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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

r/blind

Full History - 2020 - 11 - 12 - ID#jssosf

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How to type on an android phone using Talkback? Recommended ways/keyboards (self.Blind)

submitted by pinkzepvana

Hello everyone. I am writing this on behalf of a family member who is blind. He has recently started using smartphones for recreation. I am trying to help him set up a phone so he can replace his feature phone with a smart phone full time. He has been able to use Google Asssistant/Siri very well to get the basic things like searching for a video. There has been one major problem on Android though which is typing using keyboard. For some reason, it doesn't read out the letter first so he can double tap (I have noticed this feature on iOS devices and he was able to type comfortably on my iPad). I recommended using the voice typing on board even before he could find the button for voice type, he ends up putting a lot of characters (while searching for it)



Anyone who uses Android, how do you type? I to find research online but none of them are helpful in this. I am quite surprised at how such a simple feature is overlooked. I would appreciate any help with this. Also, please do recommend any alternative keyboards which are blind friendly

Thanks in advance

Laser_Lens_4 3 points 2y ago

Okay. First off, which phone and keyboard is he using? If he’s not on Gboard, download it and switch over. It’s basically the best typing experience on Android for VI users. Mind you, it’s still kinda crap, but I used to use it on a Galaxy s9+, and it absolutely worked. Voice typing is fantastic, and it’s what I used most of the time unless I was typing a password or something.

If you’re still within the return window, I recommend switching to an iPhone. Even the SE will run circles around many Android flagships. Just throw it in a battery case. Android is competent and totally useable for VI users, but iOS is just better. I’ve been a diehard Android user for nearly a decade, and buying an iPhone 11 has been one of the best decisions I’ve made this year.

pinkzepvana [OP] 2 points 2y ago

He is using an android phone which was an old phone he is practising on (some cheap Lenovo phone). Yes he is using the gboard, the problem is it directly inputs the character when clicked on it (unlike the usual talkback/voiceover standard of select to read and then double tap to enter the character). This has unintended consequences like him accidentally entering a lot of characters before he could even reach the voice input button on the keyboard

I have recommended him to switch to an iPhone but he doesn't want to spend much money on a smartphone yet, hence sticking to Android

Also he can't see the characters on keyboard so watch and select is not an option

Laser_Lens_4 3 points 2y ago

u/CloudyBeep gave a pretty good overview of how typing on Android works. The latest versions of Talkback have included a Braille input keyboard, but Talkback updates are wonky and are sometimes Android version-specific, so it's very possible that his phone might not have it. If he's interested, it's certainly worth a look through the Talkback menus, though I found it to be burdensome when quickly switching between typing and interacting with other on-screen controls.



To go into more detail on typing, you slide your finger around to explore, find the key you want to press, and then you release your finger to type it, or you hold to bring up additional options. If you change your mind about wanting to type a character, simply slide your finger up until it leaves the keyboard area, and any pop-ups will be dismissed. No characters will be typed.



For voice typing, the button is at the top right of the keyboard. It functions the same as all the other keys, but you must double tap when you finish speaking in order to deactivate voice typing. Do make sure to allow a few seconds with the mic open afterward for Gboard to translate everything you said into text. If you close the mic immediately after finishing, it often just doesn't type anything at all. Hope this helps.



Edit: One of the critical problems with typing on Android is the short delay between contact with a key and speech output from the phone. It's not horrible, but it is just enough to slow someone down and make more errors than they would have otherwise. iOS doesn't have this problem and has near-instant speech feedback.



Also, if he's going to use voice typing a lot, then he should get very familiar with text navigation gestures. Gboard voice typing is pretty good, but it's not perfect and will require manual error correction.

pinkzepvana [OP] 1 points 2y ago

This answers most of my specific questions. Thank you so much!

If he is still sticking to Android, do you think Android One phones are better than Samsung/chinese brands?

