proximity Sensor. The proximity sensor is located on the top of the screen and is near to the ear piece. To know the exact position of the proximity sensor, check the phone user guide. Note this option will only work if you check the option “Stop Speech when tapping the proximity sensor” under Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Audio and Vibration.
To read text in edit boxes, use the system wide virtual keyboard navigation keystrokes. Note, you can use the volume down key to toggle navigation modes when the virtual keyboard is active and can use slide right / left to read the next or previous block of text based on your navigation settings (characters, words, or sentences).
Within anywhere in Mobile Accessibility, you can tap the screen, wait for the vibratory feedback and start moving your finger to explore items on the screen. Use Double tap to activate the option that Mobile Accessibility last announced.
For Quick Navigation if you know the position of a control or Icon on the screen, you can tap the control. Mobile Accessibility will announce the option and the focus will be moved to the control. Then double tap the screen to activate the option.
To set Mobile Accessibility as your default Home Screen, press the Home key, arrow down to the option “Use by default for this Action”, check it and arrow up to Mobile Accessibility for Android and select it.
To clear the Home screen default, Go to settings > Manage Application > Mobile Accessibility for Android and arrow down to Clear Defaults and select it. Now pressing the home key will bring up the list of Home Screens. You can get to Android settings from the apps menu on the Mobile Accessibility home screen.
On most devices, a short press of the power button will unlock the screen. On some devices, a gesture has to be drawn to completely unlock the screen. Consult your phone’s manual if you need help figuring out the correct gesture for your phone. For the initial point, you may be helped by the vibratory feedback. Try practice touching the device and if you tap at the right position, the device will give vibratory feedback and you can then continue to draw the unlock gesture. Often, the gesture is a slide from one side of the phone to the other.
Double finger gestures will only work for devices having multi touch capabilities.
To review any list item or to start reading SMS by words or character, use the long press of menu key to toggle between various navigation modes (characters, words, or sentences). You can then slide left or right to navigate by each mode.
To open any item use double tap or press enter or the center of the trackpad. To open the quick menu, press the menu key, use triple tap or long press the trackpad or hardware enter key.
You can use a long press of the Volume up key to activate the Virtual Keyboard and similar to the review cursor, begin to explore the screen using your finger or stylus. When you reach your desired character, lift the finger and the character will be typed. You can change the Virtual keyboard modes using the volume up or down keys and can delete the last typed character using the Back key on the device or the virtual backspace key.
Mobile Accessibility makes it easy to enter text in edit fields using your voice. Long press the Volume down key to activate speech recognition. The device will vibrate twice when it's ready to listen. When you're done speaking, release the volume down key. A list of possible matches will be spoken. You can use the arrow keys or swipe up and down to move through them. To accept one suggestion, double tap, press enter or the volume down key. To review the suggestion by word use the volume up key repeatedly.
From the main menu, launch the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping. Select the About Mobile Accessibility option. You can then view the End-user License Agreement as well as your phone’s serial number and the number of days left in your demo if applicable. To find the demo status and serial number, slide your finger down the right side of the screen until you hear this information spoken.
From the main menu, launch the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping. Select the Support option. Select the Read Manual Online option to view the online manual using the browser.
From the main menu, launch the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping. Select the Support option. Select the Get Support option to submit a support ticket. The browser will be opened to a form you can fill out.
Enter
If using the touchscreen, double tap to simulate Enter, if not press track pad or hardware Enter key.
Navigational keys
If using the touchscreen, swipe up/down/left/right, if not press physical navigational keys or swipe up/down/left/right on the trackpad.
Swipe up or down with two fingers to go to the top or bottom of a list. Swipe left with two fingers to go back to the previous screen.
Quick Menu
Can be activated with:
· Menu key
· Triple tap anywhere on the screen
· Long press of track pad
· Long press of Enter key
Answer / Reject Calls
· Double tap to read caller ID
· Slide up to answer a call
· Slide down to reject or hang up a call
Note that the slide to answer or reject a call is longer than a normal slide up or down to avoid accidentally answering or rejecting a call.
If the check box “Enable volume keys for answer / reject calls” in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Advanced is checked:
· Volume up to answer a call
· Volume down to reject or hang up a call
If the check box “Enable volume keys for answer / reject calls” in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Advanced is not checked, then volume keys change volume for the phone speaker during the call. In case you are not able to hear the person on the other side of the call, use volume keys to
· Volume up to increase the speaker volume during the call.
· Volume down to decrease the speaker volume during the call.
Speech Recognition
· Long press of volume down to start speech recognition.
· If a list of possible matches is given, swipe left/right or arrow left/right to move through them.
· Double tap or Enter key to validate the selected text.
Virtual Keyboard
· Within Mobile Accessibility, long press volume up to toggle the virtual keyboard. Press the Back key to close the keyboard.
