Android Accessibility Webinar

RAZ Mobility - Android Accessibility Options for Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, Blind and Low Vision Users

Built-in Options and Options Supported by 3rd Party Applications

>> Nermin Selimic: During the Webinar
today, we will have several presenters.

It will be Robert Felgar,
the CEO of RAZ Mobility.

It will be myself, Nermin Selimic,
I'm the COO at RAZ Mobility.

And I am especially glad
to have Jerry Jicha, on our call,

who is the accessibility specialist
at RAZ Mobility

and who will be covering
a significant part of the demo today,

in particular about Android accessibility
for blind users.

I would like to extend my thanks to
two people

who are making this call possible
on the support side.

It is Gayl Hardeman,

who is the interpreter
and is providing the CART services,

and it is also Emil, one of our technical
support specialists from RAZ Mobility,

who is staying in the background

and making sure that all the technology
is running as smooth as possible.

I would like to mention, at any time,
please feel free to interrupt,

either for questions – although
we will have two Q&A sessions

throughout the Webinar – but also,
if you believe that your questions

are extremely relevant and important
to be asked at that moment,

please feel free to interrupt.

Or, in case there are
major technical difficulties

and you are not able
to participate in the Webinar

so that we can address that
as well as possible.

Quick introduction about RAZ Mobility.

RAZ Mobility was founded in 2015
to offer

States equipment and distribution programs
and other government agencies,

as well as senior
and assisted living providers,

schools, nonprofit organizations
and for-profit companies,

as well as consumers, the very latest
in mobile assistive technology.

We at RAZ Mobility view ourselves
as an agent for change

dedicated to ensuring that its customers

benefit from the dramatic progress
and evolution in mobile technology.

And many of you were able to witness,
especially over the last five years,

and overall, over the last ten years,
with the advent of mobile technology,

many, many aspects of assistive technology
have changed significantly

and have allowed for a significant
improvement in assistive technology

and have added many components that
were unthinkable just several years ago.

And that's exactly our focus
at RAZ Mobility.

We are searching for unique solutions
and cutting edge solutions.

Sometimes it is purely the device
which is exceptional and different.

Many times, it is also a combination
of the device and the software,

or simply a third-party solution.

We have not limited ourselves to work
only with the specific providers

or hardware manufacturers but
are rather interacting with providers

around the globe
in order to accomplish this.

And, many of our solutions
are provided by companies

from the United States,
from Europe,

and from other parts of the world.

The preferred approach of RAZ Mobility
is via making these solutions available

as Android's operating system
mobile devices, smartphones and tablets.

And we are making
these solutions available

in combination
with some third-party applications.

Android and smartphones and tablets
differ a little bit

compared to other technology
in the marketplace.

In particular,
if we are talking about iOS,

and it is simply that there are
two dominant operating systems,

one being iOS, and the other one Android.

iOS being purely available
on Apple devices

and on the other hand, we have Android
that is an open-source operating system,

and it is available to
any hardware manufacturers

who are interested in using Android
as the operating system.

Hence, you know,
all of you have for sure noticed

that devices using
the Android operating systems

are available from manufacturers
such as LG, Samsung, Motorola,

and so on, and so on.

So at this time,
Robert joins the Webinar as well,

and I am here on video,
so I will ask Robert to

-- it will be easier
if you can join us on this side.

We will just need to ask Robert
to grab a chair.

Here you are, we'll be sharing this

I hope that the video experience
will be optimal.

So moving to the next section,

and that is actually about Android
smartphones and tablets,

so what is the difference between
the Android operating system and iOS?

The Android operating system
has developed over the years

as the most popular operating system
for all mobile devices,

including tablets and smartphones;

in particular,
if you are talking about tablets,

it has been the best-selling
operating system for tablets since 2013.

And for smartphones, it is also dominant
by any metrics.

So to illustrate several comparisons
and several data points,

if you are looking in particular
in the United States

and if you are looking at market share
as of early 2016,

nearly 60% of sold devices in early 2016
were devices using

the Android operating system.

Close to 40% were iOS, so Apple devices.

And the very, very minimum market share
of other operating systems

that are still out there,
such as Blackberry and Windows.

So there is a clear trend over the time

that more and more consumers
are selecting Android devices,

and also if you are looking
into the overall

-- (Noise interference) –
installed base

I think someone is -- someone didn't mute
his or her phone, so if you can please --

and if you are looking

into the overall base
of installed devices

or devices
that are in the hands of consumers,

we have 52% running on Android
in the United States

and 43.5% are running on iOS,
as of 2016.

So what are
the Android operating system advantages?

So Robert, if you maybe would like
to mention a couple of things about that.

>> Robert Felgar: Well I think that
the major advantage

of the Android operating system,
first of all, is its openness.

So there's a lot more flexibility
for third-party applications on Android

than compared to iOS, and you'll see that
in some of the third-party apps

that we will demonstrate to everyone
later in the presentation.

You can also have custom rounds -- (check)

>> Nermin Selimic: I think we might
have an issue here

that we didn't hear you well.
(Adjusting audio.)

>> Robert Felgar: The major advantage,
I think, of the Android operating system

compared to iOS is its openness.

So the -- what this does is, it allows
third-party application developers

to develop applications
which are not available on the iOS side.

And you will see some of that.

You wilWe'lll see an example of that
later on in the presentation

when we show you, we'll see a solution
for people with low vision.

You'll also see that on the Android side,
you could develop custom ROMs.

There are widgets,
you've got a higher-res screen,

and there is also multi-window support
which is unique to Android.

And in some devices like the Moto Z Play,

there is much longer battery life
as compared to the iPhone, for example.

>> Nermin Selimic: So that being said,
this, you know --

we are moving really to the most important
part of today's Webinar,

and these are the specifics
of the Android accessibility and --

resulting in the Android advantage.

So Robert, would you like
to cover this part?

>> Jerry Jicha (check): Sure.

There are some significant advantages
and some great applications

that are a part
of the Android operating system.

These are functionalities that are
native to the operating system.

They are not third-party applications.

They are in your settings in most cases,
or on other parts of the devices.

An example is TalkBack,
similar to Voiceover,

which all of you know and
we'll be demonstrating that in detail.

You can turn on and off captions
in your accessibility settings.

There is a great way
to increase font size.

>> (check) Similar to iOS, but with
some differences on the Android side,

you can actually,
when you increase your font size,

you can actually increase
everything on your screen,

not just font size.

So the size of the icons, the size
of the notifications, et cetera.

You've got OK Google, similar to Siri,

which some people find better
on the Android side than the iOS side,

although that is fairly personal.

Text to speech, magnification gestures
which you initiate through triple passing,

Color inversion for people who have
low vision.

And mono audio also is for people
who have issues

hearing out a particular ear,
or color correction.

>> Nermin Selimic: It is important
to mention that

when you are talking about
the Android advantage,

that obviously the fact that there are
multiple manufacturers

of mobile phones and tablets,

it does provide to consumers
better device options.

Whereas, if you are looking
on the Apple side, it is more

-- you can get from the Android side
as well as on the iOS side,

you can get a Cadillac solution
a Cadillac side solution.

However, on the Apple side,
it is purely --

you can purchase only a Cadillac.

On the Android side,
options are really significant.

There are entry-level models.

There are great mid-range models
of smartphones and tablets,

as well as top of the range.

And all of that allows also
for the significant competition

in the marketplace,

and as consumers, we always know,
as long as there is competition,

typically consumers benefit from that.

So that being said, I would like to
just provide a brief introduction.

The intention today was not
to talk about hardware.

However, during the demo,

as we are presenting
the accessibility options,

the built-in accessibility features

as well as the third-party
accessibility application,

we will be using a specific Android phone.

In this case, it will be
the Motorola Moto Z Play.

This is a truly great smartphone
that was introduced to the marketplace

in 2016, I believe;
to be exact, in October of 2016.

So you are looking
into the Android space

which is truly almost
the top of the range device that offers

an exceptional high-quality display,
in 5.5 inch size, so a big display,

as big as it can get on a smartphone.

