Transcript: What the iPhone 4S means for blind and vision impaired users

Roberta:  Apple CEO Tim Cook recently announced iPhone 4S which is the new version of the iPhone. Today I am joined in the studio by Sarah Pulis, Manager of Digital Media and Technology for Media Access Australia and she is going to tell us about the impact this announcement will have on accessibility for people who are blind or vision impaired. Welcome Sarah.

Sarah:  Thanks very much Roberta.

Roberta:  What is different about the iPhone 4S?

Sarah:Well the iPhone 4S looks the same as the iPhone 4, which is the previous version of the iPhone, but the technology inside is new and this essentially means that it is a lot faster than the iPhone 4. The camera has also been upgraded, which may actually have a positive impact on the effectiveness of OCR software.

Now OCR software like Zoom Reader and Doc Scanner allows users to actually take images with their phone and covert them into text, which then can be read out using Voice Over. However, what affects this is often poor image quality. So with the new camera, we are hoping that that will actually have a positive impact on OCR. But what I actually find really exciting is this new piece of software called Siri and it is a virtual personal assistant.

Roberta:  Oh, that’s a new one.

Sarah:  It is.

Roberta:  So what is Siri and what can it do?

Sarah:  Well Siri is essentially an intelligent voice recognition software. So Siri will respond to vocal commands, so you could ask your phone a question, like what is the weather like today in Sydney? And the phone will actually go off, find out what the weather is like and respond audibly with the weather information. There is actually a demonstration video on the Apple website and interestingly it features a blind user.

So we are lead to assume that accessibility was one of the key features of this development. Although the iPhone touch screen keyboard is accessible via Voice Over, performing tasks using Siri, may actually provide quicker and easier access for all. Now Siri is only in its Beta phase, so Apple is still testing and refining it. It is also worth noting that Siri will only be available on the new iPhone 4S.

Roberta:  Sarah, I hear that iOS 5 will be released at around the same time as iPhone 4S, is there any accessibility updates?

Sarah:  There are a number of accessibility updates in iOS 5, so iOS is the software that runs on an iPhone and this is where we get most of the accessibility features on the iPhone. The updates to iOS 5 include the ability to triple click the home button on the iPhone, which will actually turn on Voice Over by default. Now what this means is that if you buy the phone, as soon as you turn it on, you can triple, you can press this home button three times and Voice Over will activate, so essentially that means that you can use that screen reader to set up your phone straight away.

There are also other improvements to Voice Over, including custom element labelling. So if you have got an app that maybe has some buttons that are unlabelled, you can actually go through and add labels to those buttons.

Roberta:  That’s amazing, isn’t it?

Sarah:  Yeah it is.

Roberta:  So when will all this be available?

Sarah:  Well everyone is talking about it. The iPhone 4S will be available on the 14^th October. They are already taking pre orders and within the first 24 hours of pre orders opening, there was already one million pre orders for the iPhone 4S, so this is really hot. iOS 5 will be available on the 12^th October, which is two days prior to the release of the iPhone 4S. Now owners of the iPhone 3GS, 4 and 4S as well as iPad number one and two and also the third generation and fourth generation of iPad touch, will all be able to upgrade to iOS 5 and so they will get all the benefits from that. But just remembering that Siri only works on the new iPhone 4S.

Roberta:  Well thank you for talking with us today Sarah, that was absolutely fantastic news. Now for more information about digital technology and online media you can visit Media Access Australia’s website, mediaaccess.org.au or alternatively you can email Media Access Australia at info@mediaaccess.org.auor use the phone, 02 9212 6242 for more information. Thank you Sarah.

Sarah:  Wonderful Roberta, thanks.

Roberta:  I have been speaking with Sarah Pulis, Manager, Digital Media and Technology from Media Access Australia and Media Access Australia are supporters of this program.