Laser_Lens_4 1 points 2y ago

I would stick to pixel devices

siriuslylupin6 1 points 2y ago

Iphones have this feature to it’s called touch typing just don’t leave the screen then.

bjayernaeiy 1 points 2y ago

Talkback is known to have lag, and especially with the keyboard, a slight delay when sliding your finger around, and this might be compounded with him using an older phone that's slow by itself.
On IOS, you can switch between 3 modes of typing on the keyboard, the standard typing where you first find a letter, select it and doubletap to click like any other element, touch typing, basically where you slide your finger around and lift to type, and direct touch typing, basically how a sighted person types on a keyboard. He might be interested to look into IOS and the standard typing experience. I am pretty certain Android and Talkback don't have this feature.

pinkzepvana [OP] 1 points 2y ago

Yeah I did not find the standard typing you mentioned on Android. Wish they included it as an option, it will greatly benefit new VI users

bjayernaeiy 1 points 2y ago

Find it under settings > accessibility > voiceover > typing > typing style. You'll have the list of 3 toggles to choose from, and you can also add typing style in the rotor so that you can quickly navigate to it when in an edit field instead of having to go through settings.

Edit: Apologies, misread the comment as did not find it on IOS, not did not find it on Android. So please disregard

Legend010331 2 points 2y ago

I am an Android user on the newest version of Android one. I am also using the Gboard keyboard. On my phone you can find what keyboard you have by going to SETTINGS > SYSTEM > LANGUAGE AND INPUT > VIRTUAL KEYBOARD. I am able to see the letters on the keyboard so I don't have this issue, but there is also a function where you press the microphone button then you can speak whatever you want to type. I will say the actual speech to text works well, but in order to use it I have to first press the microphone button, then afterwards press the search/send/ok button which may be an issue. I also just saw that in my keyboard settings there is another keyboard called "Talk Back Braille Keyboard". I'm not sure how it works but it may be worth it to check it out. I myself haven't used an iOS device since my iPod 4 so I can't say anything about the iOS side of this discussion. I hope this helps.

pinkzepvana [OP] 1 points 2y ago

Yeah I wanted to know how to type on Android device. He can't see the letters so he needs some feedback before confirming the input. The voice typing is great but what's the point if you end up inputting lot of stray characters before you could finally reach that button

I will explore the talk back Braille keyboard but he doesn't know Braille.

Legend010331 1 points 2y ago

Oh sorry, I realize now that I didn't quite understand the problem. I'll check to see if I can find anything to help.

pinkzepvana [OP] 1 points 2y ago

Another user pointed in comments that you can slide your finger across without lifting and it will read the characters for you. I tried using that but there must be a better way or a better keyboard which maintains the consistency of Talkbalk

CloudyBeep 1 points 2y ago

As this is what most blind people would use quite comfortably, you're probably out of luck.

CloudyBeep 2 points 2y ago

iOS is much more accessible, so if that's an option, I recommend you give it serious consideration.

I don't use Android (see above paragraph), but I think you slide your finger around until you find the right letter, then release it to insert that letter.

pinkzepvana [OP] 2 points 2y ago

Thanks. It seems to work that way.

But it's completely unintuitive especially with the design standard of accessibility softwares relying on select to speak and double tab to activate. Do you know if this is a feature or a bug?

EDIT: typo (unintuitive )

CloudyBeep 1 points 2y ago

It's definitely a feature. Many blind people prefer this input method because it's faster. It's also available for iOS.

pinkzepvana [OP] 2 points 2y ago

I have some questions on that feature.

What if you start sliding your finger but then decide you don't want to input any character? How do you come out without inputting any character?

Another problem I noticed is you are sliding and you are at a character for long enough it pops up a box with the letter variations ( like an 'I' with a dot and double dots etc) and it seems to persist instead of reading the next character to slide to. How do you get around this?

CloudyBeep 1 points 2y ago

I never used this feature on iOS as other typing options were available which I preferred. I currently use Braille Screen Input, though I suppose that wouldn't be a solution in your case.

If you change your mind about entering a letter, what happens when you put another finger on the screen?

I don't know how one would dismiss the suggestions that appear on Android.

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