Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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I need help choosing a new phone for someone with low vision and physical disabilities. (self.Blind)
submitted 8y ago by SeaTrekLaw
My nephew has been using a Samsung Galaxy S4 for a couple years and it works perfect for him. With S-Voice, he can completely operate the phone without pressing a button. It also prompts him about reading out, replying, or ignoring texts. It reads outgoing texts before they are sent, allows changes (important because he has minor speech problems), etc.
The S4 was getting a little old so we bought him an S6 Active. Well, Samsung decided to gut S-Voice. It doesn't even read out caller names anymore. Many of the prompts are gone, none to reply, it doesn't verify who he is about to call, etc. On top of all that, it is now very slow to respond and seems to stop listening quickly, only giving a visual cue. Basically, it wasn't working for him.
So, I started in on apps. I tried a bunch of hands free apps, most require some sort of visual cue or button press. Dragon Personal Assistant was promising, but it couldn't check texts, not recognizing the messaging app for some reason. It was also a little buggy in reading out names and texts. I tried using multiple apps like a combo of a talking Caller ID apps, Dragon, and S-Voice but they interfered with each other, often causing the ringer not to work and other issues.
It was very frustrating. We ended up returning the S6 Active and he is back on the S4, with its cracked screen and overused battery.
So, we spent hours using iPhones, Motorolas, HTCs, LGs, etc., trying to find something similar to the old S4, no luck.
I am hoping some of you can help me out here. Now, I did try some apps specifically for the blind. They seemed to be centered around a screen reader. Well, that doesn't really work because of his motor coordination problems. There seems to be a lot of required screen interaction and he just isn't there yet.
I obviously missed something in my search. Maybe there was a setting on one of the phones that I missed. There has to be an app, screen reader, or a phone out there that allows complete voice control and gives complete voice feedback without requiring screen interaction.
I hope somebody here can point me in the right direction. I am open to any phone platform, app, whatever.
The S4 was getting a little old so we bought him an S6 Active. Well, Samsung decided to gut S-Voice. It doesn't even read out caller names anymore. Many of the prompts are gone, none to reply, it doesn't verify who he is about to call, etc. On top of all that, it is now very slow to respond and seems to stop listening quickly, only giving a visual cue. Basically, it wasn't working for him.
So, I started in on apps. I tried a bunch of hands free apps, most require some sort of visual cue or button press. Dragon Personal Assistant was promising, but it couldn't check texts, not recognizing the messaging app for some reason. It was also a little buggy in reading out names and texts. I tried using multiple apps like a combo of a talking Caller ID apps, Dragon, and S-Voice but they interfered with each other, often causing the ringer not to work and other issues.
It was very frustrating. We ended up returning the S6 Active and he is back on the S4, with its cracked screen and overused battery.
So, we spent hours using iPhones, Motorolas, HTCs, LGs, etc., trying to find something similar to the old S4, no luck.
I am hoping some of you can help me out here. Now, I did try some apps specifically for the blind. They seemed to be centered around a screen reader. Well, that doesn't really work because of his motor coordination problems. There seems to be a lot of required screen interaction and he just isn't there yet.
I obviously missed something in my search. Maybe there was a setting on one of the phones that I missed. There has to be an app, screen reader, or a phone out there that allows complete voice control and gives complete voice feedback without requiring screen interaction.
I hope somebody here can point me in the right direction. I am open to any phone platform, app, whatever.
Unuhi 3 points
Iphone.
You can set up switches that can work for him.
So single button to do anything on the screen, or use eye movements, or siri..
You can set up switches that can work for him.
So single button to do anything on the screen, or use eye movements, or siri..
geoffisblind 3 points
Unfortunately I've found that the whole Android platform is under equipped in terms of accessibility. My first smart phone was an HTC One M7 and I currently use a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Both had TalkBack but neither have done a very good job. The Note 4 is vastly superior to the One M7 but it still lacks in a lot of ways. I do like the magnification gestures, negative colors, quick access accessibility shortcuts, and the ability to use the S Pen as a magnifier with hover zoom. However the TalkBack is still lacking and is not as smooth as Voice Over is on my iPad Air. I love Android, everything else about the OS like the customization and the freedom that Google gives the user is great. However Siri, Voice Over, and the multitude of third party apps that help with everything from reading to mobility are just better on the Apple platform. If there aren't some serious changes made to Android come January when I have another upgrade I will have to retire Android for a little bit simply because I need my phone to do certain things that Android just can't do right now. I'd say iPhone is your best bet right now.
stereomatch 2 points
SeaTrekLaw,
You will find good feedback from blind android users on the eyes-free google group:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/eyes-free
They usually discuss the pros and cons of various devices and would be knowledgeable about recommendations.
You will find good feedback from blind android users on the eyes-free google group:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/eyes-free
They usually discuss the pros and cons of various devices and would be knowledgeable about recommendations.
SeaTrekLaw [OP] 1 points
I will definitely check that out. Thanks for the info.
fastfinge 2 points
If you jailbreak the iPhone, you can force Hey Siri to be on even if unplugged. But that will absolutely destroy battery life. But once Hey Siri is active, she can do basically everything on the phone. Apple is working on CarPlay, and Siri is the way the driver is intended to control it, so what Siri can't yet do will get added soon, I'm sure.
SeaTrekLaw [OP] 2 points
Good to know. Hopefully, with iOS 9 and Android M coming out soon, there will be some improvements in this area.
Nighthawk321 2 points
I'm not too familiar with phones with voice activation stuff like that, but I do believe the iPhone also has settings that you can adjust for people the have motor coordination problems. Maybe you want to check that out again? Hope this was slightly useful.
SeaTrekLaw [OP] 1 points
It is helpful. I spent a majority of my time with Android phones. I played around with the accessibility options of the iPhone but I do not remember that option. That would definitely be something worth looking into. I wish the hands free option on the iPhone wouldn't require being plugged in. I have been meaning to find a way around that.
Nighthawk321 2 points
Well, literally the only solution to the plugged in thing, would be if you jail broke and iPhone. I jailbroke mine, and so now, I can say hey siri without it being plugged in. But I wish there were an easier solution besides that.
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