It is running on the newest Android
operating system,

Android 7, called Nougat.

It does include an exceptional camera,
very strong processor

and there are two more items
that are very, very specific,

and very beneficial if you are talking
about the smartphone.

And one of them is
the very powerful battery.

So with this smartphone, even users
who have significant usage

throughout the day, they can use the phone
easily for more than 50 hours,

and that's not typical
for many smartphones as we know.

And the other unique option is really

that this phone is the first
modular phone in the world.

Actually, you can take the back
off very easily,

it’s just attached by a magnet.

And there are some additional,
as Motoracall them, Moto Mods,

which are actually gadgets

one of them, we have seen, it is also very
popular among hard-of-hearing users,

it is actually a loud speaker that is
an additional 80 decibel speaker.

And there are additional
Moto Mods, such as

you know, almost a professional camera,
additional batteries,

smartphone holders for the car,
I believe as well.

So it makes this phone
really very, very attractive

and it is significantly more affordable
than the top of the range

iPhone or Samsung phones
that are out there.

So that is the phone that we will be
using during the demos today.

And one more very interesting phone
from Motorola

that I would like just to mention briefly
is the newest Motorola phone.

It is the Moto G5 Plus, that was just
released in April.

So it is, I would say, most likely, the
best midrange phone in the marketplace.

So it is -- it uses (check) for a fact
the same processor as the Motor Z play.

It has many of the great features
including a 5.2 inch display.

>> Robert Felgar: Two quick points
about the Moto Z Play as well.

First of all it's unlocked, which is very nice,

this GSM also can work with either AT&T
or T-Mobile///

The speaker, the Moto Mod speaker,
also works with TalkBack.

If your person is hard of hearing,

you can put that speaker
on the back of the device

and it will significantly amplify

the TalkBack sound
that comes from the device.
>> Nermin Selimic: So we are moving
to the next section,

and again, just as a reminder:

I believe we do have some participants
who are not on mute.

So we are moving to the next part
of our Webinar today,

and that is actually
the accessibility for blind users.

As mentioned, I am extremely glad
to have Jerry on our team, who is

one of our accessibility specialists.

So Jerry will be covering
this part of the Webinar today,

including a demo of Android TalkBack

and his experience with
the accessibility feature for blind users.

This part, this demo, will be done
in the following fashion.

So we will be sharing video
with all of you.

So we will be
-- you will have the opportunity to –

I see here a request
for a bigger CART window,

so I just apologize
for the short interruption.

We will increase the size
of the CART window,

and we have increased the font size.

So I hope that that is working out
for everyone.

So we will be adding two more components
now to the screen-sharing,

and you will be able to see Jerry on video.

That is one part.

And the other part
that is very significant,

so as Jerry is running the demo
on the Moto Z Play phone using TalkBack,

we will be sharing with you
the exact screen of Jerry's smartphone.

So please allow us
for just a couple of minutes

in order to make sure
that the setup is okay

and that everyone has
the optimal experience.

>> Jerry, are you ready?
>> Yes, I'm here. I'm ready.

>> Okay. Just we are not seeing
your video,

so we need to confirm that.

Emil, can you please check Jerry's video?

Just trying to make sure that everyone
is able to see Jerry.

So I will mute myself.

And, Jerry, if you can please
start talking,

and they should see
your video is streaming.

>> Jerry Jicha: Hello. I do go by "Jerry."
I prefer "Jerry," actually.

I have been using Android since 2011,
so I have seen a lot of the, you know,

enhancements
that have come to TalkBack,

including the very latest version
in TalkBack,

some of the benefits
that have been put into TalkBack itself,

some of which are through the fact

that some of us who help
with beta testing offer input,

and Google does listen,

and some of the things
that we suggested or asked for

have actually been put in
through RAZ Mobility.

>> Nermin Selimic:
I apologize for interrupting.

We lost you on video,
so you will need to reenter the PIN.

>> Nermin Selimic: Okay. So yes,
we can see you now. Excellent.

>> Jerry Jicha: There we go.

The wonderful world of technology
from time to time.

So as Nermin stated,
I will be demonstrating

a lot of different things on TalkBack.

When I had helped with Android
in the past,

several of the people have come
from iPhones.

And they would get really frustrated
really quickly saying,

I can't use Android, I can't use Android.

One of the things
that you will notice today,

if you are familiar with iOS
and Voiceover,

that is there are some gestures
that are the exact same

as what they are on iOS.

For example, flicking left, flicking right

-- and that's with one finger;

using Explore By Touch, which that is
when you just put your finger

on the screen

and move your fingers around.

That's the exact same.

Also, double tapping is the exact same.

So just in that, alone,

you have the very basics to
at least move around a bit.

There are some gestures
that are very similar,

but with maybe one less finger.

For example, when you want to move
from page 1 to page 2, on iOS,

as you know, you use a straight
finger-swipe from left to right

or right to left in pages.

Whereas, in Android,
it is two fingers swipe

from right to left or left to right.

So never tell yourself you can't do it.

Because if you have used Voiceover,
then you can use Android.

That being said, Nermin,
where do we want to start? Nermin?

>> Nermin Selimic: I apologize.
The mute button was pressed.

So your screen is already turned on.

So if you can show some basic navigation,
and go into settings

because it is very important
to be able to manage the settings
such as the ring tone and such as that.

And let's navigate over the screen

so we will have that visual experience
to TalkBack.

>> Jerry Jicha: And just
as a quick reminder,

I think we have someone who joined
who may not have heard before:

Please make sure phones are muted
for optimal audio for everyone.

So we're going to demonstrate now
the very basic gestures

of getting around in TalkBack.

Hopefully, you guys can see
most of the screen, if not all.

So I will go ahead
and turn the phone on,

and I will just use my fingerprint
to do it.

I won't even push the power button.

Oops.

>> VOICE: Device unlocked. 1:34 p.m.
Google now launching.

>> Jerry Jicha: It was already on.

So I will put my finger up here.

>> VOICE: Google search. Press to
activate.

>> Jerry Jicha: I will show you
Google search first.

As I move my finger across the screen –

>> VOICE: Google apps, search button.

Google search, rescue. RAZ Mobility
installer.

>> Jerry Jicha: As you see,
it will read everything

that I was moving my finger across.

Again, flicking forward and backward,
meaning left and right.

Again, it's the same thing.

Find an icon.

>> VOICE: Google app.

>> Nermin Selimic: Sorry, just a second.

I believe we are experiencing
some technical difficulty.

There are some participants
who cannot see you on video.

>> Jerry Jicha: Okay.

>> VOICE: Charging battery level 100%.
Both charged to 100%.

Power charged to 100%.

>> Nermin Selimic: I have participants
who can

-- are there participants who can
see Jerry on video?

>> Yes, I can see him.

>> I have never seen his video screen.

But the Screen Meet window is closed.

There is no video from his phone.

>> Nermin Selimic:
Yes, we will do that.

When I am talking,
you won't be seeing Jerry,

but when he is talking,
you should be able to see Jerry.

Just a little bit of patience
until we reinitiate the Screen Meet.

So Jerry, the Screen Meet is closed.
If you will reactivate it.

>> VOICE: Double tap
to reactivate your searches.

>> Nermin Selimic: No worries.

I will actually initiate this
from a different location

and we will be following
your making progress.

So just a second.

We will have here another session.

Okay. So, Jerry, please continue,
and I will try to follow your session.

>> Jerry Jicha: Okay.

So basically,
as I was going to say earlier –

let me get back to the home screen here.

So basically, I will find an icon
on my screen.

So now I will flick to the right.

>> VOICE: Play Store.

>> Jerry Jicha: You can see
I am actually moving forward

and if I flick backwards
-- in other words, flick to the left --

>> VOICE: (Can't discern.)

>> Jerry Jicha: It works backward.
TalkBack stops.

Think of it as the control key,

if you are using a Windows computer
as JAWS and Wide Eyes (phn),

it has the same proximity
such that it's the equivalent.

