Eyes-Free Shell Refreshed

We just refreshed Eyes-Free Shell on Android Market with a long-overdue set of improvements that have been waiting to launch. Here is a brief summary of user-visible changes:

User Customizable Home Screen

You can now add additional pages of short-cuts to the home screen. You can flip through these pages of short-cuts by tapping the left or right edge of the screen. Pressing the menu key within a page of shortcuts allows you to customize the short-cuts on that page; it also provides controls for inserting new short-cut pages.

One-Click Uninstall

The default way of managing applications in Android requires many clicks through nested menus --- this is especially true when uninstalling applications. The Eyes-Free Shell now lets you uninstall applications by pressing menu while in the applications list .

I18N

Spanish and Chinese strings for Eyes-Free Shell.

And many more underlying changes too numerous to fit in this margin. Speak, Listen, And Enjoy!

Intersection Explorer --- Now Intersections Sound Even Better

We just updated Intersection Explorer on Android Market. This version improves on the initial launch by providing more intuitive descriptions for intersections, I'll include some examples below:

T-Intersection

Minor Street ends in Main Street to form a T-Intersection Depending on where you explore from, you hear:

• Currently at Minor Street ends in Main Street
• Currently at right on to Minor Street from Main Street.
• Currently at left on to Minor Street from Main Street.

Plus-Intersection

Given the 4-way intersection of Castro Street and El Camino, you hear one of the following depending on the direction you're exploring:

• Currently at Castro Street crosses El Camino
• Currently at El Camino crosses Castro Street.

And a lot more than will fit this margin --- explore, share and enjoy!

Walking About With A Talking Android

1 Walking About With a Talking Android

I have long relied on spoken directions from Google Maps on the desktop. As I access more and more of my online world through my Android phone, Google's recent announcement of GMM4.5 enhanced with walking directions means that I now have superior functionality to what I have enjoyed at my desk --- but now with the added benefit of having it all in my pocket!

Inclusion of step-by-step walking directions on Android now allows me to specify a destination on my TalkBack enabledeyes-free Android device, and have these spoken to me as I walk. But wait, there's more!

We're launching a new member of our Eyes-Free family of programs for Android --- WalkyTalky that goes hand-in-hand with spoken walking directions from Google Maps to better navigate the physical world. In addition,application Intersection Explorer allows me to explore the layout of streets using touch before venturing out with WalkyTalky.

1.1 WalkyTalky

WalkyTalky is an Android application that speaks the address of nearby locations as you pass them. It also provides more direct access to the walking directions component of Google Maps. With WalkyTalky installed, you can:

• Launch WalkyTalky to specify a destination,
• Either specify the destination by address, or pick from favorites or recently visited locations,
• And in addition to spoken walking directions,
• Hear street addresses as you walk by.

These spoken updates, in conjunction with the walking directions that are spoken by Google Maps help me navigate the physical world as efficiently as I navigate the Internet.

1.2 Intersection Explorer

Often, I like exploring a neighborhood to learn the layout of the streets before actually venturing out with my trusty companion,Hubbell Labrador, and this is where Intersection Explorer comes into its own. Using this application, I can explore any neighborhood on Google Maps via touch exploration.

1.2.1 How It Works

• Intersection Explorer starts off at the user's current location.
• One can change the start position by entering an address, to do this, press menu and click on new location.
• Once the map has loaded, touching the screen speaks the streets at the nearest intersection.
• Moving one's finger along a compass direction, and then tracing a circle speaks each street at that intersection along with the associated compass direction.
• Presence of streets is cued by a slight vibration as one traces the circle.
• Lifting up the finger when on a street moves in that direction to the next intersection, speaks the distance moved, and finally speaks the newly arrived-at intersection.

1.3 Summary

Together, Intersection Explorer and WalkyTalky, in conjunction with Walking Directions from Google Maps brings a new level ofaccess to my physical world. I use these tools in conjunction with other Maps-based applications such as the Places Directory on Android --- this is another application from the Google Maps team that works fluently with TalkBack on Android to help me find nearby attractions or other locations of interest.

So next time you take your trusty Android out for a walk, make sure to give these new tools a spin --- you can report back on your experience via our Eyes-Free Group.

