Android access in 2015: Lollipop 5.0 hands-on review and tech to expect this year

Transcript

11 January 2015

Roberta: Almost one full year after testing the accessibility of Android 4.4 KitKat, Dr Scott Hollier is back in 2015 to provide you with more useful tips and initial hands-on impressions of accessibility features in the latest version of Google’s Android operating system Lollipop 5.0. Welcome Scott.

Scott: Thanks Roberta, and happy New Year.

Roberta: And a happy New Year to you as well. Let’s hope it’s going to be a really good one. I think ’14 was fine, so let’s hope ’15 will be just as good.

Scott: [laughs] Sounds good to me.

Roberta: Now Scott, what is Android and how does it relate to a lollipop?

Scott: Well, this is the thing with Google’s naming conventions. So basically Android is the operating system that we see on most non-Apple devices, so a Samsung phone, Google tablet, LG, Sony, all those type of devices run Android. And Google like to name each of their versions after a dessert, and they also increase it by one letter. So when they came up to naming “i” for example, they called it Ice Cream Sandwich, then for “j” we had Jelly Bean, “k” for KitKat, and now “l” for Lollipop. So yes, it’s Android 5.0, and yes, it’s always interesting to be talking about desserts and technology in the same breath.

Roberta: [laughs] Exactly. What are the new accessibility features in the 5.0 Lollipop then?

Scott: Well happily there are a number of accessibility improvements, and credit to Google, Android got off to a bit of a shaky start when it came to accessibility, but they have improved it quite dramatically in recent versions, and Lollipop is no exception. In recent Android versions we’ve seen great improvements to the screen reader being TalkBack, and also magnification added in Jelly Bean. But in Lollipop we do see a few new features, and probably the best one for people with low vision is colour inversions, so there’s now a shortcut button where you can twitch the colours from light on dark to dark on light, and to be able to just quickly toggle that can be really useful if you’ve got an app that’s particularly bright and glary. Also there’s some nice features to help people who may have colour vision difficulties, so you can actually toggle things so that if you have red/green colour blindness, or blue/yellow colour blindness you can then basically set up your phone or tablet in a way that eliminates that being an issue, and also there’s some high contrast features as well which is really handy, so you can select a high contrast option that will try in apps to smooth out some of the contrast text issues. So it’s nice to see that, yeah, in the latest version of Android that we’ve got a few improvements.

Roberta: That’s good news indeed. Now is it easier to use an Android 4.4 KitKat?

Scott: Well, this is a really good question, and the general community seem a bit divided on this because one of the things Google have done with Lollipop, whilst they have included some nice new accessibility features, they’ve also gone for a very pastelly [sic] bright white colour theme, and although you can use the inversion to flip that around in places, the fact that the setting screens are now quite bright and a number of the other apps have this type of colour scheme, a number of people have said that they actually preferred KitKat in that, you know, it was more of a darker theme and it was a bit easier to see. But that said, I think the fact that there are new accessibility features for many may outweigh the fact that Google have gone for this more lighter and brighter colour theme. So it’s probably worth people going into a shop with tablets and phones and just comparing them. At the moment there’s only a few devices on the market that run Lollipop; most still run KitKat or an earlier version, but yeah, these days you should be able to find devices for comparison and just see how you go.

Roberta: So what other accessible technologies can we expect this year?

Scott: Well, there’s a few interesting things brewing, and certainly all eyes are turning to the Apple Watch which is due about March, is the latest rumour mill. There’s a few news items kicking around to suggest that Apple are just starting to get their staff trained up for a March release. So yes, whether or not it’s accessible, that will be the question, but certainly on Apple’s form previously they are usually pretty good on the accessibility front. So we’re all looking forward to see what happens, and also currently at the time of this recording the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is underway and there’s always lots of new technology coming out of there which sets the tone for the year. So I wouldn’t be surprised if we talk about that on another programme.

Roberta: Well, I do hope we will be. Now for more information on mobile accessibility and digital technology reviews visit the Media Access Australia website, mediaaccess.org.au, or you can also call (02) 9212 6242. Thank you for all of that Scott. I look forward to hearing more.

Scott: Thank you.

Roberta: I’ve been speaking with Dr Scott Hollier from Media Access Australia, and Media Access Australia is a supporter of this programme.

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