Now let's go into settings.

That's a very important area,
so I will go to the app drawer.

And because I've gone to settings
rather frequently,

up above the top of the app drawer
is going to be four icons

that you've used rather frequently,

and in settings it's in the there.

>> VOICE: Showing items 1 to 9 of 36.

>> Jerry Jicha: So now we are in settings.

Here we can show you that
Explore By Touch works just as well.

Again if you put your finger
on the screen,

I will just move my finger down.

>> VOICE: Bluetooth disconnected.

>> Jerry Jicha: Now I am down
to the bottom of the screen.

You are probably wondering,

how do you get
more items on the screen?

Take two items
and slide them up the screen

as if you are pulling a page up.

>> VOICE: Showing items 7 to 14 of 36.

>> Jerry Jicha: TalkBack tells you,
you are doing it correctly.

And when you stop, TalkBack will tell you
how many items are on the screen

and where you are at.

>> VOICE: Notification,
ringer volume at 100%.

Press to activate.

>> Jerry Jicha: We will show you

how to go in and change,
let's say, like, your ringer.

So in here, in the sound –

>> VOICE: Showing items 1
through 8 of 12.
Ring volume in the
-- also vibrate for calls off switch.

>> Jerry Jicha: You can change settings.

>> VOICE: Do not disturb.
Double tap to activate.

>> Jerry Jicha: Simply double tap on it.

>> VOICE: Media storage.

>> Jerry Jicha: Showing
how many ringers I have.

>> VOICE: Double tap to toggle.

>> Jerry Jicha: It's toggle,
not a double tap to toggle.

If you want to hear a ring tone,
you just simply double tap it.

(Music plays.)

And as you see, it plays it.

If you want to accept it --

>> VOICE: Showing items ...

>> Jerry Jicha: -- down at the bottom,

right above where
your home and overview buttons are,

you have OK and Cancel.

And I hit the OK button so it would stop.

So now I have changed my ringtone to –
some of you may have noticed

the Night Rider theme song.

And you can hear TalkBack
over the level of the ringtone

without doing any type of ducking.

Display.

Well, volume is another good one
that we really need to look at,

because whether you need
to turn it up or down, well,

there's a couple different ways
you can do it.

The easiest that works for me --

>> VOICE: Media volume, double tap
to activate, 100% control.

>> Jerry Jicha: Now here's
one of the enhancements in Android.

It's a seek control.

Back in older days, you had to double tap
and hold your finger on the screen

and slide your finger to move the slider.

Not anymore.

I can simply use my volume up
and volume down keys

to change the volume levels.

So if I press volume down a couple times.

>> VOICE: 93% speed control.
73% speaker control.

>> Jerry Jicha: You notice
it is getting quieter.

I can make it louder by pressing up.

So that is how you can use sliders now.
Real quick, the display.

>> VOICE: Back button, set, display.
Adaptive brightness is off.

Brightness level, lists eleven items.
Brightness -- brightness, 0 percent.

>> Jerry Jicha: If you are totally blind,

this is one of the things
I suggest you do.

Turn your brightness level down to 0%.

Again, we are on a slider,
so if I want to turn my display up

I will do it quickly here.

5% display brightness speed control.
41% display brightness speed control.

>> Jerry Jicha: Hopefully, in the display
you can tell me

if display has gotten brighter.

So I will turn it back to 0.

>> VOICE: The 0% brightness speed control.

>> Jerry Jicha: And when you are done,
you don't have to hit OK;

you just hit back.

>> VOICE: Back button, display.

>> Jerry Jicha: One of the things
we should have told you in Android,

at least in the Motos that we play.

We have Back, Home, and Overview.

>> Jerry Jicha: Where should we
go after that?

The speed of TalkBack
or where do you want me to go?

>> Nermin Selimic: Before we move
to that one,

I think it is always interesting,

the activation and deactivation
of Bluetooth.

>> Jerry Jicha: Okay.

Well, I don't have anything
in Bluetooth on here,

but it is simple to do.

>> VOICE: Enlist data usage,
Bluetooth not connected.

>> Jerry Jicha: I can go
into the Bluetooth window.

>> VOICE: Bluetooth, navigate Bluetooth.
More options, On switch.

Double tap to toggle.

>> Jerry Jicha: Bluetooth is on,
and notice it says if it's on,

if I simply double tap that,
then it's off.

>> VOICE: Off.

>> Jerry Jicha: So if you have something
that is Bluetooth capable

and you want to connect it
to your Android,

you do it through here.

I don't have anything connected to it
at the moment,

but in here is where you would do it.

As you can see, it is showing
the items that are available.

>> VOICE: Input the results
if using wireless keyboard.

Available Bluetooth one through 9.
Key 6133 – (indiscernible).

>> So it's showing what is available.

>> Nermin Selimic: Let's spend
a little bit more time

looking into the software settings.
Voice Bridge, Speak, et cetera.

>> Jerry Jicha: All right.

You can get the stuff for TalkBack through the accessibility,

so we will go to -- we will have to scroll.

>> VOICE: (Talking).

>> Jerry Jicha: One moment here.

>> VOICE: Back button, back up and reset.

Motorola, showing items...
Paragraph. Printing, 0 print jobs.

Accessibility.

>> Jerry Jicha: So we go there.

>> VOICE: Accessibility, services,
TalkBack on.

Double tap to activate. TalkBack.

>> Jerry Jicha: In the settings button,
it's up there in the top right corner.

>> VOICE: TalkBack settings.
Speech speech, volume.

Text-to-speech settings.
Double tap to activate.

>> Jerry Jicha: Text-to-speech settings
is what Nermin was talking about,

so let's go there.

Now, if you are able to see my screen,

here is where you might see
something different.

When you get your Moto Z play,

you only have
the Google text-to-speech engine.

However, those of you
who can see my screen

can see I actually have a couple others.

This is one thing you cannot do on iOS
as far as buying synthesizers

and using them with voiceover.

For example, and I will use
a particular synthesizer real quick

just to show you that it is there, and
it is one that a lot of blind people like.

They find it very easy to understand,

and we're not going to spend
a lot of time on it,

but I will just show you it is there.

>> VOICE: (Talking).

>> Jerry Jicha: All of us know "elephant."

And the phone is just basically telling me

what this software synthesizer
might have the capability of doing.

So I just have to hit OK.

So if any of you
can hear that pretty well,

there is the voice
you should be familiar with.

Now, it does cost more
but one of the benefits

is that it is a lot more responsive
than the Google GPS.

I will go ahead
and switch back to Google,

and one of the things
you wanted us to demonstrate

was the pitch and the speed.

>> VOICE: 15% speech rate.
Double tap to activate.

>> Jerry Jicha: So below your engines,
you will find your pitch and your speed.

Speed is the first one.

>> VOICE: 15% speech control.
Press volume speech to adjust.

>> Jerry Jicha: It is telling us
what to do.

So use your down key whenever
you have your slider highlighted.

>> VOICE: 10% speed control.
5% speed control (slower).

>> Jerry Jicha: Or if you want it faster.

>> VOICE: (Talking faster).

>> Jerry Jicha: You can see
it does it on the fly,

so you can hear how fast
it is going to talking when you do it.

>> VOICE: 15% speed control.

>> Jerry Jicha: And as far as pitch
-- there is pitch right there.

>> VOICE: 20% speed control.
Pitch volume keys to adjust.

>> Jerry Jicha: If I want
to lower its pitch,

5% speed control, 10% speed control.

>> Jerry Jicha: I just use the volume keys
to raise or lower the pitch.

And there you go!

So there again, the very basics
of setting your settings – the speech

the way you want it
and what is comfortable for you.

>> Nermin Selimic: That is great, Jerry.
Thanks a lot.

Are there any tips
you can provide to users with,

it's not for switching permanently
on or off TalkBack,

but just to provide everyone
the opportunity to understand

how easy it is to suspend
and reactivate TalkBack?