Applications WalkyTalky and Intersection Explorer can be downloaded from the Android Market.Share And Enjoy, and as usual, remember, The Best Is Yet To Come!

Author: T.V Raman

Date: 2010-09-09 Thu

HTML generated by org-mode 7.01 in emacs 24

QR Code for WalkyTalky:



QR Code for Intersection Explorer:

TalkBack, Eyes-Free Shell Refreshed --- Now With End-User Settings

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We are pushing out a series of updates via Android Market for TalkBack and the Eyes-Free Shell. Here is a brief overview of end-user visible changes.

Accessibility Preferences

Going by the principle of things should just work as expected , we have long resisted giving in to having a complex set of user preference settings for TalkBack and friends --- in my experience, if you introduce such a settings menu early on, we as software engineers tend to punt on all complex decisions by turning each question into a complex user-facing dialog. That said, it is now time to gradually introduce end-user settings for some aspects of the various accessibility tools.

Accessibility Preferences

Welcome new application AccessibilityPreferences to Android. What this application does:

• From an end-user perspective, it provides a single place where you will find preference settings corresponding to each accessibility tool you have installed on your phone.
• For developers of accessibility tools, it provides a simple means of registering a custom program for managing end-user preferences for that tool.

TalkBack installs its user preferences under this tool. You can tweak a number of settings that affect TalkBack behavior including:

• Control whether TalkBack speaks when the screen is off --- useful to silence status messages when you have the phone turned off.
• Control whether TalkBack speaks when ringer volume is set to 0, i.e., phone is in silent mode.
• Control whether the proximity sensor is used to shut off speech.

Over time, we'll add more settings here as appropriate --- but expect us to be conservative with respect to how many settings show up.

Updates To The Eyes-Free Shell

Here is a summary of updates to the Eyes-Free Shell:

• Changes the proximity sensor logic so that it is only active when the shell is active; this should be more battery efficient
• Fixes a race condition bug that can trigger when the shell is being exited as an application is being installed/removed

TalkBack

Here is a summary of changes to TalkBack:

• TalkBack now includes application-specific speech strategies for some popular applications. This provides context-sensitive spoken feedback.
• Applications that have such speech strategies defined include Facebook, Stitcher and GoogleVoice amongst others.
• Implements a settings screen that can be used with Accessibility Preferences
• Available settings:
   
  1. Ringer Volume (Speak at all ringer volumes, No speech in Silent Mode, No speech in Vibrate and Silent Mode)
   
  2. Screen Status (Allow speech when screen is off, No speech when screen is off)
   
  3. Speak Caller ID (checked/not checked)
   
  4. Proximity Sensor (checked/not checked)

In addition, TalkBack introduces the ability to add application-specific plugins --- expect to see more advancement here in future releases.

AccessibilityPreferences Hints For Developers

If you're a developer of an AccessibilityService, you need to:

• Implement a preferences screen for your application.
• Implement this with intent filter:

              
  
              <intent-filter>            
  
                  <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />            
  
                  <category android:name="android.accessibilityservice.SERVICE_SETTINGS" />            
  
              </intent-filter>            
  
          
  

Share And Enjoy,

Eyes-Free Review: Droid2 From MOT

Here is a quick eyes-free access overview of the MOT Droid2.

Hardware

1. The device has a pull-out keyboard, and the buttons are much more tactile than the original Droid.
2. The device also has dropped the hard-to-use D-Pad from the original Droid in favor of PC-style arrow keys.
3. There is once again no dedicated number row at the top.
4. The capacitive buttons on the front of the device appear in a different order from the original Droid --- with the device in portrait mode, reading left to right you have: Menu, home, back, and search.
5. In addition, MOT ships a voice search application on the device that is triggered by pressing a special microphone button -- it's worth learning the position of this key, since voice-search can be useful --- and more importantly, if you're relying on spoken feedback, hitting this button leads to the phone falling inexplicably silent.

Software

If you look under accessibility, you'll find an application called Voice Readouts from MOT. This appears to be a screenreader analogous to TalkBack, though in my experience, it did not produce spoken feedback in many instances. That said, this application collaborates well with TalkBack --- and after installing TalkBack from the Android Market (note: the Droid2 does not come with TalkBack bundled) -- you can activate both TalkBack and VoiceReadout for an optimal experience.

