powerpoint overview of this project

Copyright © 2002-2010 by IDEAL Group, Inc. All rights reserved. 1/56

Accessibility ofAndroid Smartphones

by:

Steve Jacobs, President

IDEAL Group, Inc. and,

CEO Apps4Android, Inc.

[email protected]


Accessibility of Android Smartphones

Steve Jacobs, PresidentIDEAL Group, Inc. and,CEO Apps4Android, Inc.

[email protected]


We Believe…

We believe that it is now readily achievable for telecommunications equipment manufacturers and service providers to make it more intuitive and easier for their Android smartphone users with disabilities to take full advantage of Google's accessibility options, add-ons and applications.


Supply-Push Market Forcesare NOT self-sustainable

1. Not self-sustainable without ongoing push from government and society.

2. Supply-push employment market forces that COMPEL companies to enhance the accessibility of their products and services include: • Cultural• Organizational• Moral• Political• Ethical• Legal


Demand-Pull Market ForcesARE self-sustainable

1. Self-sustainable as long as there is demand.

2. Demand-pull market forces that drive companies to enhance the accessibility of their products and services include:

• Increased operational efficiencies

• Decreased cost

• Increased sales

• Maximized net profits


Telecommunications equipment manufacturers and wireless service

providers have no compelling reason to make it easy and intuitive to eyes-

free/screenreader enable their Android smartphones unless there is consumer

demand to do so. After all, the accessibility applications are all

available for free.


About Apps4Android, Inc.(1 of 4)

• URL: http://www.apps4android.org/• Mission: to developing low/no cost Android

applications that enhance the quality-of-life, independence, quality of education and employability of individuals with disabilities.

• Incorporated in January, 2009;• Developed and currently markets six applications with

more on the way;• Over 1 million downloads in the past year;• 450,000+ users in 30+ countries;


About Apps4Android, Inc. (2 of 4)

• Major Investors:– IDEAL at NCR – IDEAL at Teradata

• Better Voices for Cupcake V1.1 $0.99High-quality voices for Android Cupcake (V1.5) smartphones. Languages include English (US & UK), Italian, German, French, and Spanish.

• Ask Eindroid V1.1 $0.99Ask your Android smartphone a question using your voice and it will speak the answer. Smartphones just got smarter!



• Speaking Pad V1.2.2 FreeA talking notepad for Android. This notepad speaks what you type.

• iAugComm V1.0.2 $4.99iDEAL Group's Augmentative Communication application is designed to enhance the communications abilities of people who are unable to speak. iAugComm provides a symbol-based method of communication that uses the Text-To-Speech (TTS) library for Android.



• SMSpeaker V3.1.1 $0.99Read your SMS messages out to you.

• Talking Caller ID V1.2.1 FreeSpeaks caller ID information. This app is a free gift for individuals purchasing SMSpeaker and relies on functionality from SMSpeaker.


Definition of the Term "Readily Achievable"

• Section 255 Telecommunications Access For People with Disabilities (Section 255) requires telecommunications equipment manufacturers and service providers to make their products and services accessible to people with disabilities, if such access is readily achievable.

• The term "readily achievable" means easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense.


Market Drivers Making the Accessibility of Android Smartphones Readily Achievable

(1 of 2)• Google’s development, release, and

telecommunications equipment manufacturers’ adoption of a free, high-quality, open source, operating system (Android) for smartphones;

• The ability of telecommunications equipment manufacturers to use Android for free thereby saving smartphone firmware R&D dollars;


Market Drivers Making the Accessibility of Android Smartphones Readily Achievable

(2 of 2)• The availability of free, eyes-free, and speech-

enabled Android applications such as:– Text-To-Speech Extended– Talking Compass– Talking Dialer– Eyes-Free Shell– TalkBack– Eyes-Free Configuration Manager– SoundBack– KickBack

• The availability of other free and low cost AT software


IDEAL Group's AndroidAccessibility Wizard Project Objective

To enable telecommunications equipment manufacturers and service providers to make it more intuitive and easy for their Android smartphone users with disabilities to make their devices more accessible.


Guidelines and Checklists

• Problems Encountered by Individuals with Disabilities and Members of the Aging Population when using Smartphones

• Checklist (in table format) for Smartphones

• Checklist (in text format) for SmartphonesThe information above was developed by the RNIB Digital Accessibility Team (DAT) and repurposed by IDEAL Group, Inc. Click here to see the original checklist.


Variables

The following variables need to be taken into consideration when deciding which Android smartphone to purchase:

1. User’s personal preferences

2. Version of firmware

3. Smartphone Hardware Configuration

4. Versions of Eyes-Free Applications


1. The User’s Personal Preferences

• Which applications to be used

• Eyes-free or screenreader

• Eyes-free and screenreader

• Type of hardware preferred

• Carrier/plan preferred


2. Version of Firmware

• Pre-Cupcake v1.0

• Cupcake v1.5

• Donut v1.6

• Eclair v2.0

• Eclair v2.0.1

• Variants of the above


3. Smartphone Hardware Configuration

• Thumbwheels vs. D-Pads vs. no physical scrolling controls (the touch-screen serves this purpose).

