Bell Mobile Accessibility for AndroidTM
User Guide for v2.0
Published by:
Code Factory, S.L.
Making Mobile Phones Accessible to the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Moving Accessibility Forward!
Carrer Major, 19, 2-3
08221 Terrassa (Barcelona)
Spain
http://www.codefactoryglobal.com
Android is a trademark of Google Inc. Use of this trademark is subject to Google Permissions. All registered trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.
Copyright © 2016 by Code Factory, S.L. All rights reserved.
Contents
3.1 Preparing your phone to use with Mobile Accessibility (may require sighted help)
3.2 Installing Mobile Accessibility
3.2.1 Installation using Computer over internet
4 Overview of the Mobile Accessibility User Interface.
4.1 Mobile Accessibility Home Screen
4.2 Working with the Home, Menu, Back, and Search keys
4.3 Working with the volume keys
4.4 Working with the Quick Menu
4.5 Working with common user interface elements
5.1 Basics of the touch interface
5.3.1 Activating or deactivating the virtual keyboard
5.3.2 Enabling the system wide virtual keyboard
5.3.3 Using the virtual keyboard to enter text
5.3.5 Changing the navigation mode and navigating text
5.3.6 Changing the keyboard layout
5.3.8 Dynamic Virtual keyboard
6.1 Tips for speech recognition
6.1.2 Performing tasks while on a call
7 Mobile Accessibility and Android version
7.2 Android 4.0 / Ice Cream Sandwich
7.3 Android 2.x and 3.x (Éclair / Froyo / Gingerbread / Honeycomb)
8 Mobile Accessibility and Talkback
9.1 Getting started with the Mobile Accessibility web browser
9.2.1 Enter the URL in the address bar
9.2.3 Adding a website to your favorites
9.4 Reading text on a web page
9.7.9 Show System Notifications
9.8.1 Web Browser Download Settings
12.1 Setting up an e-mail account
12.1.1 Setting up a Gmail account
12.1.3 Number of items to be downloaded at once
12.4 Composing and sending e-mails
12.4.2 Navigating the message body
12.5 Reply or reply all to e-mails
13 Other Mobile Accessibility Apps
13.1.3 Calling from the call log
13.2.3 Sending an SMS to the contact
13.3.2 Reading received Messages
13.3.3 Navigation and reading in messages
13.3.6 Deleting Conversation / message
13.3.7 Adding SMS Sender’s number to contact or calling the number
13.4.2 Editing existing alarms
13.4.3 Clearing a specific Alarm
13.4.5 Stopping the alarm when it sounds
13.6.1 Automatic announcement of your location and connectivity
13.8.1 Opening Music Player and sorting the play list.
13.8.4 Using Play / pause and Next / Previous song options
13.8.5 Using Stop and Fast Forward / Rewind options
13.8.6 Quick Menu and Music Player Settings
14 Configuring the phone and Mobile Accessibility
14.1.1 Changing ringtone or notification tone
14.1.2 Changing sound profiles
14.1.3 Changing vibration settings
14.1.4 Using volume keys to answer / reject calls
14.1.5 Using system call screens
14.2 Mobile Accessibility Settings
14.2.1 Changing speech settings
14.2.5 Changing vibration and sound feedback settings for navigation
14.2.6 Changing whether the proximity sensor is used to stop speech
14.3 Mobile Accessibility screen reader settings
14.3.1 Notifying when leaving Mobile Accessibility
14.3.2 Speaking system notifications
15 Mobile Accessibility’s screen reader capabilities.
16 Mobile Accessibility Braille Support
16.2 Configuring Braille Display with Mobile Accessibility (Post pairing Braille display with phone)
16.3 Removing Braille Display configuration.
16.4 Enabling / Disabling Braille
16.5 Enabling Braille Support outside Mobile Accessibility
16.6 Entering and Editing Text Using Braille
16.8 Braille Panning and cursor routing
16.9 Braille Transient / Flash Messages
17.2 Setting the default Home Screen to Mobile Accessibility
17.3 Clearing the Home Screen default
17.9 Inputting Text with Speech
17.10 Viewing Registration Status and License Agreement
17.12 Submitting a Support Ticket
17.14 Default Keyboard not accessible.
17.15 Working with Voicemail notification
Mobile Accessibility is a suite of accessible applications and a screen reader for the Android’s standard user interface especially designed for people who are blind.
The Mobile Accessibility suite of accessible applications provides powerful and efficient access to modern-day mobile phone features such as:
· Making and receiving calls
· Hearing the name or number of incoming calls (caller ID)
· Managing contacts
· Scheduling and viewing calendar events
· Setting up alarms
· Sending and receiving text messages or SMS
· Reading and writing Emails
· Browsing the Internet
· Determining your location using GPS
· Reading the date and time
· Determining device status, battery usage and network information
In addition to the above features, Mobile Accessibility also provides the following:
· Touch friendly: You can use Mobile Accessibility with the trackball or the physical keyboard of your phone if there is one, but also with the touchscreen! You will only have to move around the screen and the voice synthesis will read the text under your finger. This includes typing text using the touch screen with our new virtual keyboard. In fact, no physical keyboard is required to use any of the features of Mobile Accessibility.
· Voice Synthesis: We’ve been making mobile phones accessible to people who are blind and low vision for many years now, and we know that the voice matters... and a lot! So we partnered with the text-to-speech provider who makes one of the most popular voices within the blind community: Nuance®! We are thus very happy to announce that Nuance® Vocalizer® will be the voice of Mobile Accessibility.
· Speech Recognition: If you have an Android phone with version 2.2 and above you'll be able to activate the speech recognition from anywhere inside Mobile Accessibility and type text. Imagine writing an SMS or an E-mail using your voice only?
· Screen Reader: So, what happens if you need to exit Mobile Accessibility and use the standard phone interface? No problem. Mobile Accessibility also makes use of Android's Accessibility API and works as a screen reader. Of course, the functionality is limited to what the API provides, but it is enough in order to do some basic things such as changing some phone settings. In addition, the virtual keyboard and speech recognition (if available) can be used with many popular applications and programs outside of Mobile Accessibility.
This document aims to be your guide in your journey of exploring Mobile Accessibility and it should be considered as an overview of the available functions and features of the software, not of the devices on which it runs. For more information about your mobile phone, please consult the user guide or contact your mobile operator’s customer service department.
For additional information on Mobile Accessibility and all Code Factory products, you can contact us through our Help Desk at http://www.codefactory.cat/helpdesk/
Please note that speech recognition is only supported with version 2.2 and above.
We expect all Android phones from version 2.1 and above to work well with Mobile Accessibility.
To prepare your device for Mobile Accessibility, it is strongly recommended to get sighted assistance as the initial steps are not accessible and need to be performed on the phone itself. Alternatively, if you have a screen reader such as Talkback or Spiel Installed on the device, you may try to follow the instructions on your own. Before starting the installation of Mobile Accessibility, you must ensure the following:
1. The phone battery is charged: Make sure the charge is more than 50% to avoid the device shutting down in the middle of installation. Check the battery status under Phone Settings > About > Status > Battery Status and ensure it is more than 50% or is full.
2. Make sure you have enough free space: Mobile Accessibility only requires approximately 7 MB on the device’s internal memory. Check the memory status under Phone Settings > SD card and Phone Storage Settings > Internal Phone Storage, and ensure the available space is more than 10 MB.
3. Be sure to have an Internet connection either by activating the data connection over a cellular network or by connecting the phone to a Wi-Fi access point. For data connection settings, contact your service provider and for Wi-Fi access point configuration, please check the phone user guide. Upon successful configuration of the Internet access on the phone, open a web page from the mobile web browser and make sure the internet is working correctly.
Note: Using the data connection may incur additional charges by your cellular service provider, please contact your service provider for more information.
The Messaging application on some phones overrides the default system settings when a new Text-message comes in. This means that even if you set a notification ring tone in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Notification Sound, it will be ignored and the default sound will play. To make sure the selected ring tone is heard when a new message comes in, follow the below steps:
- Open the default Messaging application on the phone that is available before the installation of Mobile Accessibility.
- Press the Menu key and select Settings
- Select "Default Ringtone" in "Select Ringtone" menu option.
- Select "Always" in "Vibrate" menu option.
The installation process of Mobile Accessibility is similar to other applications available for Android over the Android market / Google Play store.
In order to install Mobile Accessibility, follow the below steps. We strongly recommend sighted assistance for this process.
1. Start the Play Store application: The Play Store application is available on all Android devices. As the application store for the Android platform it allows you to search, download and update applications for your Android phone. The Application can be launched from the device’s application menu.
2. Configuring Google Play Store application: When opening the Play Store application for the first time you may be prompted to enter a Google / Gmail e-mail address. This address is required to pass the validation process done by the Android operating system. If you do not have a Gmail address, please visit http://www.gmail.com to obtain one for free. Enter your Google / Gmail e-mail address.
3. Searching for Mobile Accessibility: In the Market application, there is a search edit box to find applications available in the Android store. Please type “Mobile Accessibility English” in the edit box and activate the search button to search for the program.
4. Choosing the correct application: Upon completion of the search, the Market application will present the list of applications available in the store.
5. Reading the application description: upon selecting the application, you will be presented with the description of the application. The description of the application highlights the functionality of the application. Select the OK button or Buy button to continue the download and installation process.
6. Authorizing system access permissions: Upon selecting the OK / Buy button, a screen with the list of access rights of the application appears. Select the OK button to continue with the installation.
7. Checking the installation status: Open the notification window by sliding your finger from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen. In the notification window, check for the Mobile Accessibility installation status. If the status Messages says successful, then you are done with the installation. If you have problems, contact Code Factory support with the exact error message you get in the notification window.
8. Running the application: You can select the application from the notification window and in the resulting screen, select open button to launch the application. Alternatively, you can start the application from phone all application list by selecting its icon.
You can install Mobile Accessibility from the Android market / Google Play store available at https://play.google.com by following the below steps
1. Start Play Store application: The Play Store application is preinstalled on all Android devices. As the application store for the Android platform, it allows you to search, download and update applications for your Android phone. The Application can be launched from the device’s application menu.
2. Configuring Play Store application: When opening the Market application for the first time you may be prompted to enter a Google / Gmail e-mail address. This address is required to pass the validation process done by the device operating system. If you do not have a Gmail address, please visit http://www.gmail.com to obtain one for free. Enter your Google / Gmail e-mail address. After configuring the market application exit the application and continue to follow the below instructions.
3. Open the web page http://play.google.com on your computer.
4. Sign into the market website using the email address configured with the Market application on the phone.
5. After sign-in, navigate to Search edit box and type “Mobile Accessibility Francais”, hit enter to start search.
6. In result page, you would find
a. Mobile Accessibility
For complete list of Code Factory applications for android check https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Code+Factory
7. Select the install button against the version / language you would like to install.
8. The market application on the phone should automatically start downloading and install the Mobile Accessibility version that you selected.
9. Checking the installation status: Open the notification window by sliding your finger from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen. In the notification window, check for the Mobile Accessibility installation status. If the status Messages says successful, then you are done with the installation. If you have problems, contact Code Factory support with the exact error message you get in the notification window.
10. Running the application: You can select the application from the notification window and in the resulting screen, select open button to launch the application. Alternatively, you can start the application from phone application menu by selecting its icon.
In Phone Settings > Application > Manage application window, select Mobile Accessibility. In the resulting window, scroll to uninstall button and activate it.
Follow the on-screen confirmation and complete the process.
When Mobile Accessibility launches, you are placed at the Mobile Accessibility Home Screen. This screen displays 13 accessible applications which have been especially designed for the blind and visually impaired. They all have a simplified interface whose textual information is spoken using Vocalizer® voice synthesis. Although Mobile Accessibility also allows access to mainstream Android apps, the special applications that can be found in the Mobile Accessibility home screen are those that are most frequently used.
These accessible applications are:
1. Phone: Make or receive calls with this application. Call by dialing a number, selecting a contact, or calling from the recent calls log.
2. Contacts: Browse, add, remove, and manage contacts.
3. SMS: Send and receive text messages (SMS).
4. Alarms: Manage Alarms
5. Calendar: Manage appointments from your Google Calendar account and other calendars that have been shared with you.
6. Email: Send and receive emails with your Gmail account.
7. Web: A very powerful web browser.
8. Where am I: Lets you know your location with the help of a GPS receiver and Google maps.
9. Notes: Lets you to read / write text notes.
10. Explorer: Lets you to explore and execute files stored on the phone.
11. Apps: Is a list of applications that are available in your phone. This list is very accessible, but once the applications in this list are opened, accessibility will depend on the application.
12. Settings: To configure Mobile Accessibility and your phone.
13. Music Player: To allow playing audio files for entertainment.
All Android phones have several keys that are positioned at the bottom of the touch screen. On some phones these keys can be felt, but on others these keys can’t be felt with your fingers, so you will have to figure them out with the help of someone or by trial and error. While there may be additional keys on the bottom of your phone, there are 4 that are especially important to Mobile Accessibility.
Those keys are:
1. Home key: The Home key brings up the home screen launcher. Mobile Accessibility works by replacing Android’s default home screen with a completely accessible version. Upon first pressing the home key once Mobile Accessibility is installed, you will be asked to select the home screen you wish to use. Select Mobile Accessibility to launch the program. Check the box to make this your default selection, and then Mobile Accessibility will launch whenever the home key is pressed. Note that the home screen selection process will speak once Mobile Accessibility is enabled as a screen reader (described later in this guide)
2. Back key: The back key is used to close the open task. For instance, if you are in a menu, it will close the menu. If you are in any other screen, it will close that screen.
3. Menu key: This key is used to bring up application specific menu options. Within Mobile Accessibility, it will bring up the quick menu which will have context specific menu options.
4. Search Key: The search key is also found on many Android phones. Within Mobile Accessibility, it will speak the current control that has focus.
The volume keys are used by Mobile Accessibility in several ways, including adjusting the speech volume or activating the virtual keyboard or speech recognition. Generally speaking, the volume keys can be found on the left side of the phone. Check your phone’s user guide if you need to determine their exact location.
Changing the volume of the phone’s loud speaker
By pressing the volume up or volume down key while in Mobile Accessibility, you can adjust the volume of the speech. Mobile Accessibility announces the new volume level.
Opening or closing the virtual keyboard
A long press of the volume up key, in other words, holding the volume key for about a second and then releasing it, opens and closes the virtual keyboard within Mobile Accessibility.
A long press of the volume down key starts speech recognition.
If the check box “Use volume keys to change modes” in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Text Input > Virtual Keyboard is checked, then volume keys can be used to change keyboard layouts or navigation modes.
When the virtual keyboard is open, volume up changes the layout of the virtual keyboard, and volume down changes the navigation mode.
If the check box “Enable volume keys to answer / reject calls” in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Advanced is checked, then volume keys can also be used to answer or reject calls.
Volume up answers an incoming call.
Volume down rejects the incoming call or hangs up an active call.
Note: if the phone is near your ear, volume keys will increase / decrease the volume of the phone speakers. When the proximity sensor senses an object nearby, Mobile Accessibility disables the answer / reject function of the volume keys.