>> Jerry Jicha: All right.

So let's say that you've got someone
next to you

that wants to borrow your phone,
they are excited.

Obviously, (A),
they won't know how to use TalkBack.

(B), it might get in the way.

So it is really easy to suspend TalkBack.

All you have to do is go back here.
And what I will do --

>> VOICE: TalkBack, back, accessibility.
Items 1 through 8 of 22.

Back button, settings.

>> Jerry Jicha: So I wanted
to get somewhere.

At any rate, what I will do
is press and hold

the volume up and volume down keys
for about a second to two seconds.

>> VOICE: Suspend TalkBack, TalkBack.

>> Jerry Jicha: All right.
So if I flip through this screen here.

>> VOICE: Are you sure you want to
suspend TalkBack?

You can resume TalkBack
from the notification

by returning to the lock screen.

Only show this warning, check box.

>> Jerry Jicha: It will always have
this dialogue every time

unless you change this check box,
which is what I am going to do.

I don't want to see that check box.

>> VOICE: Cancel button.
>> Jerry Jicha: I will hit OK.

>> VOICE: TalkBack suspended.

>> Jerry Jicha: And now,
I don't want to go touching my phone,

but if I did, now another person
can use it

because TalkBack is suspended.

See, I am touching my screen,
and there's nothing.

So to bring TalkBack back,
it's real simple.

Go ahead and turn your phone off

-- well, push the power button,
so that the screen is off.

And then simply turn the screen back on.

>> VOICE: TalkBack resumed.

>> Jerry Jicha: And notice it's back.
Go ahead and unblock.

>> VOICE: Unblock. Settings.

>> Jerry Jicha: And as you see,
TalkBack is back up and running

the way it used to be.

And now -- I want to show you real quick
because I checked that check box.

Now, when I suspend TalkBack
using the two volume keys --

>> VOICE: TalkBack suspended.

>> Jerry Jicha: -- it just
immediately suspends it.

You don't have to hit the OK button
if you uncheck that check box.

>> VOICE: TalkBack resumed.

>> Jerry Jicha: And there you go!

>> Nermin Selimic: Excellent.

In your experience, Jerry,
how much are you relying on the device?

Are you using the OK Google?
How is it working out for you?

>> Jerry Jicha: I use it
from time to time.

I don't use it all the time.

But there are some things you can do
that is rather nice.

You can tell it to call people.
You can use it to send a text message.

You can also ask a general question,
just like Siri, you know,

what is the temperature, things like that.

And it's just as responsive as, you know,
Siri would be on the iPhone.

You can even use it to open apps.
Playing music.

Possibly even going to websites.

I just personally don't use it
all the time,

but, you know, for example,
if I am just out and about,

and I want to know
what the temperature is,

I could just say, OK, Google,
what is the temperature?

>> VOICE: it is 62 degrees,

>> Jerry Jicha: So it's 62 degrees.

And on the screen it shows
the weather for where I'm at.

You probably can't see it very well
just because of my screen is dimmed,

and I don't know how good
a webcam will show it.

But if I were to touch the screen --

>> VOICE: Menu button.
Select today, tomorrow.

>> Jerry Jicha: So it does have
a weather card up on the screen

right at the moment.

>> VOICE: Back button, home screen.
>> Jerry Jicha: Go ahead.

>> Nermin Selimic: I think
what is important to mention

is that in my experience, as a user
you are talking about voice commands

available to Google on Android devices,

and if you are talking about Siri,
it is worth it to mention that

on the Android side, for voice command,

it is not only about
the fewer voice commands,

but it is also about the fact that

the whole power of Google
stands behind that.

Correct? So there are
additional algorithms,

there are additional options,

that a certain command is being given
to voice command and so on,

that there is significantly more going on

and significantly more being available
in the background

in order to determine if the voice command
wasn't 100% clear.

What is it actually that
the user is trying to accomplish?

So at least in my user experience,
this was significant.

Sometimes I will be struggling with Siri,
because what am I supposed to do?

What commands on Google that

-- that doesn't happen with Google
too frequently.

With that being said, Jerry,
we are talking about the smartphone.

So smartphones are doing many things
that at the end of the day

it is being used for phone communication.

So I would like to show participants
how to manage phone calls

when dealing with Android accessibility.

So as the first part of that,
I will be actually placing a call,

and I will be calling you,

and just to illustrate to everyone
how you will be answering the call.

>> Jerry Jicha: Okay.

One of the things you do have to do,
unfortunately,

there is no gesture
for answering the phone.

You have to find the answer button.

– found the answer button,
double tapped it,

and now I am on the phone call.

One thing I do find in TalkBack is

you do have the ability to set
the power button as a hang-up button.

So trying to find the end button
on the screen,

you can actually just
push the power button

and it will actually
just hang up the call.

What do you want to do
at this point, Nermin?

>> Nermin Selimic: Jerry,
let's place a call, please.

>> Jerry Jicha: Okay.

So a couple different ways
we could do it.

We could cheat
and use Google to do it.

But we will do it
he old-fashioned way

and go to the phone app.

>> VOICE: Home screen one.
Phone. Showing item one of one.

>> Jerry Jicha: And we will choose
the dial pad button.

>> VOICE: Dial pad button.

>> Jerry Jicha: Which is pretty much
below the home button.

We will call a screen -- we will call
local time and temperature.

It is not local to me,
but it is local by about 20 miles.

>> VOICE: By the way, Jerry,
excellent presentation.

Phone dial pad.

>> Jerry Jicha: All right!

There is something else that
we were going to be bringing up soon.

As you saw, I just got a text message
and you just heard what it said.

You talk back,
read the notification as it came in.

So we will show you how to respond to that
and look at it here in just a moment.

So we will really quickly dial
a phone number here.

>> VOICE: Selection -- --
>> Jerry Jicha: You just lift your \finger.

>> VOICE: 4 (speaking numbers.)

>> Jerry Jicha: 4-1-9-6-7-3-4-7-0-1.

I could double-check that
by looking at the edit box.

I dialed that number.

Right below the 0 is your dial button,
and there you go. And ... [ Pause ].

>> Nermin Selimic: I'm sorry --

>> Jerry Jicha: Oops. Hang on.

>> Nermin Selimic: I'm sorry.

>> Jerry Jicha: I was trying
to hang up the call. (Laughing).

>> Nermin Selimic: Also
one of the very frequent scenarios

is obviously users browsing a website.

So let's just -- browse a website.

Let's go to CNN.com or something like that
and see how that is working out.

>> VOICE: Unlocked. 2:01 p.m.
Home screen one of three.

Overview, Google now launching.
Overview button. Double tap.

>> Jerry Jicha: So we can open Chrome.

>> VOICE: 70%, 100%.
Http:(),

click notification, message pending.

Http Section:// –

>> Jerry Jicha: Now,
one of the nice things you can do –

as you can see,
I am using my volume keys.

>> VOICE: Slash, equal files …

>> Jerry Jicha: I can use the volume keys
to move through the edit field.

So there's a lot to the voice,

I think there was a Clear All,
but I don't think there is.

>> VOICE: Delete, delete,
delete, delete.

>> Jerry Jicha: It looks like
I have done a –

I have a lot here to delete.

>> VOICE: Key delete. Delete.
Delete. Key delete.

>> Jerry Jicha: Unfortunately,
you can't just hold down the delete key.

>> VOICE: Progress 70 percent.
End rescue.comment delete.

Key deleted 90%. Delete, delete.
Key delete. Deleted.

>> VOICE: Key delete, delete.
Key deleted.

Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete.

>> Jerry Jicha: I wonder
if I could get out

and just use Google.

>> Nermin Selimic: Let's try it.
Let's do that.

>> VOICE: 2:03 p.m.

>> Jerry Jicha: Okay. OK Google,
open www.CNN.com.

>> VOICE: Open Web page.
Progress bar, 26%. 77%. 81%.

CNN bringing you the latest news
and video.

98%. Link.

Former United States First Lady
Michelle Obama's

file on architecture speech
in Orlando, Florida.

