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Finding the right smartphone
Transcript
30 June 2013
Roberta: With technology moving so fast, it’s hard to know which mobile phones are best suited to the individual needs of people with a disability. Dr Scott Hollier looks at how the popular Smartphones available in stores compare with the specialist phones built specifically for people who are blind or vision impaired. Welcome, Scott.
Scott: Thanks, Roberta. Thanks for having me back.
Roberta: Now, what types of phones are available to people who are blind or vision impaired?
Scott: Well, there’s quite a few choices now, which is a really exciting development. So in terms of what’s available in shops, you can get things like the iPhone. You can also get phones that run the Android operating system. So they’re phones made by, like, Samsung, LG and Sony but also companies like Humanware and Quantum are still making and providing phones that are more specialist, so more tactile, and have other features too. So there is a lot of choice at the moment available.
Roberta: So the mainstream mobile phones in the shops, how do they compare with the phones just made for people who are blind?
Scott: Well, it really depends on what people are looking for. So if you do want a really simple device, then some of those specialist phones are still good options in that you’ve got the basics. You’ve got things like SMS and calls. You can do a few basic functionalities on them and they’re quite tactile. So there are still some good options. The downside is they can often be very, very expensive because they’re made specifically for the blind and vision impaired audience.
Meanwhile, on the mainstream front, they’re usually cheaper and you’ve got the phones that are made for everyone and, yeah, they have a lot more apps and features available but not as tactile. They usually use touchscreens. So there is a lot of choice but, yeah, they do meet different markets.
Roberta: So, Scott, can I make a mainstream phone easier to use, like the specialist phones?
Scott: You can and because the mainstream phones are much cheaper and a lot of people want the same phone that everyone else, all their friends and family, are using, it is really good to know that a lot of those phones do have accessibility features.
So, for example if you buy and iPhone then the iPhone has VoiceOver, which is a screen reader. So if you’re blind or vision impaired it changes the interface to have everything read out to you. It’s also got zoom and it’s also got high contrast inverse themes. So there’s a lot of good features on that. On the android platform there’s now some good options too.
So in recent years the Android phones have evolved, so if you get an Android phone that runs version 4 of Android or better then you can do things like put the talkback screen reader on. So, again, it makes everything on your phone talk to you.
One of the apps I use, because I have an Android phone, I use an app called Big Launcher. What Big Launcher does is it strips down the interface so that it’s just got six key buttons. So you’ve just got a button for phone, a button for messages, a button for taking photos, things like that. So just really basic functionality on the phone and you can change those buttons to be whatever you like. The nice thing about that is that you get a really big dialler as well, so you can easily see the buttons if you’re vision impaired. But also everything can be read out to you with the screen reader, if you move your finger around the screen.
So it’s really nice that if you don’t want to go for the expensive specialist option you can go for a cheaper mainstream one and just get the app that simplifies everything for you.
Roberta: So that would work the same way as if I point my mouse at an icon. It reads out what it is. So in effect that’s what the buttons do. They tell you what it is.
Scott: Exactly, you just move your finger around the screen and it reads things out and when you get to what you want you just double tap the screen. So it’s great that those features are available.
Roberta: Now, what other changes are coming to smart phone that might help in the future?
Scott: Well, one of the really good things recently is there’s a trend that mainstream SmartPhones are getting bigger and bigger with their screens. So, for example, the new Samsung Galaxy S4, which is the phone of choice at the moment, it seems to be taking the world by storm. The screen on that is quite large now and I think it’s around five inches.
Even Sony have just announced a new phone and it’s kind of a cross between a phone and a tablet which they’re calling a “phablet” of all things and it’s 6.8 inches in size, which is almost the size of a tablet, but you can make phone calls with it. So if you’re vision impaired and you’re looking for something with a really big screen that you can easily see what’s going on, then some of these new devices might be the way to go.
Roberta: I saw one of those at the weekend and I thought I want one.
Scott: Yeah, not quite pocket sized but very cool if you can’t see so good, like myself.
Roberta: Now, to find out more about digital technology that might be suited to you or someone you know who is blind or vision impaired, visit the Media Access website or give him a call on 02 9212 6242. Thank you for all of that today, Scott. I know I’ll be talking to you soon.
Scott: Thanks very much, Roberta. I appreciate it.
Roberta: I’ve been speaking with Dr Scott Hollier from Media Access Australia. Media Access Australia is a supporter of this program.