Also note, on android 5.0 and above devices, since MA call screen is not available, one should use the system default gesture to answer / reject calls. To learn about those gestures, please consult your phone manual. On some devices, while in a app and if you get an incoming call, a popup notification appears. One can touch and explore the top part of the screen and can use the answer button to answer the call. On some devices tapping with 2 finger may answer the calls.
Changing the volume of the phone speaker
If the check box “Enable volume keys for answer / reject calls” in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Advanced is not checked, then the volume keys will change the volume for the phone speaker during the call. So if you are not able to hear the person on the other side of the call, you can use the volume keys to increase the volume.
Volume up increases the speaker or handset volume during the call.
Volume down decreases the speaker or handset volume during the call.
In any screen of Mobile Accessibility, you can access a Quick Menu which will present you with various options available for that screen. In addition to contextual options for a specific screen, the Quick Menu generally has the following 4 options:
· Date and time: Mobile Accessibility announces the current date and time.
· Device status: Mobile Accessibility announces whether a charger is connected, the battery level, signal strength, active data networks such as 3G, and Wi-Fi status.
· Show System Notifications: Opens the system notification window, which includes notification such as missed calls, new SMS / E-mail, connection status etc.
Note: the notification window is part of the Android platform and is not accessible using the Mobile Accessibility touch gestures and must be read using the arrow keys or the track pad. To close the Notification window, you can use the device’s Back key or press the Home key to return to Mobile Accessibility.
· Enable / Disable Braille: toggles Braille on / off. The option is only available if a Braille display has been configured with Mobile Accessibility. For more information, read section Braille Support.
· Settings: allow you to configure Mobile Accessibility’s options.
You can activate the Quick Menu in 4 ways:
- Press the Menu key
- Triple tap anywhere on the screen
- Long press of the track pad
- Long press of the enter key
Lists
A list presents various items, such as contacts or your call log. The Mobile Accessibility home screen is one such list. They can be navigated with the following commands:
· Move to next list item: swipe down or down arrow.
· Move to previous list item: swipe up or up arrow.
· Jump ahead several list items: swipe right or right arrow.
· Jump back several list items: swipe left or left arrow.
· Activate or open the current list item: double tap or enter on the trackpad or hardware keypad.
· Jump to top of the list: swipe up with two fingers.
· Jump to bottom of the list: swipe down with two fingers.
Note: the number of list items that are jumped depends on the screen size or phone orientation.
A button can only be activated, so only double tap or enter works with it. You can either press the hardware enter key on a physical keyboard or press the trackpad button. If there are other user interface elements in a screen, then navigation commands would move focus away from the button.
A check box can be either checked or unchecked. Mobile Accessibility will announce the state of the check box each time the focus moves to it. The state of the check box can be changed with either double tap or enter. You don’t need to select save or press any other button to accept the check box, it is automatically saved.
You can either enter text in an edit field or read the existing text. You can use the virtual keyboard or hardware keyboard to enter the text. Speech recognition is also available in any Mobile Accessibility edit field. To review the text in the edit field, you work with navigation commands.
Navigation commands depend on your current navigation mode. The available navigation modes are: character, word or sentence. Navigating left or navigating right behave differently depending on the current navigation mode. For example if the current navigation mode is character, navigating left (swipe left or left arrow) moves the cursor to the previous character.
Navigation modes can be changed with a long press of the menu key or by selecting Navigation from the Quick Menu.
Remember, the quick menu can be activated with the menu key or by triple tapping anywhere on the screen.
You may also delete a character with backspace. Mobile Accessibility will speak the deleted character if speak deleted character is checked in settings > text input.
While in an edit box, you can adjust how the arrows and swipe gestures behave while navigating and also move to the beginning or end of an edit field. To activate the navigation menu, triple tap or press the menu key, and then select the first option Navigation. From this menu, the following options are available.
1. Move to top: Moves the cursor to the top or beginning of the edit field.
2. Move by characters: Moves the cursor by characters when swiping left or right or using the hardware arrow keys or the trackpad.
3. Move by words: Moves the cursor by words when swiping left or right or using the hardware arrow keys or the trackpad.
4. Move by sentences: Moves the cursor by sentences when swiping left or right or using the hardware arrow keys or the trackpad.
5. Move to bottom: Moves the cursor to the bottom or end of the edit field.
While typing text into an edit box, you can tell Mobile Accessibility to read various parts of the text you are entering. To activate the read menu, triple tap or press the menu key, and then select the second option Read. From this menu, the following options are available.
1. Read from top: Reads the entire contents edit field from the beginning.
2. Read from current position: Announces the contents of the edit field from your current cursor position to the end.
3. Read current word: Announces the current word under the cursor.
The option allows you to perform editing options, like selection, copy, cut and paste. Braille commands are available for performing edit action when using a braille display with Mobile Accessibility. In specific the options are:
1. Select all, allow selecting the entire text in the edit field so to be able to copy or cut or delete text.
2. Copy, allow copying the text to the clip board and retaining the text in the edit field as well.
3. Cut, allow to cut the text to the clip board and also deletes the text from edit field.
4. Paste, allow to paste the text from the clip board to the edit field.
Menus
Menus are used to display a list of options, such as the Quick Menu described above. The following commands can be used to navigate in a menu:
· Move to next menu item: swipe down or down arrow
· Move to previous menu item: swipe up or up arrow
· Jump ahead several menu items: swipe right or right arrow
· Jump back several menu items: swipe left or left arrow
· Activate the current menu item: double tap or enter.
· Jump to top of Menu: swipe up with two fingers.
· Jump to bottom of menu: swipe down with two fingers.
· Exit menu: Swipe left with two fingers.
Note: the number of menu items that are jumped depends on the screen size or orientation.
Before we go in to details about the touch interface, let’s understand some basic concepts about the gestures used by Mobile Accessibility. Interaction with the touch screen can be done with swipes as well as with taps on the screen. With a little practice, these gestures can be easily mastered and will become second nature.
Exploring the screen with your fingers
In Mobile Accessibility screens, you can just put your finger on the touch screen, and Mobile Accessibility will let you know the item beneath your finger. For example, on the Mobile Accessibility home screen, if you put your finger close to the top left of the screen in portrait mode, you may hear “phone” because the short cut for the accessible phone application is located there. Mobile Accessibility will also move the focus at that point so that pressing enter or other commands to activate the current item will activate the item last spoken. With some practice, you can become quite familiar with the layout of many of Mobile Accessibility’s screens, and save time while navigating them. For example, the home screen, which displays the 13 Mobile Accessibility applications, is laid out in 7 rows of two columns. So the top left of the screen has the phone option, while the next option, contacts, is in the top right. The next row has SMS and Alarms, and so on. Move your finger around the screen to explore the various options and learn the layout of the screen.
Mobile Accessibility allows you to perform what is called taps. Whenever this user guide mentions the word tap, it means that you might touch the screen once, twice, or even three times, but you do not slide your finger or stylus when performing that command.
Generally speaking, a single tap on the screen will speak the item at the position and move the focus to that item. While in the virtual keypad or dial pad, however, a single tap immediately activates the button at that point and will type the character.
Touching the screen twice in quick succession is referred to as a double tap. Whenever you want to activate any focused item (similar to an enter key on a keyboard), you can double tap anywhere on the screen.
In most places of Mobile Accessibility, you may bring up the quick menu by performing a triple tap anywhere on the screen. The quick menu provides commands that are relevant to the current screen as well as access to global settings and information such as date and time and device status.
To perform a swipe, touch the screen and slide your finger over it in the desired direction, then release the screen. Touch movements should cover a distance of about 30% of the screen length or greater, but do not need to span the entire width or height of the display. Swipes should also be performed around the center of the screen, since many phones have a non-touch-sensitive area around the edges of the device. Note also that you do not need to swipe very fast; it should take between a half and one second to swipe the whole screen in either direction.
Swipes may be done with one or more fingers, and depending on the number of fingers, the commands may be different. To simulate the arrow keys, a swipe up/down/left/right with one finger may be performed. Swipe up or down with 2 fingers to move the focus to the first or last item in the list. Swipe left with two fingers to exit or go back from the current screen.
Mobile Accessibility provides gestures that help you to navigate various screens:
· Go to next line or control: swipe down with one finger.
· Go to previous line or control: swipe up with one finger.
· Go to last item in a list: swipe down with 2 fingers.
· Go to first item in the list: swipe up with 2 fingers.
· Go to next navigation element: swipe right with one finger.
· Go to previous navigation element: swipe left with one finger.
· Go back to the previous screen: Swipe left with two fingers.
Mobile Accessibility includes an accessible on-screen virtual keyboard which allows you to enter text using the touch screen. When you activate this input method, a virtual keyboard is enabled on the screen. When you navigate on the virtual keyboard with your finger or stylus, you will receive audio and vibratory feedback to help you know the character which is currently focused. When you find the character that you want to enter, you can remove your finger or the stylus in order to enter the character.
The method to activate or deactivate the virtual keyboard is different depending on whether you are inside or outside of Mobile Accessibility.
Inside Mobile Accessibility
To toggle the virtual keyboard within Mobile Accessibility, long press the volume up key.
Outside Mobile Accessibility
To toggle the virtual keyboard outside Mobile Accessibility, long press the menu key. Note that on some devices this will not work, but the virtual keyboard will automatically show when focus lands on an edit field.
You can also close the virtual keyboard by pressing the back key.
Note: the virtual keyboard outside Mobile Accessibility is only available if you enable Mobile Accessibility as an input method. Read the below section for more information. For Android 5.0 and above devices, Virtual Keyboard outside Mobile Accessibility is not available.
Note: Mobile Accessibility must be enabled as a screen reader to perform the below steps.
· Go to the Android settings by selecting Apps > settings from the Mobile Accessibility home screen.
· Open either language and keyboard or locale and text depending on the phone model.
· Check the box “Mobile Accessibility for Android” under input methods.
· Press Back to exit the settings Window.
· Go to Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Text Input > Virtual Keyboard > Set input method. Use the navigation keys to review choices, select Mobile Accessibility and enter to confirm.
· Alternatively, open any application (other than Mobile Accessibility) which has an edit box.
· Move to an edit box and Press Long enter to bring up the context menu. If the menu does not appear, with sighted assistance, long tap the edit box to bring up the context menu. Also note, while doing this, if your device has a slide-out keyboard it should be closed.
· In the resulting list, select input method.
· In Input method, select Mobile Accessibility for Android.
· The virtual keyboard will be activated and can be then used to type text in edit boxes anywhere in the phone.
Typing characters
There are 2 ways to enter the text using the virtual keyboard.
1. Explore and type: in this method, you would use the stylus or your finger to find a character, keeping contact with the screen as you move through the characters. When a character is selected, Mobile Accessibility will speak that character. To insert the character that is currently selected, just lift your finger or the stylus from the screen. Note that as soon as you release the character held at the tip of the stylus or finger, it is inserted. The stylus or your finger should therefore remain pressed to the screen until you find the character that you wish to insert.
Also Note that if you stay on one character for more than 2 seconds, Mobile Accessibility will activate alternative characters and continue to cycle between alternative characters and the actual character with a 2 second interval, so that you do not have to change the keyboard layout to find that character.
2. Touch typing: In this method, you would use your existing knowledge of the key location to just touch the screen and release your finger or the stylus. This method allows fast typing for advanced users.
Erasing characters
If you have selected a character and wish to erase it you can simply swipe (slide quickly) your finger in any direction. For example, if you start swiping on the virtual keyboard and reach a character but then you realize, the character you are looking for is in some other keyboard layout or for any reason would like to discard the current selection, you may quickly swipe in any direction and then remove your finger from the screen. This tells Mobile Accessibility to discard the current selection and the character will not be entered or typed.
There are 4 layouts available in the virtual keyboard. Upon opening the virtual keyboard, the first layout is lower case QWERTY. You can toggle the layouts by pressing the volume up key. The sequence is lower case, number, symbol, and upper case.
Entering alternative characters
Each character in the virtual keyboard has one or more alternative characters which can be activated without changing the keyboard layout.
While you're selecting a character with your finger, keep it pressed for 2 seconds. The alternative character will be announced. Releasing your finger will insert the alternative character.
Some keys have more than one alternative character. Continue to press on the screen to cycle through the list of available alternative characters for that key. Note that alternative characters usually match those from the Symbol layout. So, if a user doesn't know the concept of alternative characters they will still be able to insert them by toggling the current layout.
QWERTY LOWERCASE Layout with Number row
|
1st Row |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
0 |
Backspace |
|
|
Alternate |
! |
@ |
# |
$ |
% |
^ |
& |
* |
( |
) |
|
|
|
2nd row |
q |
w |
e |
r |
t |
y |
u |
I |
o |
p |
|
|
|
Alternate |
Q “ |
W |
E = |
R |
T ~ |
Y |
U _ |
I |
O |
P + |
|
|
|
3rd row |
a |
s |
d |
f |
g |
h |
j |
k |
l |
|
||
|
Alternate |
A ‘ |
S |
D |
F |
G > |
H |
J |
K |
L < |
|
||
|
4th row |
z |
x |
c |
v |
b |
n |
m |
|
||||
|
Alternate |
Z |
X |
C ¢ |
V |
B | \ [ ] |
N |
M - ∙ |
|
||||
|
5th row |
shift |
, |
space |
. |
/ |
Enter |
|
|||||
|
Alternate |
Toggle Keyboard layouts |
; |
Toggle Navigation Mode |
: |
? |
|
||||||
QWERTY LOWERCASE Layout without Number row
|
1st row |
q |
w |
e |
r |
t |
y |
u |
i |
o |
p |
Backspace |
|
|
Alternate |
Q 1 ! “ |
W 2 @ |
E 3 # = |
R 4 $ |
T 5 % ~ |
Y 6 ^ |
U 7 & _ |
I 8 * |
O 9 ( |
P 0 ) + |
|
|
|
3rd row |
a |
s |
d |
f |
g |
h |
j |
k |
l |
|
||
|
Alternate |
A ‘ |
S |
D |
F |
G > |
H |
J |
K |
L < |
|
||
|
4th row |
z |
x |
c |
v |
b |
n |
|
|||||
|
Alternate |
Z |
X |
C ¢ |
V |
B | \ [ ] |
N |
M - ∙ |
|
||||
|
5th row |
shift |
, |
space |
. |
/ |
Enter |
|
|||||
|
Alternate |
Toggle Keyboard layouts |
; |
Toggle Navigation Mode |
: |
? |
|
||||||
QWERTY UPPERCASE Layout with Number row
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
0 |
Backspace |
||
|
Alternate |
! |
@ |
# |
$ |
% |
^ |
& |
* |
( |
) |
|
|
|
2nd row |
Q |
W |
E |
R |
T |
Y |
U |
I |
O |
P |
|
|
|
Alternate |
q “ |
w |
e = |
r |
t ~ |
y |
u _ |
i |
o |
p + |
|
|
|
3rd row |
A |
S |
D |
F |
G |
H |
J |
K |
L |
|
||
|
Alternate |
a ‘ |
s |
d |
f |
g > |
h |
j |
k |
l < |
|
||
|
4th row |
Z |
X |
C |
V |
B |
N |
M |
|
||||
|
Alternate |
z |
x |
c ¢ |
v |
b | \ [ ] |
n |
m - ∙ |
|
||||
|
5th row |
shift |
, |
space |
. |
/ |
Enter |
|
|||||
|
Alternate |
Toggle Keyboard layouts |
; |
Toggle Navigation Mode |
: |
? |
|
||||||
QWERTY UPPERCASE Layout without Number row
|
1st row |
Q |
W |
E |
R |
T |
Y |
U |
I |
O |
P |
Backspace |
|
|
Alternate |
q 1 ! “ |
w 2 @ |
e 3 # = |
r 4 $ |
t 5 % ~ |
y 6 ^ |
u 7 & _ |
i 8 * |
o 9 ( |
p 0 ) + |
|
|
|
3rd row |
A |
S |
D |
F |
G |
H |
J |
K |
L |
|
||
|
Alternate |
a ‘ |
s |
d |
f |
g > |
h |
j |
k |
l < |
|
||
|
4th row |
Z |
X |
C |
V |
B |
N |
M |
|
||||
|
Alternate |
z |
x |
c ¢ |
v |
b | \ [ ] |
n |
m - ∙ |
|
||||
|
5th row |
shift |
, |
space |
. |
/ |
Enter |
|
|||||
|
Alternate |
Toggle Keyboard layouts |
; |
Toggle Navigation Mode |
: |
? |
|
||||||
Number Layout
|
1st Row |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
Alternate |
< |
> |
- |
|
2nd Row |
4 |
5 |
6 |
|
Alternate |
? |
@ |
= |
|
3rd Row |
7 |
8 |
9 |
|
Alternate |
/ |
( |
) |
|
4th Row |
* |
0 |
# |
|
Alternate |
* |
+ |
# |
|
5th Row |
Shift |
Enter |
Backspace |
Symbol Layout
|
1st Row |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
0 |
Backspace |
||
|
Alternate |
! |
@ |
# |
$ |
% |
^ |
& |
* |
( |
) |
|
||
|
2nd Row |
“ |
= |
€ |
~ |
_ |
+ |
|
||||||
|
3rd Row |
‘ |
£ |
{ |
} |
> |
« |
» |
< |
|
||||
|
4th Row |
[ |
] |
¢ |
\ |
| |
∙ |
- |
|
|||||
|
Shift |
, |
Space |
. |
/ |
Enter |
|
|||||||
While composing text, it is important to be able to move through the edit field in order to make sure what you are typing is correct. In order to toggle the navigation mode, press the volume down key. This will toggle between characters, words and sentences. One can also change the navigation mode by holding the Space key on the virtual keyboard.