>> Jerry Jicha: If you wanted
to read that,

you would simply double tap on it

because it did say "link"
at the very end.

>> Nermin Selimic: Excellent.

I think that was very, very helpful.

Jerry, do you believe it's interesting
just to show installing new apps?

It's always very, very relevant,

so could you just illustrate the process
how to install a new app?

>> Jerry Jicha: All right.
So it's actually pretty easy.

We will go to the home screen.

>> VOICE: Home button. Home button.
Home screen one of three.

>> Jerry Jicha:
And we need the Play Store.

>> VOICE: Chrome. Play Store.
Play Store, apps and games.

>> Jerry Jicha: So we can
do a voice search

or we could just type it.

>> VOICE: Search button.
>> Jerry Jicha: Weather Bug.

>> VOICE: Play Store.
Weather Bug widget, star rating 0.703.

Weather by Weather Bug everyone.
Star rating -- 18,405 reviews.

>> Jerry Jicha: All right.

So if I wanted to install weather bug,
first thing I have to do

is actually select the app.

>> VOICE: Showing items
4 and 5 of 16.

Weather Bug. Search Google Play.

Weather Bug.
Weather by Weather Bug.

Installed button.

>> Jerry Jicha: I will double tap
the install button

>> VOICE: Play Store,
showing items 1 to 4 of 17.

Weather by Weather Bug.
Cancel by hitting button.

>> Jerry Jicha: It's still downloading
the Weather Bug.

Notice I am using Explore By Touch.

That's how I noticed I could go ahead
and open it if I want to.

I can open it right from here
if I want to,
but that is how you install an app.

It's done. It's already done.
It's that simple to do.

>> Nermin Selimic: Excellent.
Thanks, Jerry.

So it does illustrate text messages,
you received one.

I think just in the interest of time,

because there are
several other categories

that we would like to cover today,
I think it is very intuitive,

how it works, for people
to send text messages and –

to receive text messages,

and for sending text messages,

there is the option to utilize
either voice commands

or just to type using TalkBack.

So I think this is also a good Segway
into the third-party application.

You I believe we will not have
sufficient time to demo

all of the applications,

but we can briefly touch on them
and I will be pulling up

some of these applications for everyone.

And, Jerry, if you can share
some of your experience

about several \apps.

The first one that comes to my mind is,
Tap Tap See.

>> Jerry Jicha: Actually,
I was going to say that

there are two of them that come to mind
that are my biggest favorites.

Tap Tap See is one of them.

How many times have you gone
into your refrigerator?

You have bought frozen pizzas
or even lasagna.

My girlfriend and I
have been buying lasagnas lately.

She likes the five-cheese.
I like the meat lovers.

The boxes are the exact same size.

No way to know which is which.

Let's use Tap Tap See.

You can take a picture of an item

and it may actually tell you
what it is in most cases.

Now, there are times depending
on lighting and things like that

that it may not work right away.

Try to change the angle,
try taking the picture a second time,
and it usually does work.

I use that app almost on a daily basis.

One of the other big apps that I use
when I am out traveling,

especially here in Marian, and I just
moved here a couple months ago.

I don't know Marion at all.

So when the cab drivers
are taking us places,

one of the apps that I love to use
is nearby explore:

Nearby explorer allows you to hear
what streets are coming up,

if the street is on your left
or your right, places of interest.

You can even bus drivers
-- the drivers that you are in –

one of the things that you can
get it to tell you

is the speed you are driving at.

You can also get it to tell you
when you are turning on a street

what direction you are heading,
so you can learn the area

just by using that.

You can start walking the area
and using it as well.

>> Nermin Selimic: Great, Jerry.
Thanks a lot.

I believe when you and I were talking
about the third-party applications,

I believe that you mentioned also
the Get There app.

That can be also very helpful
for the navigation.

As far as I recall,

you are a big fan
of the third-party application

that allows you to voice-control
your camera.

>> Jerry Jicha: Well, actually, it's not
just the voice control part that I like;

it's the fact that the actual app
is perfectly accessible.

One of the drawbacks
on the Moto Z Play

is the camera app that comes
with it by default is zero accessible.

However, if you download a program
called Open Camera,

not only can you find the shutter button
and the zoom controls and everything else,

just about everything is accessible –
switching it from photo to video,

accessing the settings, which is huge,

being able to, as Nermin said,
saying the word "cheese," such as that,

and you can have it
take the picture automatically.

One of the other big programs that I
-- and I totally forget until just now –

that I actually strongly suggest
people get

-- is KNFB Reader.

This actually came in handy
the other day

when I went to cook a lasagna
in the oven.

I didn't know the directions, and –

all I had to do was take a picture
out of the correct side of the box,

and when it found text
that was readable, it read it.

So, you know, the O.C.R. capability
of KNFB Reader is really good.

I have actually used it when my computer
has all of a sudden stopped talking.

I have used KNFB Reader,
have taken a picture of the screen

and tried to figure out what the error is.

And figure out what the error is.

You can even use it for that.

>> Nermin Selimic: Great!
Well, Jerry, thanks a lot.

I think it was
a very impressive presentation,

and also confirmation

how the Android accessibility features
and options can be used.

Again, thank you very much.

We apologize
for the small technical difficulty.

So our original idea was
that you would be able

to see literally Jerry's smartphone.

That didn't happen.

But I was trying to “shadow”
Jerry as good as possible,

so I was emulating

whatever he was performing
on his smartphone.

I must admit Jerry was sometimes
moving much faster using TalkBack

than I did, looking at the display.

But I think it was still an experience
that was representative

for the use of TalkBack.

So there are two additional features

when we are talking about Android
and third-party accessibility

that I would like Robert to talk about,
and one of them is actually Braille.

And the other one is the newest
Android accessibility feature,

Select to Speak.

>> Robert Felgar: Just a quick word
about Braille.

An Android device can be used
with a Braille display.

It is used with an app called BrailleBack
which has been around a number of years.

We won't be demonstrating it but,
like I said,

it's been around for a long time.

One of the new test accessibility features
that was added in TalkBack 5.2.0,

which was just released this past week,
is an option called Select to Speak.

Select to Speak is a great function
for people with low vision.

Select to Speak.

So say the user wants to use
their limited vision to call,

it works for that purpose.

Their eyes work sufficiently
for that purpose.

But let's say they can't read
a news article or e-mail with small fonts.

They can simply press a little button
that appears

in the right bottom edge of the screen
and then pass the part of the screen

that they want spoken,
and then the device will start speaking.

So I will just show you on the screen
how that works.

Let's first go to CNN as an example.

So we have pulled up CNN.

Let's say we want the device
to read the article.

Simply press the button on the right:
>> VOICE: Dallas firefighter shot,
authorities say.

>> Robert Felgar: So there you go.

That's how you can get the device
on any portion of the screen

that the user cannot see.

It is a good option for people
with low vision

or with any print disability.

>> Nermin Selimic: What about Braille
and Braille possibility?

>> Robert Felgar: That's what I mentioned,
there is an app for that called BrailleBack.

>> Nermin Selimic: Very good.

So the next part of our Webinar
is dedicated to accessibility option

for low vision users.

But before we move to that part
of the Webinar,

clearly the accessibility for people
who are blind,

it is a very significant topic,

and I think we went through
so many options.

So at this time I would like
to open the floor,

if there are any questions, before we move
on to the next item on the agenda.

So please feel free to ask questions
and don't forget to unmute yourself.

(Pause).

It appears there are no questions
at this time.

So we will move to the next section,

but please keep in mind
that we will have at the end,

as I said before, an opportunity for you
to ask questions,

in case you have some questions by then,
to make sure that there is an opportunity

for you to ask questions

and also an opportunity
for such questions to be answered.

So we will be moving to the next part,

which is the accessibility
for low-vision users.

Before I will just read along here
to complete.

As previously, you will be able to see
the screen of the smartphone

that I will be utilizing.