· Outside Mobile Accessibility, long press Menu key to toggle keyboard (only works if Mobile Accessibility is set as Touch Input)
If the check box “Use volume keys to change modes” in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Text Input > Virtual Keyboard is checked, when the virtual keyboard is open:
· Volume up to change the layout of the virtual keyboard
· Volume down to change the navigation mode
There are 4 layouts available:
· lower case QWERTY
· numeric
· symbol
· upper case QWERTY
To activate alternative characters in the virtual keyboard:
· While you're selecting a character with your finger, tap the screen with another finger. This will toggle through the alternative characters list. Releasing your finger will insert the alternative character.
· While you're selecting a character with your finger, keep it pressed for 2 seconds. The alternative character will be announced. Releasing your finger will insert the alternative character.
Navigation and Reading
· Move to next item: swipe down or down arrow.
· Move to previous item: swipe up or up arrow.
· Jump to next few items: swipe right or right arrow.
· Jump to previous few items: swipe left or left arrow.
· Activate or open the current item: double tap or enter.
· Go to top/bottom of a list: swipe up/down with 2 fingers.
If you are in an edit field:
· Long press of menu key to toggle navigation modes (words, character, sentence). Long press to activate the options, and then simply press the menu key to move through the list of available modes.
· If virtual keyboard is opened, press volume down to toggle navigation modes.
· Swipe right/left/up/down to move per element according to the selected navigation mode.
If you are in the web browser, to navigate on a web-page
· Move to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard
· Move to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard
· Move to next navigation element: swipe right or right arrow of the keyboard
· Move to previous navigation element: swipe left or left arrow of the keyboard
Navigation modes can be changed either by using the long press of the menu key or from the quick menu > Navigation menu item. The default is navigation by links. The change navigation mode cycles among links, Headings, Lists, Tables, and Forms.
All navigation modes are available in quick menu > navigation menu item as well.
If you are in the web browser, to read text on a web-page
· Move to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard
· Move to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard
· Read from cursor: quick menu (menu key or triple tap) > read > read from cursor.
· Read from top: quick menu (Menu key or triple tap) > read > read from top.
· You can also set the navigation mode to paragraph in the quick menu > Navigate and then use next / previous navigation commands to read the text.
Mobile Accessibility is a screen-access application which allows people who are blind or have low vision to use an Android phone in an intuitive, easy and simple way.
Mobile Accessibility is two products in one:
· A suite of 10 accessible applications (Phone, Contacts, SMS, Alarm, Calendar, Email, Web, Where am I, Apps and Settings) which have been especially designed for the blind and visually impaired. They all have a simplified interface whose textual information is spoken using Vocalizer® voice synthesis.
· A screen reader which allows you to explore beyond the suite and navigate the standard interface of your phone.
Inside the Mobile Accessibility suite of accessible applications you can do the following:
· Phone: Make calls, answer calls, hear the caller ID and manage your call log.
· Contacts: Manage your contacts, even those from social networks such as Facebook.
· SMS: Compose and read short messages, and manage conversations.
· Alarms: Set your alarms.
· Web: Full web browser experience, similar to what you can find on your PC. Jump by the control of your choice (links, paragraphs, headings, forms, etc.) to quickly navigate to the information of interest. Bookmark your favorite web pages.
· Calendar: Create, edit and delete a calendar entry. View all events per day, week or month.
· Email: Full access to your Gmail account.
· Where am I? : GPS application that gives you updates on your current location.
· Settings: Change ringtone. Configure feedback and notifications (vibration or audio). Configure keyboard echo, punctuation verbosity, speech pitch and rate, etc.
· Quick access to date and time, phone status information such as battery level and network coverage, number of missed calls and unread messages, etc.
No, Mobile Accessibility is not a standard screen reader like Mobile Speak. It is primarily a screen-access application. Mobile Accessibility has its own menu structure and is designed to make the use of the phone much easier. The user interface is simplified and all the textual contents are spoken by voice synthesis. In addition to that, if you get out of the Mobile Accessibility environment and wish to navigate the standard Android interface, Mobile Accessibility will also act as a screen reader. However the functionality as a screen reader is limited to what the Android Accessibility API provides, but is enough in order to perform many tasks on your phone including changing most phone settings, visiting the Android market, or using many third-party applications.
When we first started thinking about developing for Android, the logical step for us was to port our Mobile Speak screen reader to this new platform. But after a short time of investigation we realized that this would technically not be possible. Android is an open source platform but as developers you can do much less than on platforms such as Symbian and Windows Mobile. So to make a long story short, there is some development work that we currently cannot do because of restrictions of the Android system itself, and the Accessibility API is not complete enough to allow us to develop a full screen reader such as Mobile Speak... at least for now. Actually these are the same difficulties that are facing screen readers such as Talkback and Spiel.