Using swipe left / right on the screen will move the cursor in the editor using the selected navigation mode.
You can use the volume up key to toggle the current layout. When the virtual keyboard is activated, the layout is QWERTY lower case. Pressing the volume key in succession will change the layout to numeric mode, symbol mode, and QWERTY upper case. Alternatively, one can hold the Shift Key on the virtual keyboard to change layouts.
By default, the virtual keyboard operates in landscape mode.
When the landscape setting of the virtual keyboard is off, the virtual keyboard always adapts to the current orientation of the device (regardless of the orientation of the current application). When holding the device in portrait mode, the virtual keyboard adapts itself and will work only in the lower half part of the screen. This makes typing with the device upright and only using a thumb feasible.
Similar to Mobile Speak for Windows Mobile, the dynamic virtual touch keyboard has been implemented with Mobile Accessibility as well. This means that wherever you first put your finger becomes the letter H for lowercase and UPPERCASE or the number 5 for numeric keyboard layouts. You can move your finger in any direction to locate the desired character. This option is off by default, but can be turned on from Settings > Virtual Keyboard.
Mobile Accessibility includes an easy-to-use and powerful speech recognition feature. Please note that your phone must be running Android 2.2 or later and be connected to the Internet using Wi-Fi or a data plan to use this feature. Speech recognition can be used both in edit fields of Mobile Accessibility but also in edit fields outside of Mobile Accessibility. Consult the above section on enabling the virtual keyboard outside of Mobile Accessibility, as these steps will also allow for speech recognition when using the screen reader.
To begin speech recognition, long press the Volume down key. The device will vibrate twice when it's ready to listen. When you're done speaking, release the volume down key. A list of possible matches will be spoken. You can use the arrow keys or swipe up and down to move through them. To accept the current suggestion, double tap, press enter or press the volume down key. To review the current suggestion by word use the volume up key repeatedly.
Please note, Speech recognition outside MA is not available on devices running android 5.0 and above since MA virtual keyboard is not available.
On Doro devices and on some other devices where two speech recognition system are available, one need to select “Basic Google recognition” under device settings.
Speech recognition can be used to enter a single word or an entire text message. Speak slowly and clearly, and try to limit background noise whenever possible. You may wish to speak your message one sentence or a few words at a time to more quickly gain matching results.
Mobile Accessibility makes it easy to determine who is calling and answer phone calls using the touchscreen or volume keys. When receiving a call, double tap anywhere on the screen to hear the name or number of the person who is calling. To answer a call, swipe up with one finger. Swipe down with one finger to reject a call. Please note to avoid accidental answering or rejecting of a call, you will need to use a longer swipe to answer or reject a call. If you have enabled the setting under Settings> Advanced > Enable Volume Keys to Answer / Reject calls, you can also press the volume up key to answer a call or the volume down key to reject a call.
While on a call, it is possible to perform several commands, including placing the phone on speaker phone, answering or rejecting additional calls, or entering numbers for interactive telephone systems.
Simply double tap to toggle the status of speaker phone. The phone will toggle between using the speaker for your ear or the louder, room speaker.
Call Waiting
If you receive another call, you can use double tap to hear the caller ID for the additional call. Use swipe up to answer or swipe down to reject the call. If you have enabled the setting under Settings> Advanced > Enable Volume Keys to Answer / Reject calls, you can also press the volume up key to answer the additional call or the volume down key t o reject it.
Adjusting Call Volume
To adjust the call volume, use the volume up or down keys. If you have enabled the setting under Settings> Advanced > Use Volume Keys to Answer/Reject calls, be sure to press the volume up or down keys while the phone is near your ear to avoid hanging up the call. Alternatively if you have this setting disabled, the volume keys will also allow you to adjust the speaker volume when the speaker phone is enabled.
Entering numbers while on a call
Sometimes, it may be necessary to dial additional numbers while on a call, such as a voicemail password. To do this, press the menu key. The default Android call screen will be activated. Please note this feature works best with phones that include a dedicated hardware keyboard.
Inside Mobile Accessibility that is the MA main window and MA application, everything including the menu option, controls layout, touch navigation, virtual keyboard, speech recognition etc. remains same for all version of Android. However the ability to navigate and navigation option itself, outside Mobile Accessibility differ depending on the version of android on the phone / tablet being used.
It is important to understand that outside Mobile Accessibility, the speech assistance is provided by Mobile Accessibility Screen reader. The below section elaborate the option for navigation on various platform. Please note, these options are platform dependent are available depending the technical ability of the platform and that is why are not same for every platform.
Please note, navigation using Braille display is possible in all version of Android provided MA Virtual keyboard is set as system default input method and MA Screen Reader is used.
Note: On some devices the Home, Menu, Search and Back buttons are placed on the touch screen that is they are part of the Android user interface instead of physical / touch buttons separate from the screen, these buttons gets activated while using MA user interface using touch and explore.
Navigation Options:
· Touch and Explore: Same as review cursor inside Mobile Accessibility, use finger to explore user interface. To enable touch and explore, the option must be selected when turning on Mobile Accessibility screen reader service from Accessibility options under System settings as Mobile Accessibility prompts.
· Physical Navigation aid: use physical navigation aid such as arrow keys, d-pad, track ball for navigation and enter.
· Activating controls: Use double tap on touch screen while using touch and explore option to activate the focused control or use enter while using physical navigation aid to activate the focused control.
· Touch gestures for navigation:
· Slide Down with 2 fingers from top edge of the screen to launch system Notification window.
· Slide Up – Left – Open system Notification window
· Slide Up – Right – Open Recent Apps
· Slide Down – Left – Simulate Back Key
· Slide Down – Right – Simulate Home Key
· Slide up with 2 fingers – Scroll list in downward direction
· Slide Down with 2 fingers – Scroll list in upward direction
Note, while scrolling the list, MA will announce the number of item in the list that are visible on the screen and total items in the list.
· Slide Left / right – Simulate left / right arrow
· Slide Up / Down – Simulate Up / Down arrow
Note, the above 2 gestures are to facilitate navigation outside Mobile Accessibility.
Note: On some devices the Home, Menu, Search and Back buttons are placed on the touch screen that is they are part of the Android user interface instead of physical / touch buttons separate from the screen, these buttons gets activated while using MA user interface using touch and explore.
Navigation Options:
· Touch and Explore: Same as review cursor inside Mobile Accessibility, use finger to explore user interface. To enable touch and explore, the option must be selected from Accessibility options under System settings.
· Physical Navigation aid: use physical navigation aid such as arrow keys, d-pad, track ball for navigation and enter.
· Activating controls: Use single tap on touch screen while using touch and explore option to activate the focused control or use enter while using physical navigation aid to activate the focused control. It is important to note that one must tap almost at the same locatioin when the focused control is on the screen.
· Touch gestures for navigation:
· Slide Down with 2 fingers from top edge of the screen to launch system Notification window.
· Slide up with 2 fingers – Scroll list in downward direction
· Slide Down with 2 fingers – Scroll list in upward direction
Note, while scrolling the list, MA will announce the number of item in the list that are visible on the screen and total items in the list.
Navigation Options:
· Physical Navigation aid: use physical navigation aid such as arrow keys, d-pad, track ball for navigation and enter.
· Activating controls: use enter to activate the focused control.
· Touch gestures for navigation:
· Slide Down from top edge of the screen to launch system Notification window.
In order to provide choice and flexibility, Mobile Accessibility is compatible with Talkback which is the Android native screen reader service. This implies that having talkback enabled one can use Mobile Accessibility application. However, while using Talkback as screen reader the following MA options are not available and it is recommended to use the talkback option or the system default option to be used:
Please note, this is only applicable to Android 4.0 and 4.1 and for other version, when using Talkback Screen reader, MA and MA Apps will work as usual.
· MA Speech related options are not available as speech is controlled by Talkback.
· MA Braille support is not available both inside MA and outside.
· Audio and Vibration Settings options are not available.
· Screen Reader settings option are not available.
· MA Advanced options under MA Settings is not available.
· MA Virtual keyboard will not be available and we recommend using Talkback Virtual keyboard.
· MA Speech Recognition is not available.
· MA focus highlighting is not available when navigating inside MA , only the system default focus highlighting is available.
· MA Call Screen is not available and system default phone application is used to manage calls. Also note, option to listen caller ID, answer / reject calls using slide / volume up / down will not be available.
· Navigation options except, move to top and move to bottom are not available for edit box.
· Read option are not available for edit box, web and other text controls.
· Navigation options in web are not available.
The web application can be used for browser actions outside Mobile Accessibility. For instance, when you click a link in an SMS or in an email, you are presented with a list of web browser instances one can select Web to process the action. Note: in the list of browser actions, select Default for this action check box to make Mobile Accessibility web browser default application to process web action requests. To clear the defaults, go to Phone Settings > Mobile Accessibility and activate the clear defaults button.
To start browsing the web, go to the Mobile Accessibility home screen, and navigate to the web application using the arrow keys or the touchscreen. Then activate the browser by either double tapping on the screen or pressing the center of the trackpad or the enter key of your phone keyboard.
Once launched, the Mobile Accessibility web app will load the home page. The default page is Code Factory’s home page. If you want, you can change the default home page in the web settings dialog.
While a page is loading, the Mobile Accessibility web app announces your download progress in percent, i.e. 44 percent. Once a page is fully loaded, a page summary with the number of frames, headings, elements and links will be spoken. At this point, you can begin to navigate the page using Mobile Accessibility’s web commands.
You can navigate a web page using Mobile Accessibility navigation commands. To make the interface simple, Mobile Accessibility uses navigation modes. You can change the navigation mode and then use the “Navigate To Previous Element” or “Navigate To Next Element” commands to explore the web page. Use the long press of the menu key to toggle navigation modes. The default navigation mode is “navigation by links”, so if you want to navigate to the next link, you would use the swipe right gesture or press right arrow, which is the “Navigate Next Element” command. If instead, you want to navigate to the next heading, you would long press the menu key once to change the navigation mode to ”navigate by headings” and then swipe right or press right arrow to Navigate to the next element.
Similar to other Mobile Accessibility apps, another important feature of the Mobile Accessibility Web App is that you can press the menu key or triple tap to bring up a quick menu to change some options and issue a few commands that are not available using gestures.
The first thing that you may want to do after opening the Mobile Accessibility Web application is visit a web site. There are two ways to do so:
· Once the Mobile Accessibility web application is open, use the menu key or triple tap anywhere on the screen to bring up the quick menu.
· The first item is the address bar; double tap or press enter to open it.
· You are now in an edit box, with “www.” Already entered. Use the virtual keyboard or the physical keyboard of your phone to enter the URL.
· Locate the ok button and activate it with either double tap or enter.
· If the URL is correct, the Mobile Accessibility Web app will load the web page.
Mobile Accessibility allows you to visit pages you have marked as a favorite, for easier retrieval.
· Once the Mobile Accessibility web application is open, use the menu key or triple tap anywhere on the screen to bring up the quick menu.
· The first item is the address bar; double tap or press enter to open it.
· You are now in an edit box, with “www.” Already entered. Use navigation commands such as swipe up or swipe down to navigate to the list of favorites.
· Activate the desired favorite with either double tap or enter.
· Open the web page that you want to add to your favorites.
· Use the menu key or triple tap anywhere on the screen to bring up the quick menu.
· The first item is the address bar; double tap or press enter to open it.
· You are now in an edit box, with “www.” Already entered. Use navigation commands such as swipe up or swipe down to navigate to the Add button.
· Activate the Add button with either double tap or enter.
Once a page loads, you might want to explore its structure. The Mobile Accessibility web application provides simple gestures and keyboard commands to help explore the web page. Use the following commands to navigate the current page:
· Move to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard or trackpad.
· Move to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard or trackpad.
· Move to next navigation element: swipe right or right arrow of the keyboard or trackpad.
· Move to previous navigation element: swipe left or left arrow of the keyboard or trackpad.
· Move to top of page: Swipe up with two fingers.
· Move to bottom of page: Swipe down with two fingers.
Navigation modes can be changed either by using the long press of the menu key or from the quick menu > Navigation menu item. The default is navigation by links. Long pressing the menu key changes navigation modes between links, Headings, Lists, Tables, and Forms.
A more complete list of navigation modes is available in the quick menu > navigation menu item as well.
· Bring up the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping anywhere on the screen.
· Move to the “Navigate” option using swipe gestures or the arrow keys.
· Double tap or press enter on the navigate menu item and locate the desired navigation mode.
· Double tap or press enter on the desired option to set the navigation mode.