Okay. So if you are talking about
the accessibility feature

for low-vision users, clearly,
whatever we have seen so far,

what was presented by Jerry,

that is obviously a great option
for many low-vision users.

However, you know, on the other hand,
there are many low-vision users

who have no need to use TalkBack
all the time,

but it was a good solution for them as well. So the Select to Speak that

Robert showed just minutes ago,

I think that is a great addition
to the accessibility features on Android.

For a low-vision user
who can easily navigate

either to place a phone call,
to open the dial pad and things like that,

they might be struggling

if they are reading something
that is smaller on the display,

and in that case, they can easily
keep the select to talk activated

all the time and it is available to them,
as you can see here, in the corner.

Correct?

So I will press this now,
and I will capture the mail app,

and I will try to demo this one more time,
so hopefully you can hear it.

>> VOICE: E-mail.

>> Nermin Selimic: And very, very –
a tool that is very easy to access

at any time.

So in addition to that, there are many,
many other built-in options

for low-vision users.

As always, they can be accessed
through settings,

and then moving down to accessibility.

So some of the most interesting ones
would be,

that I would like to mention here,
is the magnification gesture.

So in this case, it is over the switched on.

So what happens is,

basically I will go back now
to the home screen.

If I triple tap, you will see that anything
that is on the display or screen

will be increased.

And then, again, triple tapping
will deactivate it.

I have heard feedback from some users
that if they are typing something

very quickly or deleting something
and they hit the delete button

three times very quickly

it will actually activate
the magnification gesture

so that is something people
should be aware of

when they are using it.

So it is just a nice feature,
although I must admit,

if someone is using that
in order to read an optical, let's say,

on Chrome or something like that,
it has a significant disadvantage;

it will increase the text that is there.

But it will be running out of space

so maybe you will start
scrolling to the left or right

in order to read that.

But I think it is very, very helpful option.

Going back into accessibility
and all the different options that we have,

we have also the font size
that can be adjusted, correct?

So the current setting on this device
is default.

I will start changing this now to large,
and you can see already

in the upper part on the screen,
what is the change

and what is the increase in font

that such change in settings
would result in.

So very helpful.

Again, it is helpful for low-vision users
but only to a certain extent.

Additionally, there are options also
to manage the display size,

so how things are being displayed,

in particular if we are talking about
the call wall, text messages, so on.

As you can see here, this is currently on default. I will change that to large, and, you know, it is also changing. It is very helpful.

>> Robert Felgar: One point difference
between the display size and font size,

the display size,
not only is the text enlarged,

but all other aspects of the font
are enlarged –

so the notification, applications,
not just the text,

as is the case with font size.

>> Nermin Selimic: Okay.

The additional option
also for low-vision users

is the text-to-speech output.

You know, we have seen that,
and it's not only navigate

the home screen or just the settings
but also to receive text messages

or e-mails and so on and so on.

Additional option is also
the color inversion.

This one, unfortunately,
when I'm sharing my smartphone screen,

this one is not being transmitted
using the sharing technology.

But basically, what happens,
everything is inverted

so whatever was white,
the background becomes black.

>> Robert Felgar: Instead of
black on white, it is white on black.

>> Nermin Selimic: Exactly.

And there are many options also
for the color correction.

It can be activated, and there are
different corrections and modes.

There is the red-green, blue-yellow,
so on, so on,

depending on the challenges the user
is facing and also

the type of the vision impairment,
that can be adjusted.

When talking about low-vision users,
the very interesting part is actually

-- and I just realized I had
the color correction on. I apologize.

I will switch that off

-- there are very, very powerful
third-party applications.

There is one third-party application
in particular

that I wanted to share
with everyone today.

And something that is very specific
about the application,

the application called Claria Zoom.

Actually very specific.

The application is free.

It only exists on the Android.

If you recall, I did mention
at the beginning of this session

that Android is an open source
operating system,

so Android does allow developers,
application developers,

as well as hardware manufacturers,

to have more access

to the operating system and to customize
it a little bit more,

and the Claria Zoom developers
clearly utilized that option,

that benefit

and they have come up with the
Claria Zoom solution for low vision users.

So rather than continue to talk
about Claria Zoom

I will show you a couple of things
about Claria Zoom

which I believe are very, very illustrative
of the power of Claria Zoom

and the benefits it generates for low vision users.

So Claria Zoom can be used in order
to create an additional home page.

And in this case,
we have adjusted the size of the icons

on the home screen
for the most relevant icons.

So you can see literally
that the whole home screen

on this large 5.5 inch display
was utilized to show only four icons.

We have seen in many cases

that the users
with significantly impaired vision

were able to continue to use
the smartphone

exactly because of this solution.

>> Robert Felgar: And to be clear,
you can actually customize

the number of icons
that appear on your screen.

So if you didn't want four –

you wanted ten
or something of that nature,

you can do that as well.

>> Nermin Selimic: Yes, and you can
select the ones you want.

>> Robert Felgar: Yes.

>> Nermin Selimic: In addition to that,
as we had seen also

for the built-in feature,

Claria can also support color inversion
as well as color correction.

The approach is exactly the same,
only that in this case,

it deals with the larger magnification
but that can be supported as well.

I think what is also very, very interesting
in the case of Claria, typically,

the built-in accessibility features,
on Android as well as on Apple,

they do provide if somebody is typing
a text message, for the keyboard,

the key pad, as well as the text message,

they will be only increased
to a certain extent.

But not really as much as is needed
for low vision user.

So in the case of Claria,
that's actually quite different,

and I will try to show that here.

So as you can see, correct,
the key pad is really very, very big.

Correct?

And then, even when you are typing
a text message,

it is very easy to use that.

Additional options that are built in,
you can see here the blue button?

That is actually speech-to-text,

so a text message or e-mail
can be dictated as well.

An additional option that is very,
very exciting here

is the ability for users to have
easy access to certain content

on certain websites.

It's good to know based on
the magnification gesture

you are increasing the display sizes

-- (voice interruption) –

it is increasing,
but it is running out of space.

It is impossible to see.

So the benefits that are available
to Claria is actually

that it will pick up the content,

and then process it.
>> VOICE: New text found
at that location --

>> Nermin Selimic: So in this case,
I'm using the Claria browser,

in order to access a website.

So just like any other regular browser.

But then it has the ability to process
the content from that website

and present it as a pure text file
where the font is significantly increased,

and it's not running out of the display,
but rather, it was simply on the screen

and users can process it.

That was a video, so I am trying to.
-- trying to …

as you can see here, so we have
a specific article.

And now, that can be converted.

And you can see here how large it is

and there is nothing
that is running out of the display,

and the user can continue to scroll down
very conveniently.

And all of this, the extracted text,
can be also increased even further,

and on top of that, all the color inversion
and color correction

can be applied to it as well.

So I think that was really
a very significant benefit.

>> Robert Felgar: You can change
the colors

by simply tapping on the screen
with three fingers.
You can see how that works.

>> Nermin Selimic: Excellent.

So Claria Zoom has many,
many other options

as you can see here on the top.

There is also the pull-down display
for the other options

and you can see how big that appears.

I wanted to provide you
with some initial experience

into Claria's zoom and how it can help
a low vision user.

So other great applications
that we have seen

and received great feedback
from low vision users

are applications such as the
Dragon Mobile Assistant

for voice command.

It works very well and is very popular.

There is also the IDEAL magnifier
that can be used literally for anything;

correct?

We have the phone built-in camera
that is actually picking up

whatever the user would like to see.

Magnified is a part of the --

I don't know, from a magazine
or something like that,

or some instructions on a product
or a packaging, and so on.

Moving to great applications
such as the Giganticon,

that one is actually very interesting.

It is somehow like only one part
of Claria Zoom,

so the only thing, in quotes,
that it does is actually, all the –

all the application icons
that we have seen are here

on the home screen.

Selected icons can then be included
into Giganticon will show up

on the screen making it much easier
for users to navigate.

I am trying to accelerate the pace
in order to make sure

we have enough time
for the remaining sections

and also for questions and answers.

