So one of the things for me about Android is the TTS engines. Apple has, basically, three speech engines built into every one of their operating systems. Vocalizer which is what VoiceOver starts off on using, Macintalk which is like Alex, and Fred and all that, and Eloquence. Three different ways of speaking, pronounciation sets, all that. Actual choice.
On Android though, a Pixel comes with Google TTS. And if you've ever been somewhere with no Internet and heard a low quality, robotic voice from Google Maps, you've heard what we have to deal with on a Pixel every single day unless we get something different. So on Android, there are a few more options. RH Voice which honestly doesn't sound so good to me in English, ESpeak which is as robotic as you can get and was last updated on Oct 23, 2022 (almost a year ago), Vocalizer which had its last update on Oct 30, 2021 (which is better than I thought but still feels unmaintained), and that's about all I know of. On Samsung phones, you can get Samsung TTS out of the box, and it's pretty good. Of course, then you get Samsung's TalkBack, Samsung's version of everything, but also all the goodies that come with Samsung phones. Oh and Samsung TTS has a longer pause between everything cause it was made to read stuff not for screen reading, so everything feels slower than it is.
So it's really sad. Eloquence is still a 32-bit app, so will not work on the newest Pixels. Google TTS' newer local models are sluggish with TalkBack, and cannot speak quickly, as many have found out when working around the fact that TalkBack doesn't use the newer model natively. And it's sluggish when reading long pieces of text, like this one. And there iOS is, with tons of voices to choose from. And I get it, I should be thankful that we have even ESpeak, but when you come home from a stressful day at work, what do you want to hear?
@objectinspace@amir I was worried about that being it…, That one broke with #TalkBack in every browser I tried including chrome and firefox, the select your country drop down would never accept the entry and allow me to continue…
Re my last boost, looks like HID support for Braille displays via bluetooth is coming in Android 15. This should let devices like the Brailliant BI 20X, 40X, The Mantis, and the Humanware NLS EReaders connect to devices running Android 15 via bluetooth. Fantastic news.
Clarification: These devices can be connected to Android devices via USB cables right now. The new support is for HID over bluetooth, enabling us to use our displays wirelessly.
@changeling@mastoblind I mean the swipe actions were not on #TalkBack until last year, we had menu actions similar to rotor ones for ages and some of those worked in discord for a while now, mostly things like opening the server options from server list to mark as read and such. They have rebuilt the mobile apps 3x in 2 years so not surprised about the delay.
So, there's a version of TalkBack 14 going around that works with Android 13. I thought I'd test out the NLS EReader support. So I plugged it into a USB C to USB C cable, from the phone to the Braille display. Nothing worked. I did hear the phone say "USB Connector connected," and "USB Connector disconnected" a few times though, so I thought maybe it's a short in the wire. So since I didn't have any more C to C cables, I plugged it into my little USB hub thing. It still didn't work. On a burst of inspiration, I tried plugging a power cable into one of the C connectors. And then it worked. It was slow, as expected from a beta, but it worked fairly well.
Now, to use this, I'll have to be connected to power, until I can find another C to C cable. Hopefully that'll work. Still, it's super sad that Google doesn't communicate enough internally to simply put Braille HID into a play system update and there we go. I am glad, though, that they now have a place in Braille settings where they describe what each element stands for. I don't think VoiceOver has that.
You can now have images described, check spelling in Braille, have Braille automatically scroll at a set interval, and ... that's about all I got before Windows Subsystem for Android broke.
Audio of me showing that TalkBack speaks while I'm trying to talk to the Google Assistant, and I eventually ask it to play some music, and it plays a nice piano remix of Chrono Trigger's Corridor of Time track on Youtube Music. Description is here cause a Mastodon client for the blind can't add media descriptions, that I know of.
I'd love to know why 9/10 times I try to get #TalkBack to describe a highlighted image, it doesn't work. It seems like a poorly implemented feature, or user error on my part, I don't know which.
Hey, I've talked before about the major thing slowing down Android screen readers: double taps! Just to recap: when you tap the screen, the screen reader waits for some time, just to see if you'll tap again to register a double tap. Only after that time does it register a single tap and tell you what's under your finger. This makes tapping slow! And in normal navigation, it's fine. But in typing, it slows us down a lot! Not only because we have to wait for a fraction of a second for it to register a single tap instead of a double tap, but we also can't touch type so fast because then it will start registering double taps!
The fix for that is really easy. Just make screen readers ignore the double-tap logic in the keyboard area when the keyboard is up (if you selected any typing mode other than double-tap typing). Because it doesn't need to handle double taps in that area; you just put your finger, and it instantly registers a single tap and tells you what's under your finger. When you lift, it types. That would be great, and I'm very sure it's easy to implement (Oh, how I wish I knew enough Java and Android API to implement that into TalkBack...)
Because Android itself is not slow at all! In fact, it's instant for all I can notice. And you can test that, even with your screen reader (just so you can notice the reader is artificially slowing itself down).
First, focus on an item. Now, double-tap. But you need to make your second tap pretty late, just before the timer ends but not much before it, nor after it. You will notice the double tap registers right after your second tap, instantly if you get the timing right, and this is frustrating. The screen reader is intentionally slowing itself down, without giving us an option to change the preset timer or implementing the easy fix for the keyboard to make touch typing possible and fast! #Android#AndroidAccessibility#ScreenReader#UserExperience#AccessibilityIssues#Accessibility#Talkback
So, I know I like to mrrrr at TalkBack a bit here and there, but one of the nicest things they added in TalkBack 14 is Braille Element descriptions. That full cell and dots 3-6 after it? That actually means something. An element you can tap and hold, using a Braille command, Space with Enter or something like that. And you don't have to go to the commands list to just figure out what commands you have, there's a categorized list of a good 50 commands now. No, it's not perfect, but the idea of documenting everything for the user, within the screen reader, is just... well it's nice. So nice not to have to scrub every corner of the screen reading experience just to find out what's new or what something means.
Hello, fellow #blind people. Somebody asked me about resources for learning how to use #talkback on #android. I am not an android user and I have no idea about any of that. I am looking for guides, tutorials, videos, anything like that. any resources that anybody can offer are appreciated.
So fellow #blind#Android folks. I'm not as impressed with my Google Pixel Watch as I thought I would be, and am contemplating switching to a Samsung one. How #accessible are they with #Talkback? I have a #Pixel phone, in case that matters. Thanks in advance!
Quick thought, scrolling on Android is like turning a page. You quickly swipe right to grab the current page, then left to turn to the next one. Left to grab the previous page, and right to turn it. This is not meant to be exact or anything, just an observation and way for me to remember before I forget. And I know I’ll forget if I don’t write it down.
Oh mais je viens de découvrir que depuis la version 1.14 de /e/OS (Android dégooglisé), on a Talkback FOSS (le lecteur d'écran d'Android mais dégooglisé) !!!
C'est trop bien !!!
🥳🎉🎊
Ok so so far #talkback 14.2 is fine, nothing really major broken, except they somehow fucked proofreading up so it cannot find spelling/grammar errors in general a bunch of the time. @mastoblind