For reading text on web pages you can use the following options:
· Move to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard.
· Move to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard.
· Read from cursor: quick menu (menu key or triple tap) > read > read from cursor.
· Read from top: quick menu (Menu key or triple tap) > read > read from top.
· You can also set the navigation mode to paragraph in the quick menu > Navigate and then use next / previous navigation commands to read the text.
Forms are used on web pages to get input from the users. Some form elements such as edit boxes, combo boxes and list boxes must be activated before you can modify them, while other elements such as check boxes, radio buttons or push buttons may be modified straight away.
In order to work with a form element, you first need to find it. To find a form element quickly, set the navigation mode using a long press of the menu key or quick menu > navigation > forms and then use either next or previous navigation element commands to find the desired form element.
If you are on a form element such as a check box, radio button or push button, just activate it using double tap or enter to change its state.
If Mobile Accessibility announces “text”, then you are on an edit box. Activate the edit box using double tap or enter. You will be placed in a dialog titled “enter text“.
This dialog has an edit control, and 2 push buttons labeled “ok” and “cancel”. If you do not want to change anything, just move your focus to the “cancel” button and close the dialog. If you want to enter the text or edit the existing text in an edit box, just make the changes using either the virtual keyboard or the phone keyboard, locate the “ok” button and activate it using either double tap or enter. Remember that speech recognition can be used in edit boxes, including in the web browser.
Whenever you find a combo box or a list box, activate it using double tap or enter, and the Mobile Accessibility Web application will then show a list of items that you can select, just as you would do while within a list. Once you have made your choice, you can double tap or press enter to finalize your selection. If however, you don’t want to change the existing entry, then use the back key to cancel it.
The download process with Mobile Accessibility is very simple, whenever a download link is activated, Mobile Accessibility prompts “Do you want to download (file that would be downloaded)” with OK and cancel button. Selection OK button would start downloading the file and selection cancel button would discard downloading.
When a download is started, Mobile Accessibility places a notification in the system notification with the download status. When the download is in progress, the notification continues to show the percentage of the download file size. When the download finishes, activating the notification will launch the downloaded file.
Mobile Accessibility also keeps announcing the percentage status of all downloads and also announce the finish status of all downloads.
When a download is in progress, a new option appears in the quick menu as “Manage Downloads” having the list of all in progress download with their percentage of download and file name. First option in the list is “Cancel All downloads” allows to discard all current downloads. Selection any list item would cancel the selected file downloading. To avoid cancelling download, please use the back key to exit this list.
Note, to explore all completed downloads, use the option “Open download folder” in quick menu that opens the Download folder created by Mobile Accessibility web Browser to store all downloads that are downloaded by Web Browser.
Mobile Accessibility also supports system download default method or downloading via the other web Browser. To enable system default download method to manage downloads, enable the option “Use system default download method” from quick menu > Settings. Note, if MA Web is set as default web browser, this option will have no effect. When the option is enabled, activating a download link, Mobile Accessibility prompts “Do you want to download (file that would be downloaded)” with OK and cancel button. Selection Cancel button will discard downloading and selection OK button would present the list of web browser installed on the phone that can handle downloading file. Please select browser of your choice and continue to follow the download process of the web browser. Please note, in the list of web browser, Selecting Web would result in prompt asking to start download, so to avoid endless look, please select browser other than web. Also note, if a web browser is set as default web browser, the download will begin as soon as you select the OK button.
For option related to download, check quick menu > Settings > or refer to the heading “Web Browser download settings” below.
The quick menu can be used to activate several additional options. You can bring up the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping anywhere on the screen or by long press of the trackball or long press of the enter key of the keyboard. The following items are available from the quick menu.
Provide the list of downloads that in progress and the option is only available if there is any file being downloaded. The first option is “cancel all downloads” allowing discarding all on going download. Activating any list item will cancel the selected download.
The option launches the folder created by MA to store all files that are downloaded using MA Web browser.
As explained earlier, the address bar is used to enter the address for the target website or to choose a web address from your favorites.
The browser menu item includes the following options:
· Search: finds an item in the currently-opened web page.
· Go home: opens the default home page.
· Stop: stops loading a page.
· Back: go to the last visited page,
· Forward: visits the next page after pressing the back button, and
· Reload: reloads the current web page.
This menu item has all of the navigation modes available in the Mobile Accessibility web application. While navigation modes can also be changed using the long press of the menu key, that option only has a few navigation modes such as links, headings, lists, tables, and forms. But in Quick menu > Navigation the complete list is available. The options are: top to go to the top of the current page, Jump by links, Jump by non-links, Jump by in-page links, jump by tables and lists , Jump by lists, Jump by tables, Jump by same control, Jump by different control, Jump by graphical control, Jump by forms, Jump by editors (edit boxes), Jump by buttons, Jump by check box and radio button, Jump by combo box and list box, Jump by heading and frames, Jump by heading, Jump by frames , Jump by paragraphs and block quotes, Jump by paragraph, Jump by block quotes, Jump by 2 percent, Jump by 5 percent, Jump by 10 percent, and bottom to go to the bottom of the current page.
In the reading menu, the options are: Read from current position, read from top, read summary of the page, and read the title of the page.
This option will speak the current date and time, just as in other quick menus.
This option will speak phone details such as the battery level, signal strength, current phone network or unread messages.
If Mobile Accessibility is enabled as a screen reader, this option will focus the list of system notifications.
This option will allow you to configure various settings for the Mobile Accessibility web application and general Mobile Accessibility options. For more details, see the next section.
The Mobile Accessibility Web Application can be configured to suit requirements of various users. In order to customize the web app according to your requirements, open the web settings window by going to the quick menu and selecting settings.
· Home page: This option allows you to set the home page that the Mobile Accessibility Web app will load on startup. By default it is set to the code factory home page. You can change it by doing a double tap or enter on the home page option and then editing the address in the dialog.
· Notify download progress: if this check box is checked, Mobile Accessibility will announce the download progress, uncheck this box if you don’t want Mobile Accessibility to announce the progress. By default this check box is checked.
· Read whole page on download: if this check box is checked, Mobile Accessibility will start reading the web page as soon as the download is finished. Uncheck this box if you don’t want Mobile Accessibility to start reading automatically. By default this check box is checked.
· Zoom level: Mobile Accessibility can enlarge the text up to 2 times the original text size. The increments are in percents, and they are 100%, 125%, 150%, 175%, and 200%. This can be very useful for people with low vision. The default is 125%.
· Remember last visited web page: if this check box is checked, Mobile Accessibility will automatically open the web page that was open when the last session was closed. Keep it unchecked if you want Mobile Accessibility to open the home page instead. By default this check box is checked.
· Reset navigation on download: if this check box is checked, Mobile Accessibility will set the navigation mode to the default option when the download is finished. The default navigation mode is links. Uncheck this box if you want Mobile Accessibility to remember the navigation mode across pages. By default this check box is checked.
· Display page in a single column: if this check box is checked, Mobile Accessibility will display the web page in a single column irrespective of the page layout. Uncheck this box if you want Mobile Accessibility to display the web page as per the page layout. By default this check box is checked.
· Touch screen works as arrow keys: if this check box is checked, touch slides would work as arrow keys allowing you to navigate the page elements. If it is unchecked, slide gestures will scroll the page. By default this check box is checked.
· Use device back button to navigate history: if this check box is checked, the back button can be used to go back to previously visited pages, same as quick menu > Browser > back. If it is unchecked, the back button will close the browser. By default this check box is unchecked.
· Use Desktop Layout: if this option is checked, Mobile Accessibility Web browser would try to download the desktop version of the web page you are opening. As certain web sites have different page depending on the requesting device being a full computer or a Mobile Device. The option is added to allow user to see and use the version of the webpage which is more accessible.
Please note, the option may not work for all web sites due to technical limitations.
· Use System Default download Method: if the option is checked, the download links are passed to the default browser. If there is no default browser set, it prompts to select to select one. In case MA Web browser is set as default, this check box will have no effect. By default this option is not checked and all downloads are managed by MA Web Browser.
· Open File when download finishes: The Option is not selected by default and when the option is checked, the downloaded file is executed / opened as soon as it finish downloading.
Please note, this option will only work if downloads are managed by MA Web browser, that is having the option “Use system Default download method” not checked and / or MA web is set as default browser.
· Download percent voice announcements: The option is selected by default and is used to enable or disable the voice announcement for the download progress.
· Download Finish Voice announcement: Setting to turn on / off voice announcement on completion of a download. The option only works when download is managed by MA Web.
A simple application for the purpose of taking and to be able to open and read Plain text (.txt) documents. The application has 2 parts, Directory Window and Notes Window.
Directory Window
On launching the Notes application, it opens MA Notes directory Window and the focus is on "Go Up Directory". The window has the following items starting from the top of the screen, use list navigation command to explore them:
· New Note: Allow creating a new note / txt file and opens blank note window.
· Enter Filter Text Edit Field: The edit box can be used to search file / folder in the current directory. Use the virtual keyboard or the physical keyboard to type the file / folder you would like to search. Once you enter the text, use slide / arrow down to view the filtered list.
· Go Up Directory: The option allow you to go back a level up in the directory structure.
· List of Folder and Files: The list contains all the folders in alphabetic order and then has the list of all Plain text files in alphabetic order. It is important to note that the list only has plain text files that can be opened by Notes application.
· Menu Option: Use Triple tap or the menu key to explore the below options
1. New Note: Allow creating a new note / txt file and opens blank note window.
2. Open: Allow opening the selected file / folder in the list.
3. Create Directory: Open a dialog prompt with edit box to type Folder Name. By default a new name is proposed as “Directory (n)” where n is a number that increase automatically if the proposed name has been used in the current directory. For instance if you have folder as “Directory1” the new name will be “Directory2”. After typing the name in the edit box, select the OK button to confirm.
4. Rename File / Rename Directory: A dialog appear with the file / Directory name in the edit box. Edit the name as required and select the OK button to confirm.
5. Delete File / Delete Directory: A dialog asking to confirm the deletion, select OK button to confirm or use back / select cancel button to discard the action and return to the File / Folder list.
6. Exit: Use the option to close and return to MA Home Screen.
Note Window
On activating the “New Note” option or activating any plain text file, it opens MA Notes Window and the focus is on Edit box. The window has following option starting from the top of the screen, use slide / arrow up / down to navigate:
· Notes Edit Box: Has the text of the text file or if a new file is created, it is blank. This is a multiline line edit box.
· Save Button: Use the button to save the changes made in the file. If the button is used for the first time, a dialog prompts with edit box to type File Name. By default a new name is proposed as “Untitled (n)” where n is a number that increase automatically if the proposed name has been used in the current directory. For instance if you have folder as “Untitled1” the new name will be “Untitled2”. After typing the name in the edit box, select the OK button to confirm.
· Cancel Button: Use Back button or Cancel button to discard the changes and exit the notes window. A dialog confirms to discard changes, select the OK button to confirm or cancel button to discard the action.
· Menu Option: Use Triple tap or the menu key to explore the below options
1. Edit: Provides editing option for the edit box text including, select all, copy, cut and paste.
2. Navigation: Provides text navigation option including Move to top, Move by character, Move by words, Move by Sentence and Move to bottom. After selecting the option use the slide / arrow left / right to move back and forth.
3. Read: Provides reading options including read from top, read from cursor position and read current word.
· Working with Large plain text files
When opening a large file, it is loaded partially allowing to start reading and navigation when the rest of the file continue to load in the background. During the time when the file is loading, the save button is not available and is shown as "Loading". As soon as the file loads completely, the loading button turns to save and the functionality is restored.
When the file is loading, one can use the back button or the cancel button the screen to abort opening the file.
Note, when opening too large file: The notes window appear with the following text “Text file too large to open”. Once you launch such large file, to close the file, use back button and select OK to discard changes.
· Using Notes app as system default Text editor
If you open a plain text file from any file explorer application other than MA Explorer, the system prompts you to select a text editor. In the list one can select Notes to have the file open in the MA Notes app.
Explorer application is a simple File browsing application allowing user to explorer files / folders stored on the phone including the internal memory and storage card.
Directory list Window
On launching the Explorer application, the focus is on "Go Up Directory". The window has the following items starting from the top of the screen, use list navigation command to explore them:
· Enter Filter Text Edit Field: The edit box can be used to search file / folder in the current directory. Use the virtual keyboard or the physical keyboard to type the file / folder you would like to search. Once you enter the text, use slide / arrow down to view the filtered list.
· Go Up Directory: The option allow you to go back a level up in the directory structure.
· List of Folder and Files: The list contains all the folder in alphabetic order and then has the list of all files in alphabetic order.
· Menu Option: Use Triple tap or the menu key to explore the below options
1. Open: Allow opening the selected file / folder in the list.
2. Create Directory: Open a dialog prompt with edit box to type Folder Name. By default a new name is proposed as “Directory (n)” where n is a number that increase automatically if the proposed name has been used in the current directory. For instance if you have folder as “Directory1” the new name will be “Directory2”. After typing the name in the edit box, select the OK button to confirm.
3. Rename File / Rename Directory: A dialog appear with the file / Directory name in the edit box. Edit the name as required and select the OK button to confirm.
4. Delete File / Delete Directory: A dialog asking to confirm the deletion, select OK button to confirm or use back / select cancel button to discard the action and return to the File / Folder list.
5. Exit: Use the option to close and return to MA Home Screen.
Note:
When accessing the root files, a warning prompt appears as "Warning! The directory you are about to enter is protected and modification are not allowed. All file / directory functionality are available but we strongly recommend not to change anything, unless you are really sure. Do you want to continue exploring?". Activating OK will open the protected folder and activating cancel will discard the operation.
Mobile Accessibility provides an accessible e-mail application that is intuitive and easy to use. It is an e-mail application built on android’s e-mail system, and a Gmail account is required in order to use the e-mail application. This e-mail application allows you to send and receive e-mails and organize them in various folders.
To access the email app, select the “email” shortcut from the Mobile Accessibility home screen. Using the touchscreen, Email is located about halfway down the right side of the screen.
To configure the e-mail account from the e-mail app, activate the quick menu by pressing the menu key, triple tapping anywhere on the screen or a long press of enter or trackpad. Then choose the settings option which is the last item in the menu.
Once the e-mail preferences window is open, the first item in the list is Gmail account. Open the Gmail account screen in order to enter your Gmail ID.
Once the screen is opened, the focus will be in the edit field. If this is the first time you are configuring your e-mail, the edit field may have the text “my e-mail”. Otherwise the edit field should have the existing e-mail address. Note: You can also use a Google Apps e-mail account by typing the complete address in this box.
Note: in the virtual keyboard, either use the symbol layout to locate @ (at sign) or keep holding the number 2 key (if number row is enabled) or W key.
Once you’ve entered your Gmail ID, select the ok button by navigating to the bottom left of the edit field. Your focus will return to the e-mail preferences window.
The second item in the list is password. Password editing is similar to editing the e-mail ID.
In most cases, these are the only options required to set up your e-mail. Other advanced options are available, however.
