Past, present & future of accessible devices: Apple vs Android

Transcript

5 July 2014

Roberta: Today I'm speaking with Dr. Scott Hollier, Project Manager and Western Australia Manager, Media Access Australia. Welcome, Scott.

Scott: Thanks Roberta!

Roberta: Today I'd like to talk about iPads, iPhones and iWatch, because Apple seems to be a popular choice for mobile devices. So what's happening there?

Scott: There is quite a bit on the horizon and we’ve certainly seen that the success of iPads and iPhones, especially amongst people who are blind and vision impaired, they have been a revolutionary device. Arguably, Apple are credited with introducing the first popular touch screen, screen reader back with the iPhone 3GS. It’s really the iWatch that’s getting all the publicity at the moment and also the iPhone 6, there’s lots and lots of rumours kicking around. So, just to talk a bit about the iWatch, Apple have registered the name ‘iWatch’ in most countries now, both as a technology device and also as a piece of jewellery, so I think we can be fairly assured that it’s on its way and while there have been other smartwatches out, there’s a company called Pebble that make one and Samsung have had a go with their Galaxy Gear. To be honest, they haven’t really captured the public imagination for the most part and most people are looking to accompany, like Apple who seem to get design right, as to what a smartwatch could do. In terms of what it could do, if it does come with accessibility features like most of the other Apple products do, potentially, you could access a lot of your phone’s information through the watch, there could be some really creative apps and even health apps. Some of the smartwatches now let you manage your- monitor your biorhythms and blood pressures and all sorts of different things to try and help you sleep. If you have a medical condition they can help to monitor that. So, from an accessibility point of view, there’s some really exciting potential just around the corner.

Roberta: Android seems to be getting a lot more traction recently with the development of apps specifically for people who are blind or vision impaired. Has that become a reasonable alternative to Apple?

Scott: Well it has, and one of the things we see again and again with Android is the affordability factor. So, if you want to buy a pretty decent Android phone you’re looking at around the 200 dollar mark. The Samsungs and things like that are still quite high in terms of the 6 to 700 dollar mark, but you can get a reasonable phone like the Moto G and the upcoming Moto E for around that 200 dollar price mark. Given that they are accessible and the ones that run the new Android 4.4 KitKat, they do have the talkback screen reader, they do have a full-screen magnifier and lots of other accessibility built in. Some creative apps like we talked about a few programs ago; looking at ways to hop on the bus and have it help for someone who is blind or vision impaired and magnifiers and compasses; it really is getting more and more traction when you can buy, you know, two Android devices for the price of an iPad Mini. So, from an affordability point of view Android has increased a lot and with Samsung recently releasing its S5 phone and some other interesting Android devices along the way, yeah, I think it’s become a really great viable alternative for people who perhaps can’t afford the more polished Apple products.

Roberta: iWatch. Can you buy that now?

Scott: You can’t buy it now, but, and Apple haven’t said when they’re going to release it but there is a World Wide Developer Conference in June and a lot of people are looking to that to see if we’ll get a bit more information on that release. That said, yeah, they certainly are doing things behind the scenes to prepare for some sort of wearable tech, and as we said in another recent program about Google Glass, you know, the idea that we can wear things and it just becomes part of what we do is becoming more and more popular, so watch this space.

Roberta: Indeed. I’ve got an I… It’s a mini ‘iThing’ that I’ve got, and I’m just learning-

Scott: Could be maybe an iPhone or an iPad Mini?

Roberta: No, no, no, it would be an iPad Mini I think, and it’s an Android.

Scott: Oh, it’s an Android one! So it’s probably-

Roberta: Is it a tablet or something?

Scott: Yeah, it’ll be an Android tablet of some sort.

Roberta: Yeah, I’m learning how to use it so I might be on the phone to you, when I’m running a little bit out of what to do next.

Scott: No worries!

Roberta: Scott, thank you very much for coming into the studio today again and telling us all about the things that are happening. It certainly is moving at a pace, and when you think back to some of the projects that we thought, well “when is this going to happen, when is that going to happen” and it’s happened, so, it looks like all these things we’ve been talking about will happen.

Scott: It’s my pleasure.

Roberta: I’ve been speaking with Dr. Scott Hollier, Project Manager and Western Australia Manager, Western Australia. Media Access Australia are supporters of this programme.

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