But I believe between Jerry's
very detailed presentation of Talkback,

and some of the specific options
for low vision users,

I think the overall accessibility for users
who are blind or low vision

is very, very helpful.

So moving to the next part

is the accessibility
for Deaf and hard of hearing users.

There are multiple built-in options
such as captions.

We see text messages are very popular
among users.

There are options for users
who are deaf in one ear,

so there is an adjustment for the audio

so that purely mono audio
is being streamed.

And then also, when you are talking
about notifications

there are great notifications

that can be utilized
as pop-up notifications

and there is incoming e-mail or
text messages notifications

as well as vibration.

So when you are talking about captions,

I think that it is something that is
very easy to show here.

And you can see here,
it can be accessed as always.

And you have multiple options
to adjust the language settings

as well as the text size.

Currently the text size is very large.

And the text size can be changed
to normal.

And you can see it is
significantly smaller,

so it does show right away
what the text size will be

as well as the caption style.

So many options that are available
on the captions.

Mono audio I mentioned.

That is also very, very helpful.

Then we are looking into

a significant selection
of third-party applications

such as closed-caption players.

The Pro Deaf translator is really a very,
very interesting application

that can help individuals who are deaf
for an in-person communication

if they are trying to communicate
to someone who doesn't know ASL.

I hope it will work now here
with screen sharing.

But this is actually very, very nice.

So basically users can type in
a certain word,

and the solution will convert that
into ASL.

>> Robert Felgar: Cool.

>> Nermin Selimic: So it just illustrates
how many options are out there,

that there are many, many developers
who are trying to come up

with some great solutions.

Now, I think what is most relevant

for individuals who are deaf
or hard-of-hearing,

if we are talking about smartphones
and tablets

and if we are talking about
communication,

that is all the tools that are available
related to relay services.

So if you are talking about
Hamilton CapTel, solutions like that,

or clear caption,

those will work very well
on Android devices.

And I think, Robert, you wanted
to mention something

that is also new applications
on the development?

>> Robert Felgar: Yes.

There's a couple of exciting
new applications

that are being developed
that aren't quite available yet

but are worth mentioning
and teasing a little bit about.

First of all, there's an application
available

-- or that will be available soon –

that will allow the user
of an Android phone –

it won't be available at least initially
on iPhone -

it will allow the person to take
an audiogram with their device

and then all the output that comes
from the device will be adjusted,

so the pitch will be adjusted
based on the audiogram.

So basically the phone will be acting
to a significant extent like a hearing aid.

So when a person speaks on the phone,
they won't be hearing that normal tone;

the pitch and so forth will be adjusted
based on that audiogram.

So in a sense, the need for hearing aids
when people speak on the phone

will be significantly reduced.

And we are expecting that to come out
within the next two months,

which is really, really exciting.

Another app that is being developed,
and we just tested it the other day,

is a service that captions
ongoing phone calls.

So the calling party and the called party,

if they have this app on their device,

whatever either party says
will be transcribed visibly

on the device using the regular dialer,
without a communications assistant.

So basically they will be using
speech-to-text.

The speech-to-text engine of Google –
to provide the transcription,

instead of the CA in the middle.

And we actually tested this this last week
and it works amazingly well.

And like I said, one of the amazing things
about it,

if you simply use your regular dialer,
you don't need to download

any sort of fancy app
or anything like that.

These are things which are coming,
both of which will be unique to Android.

>> Nermin Selimic: Thank you, Robert.

There is one more application
that is very, very interesting.

I found this very, very helpful.

This is actually the application
called TextHear,
which is an application that provides
speech-to-text transcription.

Text Hear. It can be installed
on any Android device,

and it will actually be providing
a live text-to-speech transcription.

So it works very well.

The device needs to be online
so that it can be supported.

As mentioned, I have used it
on multiple occasions

when there was no interpreter available,
and it did work very well.

>> Robert Felgar: And one last point
about 3rd party apps.

All the major VRS and caption apps
that are available for iOS

are also available for Android,

so all the large VRS companies
like Sorenson and Purple and so on,

they both have both Android
and iOS applications.

>> Nermin Selimic: So we were talking

so much about
different 3rd party applications,

and there are literally tens of thousands
of accessibility applications out there.

Many are truly exceptional,
they work very well.

Others are rather disappointing;

they don't work at all
or they are not reliable, so on.

So here at RAZ Mobility in order to make
things easier for consumers,

we did initiate an effort

that resulted in the RAZ
Mobility application installer app.

Can you share, Robert, some info
about RAZ Mobility's application?

>> Robert Felgar: Yes.

The application is essentially
a list and description

of all the applications that we felt

were helpful to people
with various types of disabilities.

So we just turned on the application.

You can see that there are
a number of categories such as

hearing, vision, speech and cognition.

And let's say you have a –
you are hard of hearing or you are deaf.

You click or tap on the hearing category,
and then you can see

a number of the suggested applications

for people that are
hard of hearing or deaf.

And we've gone through all of those

and kind of separated the wheat
from the chaff, if you know what I mean,
and tested the ones we think
are really good

and gotten rid of those apps that
we did not think are actually helpful.

Then you can see with vision,

there's a similar list of applications
that we recommend.

And then, if you tap on
one of these applications,
let's say Braille --

>> Nermin Selimic: That has
to be installed.

That one has not been installed.

>> Robert Felgar: Okay. I will tap on
Giganticon –

it takes you to the Play Store
where the app can be downloaded

and the app will be installed.

It is available on the Google Play Store.

You can download it or try it simply
by typing in RAZ Mobility, and it's free.

>> Nermin Selimic: So it's on Google Play,

just to search for RAZ Mobility
on Google Play and it will show up.

So it provides a great selection,
as mentioned,

and it makes the installation very easy.

If users have the RAZ Mobility app,
open the app, select the category,

find one of the recommended apps,

and the next step is just to install
the app, and they are actually done.

And we are also updating
the list of applications,

adding some new applications.

We have seen in some cases,
in some applications we have,

because they stopped performing
as well as they did in the past.

But we are adding more applications.

Also a disclaimer.

Most of the applications
that we have selected

in the RAZ Mobility store
are free applications.

There are some applications
that do require a payment.

And we did label such applications
accordingly.

So just before we move
to the Q&A part of our Webinar today,

Robert, any closing remarks
related to Android methods

that you would like to provide?

>> Robert Felgar: I just want to say
that Android accessibility

has really come a long way
over the years.

There was a perception for a long time
that Android was behind iOS,

and TalkBack wasn't as good
as Voiceover.

But I think you see –
saw from Jerry's presentation

that you can do pretty much everything
on Android using TalkBack

as you can with Voiceover in the iOS

and they are really quick
and comparable in many respects.

Furthermore there is a Google team
that is working on TalkBack constantly.

Like I said, the next version, 5.2.0,
came out last week,

and I am sure they already started
working on the next version.

So for six months or so

there are important updates
or improvements

so we are expecting
continued improvements,

and Google is constantly investing
in new accessibility features

with each release.

>> Nermin Selimic: Thanks, Robert.

So we are moving now to
questions and answers.

Please feel free to ask
any type of questions.

In case there are questions
that we cannot answer immediately,

we will be more than glad to follow up

with you and either reach out to you
or provide answers via e-mail.

I know that some questions
were coming into the chat option
in the conferencing tool.

So I don't have access to all of them
at this time.

It's just a little bit challenging
to formulate all of that.

So please feel free to ask
such questions now.

So hit the mute button
and unmute yourself,
or we will be following up with you
by e-mail

and answer all of your questions.

>> Hi, this is Sarah from
the Minnesota TED program.

I have a question.
>> Sure, Sarah.

>> I was just wondering,
you guys have the

-- let's see here -- you called it
the RAZ Mobility installer app,

or installer.

How do you determine
if a specific accessible app

is good for that person with disability?

Do you have people with disabilities
test the devices?

Like what is your criteria?

>> Nermin Selimic: So, here is
the following process, Sarah,

that we have.