The Mobile Accessibility e-mail application downloads e-mails in groups. This helps to prevent unnecessary downloads. For example, the default group size is 25, so when you open the inbox, It will show the 25 latest messages. At the bottom of the list, there is an item called “get more messages”. You can change the number of items displayed by changing the value of “Download items in groups of”. Once you open this setting, you will get 5 choices: these are 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100.
By default Mobile Accessibility checks for new e-mails every 15 minutes. You can choose the desired interval from the following 7 options: 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, one hour, and 2 hours.
Once your e-mail is configured, the e-mail app will show all the folders that are available in your Gmail account. You can navigate among those folders with the next or previous item commands such as swipe down or swipe up. Double tap or press enter to open any folder. Select quick menu > close folder to go back to the previous window. You can use the same navigation commands to navigate in the message list, i.e. swipe down or up for next / previous message, swipe left or right to navigate to the previous or next 5 messages.
Navigate to the message that you want to read and activate it by either double tap or enter. Once the message is opened, the navigation and reading commands used for the web would also work for message text. Some of these commands are also available from the quick menu.
· Read from cursor: quick menu > read > read from cursor.
· Read from top: quick menu > read > read from top.
· Go to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard
· Go to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard
· Go to next navigation element: swipe right or right arrow of the keyboard
· Go to previous navigation element: swipe left or left arrow of the keyboard
Navigation modes can be changed either by using the menu key or from the quick menu > Navigation. The default is navigation by links. The menu key cycles among links, Headings, Lists, Tables, and Forms.
To compose a new message, choose new message from the quick menu. The compose e-mail window will open. The layout of the compose e-mail screen is given below:
<To: edit field> <Add recipients button>
<Subject: edit field>
<Message body edit field>
<Send button> <save as Draft button> <discard button>
(IMPORTANT NOTE! Drafts are saved under [Gmail]/Drafts folder.)
In the To: field, you can enter the e-mail address by either using the virtual keyboard or select it from your contacts using the add recipient button.
In this screen, you can either use swipe gestures or exploration of the touch screen to navigate among the various controls. If you choose to use the touchscreen to navigate, Mobile Accessibility will, by default, generate an audio beep and vibratory feedback whenever you move from one control to another.
CC or BCC fields allow you to carbon copy or blind carbon copy additional recipients. If you wish to add cc or bcc fields, you can add them by selecting quick menu > cc or bcc. Once cc and bcc fields are added, the layout of the compose e-mail screen becomes as follows.
<To: edit field> <Add recipients button>
<CC: edit field> <Add CC button>
<BCC: edit field> <Add BCC button>
<Subject: edit field>
<Message body edit field>
<Send button> <save as Draft button> <discard button>
(IMPORTANT NOTE! Drafts are saved under [Gmail]/Drafts folder.)
Once you are in the message body when composing an e-mail, you can use navigation commands to read the message.
· Go to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard
· Go to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard
· Go to next navigation element: swipe right or right arrow of the keyboard
· Go to previous navigation element: swipe left or left arrow of the keyboard
Navigation modes can be changed by using a long press of the menu key. The key cycles through characters, words, and sentences.
When an email message is open, the following buttons are available at the bottom:
· Reply
· Reply All
· Previous
· Next
Options to Reply or reply to all are available in a quick menu when an e-mail message is open.
In an open message or from the list of messages, use the option “Mark as unread / read” from the quick menu.
In an open message or from the list of messages, use the option “Delete email” to delete the currently open or selected email.
Mobile Accessibility provides an accessible phone app that is intuitive and easy to use. It is a full featured phone application that allows you to call by entering numbers, call from your contacts, or call from the call log.
To access the phone app, select the “phone” shortcut from the Mobile Accessibility home screen. The phone option is located near the top left corner of the screen, and if the first option on the home screen menu. Once the Phone app is open, you can swipe up or down to navigate between one of 3 options:
· Call number
· Call contact
· Call log
Call number is a button on the top of the phone screen and you can use double tap or enter to open the number pad. Once the number pad is active, you can use touch gestures to dial a number in one of 2 ways.
· Touch and explore: In this method, you can touch the screen and without lifting the finger or stylus explore the screen until you find the desired number to be dialed. Once the desired number is found, lift your finger or stylus, and Mobile Accessibility will enter the number in the edit box and generate a long number tone to indicate the number entered. The number entered will also be spoken.
· Touch and dial: if you have enough practice, you can just tap at the right position for a specific number, and Mobile Accessibility will enter the number in the edit box and generate a long number tone to indicate the number entered. The number entered will also be spoken.
· Slide / arrow and double tap or enter: Use the slide or arrow or direction pad to navigate to the button you wish to dial and then use double tap on the screen or enter to dial number.
The number pad layout is a standard phone keypad, with the following layout:
Top row: <Edit field> <backspace>
2nd row: 1 2 3
3rd row: 4 5 6
4th row: 7 8 9
5th row: * 0 #
Last row: <Dial> <Cancel>
When you enter numbers, they are stored in the edit field and you can edit these numbers in case there is an error. Whenever you make a mistake, you can use the backspace key to delete the last character.
Navigation commands
You can use navigation commands to navigate in the edit box. For example, swiping left or right allows you to review the entered numbers. In order to reach the number edit field, navigate towards the top by using the swipe up gesture repeatedly until you hear “number, edit field”. You can also place your finger near the top of the screen to find this field.
Deleting numbers
The backspace key is positioned on the top right of the number pad, and you can press it the same way as you do the other number keys. So you can touch and explore to find the backspace key or use touch type directly. Backspace will only delete the last number, no matter where the cursor is in the edit box.
Dial / cancel
Once you are satisfied with the result, navigate to the bottom left of the screen until Mobile Accessibility announces “dial”. Then activate the dial button by either double tap or enter. In case you decide to not dial this number, navigate to the bottom right of the screen until Mobile Accessibility announces “cancel”. Then activate the cancel button by either a double tap or enter.
If you want to call someone from your contact list, select the call contacts option. Call contact is the second button from the top of the screen. Once you activate the call contacts button, you will be placed in the list of your contacts. You can navigate in this list in the same way as you do it in the contact application using the standard list navigation commands.
Double tap or press enter to call the selected contact.
Directly below the call contact button is the call log. The call log is a list of all the calls that you have made, received or missed. You can call any of the items in the call log by activating the quick menu. The first menu item is “call”. Once you double tap on this item, you will be asked if you want to call this contact. You can press double tap to accept ok or swipe right to locate the cancel button and then double tap to cancel.
Actions in the call log
While focus is on any item in the call log, the following options are available via the quick menu by pressing the menu key, triple tapping, or a long press of the enter key.
· Call: Call the selected contact
· Send Message: Send an SMS (text message) to the selected contact.
· Create new contact: Brings up the new contact dialog in which the number from the selected log item is already filled in.
· Add to existing contact: Add current number to an existing contact. This brings up the list of contacts from your contacts stored in your phone. Choose the contact to which you want to add this number.
· Filter: Filters the call log to display specific types of calls. The available options are all calls, missed calls, outgoing calls, and incoming calls. The default is to display all calls.
· Delete: Delete the current item from the call log.
· Clear All: Clear the call log.
· Date and Time: Announces the current date and time.
· Show system notifications: If Mobile Accessibility is enabled as a screen reader, this option will focus the list of system notifications.
· Device Status: Gives the battery status, number of missed calls, etc.
· Settings: this contains Speech settings, Text input, audio and vibration, and screen reader settings.
The contacts application allows you to manage your contacts. You can add new contacts, delete existing contacts, or call / send messages to a contact.
Upon opening the contacts application, you are positioned in a list box with all of your contacts. You can navigate in the contact list with the help of navigation gestures. Swipe down or swipe up moves in the list by one contact at a time, and swipe left or swipe right moves several contacts at a time (usually 5).
You can filter contacts to quickly find a particular person or business. In order to filter contacts, you can either move to the filter edit box at the top of the screen, or use the physical keyboard.
With each character entered, Mobile Accessibility will filter the list to only show contacts which match the text you’ve entered. When you are satisfied with the results, use navigation commands to locate the desired contact.
Once you’ve found the contact that you want to call, activate the quick menu by pressing the menu key, triple tapping on the screen, or a long press of enter or the track pad. In the quick menu, the first option is call. Once you double tap or press enter on this option, you will be asked if you want to call this contact. You can press double tap to accept ok or swipe right to locate the cancel button and then double tap to cancel. Note: if there are multiple numbers associated with a contact, you will first be asked to select the appropriate number.
Once you’ve found the contact to send an SMS, activate the quick menu by pressing the menu key, triple tapping on the screen, or a long press of enter or the track pad. In the quick menu, the second option is Send Text Message. Once you activate this menu item with double tap or enter, a new message window opens. You can compose your message using the virtual keyboard, phone keyboard, or speech recognition. When you have composed your message and want to send it, navigate down once with the swipe down command to find the send button, and activate it with double tap or enter. If however, you do not want to send the message, you can move further down with another swipe down to find the cancel button, and activate it with double tap or enter to discard the message.
The third option “new contact” in the quick menu lets you create a new contact.
Once you activate this option, the new contact window opens. The first field is first name edit field, and second is last name edit field. Enter the details using your virtual keyboard or phone keyboard.
Adding a phone number
Next, move down to find the add phone number button. If you want to add a phone number, activate this button. Upon adding a phone number, your focus will move to the “phone number: edit field”. There are three fields for each phone number. Left most is the type of number button, on the right of that is the “phone number: edit field” and on the right of that is the remove phone number button. You would enter the phone number in the “phone number: edit field”. If you want, you can also change the type of phone number (the default type is “home phone”). To change the phone number type, move your focus to the phone number type button by using the swipe left gesture from the phone number field. Mobile Accessibility will announce “home Phone” button. To change this value, activate this button with either double tap or enter. You will get a list of options including home phone, work phone, mobile phone or other phone. Choose the desired option with up or down swipes and then select with double tap or enter. Once you have made your selection, Mobile Accessibility will announce the new value. You can navigate back to the phone number field by swiping right.
If you want to remove the phone number, navigate right to the remove phone number button. Once the focus is on this button, activate it by double tap or enter.
You can add more phone numbers by repeating the above process.
Adding e-mail addresses
The basic method to add e-mail addresses is the same as adding phone numbers, except for a couple of differences. For e-mail type, the options are home e-mail, work e-mail and other e-mail. And for removing the e-mail, the button has a label of “remove e-mail”.
Note: in the virtual keyboard, long press of the s key will add the at (@) sign.
Adding an address
Again, the basic method for adding addresses is same as adding phone numbers, except for a couple of minor differences. For address type, the options are home address, work address and other address. And for removing an address, the button is labeled “remove address”.
Saving or discarding the contact information
To save the contact information, navigate to the bottom left of the contact window until Mobile Accessibility announces “Save” button, and then activate the button by double tapping or pressing enter. To discard the contact information, navigate to the bottom left of the contact window until Mobile Accessibility announces “Cancel” button, and then activate the button.
The SMS application allows you to view and send SMS messages, also known as text messages. The SMS application can be launched by selecting the option from the Mobile Accessibility main menu, or sliding your finger partially down the left side of the screen until you hear SMS and then double tapping. When you open your SMS application you will find a compose button and a list of existing messages in your inbox.
To create a new SMS, you can activate the compose button with double tap or enter. Once the compose window is open, you will see the following fields in the order given below, and you can navigate among them with swipe down or swipe up commands.
· “To”: in this field, you can enter the phone number for the recipients. You can enter multiple phone numbers by separating them by semicolon “;”. You can enter the recipients either using the virtual keyboard or from your contacts. In the To: field, the virtual keyboard will open in numeric layout.
· “Add From Contacts button”: activate this button to get the list of your contacts. Select the desired contact and activate it by either double tap or enter. You can repeat this process for multiple contacts.
Note: When sending SMS to multiple contacts, each contact SMS is treated as separate conversation.
· “Message” field: type the body of your message using either the virtual keyboard or the physical keyboard of your phone. You can also use speech recognition if your phone supports it. You can use navigation and reading commands to edit the message body.
· Character Count: Above the message filed and on the left of the Add contact button, a label shows the total number of character entered in the message edit field. Use the finger to explore and read the character count.
· “Send” button: activate this button to send the message to the recipient.
Note: When activating the send button, if the message is shorter than 160 character on GSM and 130 character on CDMS, it is sent as without any warning and if the message is larger than the said limit, Mobile Accessibility prompts, “n SMS will be sent. Are you sure you want to proceed” where n is the number of SMS parts. On selecting OK button the message is sent immediately. On selecting cancel button, the sending is discarded and focus is placed in the compose window.
· “Cancel” button: activate this button if you want to discard the message.
In the main SMS application window, below the compose button, you will find a list of received messages. Mobile Accessibility displays messages in a threaded conversation view, that is, the messages from one contact are grouped under one conversation. So to read those messages, you would open the conversation and then see all the messages from that contact. This is also handy if you want to delete all the messages from one contact.
Once you are in the message body of the compose window or while reading a message, you can use navigation commands to read the message.
· Go to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard
· Go to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard
· Go to next navigation element: swipe right or right arrow of the keyboard
· Go to previous navigation element: swipe left or left arrow of the keyboard
Navigation modes can be changed by long pressing the menu key. The menu key cycles among characters, words, and sentences.
To reply any message, open it from the list of SMS and use slide / arrow up to navigate to the Message edit box. Type text in the box and use the “Send Message button” to send a reply SMS.
The character count is shown just below the message edit box (towards left side of the screen) and the send message and cancel button are below the character count button.
Note, The send message and cancel button behave in the same manner as in the New SMS compose window.
To forward SMS, open the conversation that has the SMS you would like to forward, navigate the message in the list and then from the menu select “Forward this message”. Compose New SMS window will open with the text of the message in the Message Body.
When in the list of conversation or in an open message, use the menu option “Delete Conversation” to delete the entire conversation (both incoming and outgoing message with a contact) and use the menu option “Delete this message” to delete only the selected message in the conversation.
Select the message conversation in the SMS list and use the menu option “Add to existing contact” to update and existing contact or use the menu option “Add to new contact” to add a new contact. The contact window will open when selecting the options, follow the screen to complete adding number.
Use the menu option “Call number” to call place call to SMS sender’s number.
To access the Alarm app, select the “Alarm” shortcut from the Mobile Accessibility home screen. You can also slide your finger partially down the right side of the screen until you hear “alarms” and then double tap to select it.
Once the Alarm application opens, you will find a button labeled “create new alarm”. To set a new alarm, activate this button with either double tap or enter.
The new Alarm screen has the following options from top to bottom.
· Alarm description: enter a suitable description for your alarm for future reference.
· Time fields: hour, minute, and AM/PM. These fields are navigable from left to right. To change the value, double tap or arrow to these fields and then select the desired value.
· Select alarm reoccurrence: Allows you to set the occurrence of the alarm. If you want to set a onetime alarm, you don’t’ need to change this option. Once you press enter on this combo box, it will open and give several options. The first option is none and it is the default option. Other options allow you to set the alarm to repeat for various days of the week. Check the check mark for the day or days for which you want the regular alarm. You could check several days, such as Monday through Friday, if you wish the alarm to sound each weekday.