VoiceReadout appears to have a preliminary version of touch-exploration. With VoiceReadout active, a single tap speaks the item under the finger; a double-tap activates that item. Note that moving the finger around on the display does not appear to trigger touch exploration; also, touch exploration appears to be available in only some contexts.

Instances where touch exploration appears to be active

1. Settings application.
2. Portions of Android Market.

In general, touch exploration appears to be available in ListView.

In addition, the Droid2 also includes a low-vision accessibility tool called Zoom Mode ( look for it under Settings -> Accessibility ) this tool provides a magnification lens.

Summary

All in all, the Droid2 appears to be one of the better choices for eyes-free use from among the presently available crop of Android phones. Touch exploration, though preliminary, is nice to see on the platform, and the bundled low-vision magnification aid is a nice touch. Voice Readouts is also a great example of an Android accessibility service done right in that it co-exists peacefully with other screenreaders like TalkBack to provide an optimal end-user experience. To users not familiar with adaptive technologies in general, this might not sound like a big deal --- but users of PC screenreders have long been familiar with the need to have only one screenreader turned on. As we transition to modern platforms like Android, it's useful to remind ourselves that screenreaders can in fact co-exist, with each tool providing something useful to create an overall experience that is greater than the sum of the parts.

Welcoming Loquendo Susan To Android (FroYo)

Android 2.2 (AKA FroYo) introduces many platform enhancements, and one that I find particularly relevant is the ability to plug-in additional Text-To-Speech engines. What this means from an end-user point of view:

• Android comes with a set of built-in voices since Android 1.6 --- these are the Pico voices for English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.
• With the Text-ToSpeech plug-in mechanism in place, we can now add new engines to the platform.
• The first such add-on was ESpeak, which brings support for many of the world's languages.
• And now, vendors are able to sell high-quality add-on voices via the Android Market.
• Loquendo Susan is the first commercially available voice for Android. Users running FroYo can buy this voice on the Android Market. Thanks to the plug-in mechanism, once you buy a new voice, you can switch all your talking applications to use the newly installed voice --- see instructions below.

Activating And Using Newly Installed Voices

Goto Settings → Voice Input And Output → Text To Speech Settings. First, activate the newly installed voice by clicking the corresponding checkbox item for that voice. Next, go to Default Engine in the Text To Speech Settings menu, and make the newly installed voice your default engine. Finaly, if you want all applications to use the new voice, check option Always use my settings

With this in place, my Nexus and Droid both speak using Loquendo Susan --- thus turning my Android into into a truly pleasant eyes-free device.

Stitcher And TalkBack: The World In My Ears

Shortwave Radio --- and DXing was one my hobbies growing up--- I spent many hours listening to far-off radio stations ---and in the process developed a love for languages. Fast forward to the late 90's, and one could now listen to radio stations from all around the world on the Internet --- but this time without the hiss and static of shortwave propogation. But there was a catch --- you needed to be at your computer to listen to these stations. At home, I solved this problem by setting up a set of living room speakers connected to the computer in my office-bedroom; with a wireless keyboard, this brought Internet radio to my living room.

Fast-forward to the next decade, and I now have the Internet in my pocket in the form of a smart phone. I recently discovered Stitcher on the Android Market --- and it got me the final mile to having ubiquitous access to Internet Radio!

Using Stitcher With TalkBack

There is little more to say other than try it out! .Stitcher on Android is a simple Android application that worksout of the box with TalkBack. Once you install stitcher fromMarket, use the arrow keys or trackball on your phone to browse through the various categories. Clicking on stations launchesplayback immediately. Note that for now, the stop buttonin the player is not navigable by the trackball --- I have gotten used to hitting it by dead-reckoning since it always appears in afixed position. In the last few weeks, stitcher hasreplaced StreamFuriously , my previous Internet Radio solution on Android.

So here's to happy listening!A brief note on the title of this post --- The World In My Ears was also the title of abook on DXing by Arthur Cushen from New Zealand --- I remember hearing his voice in the 80's on the BBC's World Service.