Yes, people with disabilities,
it is relevant, and they do ask –

we do ask people in focus groups
to provide feedback.

We also ask does it work,
and is it relevant and helpful for them?

Even before that,
and what we have seen is necessary,

is to test apps for their functionality
and reliability.

There have been certain apps
which really have some issues.

I would say the concept is great.
They can be very helpful.

But, you know, in real life, they don't –
they simply don't perform,

from a technical standpoint.

Their reliability is not there,
or their performance is a little bit –

it works on Mondays
but not on Tuesdays,

for whatever reason.

So these are the two most important
avenues that we look at

when we are trying to come up
with the recommendation.

>> Robert Felgar: Also, Sarah,
and there is a flexibility app.

Let's say for your program

you want add different app
to be installed

or an additional app

and we have the flexibility to do that
for individual programs.

>> Sarah: Okay. Thank you.

>> Nermin Selimic: I think there was
a question here asked in the chat room.

What about features for people
with learning disabilities?

That is an excellent question.

Yes, there are features and especially
there are 3rd party applications

for people with specific
cognitive disabilities.

And if you take a look
at the RAZ Mobility installer application,

you can see here that our category
does exist for cognition,

and its application such as
the autism express or ACSE for autism

so there are applications for people
with learning disabilities as well.

(Pause).

>> Sorry. It's Sally.

With iOS, they have the rotor capability

where if you are surfing the web,
for example,

you can select
what your swipes would do.

For example, going by heading or link.

Does the feature exist with TalkBack?

>> Nermin Selimic: Let's see if we still
have Jerry on the phone,

I think if he is, he is the best person
to answer that question.

Jerry, are you still on the call?

>> Robert Felgar: Okay, looks like
he's not there.

But I am virtually positive –
although I am not --

>> Jerry Jicha: I am here.

>> Robert Felgar: Oh, you are, Jerry.
Could you answer that question, please?

>> Jerry Jicha: In my case, yes,
there actually is a gesture

that will do things like paragraph,
line, character.

And when you are in the web browser,
it will do things like heading.

And all you have to do to that gesture
is -- give me one moment here –

you just do like a swipe down.
>> VOICE: Words, line. Paragraph.
Default.

>> Jerry Jicha: See? So default is
the default action.

But let's say I were to highlight
an item -- real quick -- work me MDM.

>> VOICE: Actions reduced, characters.

>> Jerry Jicha: So if I swiped it
right right now --

>> VOICE: W O R K –

>> Jerry Jicha: As you see,

it will actually read it
character by character,

because I changed what the swipe does.

I hope that answers that question.

>> It does. Thank you.

>> Robert Felgar: It's not rotor, is it?

>> Jerry Jicha: It is a rotor in the sense
that when you do a down gesture –

because the up gesture does
the opposite way –

then you go through a list of options.

Then you check the one you want.

So it is a rotor sort of,

but you don't have to like
turn your fingers on the screen
to access it.

You can just do like a swipe up
or a swipe down.

As you saw me do earlier –
maybe you saw it -- I was flipping down. And if I flick up --

>> VOICE: Paragraph right word
paragraph

>> Jerry Jicha: See, it is actually going
backwards through the list,

so it is actually a rotor in that sense.

>> Robert Felgar: Thank you, Jerry.

>> Jerry Jicha: And Sally, if you like,

we can summarize and provide
the exact response via e-mail.

>> Sally: Thank you very much.

>> Nermin Selimic: Are there
any other questions at this time?

>> What about specifically
for deaf-blind?

Are there -- sorry.

Do you have things that are specifically
for deaf-blind?

>> Robert Felgar: Well, we don't have
any applications

that are specifically for deaf-blind.

They are either for one or the other.

You know, obviously Braille,
a Braille display can be used

by individuals who are deaf-blind
and you've got BrailleBack.

But we don't have anything that is
unique that is intended for both,

that I am aware of, on Android.

>> Nermin Selimic: And I assume
you are referring to a scenario of –

yes, I think your answer is all right.

There is nothing that has been
developed specifically for the deaf-blind

other than the BrailleBack.

>> Robert Felgar:Right.

>> And what about answering
telephones,

if you have a physical disability
where you can't actually –

you know, somebody who has –
is a quadriplegic.

How could they answer a phone call?

>> Nermin Selimic: Excellent question.

Today we were focused around
vision and hearing

as the backdrop of disability.

There are additional products
offered by RAZ Mobility.

In particular, I would mention
two other types of disabilities.

There's actually speech impairment

and also individuals
with mobility disabilities.

And going back to your question,
there is a solution that we are offering

which is called Sesame solution.

That provides the opportunity to people
who cannot control their hands for,

you know, typical reasons
we have seen,

like connected with the service,
the VA, in the area of amputees,

for instance; amputees, so on,
returning from the Armed Services.

So controlling any smartphone or tablet,
any Android smartphone or tablet,

they can control them
either by their head movement

or through an extended range
of voice commands.

So they can easily answer
an incoming call by simply saying

"Sesame, answer the call."
Or "End call."

They can open up applications,
they can type text messages,

by using this specific solution that
consists of an Android mobile device,

a selected Android mobile device,

and special software
that is installed on it.

No other equipment is needed

and it actually uses the device
that is built in camera

in order to track the user's
head movement.

And it worked very well
even in scenarios

where users had limited
head movement.

>> Robert Felgar: And that's
an example of a solution, again,

that is only available
on the Android platform.

It can't be built for iOS.

>> Nermin Selimic: Does that
answer your question?

>> Yes. Thank you very much.

>> Robert Felgar: Any other questions?

>> Nermin Selimic: Please feel free
at any time

to reach out to RAZ Mobility.

You can reach out through our –

many of you have Robert's
or my contact.

Now you can reach out to us also
[e-mail].

So please feel free to reach out to us
for additional questions via e-mail

or just give us a call at any time.

We would be more than glad to answer
any additional questions.

>> May I make a real quick comment?

>> Nermin Selimic: Yes, please.

>> Jerry Jicha: It's Jerry.

One thing also, because I know
someone had asked something

a while back
and I couldn't say anything at the time.

They had asked, let's just use blind,
for example,

do blind people test the apps
that are for blind people?

I think Robert can even tell you,
Nermin is still getting used to me,

but Robert can definitely tell you,

there have been several times
where I have gotten ahold of him

because I am actually totally blind,
I have no sight whatsoever,

and if an app comes out,
either he'll tell me to test it

or I have gotten ahold of him to say
hey, Robert, this app is junk,

or hey, Robert, this app is cool,
it's something we should look into.

But to kind of help put
some people's minds at ease, yes

People like me do test apps to see,

do they work, do they do the job
they are supposed to do?

And is it easy to use?

>> Robert Felgar: Yes. Thank you, Jerry,
and also, as Jerry can say,

if you want to look up a particular app
and its accessibility,

a great place for people who are blind
is the eyes-free Google group

which has a huge number of users

and there is constant conversation
about the best apps and alternatives

and so forth.

So that is a great avenue to learn
about accessible apps.

>> Nermin Selimic: So we are now
at 3:01 p.m. Eastern.

We did exhaust the full 120 minutes.

I was hoping that we would be able
to complete it in 90 minutes.

It was a very lengthy session.

But I hope that it was at least
interesting, if it was long.

Thanks again for the great interest

in the RAZ Mobility Webinar
about Android accessibility.

Thanks for dialing in,
for joining the session.

We truly appreciate your time.

We hope that you were able to learn
many new things

or to get answers to some
of your questions

and expand your knowledge
about Android accessibility.

As mentioned, the Webinar will be
available as a recorded session.

We will be sending out an info
with the appropriate links.

We are also excited about
additional Webinars that will be hosted

over the next period of time
related to some of our new products

or some additional accessibility features.

So we hope to have you
as a participant

on some of the next
RAZ Mobility Webinars as well.

Thank you very much for your time
and have a great rest of the week.

>> Robert Felgar: Thank you, everybody.