· Select alarm tone: to choose the alarm tone that you want.
Please note that if your phone has been completely powered off, it will not wake up when the alarm is activated. Please make sure you put your device in standby rather than powering it off when you set alarms.
In the Alarm window, just below the new alarm button, you will find a list of all of the alarms you have added. You can select an alarm and activate it with double tap or enter to change the details.
From the list of existing alarms, select the alarm that you want to remove, and then activate the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping.
Choose delete alarm, which will be the first option from the menu. You will be asked to confirm that you really want to delete the alarm. Select the OK button to confirm.
To clear all of your scheduled alarms, when you are in the alarm window, choose the delete all alarms option from the quick menu. You will be asked to confirm that you really want to delete all of your alarms. Select the OK button to confirm.
When you hear your alarm, you have the option of turning it off or activating the snooze feature. Swipe down to turn off the alarm, or swipe up to activate the snooze feature which will sound the alarm again in 10 minutes.
You can use double tap or enter to listen to the alarm description when an alarm rings.
The calendar application allows you to review scheduled events or add new ones, and is linked to your Google calendar. To access the Calendar app, select the “Calendar” shortcut from the Mobile Accessibility home screen. Alternatively, the calendar option is located about halfway down the left side of the screen. Slide your finger to this option and double tap to select it.
To add a new event, choose new event from the quick menu.
· Activate quick menu with menu key or triple tap.
· The first item in the quick menu is new event.
· In the “Add New Event” dialog set the fields that you need for your event. The start and end date fields will be filled in with the day which had focus in the calendar when you selected the create event option. Use the All Day event checkbox to mark an event as occurring for an entire day. Use the calendar combo box to select the calendar you wish to place your new event on. Normally, there will be only one calendar available, your default calendar.
· Arrow to, or use touch exploration to find the OK button to save your new event or cancel to quit without saving.
You can view your calendar events in various views. There are 4 views: Agenda view, Day view, Week view, and Month view.
Agenda view
The agenda view screen has a list of events for the day and 2 buttons labeled previous and next.
Navigating among the events
For each event, Mobile Accessibility speaks its subject and duration. You can move up and down with swipe up and swipe down and Mobile Accessibility announces each event.
Once you’ve reached the last event for the selected day, navigating down will bring your focus to either the previous or next button.
If you want to change the day for the agenda view, activate the previous button to move to the previous day and next button to move to the next day.
To find the previous or next button when the focus is in event list, swipe left for the previous button or swipe right for the next button.
You can check details for an event by opening it using either double tap or enter. Then use swipe up or swipe down to navigate among various fields of the event.
Day view
The day view allows you to check events for each hour. The day view screen has a list of time intervals for each hour and 2 buttons labeled previous and next.
When you navigate up and down with swipe up and swipe down, Mobile Accessibility speaks each hour interval and also announces the number of events for that hour.
If you want to change the day for the day view, activate the previous button to move to the previous day or next button to move to the next day.
To find the previous or next button when the focus is in the hour interval list, swipe left for the previous button or swipe right for the next button.
Opening an hour interval with either double tap or enter will open the agenda view, so that you can review the event details.
Week view
The week view allows you to quickly review the events for each day. The week view screen has a grid with a day of the week in each column and each day’s hours in the row.
When you navigate up and down with swipe up and swipe down, Mobile Accessibility speaks each hour interval and also announces the number of events for that hour.
To change the day in week view, you can navigate left and right with swipe left and swipe right. While navigating among various days, Mobile Accessibility speaks each day and also announces the number of events for that day.
Opening the selected day or hour with either double tap or enter will open the agenda view, so that you can review the events for that day.
Month view
The month view allows you to quickly navigate by week or day. The month view screen has a grid of days in each column and weeks in rows, similar to the layout of a typical calendar.
When you navigate up and down with swipe up and swipe down, Mobile Accessibility jumps to the previous or next 7 days and speaks each day’s number of events.
When you navigate left or right with swipe left or swipe right, Mobile Accessibility moves to the previous or next day and speaks each day’s number of events.
Opening the selected day with either double tap or enter will open the agenda view for that day.
Use the quick menu to switch between the various calendar views. Use swipe gestures to move to the desired view and then double tap or press enter.
Returning to Today
Mobile Accessibility includes a shortcut to return to the current day from within the calendar. To do this, select the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping on the screen and then select the today option.
If you want to know your current location, select the where am I app in the Mobile Accessibility home screen. Where am I tries to locate GPS satellites and if possible, announces your current location and address.
You can also swipe up or down to repeat your current location.
You can choose which information to automatically announce while in the Where Am I application as well as controlling the showing of coordinates. To change these options, go to the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping and then selecting settings. There are 3 check boxes:
· Speak connection status: if this check box is checked, Mobile Accessibility will inform you about your current GPS satellite status. The default option is checked.
· Speak location automatically: if this check box is checked, Mobile Accessibility will announce the location whenever it changes. If it is not checked, you must use swipe up or down to know your current location. The default option is checked.
· Show coordinates: You can display your current GPS coordinates on the screen. If this option is checked, coordinates will be displayed. If it is not checked, coordinates will be hidden. The default is not checked.
Accessing System Location Settings
It may be necessary to adjust your system location settings to configure the behavior of your phone’s GPS receiver. A handy shortcut to this page of the Android settings has been included in Mobile Accessibility. To view or change these options, go to the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping and then selecting System Location Settings. Please note that Mobile Accessibility must be enabled as a screen reader for these settings to be spoken.
The apps list allows you to launch other programs on your phone, such as Android's settings or the Android market / Google Play store. Please note that while the apps list is completely accessible, some of the listed programs may not be compatible with the Mobile Accessibility screen reader. To launch the apps list, select the option from the Mobile Accessibility main menu or slide your finger to the bottom left of the screen until you hear the word apps and then double tap to open the list.
The list of available apps is presented in alphabetical order. You can use standard list navigation commands to move through the list of apps. If your phone has a physical keyboard, you can press a letter to jump to apps beginning with that letter. Once you have found the app you wish to start, double tap or press enter to open it. By default, you will be alerted that you are about to leave Mobile Accessibility. Select OK to continue and load the app or cancel to return to the list. To turn off this warning, change the setting located under Settings > Screen Reader > Notify when leaving Mobile Accessibility.
A shortcut is available if you wish to uninstall an application. Press the menu key or triple tap to activate the quick menu and then select Uninstall. Please note that Mobile Accessibility must be enabled as a screen reader for the uninstallation procedure to speak.
MA Music Player is designed with the objective of simplicity and the user interface of the application is very basic. The player automatically list all the music files on the SD card of the phone and can sort them by Artists / Albums.
From MA window, slide / arrow down to Music Player and double tap or enter to open the application. When you open the application, the first screen has a list having 3 options as Artists, Albums and All Songs. In the list an additional option “Now Playing” is shown when a track is being played in the background, this option will open the currently playing track with the music player controls Screen.
Opening Artists, presents a list of Artists whose songs are available on the SD Card of the phone. Opening any artist folder will show the list of Albums by the Artist. The first option in the list of song is “All Songs”. Opening the all songs folder will present list of all songs by the selected Artist. Opening any album will present the list of songs of the selected artist and album.
Opening the Albums will present list of albums present on the SD Card of the phone. Further opening an album will present the list of songs of the selected album.
Opening All Songs, will list all the songs available in the SD card of the phone. Remember, by songs, we refer to all the audio media files.
Using the desired filter, by artist or by Album, navigate to the songs list. In the list, one can use slide / arrow up and down to move to previous and next item and can use slide / arrow left and right to jump back and forth in the list. One can use Slide up with 2 fingers to move to the top of the list and similarly slide down with 2 fingers will move to the end of the list. To navigate a level back, use the device back key or slide left with 2 fingers. Double tap or enter on any song to start playing it.
When you open a song, Music Player starts playing the song and opens the player window having the buttons to control the music. Before moving to the controls, it is important to understand the layout of player window, below is a list of controls with their position on the screen.
- Previous Song - Top Left
- Play / Pause Button - top center.
- Next Song – Top Right
- Rewind – Bottom Left
- Stop – Bottom Center
- Fast Forward – Bottom Right
The idea behind this type of layout is that you can tap the relevant corners of the screen and with little practice can master the position of the controls and can use them without having to scroll through all other buttons than the one you wish to use. In addition you can use touch slides and arrow keys to navigate between the controls and can double tap on the screen or press enter key to activate them. One can also tap the screen and start moving the finger on the screen to let MA announce the control and when you find the one you wish to use, you may double tap to activate it.
Tip: using slide / arrow left and right will only move between either previous song, play / pause and next song button or between rewind, stop and fast forward button, so you must use slide / arrow up / down to jump between top and bottom controls.
Another important thing to note is the track information such as Track name, album, current time and Total Time are shown at the middle of the player screen. To read this information, tap and hold the screen and start moving your finger slowly towards the vertical center position, MA will read the information as you navigate.
- Activating the Previous song button will start playing the previous song from the sorted list, that is if you have selected a song from an Album, this option will play the previous song from that Album. Similarly, activating the next song will play the next song from the sorted list.
- Activating the pause button, the button caption changes to resume indicative of a song is in paused state. Similarly, activating the resume button, the button caption changes to Pause and indicate a song is being played.
- Activating the Rewind button, the current track time elapses by 5 seconds backward. The option works only when a song is either being played or is in paused state. Similarly activating the fast forward button, the song time elapse by 5 second forward and the option works only when a song is either being played or in paused state.
- Activating the stop button, the current song is stopped and the time is reset to the beginning. This also changes the caption of Pause button to Play.
You can activate quick menu using triple tap on the screen or by pressing the menu key. Find below the description of the menu items,
1. Stop and Exit: the option stops the playing of current song and exit the player window.
2. Date and Time: activating the option, MA will announce the date and time.
3. Phone Status: activating the option, MA will read the phone status including battery and network signal, number of unread SMS etc.
4. Settings: activating the option will open list of settings for Music player as follows.
5. Shuffle: The option is not checked by default. Checking the option will let the player to reorder (shuffle) the list automatically.
Keep Playing in Background: This option is not checked by default. Checking the option allow you to exit Music Player window and the song is continue playing in the background. If the option is not checked, exiting the music player window will stop playing the song.
Various phone and Mobile Accessibility settings can be configured in the settings application. To access the settings application, select the “Settings” shortcut from the Mobile Accessibility home screen or from the quick menu in Mobile Accessibility’s home screen. Some settings are also available from various Mobile Accessibility applications. To do this, just bring up the quick menu and navigate to the last item in that menu. Speech settings, text input, audio and vibration and screen reader settings are available from other Mobile Accessibility applications.
To change the ringtone for your phone,
· Open the settings application.
· Find the first item “Incoming call Ringtone” and open it using double tap or enter.
· In the open list, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the ringtone of your choice. As you navigate in the list of ringtones, each tone is announced and then played back.
· Select the tone of your choice with double tap or enter.
To change the notification sound for messages, etc.
· Open the settings application.
· Find the second item “Notification sounds” and open it.
· In the open list, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the message sound of your choice. As you navigate in the list of message sounds, each sound is announced and then played back.
· Select the sound of your choice with double tap or enter.
Sound profiles allow you to quickly change all the settings for ringtone and message sounds etc. There are 3 options: mobile, silent, and vibrate.
To change the sound profile:
· Open settings application.
· Find the third item “sound profile” and open it.
· In the open list, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and choose one of three profiles.
· Select the profile of your choice with double tap or enter.
There are 2 settings, one vibrate when receiving a call, and second vibrate on notification. Both settings are changed with a check box.
To change the vibration setting for calls:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the fourth item which is a check box “vibrate when receiving a call”, and uncheck it if you do not want the phone to vibrate when receiving a call or check it if you want the phone to vibrate on receiving a call. The default option is unchecked, so the phone will not vibrate.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
To change the vibration setting for notifications:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the fifth item which is a check box “vibrate on notification”, and uncheck it if you do not want the phone to vibrate from a message notification or check it if you want the phone to vibrate for message notifications. The default option is checked, so the phone will vibrate when receiving a notification.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
If you want, you can use the volume keys to answer or reject calls. If this setting is enabled, volume up will answer the call, and volume down will reject the call. If this setting is not enabled, volume keys can be used to change the volume of the speaker.
To change the volume keys to answer / reject calls:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the sixth item “advanced” and open it.
· Find the first item in the advanced screen, a check box “Enable volume keys to answer / reject calls.” check it if you want to answer / reject calls with the volume keys, or uncheck it if you do not want to use volume keys to answer / reject calls. The default option is unchecked, so the volume keys will be used to increase / decrease the volume during the call.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
It is also recommended that you configure your phone to automatically reject or hang up a call by pressing the power button. This setting cannot be changed from Mobile Accessibility, but from the standard phone's settings screen under Settings > Accessibility. Note this setting is only available in Android 2.2 or greater.
If you want, you can use the system call screen to make and receive calls. If this setting is enabled, your focus will move out of the Mobile Accessibility Phone Application when you receive a call.
This option is only recommended for advanced users. To change whether you want to use the system call screen:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the sixth item “advanced” and open it.
· Find the second item in the advanced screen, “system call screens”, and uncheck it if you want to use the Mobile Accessibility Phone application or check it if you want to use the android phone application. The default option is unchecked, so you would use the Mobile Accessibility Phone application for receiving or making calls.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Mobile Accessibility allows you to make changes to the following speech settings: rate of speech, pitch, punctuation verbosity, indicate capitalization, spell phonetically, and number processing.
Note: Currently there is only one voice, so you can’t change it.
Rate of speech
You can change the rate at which Mobile Accessibility speaks the text. To do so:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
· Find the first item in the speech settings screen “rate” and open it.
· In the rate dialog, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the desired rate. Rate ranges between 0(slow) to 10(fast). The default rate is 5(normal).
· Select the rate of your choice with double tap or enter.
Pitch
You can change the pitch of the synthesizer to suit your requirement. To do so:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
· Find the second item in the speech settings dialog “Pitch” and open it.
· In the Pitch dialog, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the desired pitch level. The pitch ranges between 0(low) to 10(high). The default Pitch is 5(normal).
· Select the pitch of your choice with double tap or enter.
This option allows you to select to use the system default TTS or the Bundled Nuance TTS. Double tap to open the list and make a choice using slide up / down, again double tap to confirm the change. By default the Nuance TTS is selected. Should you wish to use some other voice with Mobile Accessibility, you can download it from Android market / Google Play store and set it as system default TTS. To configure the TTS option, go to Settings > Voice Input and Output. By default all android phones have at least one default TTS installed.
Punctuation verbosity
You can change the punctuation verbosity level so that you don’t have to listen to unnecessary punctuation. The levels are none, some, most, and all.
To change the punctuation verbosity level:
1. Open the settings application.
2. Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
3. Find the fourth item in the speech settings dialog “Punctuation verbosity” and open it.
4. In the punctuation verbosity level dialog, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the desired punctuation level. Punctuation verbosity levels are: none, some, most, and all. The default punctuation verbosity level is none.