• Physical Call/End Call buttons vs. no physical Call/End Call buttons. (the touch-screen serves this purpose).

• Keyboards vs. no keyboard (onscreen keyboards) • Spacing and ability to differentiate one key from

another on physical smartphone keyboards • Location of touch-screen controls • Different screen sizes


3. Versions of Eyes-Free Applications

• Better Voices for Cupcake

• Eyes-Free Configuration Manager

• Eyes-Free Shell

• KickBack

• SoundBack

• TalkBack

• Talking Compass

• Talking Dialer

• Text-To-Speech Extended


Eyes-Free Shell


The Power of Voice SearchingNote: Speech recognition begins before prompt displays!

• x divided by x• x factorial• x in roman numerals• x kilometers in miles” • x minus x• x percent of x• x plus x• x root of x• x times x• x to the x power

• 90 degrees in radians• 98.6 Fahrenheit in

Celsius• Cosine of x degrees• cube root of 109 • Planck's constant • Sine of x degrees• square root of 16• tangent of x degrees • ¾ of a cup in teaspoons


Eyes-Free Shell(2 of 6)


Talking Dialer and Address Book(1 of 9)


Minimum SetupFor individuals who are blind

• Must have a thumbwheels or a D-Pad somewhere on the device;

• Must have a keyboard

• Firmware Version 1.6 (Donut) or greater

• Current Version TalkBack


Recommended SetupFor individuals who are blind (1 of 2)

• Thumbwheel or a D-Pad accessible without sliding out the KB

• Physical call and hang-up buttons

• Keyboard spacing enable user to differentiate one key from another;

• All buttons should be actual hardware buttons and not capacitive buttons

• KB arranged as a standard QWERTY KB (numbers should have distinct row from letters).


Recommended SetupFor individuals who are blind (2 of 2)

• Firmware Version 1.6 (Donut) or greater • Current Version TalkBack

• Current Version KickBack

• Current Version SoundBack

• Current Version Eyes-Free Apps


Minimum SetupFor individuals who have low vision

• Must have a thumbwheels or a D-Pad somewhere on the device;

• Firmware Version 1.5 (Cupcake) or greater

• Current Version Eyes-Free Apps


Firmware Version 1.5 (Cupcake)Download Website

Compatible Applications:

– Talking compass Version 1.0

– Eye-Free Configuration Manager Version 1.0

– Eyes-Free Shell Version 1.0

– Talking Dialer Version 1.0

– TTS Extended Version 2.1rc00

– TTS Service Version 1.4


Recommended SetupFor individuals who have low vision (1 of 2)

• Thumbwheel or a D-Pad accessible without sliding out the KB

• Physical call and hang-up buttons

• Camera that has a macro-zoom feature (i.e. Nexus)

• Keyboard spacing enable user to differentiate one key from another;

• All buttons should be actual hardware buttons and not capacitive buttons

• Keyboard arranged in standard QWERTY format.

• Numbers should be across a row


Recommended SetupFor individuals who have low vision (2 of 2)

• Firmware Version 1.6 (Donut) or greator

• Current Version of TalkBack

• Current Version of KickBack

• Current Version of SoundBack

• Current Version of Eyes-Free Apps


Text-to-Speech Options(1 of 7)


Text-to-Speech OptionsStandard Google TTS Voices (not high-quality) (5 of 7)

• Afrikaans

• Bosnian

• Chinese (Cantonese)

• Chinese (Mandarin)

• Bulgarian, Croatian

• Czech

• Dutch

• English (American)

• English (British)

• Esperanto

• Finnish

• French

• German

• Greek

• Hindi

• Hungarian

• Icelandic

• Indonesian


Text-to-Speech OptionsStandard Google TTS Voices (not high-quality) (6 of 7)

• Italian• Kurdish• Latin• Macedonian• Norwegian• Polish• Portuguese• Romanian• Russian

• Serbian• Slovak• Spanish• Spanish (Latin America)• Swahili• Swedish• Tamil• Turkish• Vietnamese

• Welsh


Text-to-Speech OptionsPICO Google TTS Voices (high-quality female) (7 of 7)

• English (American)

• English (British)

• Italian

• German

• French

• Spanish


Hearing Aid Compatibility

• HAC rating of M3, and if possible, M4

• HAC rating of T3, and if possible, T4


Additional Features and Compatibility

TTY Support

– Full mode

– VCO mode

– HCO mode


Sampling of Android Smartphone Manufacturers

• Acer• ASUSTeK (ASUS)• Dell• Garmin • HTC• Huawei

• Lenovo• LG Electronics• Motorola, Inc.• Samsung• Sony Ericsson• Toshiba


Sampling of Android Smartphones


Thank You!!


Contact Information

Steve Jacobs, President

IDEAL Group, Inc. and,

CEO, Apps4Android.org

Phone: (614) 777-0660

E-mail: [email protected]

URL: http://apps4android.org

URL: http://accessibility-android.info

powerpoint overview of this project

Documents

free applications

android smartphone users

android smartphonesunless

accessibility applications

availability of free

screenreader eyesfree

free gift

android cupcake v1