If the Android Accessibility API allows it, we will consider it.
Mobile Accessibility comes with the Vocalizer speech engine from Nuance.
No, the product only supports the voice it comes with, Vocalizer from Nuance.
The first release is only in English (UK Serena, and US Samantha). Soon, we will make available versions of Mobile Accessibility in Spanish, German, French, Italian, and Portuguese.
No. Each language is a separate product and has to be purchased separately. Once you have purchased your product, you cannot exchange it for the product in a different language.
All Android phones from version 2.1 and above. Please note that some features such as speech recognition are only supported with version 2.2 and above.
Please note also that if you want to use the screen reader functionality of Mobile Accessibility you will need a phone with physical navigational controls such as a trackball or trackpad.
You can find more information about Android phones at
http://www.google.com/phone/#manufacturer=all&category=all&carrier=all&country=all&reset_filters=1
Of course! You can use Mobile Accessibility not only with the trackball or the physical keyboard of your phone, but also with its touchscreen! Simply move your finger around the screen and the voice synthesis will read the text located under your finger. Or if you prefer, you can also swipe up/down/right/left and tap on the screen to navigate through the interface. And if you wish you can enable sound and vibratory feedback. Phones that include a hardware keyboard or a trackpad offer additional navigational options and will also allow you to gain additional functionality outside of Mobile Accessibility.
There is 3 ways of getting your copy of Mobile Accessibility:
1. From the Android market
2. From your distributor
3. From you carrier
To find out prices, please check on the market, with your distributor or your carrier.
No, as long as you maintain your Gmail account the product is yours and will work in any phone. Licenses sold on the Android market are tied to your Gmail account.
Purchased on the market or through your carrier, the license is tied to your existing Gmail account and you will be able to use the product again in a different device.
Purchases through distributor, please contact your distributor for more details.
No. The system for the Android market and the system for licenses of Mobile Speak are not connected in any way. You need to purchase the new product.
No, as those are two completely different systems for licensing.
Yes. You can get a 30-day trial version of the product from the market, the app is named Mobile Accessibility Demo. It is the same product as the paid version but will expire after 30 days.
Visit Code Factory’s website at http://www.codefactory.es/en/products.asp?id=415
Yes, go to http://www.codefactory.es/en/products.asp?id=415#video
Please submit a ticket through our HelpDesk at http://www.codefactory.cat/helpdesk/
Subscribe to the Mobile Accessibility mailing list at http://codefactory.es/en/list.asp?id=88
Please submit a ticket through our HelpDesk at http://www.codefactory.cat/helpdesk/
Subscribe to our news at http://www.codefactory.es/en/services.asp?id=390. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/codefactory and use hashtag #MA to talk about Mobile Accessibility
Ř Problem locating search button on Google Mobile Webpage – This is a known issue and we recommend using Google Classic View. Use the “Classic” link to open Google classic (HTML) Search page.
Ř Problem using Yahoo Search Page: This is a known issue and we recommend to use Yahoo Desktop page. Use the “Desktop” link to open the yahoo search page for Desktop and then continue searching.
Ř Problem using Review Mode: Review mode is not compatible with all web Pages and on all device configuration. We expect it to work on most of the web elements but on some, when trying to use Review mode, MA reads the web page from the beginning. We expect and recommend to use slides / arrow keys to read those difficult pages.
Ř On some web pages, some web elements are not accessible using direct tap method: This is a limitation as of now and we expect and recommend using slides and arrow keys to navigate such web elements.
Ř MA Screen Reader do not provide Speech feedback on some application: we support the Android framework devices and expect most of the application to work. However, with technical limitations and accessibility issues within some application , it is not possible to provide Speech Feedback.
Thank you for choosing Mobile Accessibility. We hope you will enjoy exploring the world of mobile phone devices, and being able to harness the full potential of multifunction, mainstream smartphones.
If you would like more information regarding our products please visit our web site at http://www.codefactory.es
For support on any of our products, sales questions, and general inquiries please visit our Helpdesk at http://www.codefactory.cat/helpdesk/
To get help from more experienced users and share impressions on the product, subscribe to Mobile Accessibility mailing list at http://codefactory.es/en/list.asp?id=88
Founded
in 1998 and headquartered in Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain, Code Factory is the
global leader committed to the development of products designed to eliminate
barriers to the accessibility of mobile technology for the blind and visually
impaired. Today, Code Factory is the leading provider of accessible mobile applications
such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, and Braille interfaces. Code
Factory’s products are compatible with the widest range of mainstream mobile
devices running on Symbian, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry Smartphones, and
Android. Among Code Factory's customers are well known organizations for the
blind such as ONCE in Spain, and carriers such as AT&T, Bouygues Telecom,
SFR, TIM and Vodafone.