5. Select the punctuation verbosity level of your choice with double tap or enter.
Indicate capitalization
To configure whether Mobile Accessibility should indicate capitalization:
1. Open the settings application.
2. Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
3. Find the Fifth item in the Speech settings dialog, a check box “Indicate capitalization”, and keep it checked if you want Mobile Accessibility to announce capitalization or uncheck it if you do not want Mobile Accessibility to speak capitalization. The default option is checked, so Mobile Accessibility will speak capitalization.
4. Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
5. Close the dialog with the back key.
Spell phonetically
To configure how Mobile Accessibility spells text:
1. Open the settings application.
2. Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
3. Find the Sixth item in the Speech settings dialog, a check box “Spell Phonetically”, and keep it unchecked if you want Mobile Accessibility to spell the text with characters or check it if you want Mobile Accessibility to spell phonetically. The default option is unchecked, so Mobile Accessibility will spell the text with characters.
4. Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
5. Close the dialog with the back key.
Speaking List Numbers
Mobile Accessibility normally speaks indexes in a list, such as “1 of 3”. This behavior can be turned off.
To adjust the list numbers setting:
1. Open the settings application.
2. Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
3. Find the seventh item in the speech settings dialog “Turn off list numbering”. To no longer speak list numbers, uncheck this box. Check the box to speak list numbers. The default is checked, meaning numbers will be spoken.
4. Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
5. Close the dialog with the back key.
Eliminate Character Repeat
You can change the way the repeated characters are announced. For instance when certain character repeats in a sentence Mobile Accessibility may announce all instances of the char or would just announce it 3 times. The option is enabled by default and when enabled, if a character is repeated more than 3 times it is only announce 3 times and if this option is disabled, all instances of the character will be announced.
Number Processing
You can change the way Mobile Accessibility speaks numbers. The options are none, singles, pairs, and triplets.
To change number processing:
1. Open the settings application.
2. Find the seventh item “Speech Settings” and open it.
3. Find the ninth item in the speech settings dialog “Number Processing” and open it.
4. In the Number Processing dialog, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the desired number processing option. Number Processing options are: none, single, pairs, and triplets. The default Number processing option is none.
5. Select the Number processing option of your choice with double tap or enter.
Location: Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Braille Settings:
1. Braille Device: the option lists all the Bluetooth devices paired with the phone, you need to select the braille display you wish to use with Mobile Accessibility.
2. Device Model: the option lists all the supported Braille device models with their manufacturer name. Select the model of the braille device in the Braille device option.
The list includes the following Models:
· Baum: VarioConnect12, VarioConnect, PocketVario, SuperVario, Conny,
· Harpo: BraillePen 12, BraillePen Slim,
· EuroBraille: Esys,
· Freedom Scientific: Focus 40 Blue, Focus 14 Blue,
· HandyTech: Braillino, Braille Wave, Easy Braille, Braille Star, Active Braille 40,
· HIMS: Braille Sense, Braille EDGE,
· Humanware: BrailleConnect 12, BrailleConnect, Brailliant BI 32, Brailliant BI 40, Brailliant BI 80, Brailliant, Apex 18,
· Optelec: Alva BC 640, EasyLink 12, EasyLink Keyboard
· Seika: Notetaker
3. Show control Indicator: checkbox (selected by default) – apart from text, Mobile Accessibility also helps you determine if focus is on a control, and to know the control type and state. Language-dependent Braille indicators for control information are also displayed before the label of the control in focus. Indicators are always displayed in computer Braille, no matter what Braille grade is set, and dots 7 and 8 appear in all their cells to help distinguish them from regular text. If the control does not change state, then the Braille indicator consists of only two characters which are letters that relate to the control type name. The letters used in the indicators also vary according to the language of the selected text-to-speech engine. For example, a button is indicated by the letters bt in English, but by the letters kn in Dutch where a button is called "knop". On the other hand, if the control changes state, then there is a third character in the indicator, which is a symbol that is kept constant in all languages though the dot patterns may differ. For example, a full 6-dot cell will indicate that a checkbox or radio button is checked/pressed, while dots 3,6 means that it is not checked or selected.
4. Uncontract word under cursor checkbox (selected by default) - this option will cause the word under the cursor to be expanded to its uncontracted form if Grade 2 / contracted Braille is selected for output. It lets you route the cursor more quickly on a character in that word if you want to insert text at that point, delete that character, or delete the one before it.
5. Suppress capital Sign: checkbox (not selected by default), the option allows you to enable suppressing of the capital sign when displaying test in the braille display. This option is useful for small braille device so the maximum text can be displayed.
6. Show control Prompts: check box (selected by default), the option allows you to see prompts associated with certain controls. If the option is disabled the help prompt will not be available on the Braille display.
7. Automatically Mute Speech: checkbox (not selected by default) the option allow you to mute speech as soon as braille is enabled. This option is useful for Deaf blind users and for those wish to use the phone with braille display in meeting place.
8. Display Caller ID: allows you to select the action that Mobile Accessibility will perform when the device receives a call. The available options are:
a. Display caller ID - the braille device shows the caller information on the braille display as long as the phone keeps ringing
b. Braille Flash - shows caller information on braille device as a flash message
c. Do Nothing - will not show the caller information on the device.
9. Cursor Blinking: Use the option to set the rate of Cursor blinking or to completely turn of cursor blinking.
Grades and Braille Table configurations:
Location: Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Braille Settings > Grades and Tables
1. Input Braille Grade: allow to select the braille grade for input (typing text using Braille keys).
2. Output Braille Grade: allow to select braille grade for output (text displayed on the braille device).
3. 6 Dot computer Braille table: allow to select the 6 dot computer braille table for output and input in 6 dot computer braille.
4. 8 Dot computer Braille table: allow to select the 8 dot computer braille table for output and input in 8 dot computer braille.
5. Grade 1 Braille table: allow to select the Grade 1 braille table for output and input in Grade 1 literary braille.
6. Grade 2 Braille table: allow to select the grade 2 braille table for output and input in Grade 2 (contracted) braille.
Braille Connection Settings:
Location: Mobile Accessibility > Braille Settings > Connection Settings
1. Keep Phone On: check box (not selected by default) allows preventing the phone to go in sleep, so when the braille device is connected, the phone would not go to sleep and will stay connected.
2. Automatically Reconnect: checkbox (not selected by default) - if this option is enabled, Mobile Accessibility will attempt to reconnect your phone with the Braille device if the connection was dropped or after the mobile device starts up. It will attempt the reconnection 30 seconds after the devices were disconnected or the end of the start-up process.
3. Automatically Turn off Bluetooth: checkbox (not selected by default) - if this option is enabled, Mobile Accessibility will automatically disable Bluetooth as soon as the command to disable Braille is performed to break the connection between the Braille device and the mobile phone.
4. Speak Braille Status: check box (selected by default), enable Mobile Accessibility to announce the connection status when activating / deactivating Braille.
Changing keyboard echo
The Keyboard echo setting is valid for input from the virtual keyboard and the hardware keyboard.
To change the keyboard echo:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the first item in the text input dialog “keyboard echo” and open it.
· In the keyboard echo dialog, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the desired keyboard echo option. Keyboard echo options are: none, character, words, and characters and words. The default keyboard echo option is characters.
· Select the keyboard echo option of your choice with double tap or enter.
Speaking Deleted Characters
To configure whether Mobile Accessibility speaks deleted characters:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the second item in the Text Input dialog, “speak deleted character”, and keep it checked if you want Mobile Accessibility to speak the deleted character or uncheck it if you do not want Mobile Accessibility to speak deleted characters. The default option is checked, so Mobile Accessibility will speak the deleted character.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Speaking Line numbers
To configure whether Mobile Accessibility speaks the current line number:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the third item in the text Input dialog, “speak line numbers”, and keep it unchecked if you do not want Mobile Accessibility to speak the current line number or check it if you want Mobile Accessibility to speak the current line number. The default option is unchecked, so Mobile Accessibility will not speak the current line number.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Configuring secret mode
The secret mode option controls how passwords will be spoken when typed.
To configure the secret mode:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the fourth item in the text input dialog “secret mode” and open it.
· In the secret mode dialog, move up or down with swipe up or swipe down and find the desired secret mode option. Secret mode options are: star, character, and silent. The default secret mode option is character.
· Select the secret mode option of your choice with double tap or enter.
Configuring Virtual keyboard orientation
The virtual keyboard can be set to change orientation automatically or may be kept in landscape mode.
To configure virtual keyboard orientation:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the sixth item “Virtual Keyboard” and open it.
· Find the first item in the virtual keyboard dialog, “always landscape”, and keep it checked if you do not want virtual keyboard to change its orientation or uncheck it if you want virtual keyboard to change its orientation based on the device orientation. The default option is checked, so virtual keyboard will always remain in landscape mode.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Controlling whether volume keys are used to change modes
When the virtual keyboard is active, volume keys are used to change modes. Volume up is used to change keyboard layouts, and volume down is used to change navigation modes. If however, volume keys are needed for changing volume, Mobile Accessibility allows for disabling this option.
To configure whether volume keys are used for changing navigation modes:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the sixth item “Virtual Keyboard” and open it.
· Find the second item in the virtual keyboard dialog, “Use volume keys to change modes”, and keep it checked if you want to use volume keys to change modes or uncheck it if you want to use volume keys to change volume. The default option is checked, so volume keys can be used to change modes.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Displaying the keyboard on the screen
To configure whether the virtual keyboard is visible on the screen:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the sixth item “Virtual Keyboard” and open it.
· Find the third item in the virtual keyboard dialog, “Display keyboard on the screen”, and keep it checked if you want the virtual keyboard to be visible on the screen or uncheck it if you do not want the virtual keyboard to be visible on the screen. The default option is checked, so the virtual keyboard is always visible on the screen.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
· Outside Mobile Accessibility, the virtual keyboard is always hidden and the option “Display Keyboard on the screen” has no effect on it.
Showing the numeric row in QWERTY layout
In the QWERTY layout of the virtual keyboard, the numeric row is not shown by default to avoid a cluttered keyboard layout and to allow for more space for each row.
To configure whether the QWERTY layout of virtual keyboard has a numeric row:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the sixth item “Virtual Keyboard” and open it.
· Find the fourth item in the virtual keyboard dialog, “Show numeric row”, and keep it unchecked if you do not want the numeric row in the virtual keyboard or check it if you want the numeric row in the virtual keyboard. The default option is unchecked, so the numeric row is hidden from the virtual keyboard.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Using the dynamic keyboard
With the dynamic keyboard, the keys are based off of where you initially place your finger. Once you place your finger on the keyboard, you are placed on the letter H for the QWERTY layout or the number 5 for the numeric layout. Then you can just navigate the keyboard as any other QWERTY layout or numeric layout. This feature will be familiar to users of Mobile Speak.
To configure whether Mobile Accessibility uses the dynamic keyboard:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the eighth item “Text Input” and open it.
· Find the sixth item “Virtual Keyboard” and open it.
· Find the fifth item in the virtual keyboard dialog, a check box “Use dynamic keyboard”, and keep it unchecked if you want the standard keyboard or check it if you want a dynamic keyboard. The default option is unchecked, so Mobile Accessibility uses the standard keyboard.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Advanced: Set System Input Method
The option can be used to select input method to be used outside Mobile Accessibility. This is useful when trying to set up Mobile Accessibility Virtual Keyboard as the input method for outside Mobile Accessibility. Double tap to activate the option, use physical navigation aid to make to review choices, enter to confirm selection.
Advanced: Use system input method inside Mobile Accessibility
The option can be used to select to use the system default input method inside Mobile Accessibility. This option is useful if you find an input method / keyboard suitable for your language specific needs and if you want to use that input method for editors in Mobile Accessibility.
Please note, enabling this option would not disable virtual keyboard and it can be use normally. To activate system input method on editors, use double tap or enter and to close editor use the phone pack key.
Mobile Accessibility provides sound and vibration feedback during navigation. Such feedback helps you to know the boundaries of various elements on the screen. For example, during exploration of the home screen, when your fingers cross over from one shortcut to another, you will hear a sound as well as feel vibratory feedback. But if you do not need such feedback, you can disable it.
To configure whether Sound Feedback for navigation is available:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the ninth item “Audio and vibration” and open it.
· Find the first item in the audio and vibration dialog, “Sound feedback for navigation”, and keep it checked if you want Sound Feedback for navigation or uncheck it if you do not want Sound Feedback for navigation. The default option is checked, so Mobile Accessibility provides Sound Feedback for navigation.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
To configure whether vibration Feedback for navigation is available:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the ninth item “Audio and vibration” and open it.
· Find the second item in the audio and vibration dialog, “vibration feedback for navigation”, and keep it checked if you want vibration Feedback for navigation or uncheck it if you do not want vibration Feedback for navigation. The default option is checked, so Mobile Accessibility provides vibration Feedback for navigation.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with back key.
You can use your phone’s proximity sensor to stop speech. If this setting is enabled, moving your hand close to the proximity censor (on the top left of most phones) would stop the speech. The same can also be accomplished by bringing the phone close to your ear, as the proximity sensor would be activated.
To configure whether the proximity sensor is used to stop speech:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the ninth item “Audio and vibration” and open it.
· Find the third item in the audio and vibration dialog, “stop speech when tapping proximity sensor”, and keep it checked if you want to stop speech by tapping the proximity sensor or uncheck it if you do not want to use the proximity sensor for stopping the speech. The default option is checked, so Mobile Accessibility uses the proximity sensor for stopping the speech.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Mobile Accessibility also works as a screen reader out of Mobile Accessibility. The screen reader allows you to work with other applications. You may navigate using the virtual keyboard provided by Mobile Accessibility, or use the hardware keyboard if available on your phone. You can also enter text using the virtual keyboard as well. The following options are related to using the screen reader.
Whenever you leave Mobile Accessibility, if this option is enabled, you will get an alert message and be asked to confirm your intensions.
To configure whether Mobile Accessibility notifies you when leaving Mobile Accessibility:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the tenth item “Screen reader” and open it.
· Find the first item in the Screen Reader dialog, “Notify when leaving Mobile Accessibility”, and keep it checked if you want to be notified when your focus moves out of Mobile Accessibility or uncheck it if you do not want to be notified when your focus moves out of Mobile Accessibility. The default option is checked, so Mobile Accessibility notifies you when leaving Mobile Accessibility.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
To configure whether Mobile Accessibility speaks system notifications:
· Open the settings application.
· Find the tenth item “Screen reader” and open it.
· Find the second item in the Screen Reader dialog, “Speak System Notifications”, and keep it unchecked if you do not want Mobile Accessibility to Speak system notifications or check it if you want Mobile Accessibility to Speak system notifications. The default option is unchecked, so Mobile Accessibility doesn’t speak system notifications.
· Change the state of the check box with either double tap or enter.
· Close the dialog with the back key.
Mobile Accessibility is a powerful screen reader similar to Talk Back or Spiel and is capable of rendering audio prompts when you navigate in the phone’s menu or in other application. If you start navigating in the phone’s menu, Mobile Accessibility will announce the menu icons and upon activating the focused icon, it will read the controls of the application. In order to navigate in the phone menu or in applications, one must use the track pad or arrow keys available on the phone. To read the currently focused element, one can use a short press of the search button on the phone.
