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Re: insight re Android accessibility from a blind user

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From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Apr 8, 2013 11:50AM

Hi Jim

Yes, I have downloaded Fleksy, just need to sit down with my phone,
Fleksy, a glass of wine, and have fun .. heck, might do it tonight now
that you brought it back to my attention.
The Braille Touch app is also interesting, and holds a lot of promise
I think. Feels a bit weird, and I wish it could be used to replace the
regular keyboard on iOS, would be interesting.
It could replace the regular keyboard on Android, however Android is
still lacking the necessary multi-touch support to make it work (at
least that is what the Braille Touch developer told me in an email
exchange right before CSUN, I was hoping to see the team there, but he
said they sadly did not get a stipend to make the trip from Georgia).
Thanks for reminding me on the Fleksy thing.
-B

On 4/8/13, Jonathan C. Cohn < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Records unless Fleksy has changed price again, it is now free. I used it to
> type this message.
> nt from my iPhone
>
> On Apr 8, 2013, at 12:28 PM, Jim Allan < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
>> Birkir,
>> You don't always have access to a keyboard. I have a friend, who is
>> totally
>> blind, who uses Fleksy (http://fleksy.com/) and is up to 20 words per
>> minutes on the touch screen keyboard. She says it is a bit pricy $15, but
>> well worth the speed. I watched, slack jawed in amazement, as she typed a
>> long sentence and didn't hit any letter correctly. She said the sentence
>> would read "......" and that is exactly what it said.
>>
>> Jim
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Apr 7, 2013 at 8:11 PM, Birkir R. Gunnarsson <
>> <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>
>>> I thought I was of the same opinion as you guys, and I am by no means
>>> an Apple fan (I don't like to commit to one technology or one way of
>>> doing things)in any way, but once I did pick up the iPhone and
>>> listened to one podcast on how to use it, it truly became simple for
>>> me (this was the iPhone 4, tested nothing before that).
>>> The thing with touchscreen devices and devices like the iPhone, is
>>> that Apple pretty much had to invent a touchscreen accessible
>>> interface from scratch, none of us have ever used a touchscreen device
>>> ever, and we deep down are afraid that it is impossible (well,
>>> speaking for myself anyway).
>>> Now, once you pick up an iPhone, turn on Voiceover by triple clicking
>>> the round home button on the bottom, you really just have to remember
>>> flicking a finger to the right to go to next item on the page, left to
>>> go to previous item, double tap to activate an item, press the round
>>> home button to go back (a bit like the escapte key), and flick up or
>>> down with a finger to invoke special actions (like delete in the mail
>>> app).
>>> There are a few extra gestures that are more advanced, and they take
>>> time, but this is pretty much all you have to remember initially.
>>> I do agree that Apple have not done a great job of teaching the
>>> touchscreen with Voiceover users how to operate the phone, I found
>>> podcasts from Vision Australia that got me into it, but I do give
>>> Apple credit for having done pretty well with inventing a pretty
>>> usable touchscreen interface more or less out of the blue.
>>> I still can't stand touch typing, use external Bluetooth keyboard,
>>> braille display or the braille touch app for input most of the time,
>>> and I am not in any way saying this is perfect, but if you dig up an
>>> iPhone, the podcast, and just go for an hour of two of experimenting,
>>> you might be surprised (you might not, I am not saying what worked for
>>> me will or will not work for someone else, but I do recognize the
>>> feeling that this possibly cannot work, but then it was quickly
>>> dismissed when I started playing).
>>> So definitely don't be shy to give it a shot, and see if you like it.
>>> No guarantee that you will or you should, but you might.
>>> Cheers
>>> -B
>>> P.s. just to reiterate it, I don't want to be associated with
>>> everything is so wonderful from Apple crowd. This is not perfect and I
>>> can see how people have issues with their overly tight control over
>>> their interface (for one thing I have, along with their dealers in
>>> Iceland, been trying to get Apple to install an Icelandic TTS voice on
>>> their iOS line of devices for years .. they do not allow third party
>>> TTS apps except inside applications, but so far with absolutely no
>>> feedback, success or glimpse of hope, and it irritates me to no end
>>> that a company assumes this tight a control over its interface, making
>>> it unusable to a whole nation).
>>>
>>> On 4/7/13, Lucy Greco < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>>> Thanks for the assurance that it's not just me smile I hate some of
>>> these
>>>> new devices.
>>>>
>>>> Lucia Greco
>>>> Web Access Analyst
>>>> IST-Campus Technology Services
>>>> University of California, Berkeley
>>>> (510) 289-6008 skype: lucia1-greco
>>>> http://webaccess.berkeley.edu
>>>> Follow me on twitter @accessaces
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>