Mobile Accessibility works with a wide variety of third-party applications available from the Android market / Google Play store. To ask about specific applications, consult the Code Factory mailing lists or simply download an app from the market to try it for yourself.
In addition the following things should be noted and will prove helpful when using Mobile Accessibility as a screen reader outside the Mobile Accessibility window.
To activate options in a menu: to activate buttons in an application or to check or uncheck check boxes, you must use the trackpad or keyboard Enter key.
To navigate one step backward, use the back button on the device. The back button is also used to exit an application. For some applications, you should use a Long press of the back key to exit the application.
To silence Mobile Accessibility speech, tap the proximity Sensor. The proximity sensor is located on the top of the screen and is near to the ear piece. To know the exact position of the proximity sensor, check the phone user guide. Note this option will only work if you check the option “Stop Speech when tapping the proximity sensor” under Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Audio and Vibration.
To read text in edit boxes, use the system wide virtual keyboard navigation keystrokes. Note, you can use the volume down key to toggle navigation modes when the virtual keyboard is active and can use slide right / left to read the next or previous block of text based on your navigation settings (characters, words, or sentences).
Mobile Accessibility Braille support is similar to what is available in Mobile Speak 4 and above. With advance user configuration options and simple connection / setup process, accessing Android device with Braille device is much more fun.
Mobile Accessibility can provide output through electronic refreshable Braille devices. Both text and control information will be available in Braille as you navigate around. Furthermore, using devices with Braille input keys, you can type text in any of the supported Braille grades and languages.
Pairing Braille device is simple and is similar to any Bluetooth device pairing with the phone. First step in using Braille with Mobile Accessibility is to pair the Braille display with your Android phone. Please check the documentation for your Braille device to find out the passcode used to connect with other devices. This may be specific to the serial number of the Braille device unit. Otherwise, you may use any string of numbers, normally no shorter than four digits, like 1234 which is the default passcode used by most Bluetooth-enabled devices. All Bluetooth devices use an authentication number when users attempt to establish a connection between them, thereby securing that connection. Follow the below steps to pair your display.
1. Start your braille device, check the device manual for instructions to start and enable Bluetooth on the device.
2. Go to Mobile Accessibility > Apps > Settings > Wireless and Network > Bluetooth Settings.
3. Check the option “Bluetooth”.
4. In the same window use, “Scan Devices” to let the device scan nearby Bluetooth devices.
5. After few seconds, Scroll in the window to find your Braille display device.
6. It will prompt you to enter passcode / pin for the device.
7. Enter the pin of the device, for pin information for pairing, check the device user manual.
1. Go to Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Braille Settings.
2. Activate the option “Braille Device”
3. In the list select the Braille device you wish to use. This list contains all Bluetooth devices paired with the phone.
4. Stay in the braille settings and activate the option “Device Model”
5. In the list, select the model of the braille device you wish to use. The list contains all supported models with their manufacturer name.
6. Exit the Braille settings and the setting window.
Congratulations, the braille device is configured.
Follow the below steps
1. Go to Mobile Accessibility > Apps > Settings > Wireless and Network > Bluetooth Settings.
2. Check the option “Bluetooth”.
3. In the same window, scroll down to find the device you wish to remove.
4. Hit Long enter on the device and select “Unpair”
To enable or to start braille with Mobile Accessibility:
1. Activate quick menu, use the menu key or triple tap the screen within Mobile Accessibility window.
2. Select the option “Enable Braille”.
3. Mobile Accessibility will beep and will announce “Braille Ready”.
To disable or to stop Braille with Mobile Accessibility:
4. Activate quick menu, use the menu key or triple tap the screen within Mobile Accessibility window.
5. Select the option “Disable Braille”.
6. Mobile Accessibility will beep and will announce “Braille off”.
In order to have Braille support outside MA, it is important that:
1. The screen reader service is enabled under Accessibility settings. Check user guide section 5.3.2 Enabling the system wide virtual keyboard.
2. The virtual keyboard is enabled for system wide use. Check User guide section 5.3.2 Enabling the system wide virtual keyboard.
Please note, navigation, typing text and reviewing text functionalities will not work if screen reader and Virtual keyboard are not set correctly.
When focus lands on an edit control, Braille output automatically switches to edit mode so that the application displays the text cursor by raising dots 7 and 8. At present, this tactile cursor is only available when 6- or 8-dot computer Braille is selected. If there is an uppercase character at the cursor position, the dots will alternate; meaning that dot 8 is raised while dot 7 is not. If text selection commands are used, dots 7 and 8 will both appear in all the cells of the selected text.
When typing text using Grade 1 or 2 Braille, remember that the text is not translated until you press Space or Enter, or perform a command that moves focus or displays a message. Keep in mind that the Braille grade used for input is not necessarily the same one set for Braille output, so use the appropriate commands for configuring input and output Braille grades in order to be certain.
You can use the backspace command assigned to the key combination specific to your Braille device while typing in whichever grade to delete the character to the left of the text cursor. Note that this command may be used even before the text typed in grade 1 or 2 Braille is translated. If you wish to clear everything you have typed so far that has not yet been translated, use the Braille Escape command available on all supported Braille devices.
In Mobile Accessibility, screen contents are displayed in Braille in a way that will give you an idea of visual information such as format, hierarchy, control type, and state. This is the default Braille output mode called "Braille format". In this mode, Mobile Accessibility sends information to the display that is relevant to the current cursor position. The information sent includes things such as control type, dialog name, or number of items in a list (where the list index is not really displayed visually).
It is possible to change the Braille Output mode to "Speech emulation". In this mode, Mobile Accessibility sends to the Braille display exactly what it sends to the speech engine. Instead of Braille indicators for control information, the words that are spoken by Mobile Accessibility when it comes across that control are displayed. For example, in Braille Format mode, li and bt are used to indicate list and button. In Speech Emulation mode, the words "list" and "button" are shown in Braille instead.
Each Braille device has its own Braille command for switching between these two Braille output modes.
Mobile Accessibility allows panning text using the Braille display. Most display have panning keys but on those where there are no dedicated pan keys, Mobile Accessibility ensure alternate commands to do that.
Use the pan right to move forward and pan left to move backward both in text field and while navigating the User interface.
To activate options while navigating the user interface or to move cursor to certain position, use the cursor routing keys available on the display.
Mobile Accessibility use transient / Flash message to provide important information on the Braille display. It is mainly the information that is just announced by Mobile Accessibility and is not available on the user interface. For Instance, when enabling Braille, a message appears on the display “Mobile Accessibility” or when checking the Device status using Braille command or from the Mobile Accessibility quick menu a message with entire text that is being announced appear on the display.
A flash message is not visible on the screen of the phone and is the text version of the announcement of Mobile Accessibility. Use Pan keys to read the Flash message.
Please note: A Flash message will stay visible on the Braille display for a period of time depending on the length of the message and within that period will auto pan in further shorter interval. While auto panning, when the last portion of the text is displayed the message will be discarded. However if user intervene and use the pan keys to read the flash message, the message continues to show on the display. In order to discard the flash message, use the Braille Escape command or use pan right key repeatedly until all the text of the flash message is read.
Within anywhere in Mobile Accessibility, you can tap the screen, wait for the vibratory feedback and start moving your finger to explore items on the screen. Use Double tap to activate the option that Mobile Accessibility last announced.
For Quick Navigation if you know the position of a control or Icon on the screen, you can tap the control. Mobile Accessibility will announce the option and the focus will be moved to the control. Then double tap the screen to activate the option.
To set Mobile Accessibility as your default Home Screen, press the Home key, arrow down to the option “Use by default for this Action”, check it and arrow up to Mobile Accessibility for Android and select it.
To clear the Home screen default, Go to settings > Manage Application > Mobile Accessibility for Android and arrow down to Clear Defaults and select it. Now pressing the home key will bring up the list of Home Screens. You can get to Android settings from the apps menu on the Mobile Accessibility home screen.
On most devices, a short press of the power button will unlock the screen. On some devices, a gesture has to be drawn to completely unlock the screen. Consult your phone’s manual if you need help figuring out the correct gesture for your phone. For the initial point, you may be helped by the vibratory feedback. Try practice touching the device and if you tap at the right position, the device will give vibratory feedback and you can then continue to draw the unlock gesture. Often, the gesture is a slide from one side of the phone to the other.
Double finger gestures will only work for devices having multi touch capabilities.
To review any list item or to start reading SMS by words or character, use the long press of menu key to toggle between various navigation modes (characters, words, or sentences). You can then slide left or right to navigate by each mode.
To open any item use double tap or press enter or the center of the trackpad. To open the quick menu, press the menu key, use triple tap or long press the trackpad or hardware enter key.
You can use a long press of the Volume up key to activate the Virtual Keyboard and similar to the review cursor, begin to explore the screen using your finger or stylus. When you reach your desired character, lift the finger and the character will be typed. You can change the Virtual keyboard modes using the volume up or down keys and can delete the last typed character using the Back key on the device or the virtual backspace key.
Mobile Accessibility makes it easy to enter text in edit fields using your voice. Long press the Volume down key to activate speech recognition. The device will vibrate twice when it's ready to listen. When you're done speaking, release the volume down key. A list of possible matches will be spoken. You can use the arrow keys or swipe up and down to move through them. To accept one suggestion, double tap, press the enter key or the volume down key. To review the suggestion by word use the volume up key repeatedly.
From the main menu, launch the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping. Select the About Mobile Accessibility option. You can then view the End-user License Agreement.
From the main menu, launch the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping. Select the Support option. Select the User Guide option to view the online guide using the browser.
From the main menu, launch the quick menu by pressing the menu key or triple tapping. Select the Support option. Select the Get Support option to submit a support ticket. The browser will be opened to a form you can fill out.
On some devices / region opening google.com may bring inaccessible page. To fix this, select “Use Desktop Layout” under web Settings to let the system fetch Google.com Desktop version that is fairly accessible.
On some devices the default keyboard outside MA may not be accessible. One should install Google Keyboard for the best experience. Please note, this is only needed if you are looking to type outside Mobile Accessibility apps. Just go to Google Play store and search / install “Google Keyboard”.
On some network, when receiving voicemail, there could be a message in the SMS application or a system notification or a call log entry in the system phone app. One should learn with experience how they are getting notified for the voice mails. To check voicemail either dial the voicemailbox number or use the system notification to initiate voicemail listening process.
You will be required to enter numbers like your pin, voicemail box number etc, to do that from MA Call Screen, simply press the menu key to launch Native system call screen. Please note, if you are using a device running android 5.0 or above, it only work using system call screen that comes up when calling as MA call screen functionality is not available. To dial the number, use the on screen keypad button to activate the keypad and use it to dial numbers.
We strongly recommend using activate the loud speaker button or use earphone to interact with voicemail box.
Enter
If using the touchscreen, double tap to simulate Enter, if not press track pad or hardware Enter key.
Navigational keys
If using the touchscreen, swipe up/down/left/right, if not press physical navigational keys or swipe up/down/left/right on the trackpad.
Swipe up or down with two fingers to go to the top or bottom of a list. Swipe left with two fingers to go back to the previous screen.
Quick Menu
Can be activated with:
· Menu key
· Triple tap anywhere on the screen
· Long press of track pad
· Long press of Enter key
Answer / Reject Calls
· Double tap to read caller ID
· Slide up to answer a call
· Slide down to reject or hang up a call
Note that the slide to answer or reject a call is longer than a normal slide up or down to avoid accidentally answering or rejecting a call.
If the check box “Enable volume keys for answer / reject calls” in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Advanced is checked:
· Volume up to answer a call
· Volume down to reject or hang up a call
If the check box “Enable volume keys for answer / reject calls” in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Advanced is not checked, then volume keys change volume for the phone speaker during the call. In case you are not able to hear the person on the other side of the call, use volume keys to
· Volume up to increase the speaker volume during the call.
· Volume down to decrease the speaker volume during the call.
Speech Recognition
· Long press of volume down to start speech recognition.
· If a list of possible matches is given, swipe left/right or arrow left/right to move through them.
· Double tap or Enter key to validate the selected text.
Virtual Keyboard
· Within Mobile Accessibility, long press volume up to toggle the virtual keyboard. Press the Back key to close the keyboard.
· Outside Mobile Accessibility, long press Menu key to toggle keyboard (only works if Mobile Accessibility is set as Touch Input)
If the check box “Use volume keys to change modes” in Mobile Accessibility > Settings > Text Input > Virtual Keyboard is checked, when the virtual keyboard is open:
· Volume up to change the layout of the virtual keyboard
· Volume down to change the navigation mode
There are 4 layouts available:
· lower case QWERTY
· numeric
· symbol
· upper case QWERTY
To activate alternative characters in the virtual keyboard:
· While you're selecting a character with your finger, tap the screen with another finger. This will toggle through the alternative characters list. Releasing your finger will insert the alternative character.
· While you're selecting a character with your finger, keep it pressed for 2 seconds. The alternative character will be announced. Releasing your finger will insert the alternative character.
Navigation and Reading
· Move to next item: swipe down or down arrow.
· Move to previous item: swipe up or up arrow.
· Jump to next few items: swipe right or right arrow.
· Jump to previous few items: swipe left or left arrow.
· Activate or open the current item: double tap or enter.
· Go to top/bottom of a list: swipe up/down with 2 fingers.
If you are in an edit field:
· Long press of menu key to toggle navigation modes (words, character, sentence). Long press to activate the options, and then simply press the menu key to move through the list of available modes.
· If virtual keyboard is opened, press volume down to toggle navigation modes.
· Swipe right/left/up/down to move per element according to the selected navigation mode.
If you are in the web browser, to navigate on a web-page:
· Move to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard
· Move to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard
· Move to next navigation element: swipe right or right arrow of the keyboard
· Move to previous navigation element: swipe left or left arrow of the keyboard
Navigation modes can be changed either by using the long press of the menu key or from the quick menu > Navigation menu item. The default is navigation by links. The change navigation mode cycles among links, Headings, Lists, Tables, and Forms.
All navigation modes are available in quick menu > navigation menu item as well.
If you are in the web browser, to read text on a web-page:
· Move to next line: swipe down or down arrow of the keyboard
· Move to previous line: swipe up or up arrow of the keyboard
· Read from cursor: quick menu (menu key or triple tap) > read > read from cursor.
· Read from top: quick menu (Menu key or triple tap) > read > read from top.
· You can also set the navigation mode to paragraph in the quick menu > Navigate and then use next / previous navigation commands to read the text.
Please submit a ticket through our HelpDesk at http://www.codefactory.cat/helpdesk/
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain, Code Factory is the global leader committed to the development of products designed to eliminate barriers to the accessibility of mobile technology for the blind and visually impaired. Today, Code Factory is the leading provider of accessible mobile applications such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, and Braille interfaces. Code Factory’s products are compatible with the widest range of mainstream mobile devices running on Symbian, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry Smartphones, and Android. Among Code Factory's customers are well known organizations for the blind such as ONCE in Spain, and carriers such as ORANGE, Bouygues Telecom, SFR, TIM and Vodafone.