Android Aims Beyond Cool To Life Impact

We all want the hottest handsets, sweetest specs, awesomest apps, greatest games and next best thing in the tech world – Android included. Sometimes we get so lost in what is “cool” and “fun” that we lose site of reality and practicality. A couple days ago, Google made a post on their Official Blog about more accessibility features on Android 1.6. But the hoopla surrounding new 1.6 features had come and gone and the blog post fell on cutting room floors across the interwebz.

What a shame. That post by Google illustrated that not only can the technology behind Android keep us more connected, entertained and informed than ever before, but in some cases it can drastically improve people’s lives.

Android 1.6 introduced a new feature called Text-To-Speech (TTS for short or Speech Synthesis alternatively) that allows your phone to read, translate and audibly speak text in various languages. Through various APIs, developers can integrate this functionality into their applications. My first thought was that hey, that would be great for traveling to a foreign country! An American in Italy that is looking for directions somewhere? Ask someone in English and have an Android App repeat it aloud in Italian. And guess what? They could speak the directions back in Italian and have it direct you in English!

Sure, that would be cool but I would consider it a luxury. And that is what Android is doing in many cases – offering a huge number and wide range of luxuries. Unfortunately my narrow-minded thinking prevented the “aha” moment for a group of people who could find much better use for this technology – the blind and visually impaired.

For one, developers can take a few extra measures to ensure that blind and visually impaired users are still able to utilize their applications. But perhaps more importantly, these new features of Android allows applications to be built from the ground up for the explicit PURPOSE of being utilized by blind and visually impaired users. We’ve told you about the Eyes-Free Android Application Project before… but it deserves another plug.

Here is a quick example illustrating innovative ways of approaching applications for “eyes-free” use:

That was published 6 months ago and there haven’t been any NEW videos from the project since. But given the recent additions in Android 1.6 I’m hoping we’ll see some new videos soon, not to mention Google told us to stay tuned. Here are some of the “enhancements” Android 1.6 has allowed that we might see in upcoming Eyes-Free application concepts:

  • Text-to-Speech (TTS) is now bundled with the Android platform. The platform comes with voices for English (U.S. and U.K.), French, Italian, Spanish and German.
  • A standardized Text To Speech API is part of the Android SDK, and this enables developers to create high-quality talking applications.
  • Starting with Android 1.6, the Android platform includes a set of easy to use accessibility APIs that make it possible to create accessibility aids such as screenreaders for the blind.
  • Application authors can easily ensure that their applications remain usable by blind and visually impaired users by ensuring that all parts of the user interface are reachable via the trackball; and all image controls have associated textual metadata.
  • Starting with Android 1.6, the Android platform comes with applications that provide spoken, auditory (non-speech sounds) and haptic (vibration) feedback. Named TalkBack, SoundBack and KickBack, these applications are available via the Settings > Accessibility menu.

Heading up the Eyes-Free project is gentleman named T.V. Raman and in New York Times article, he shares with us a few visions that will help Android act as eyes for the blind:

With no buttons to guide the fingers on its glassy surface, the touch-screen cellphone may seem a particularly daunting challenge. But Mr. Raman said that with the right tweaks, touch-screen phones — many of which already come equipped with GPS technology and a compass — could help blind people navigate the world.

“How much of a leap of faith does it take for you to realize that your phone could say, ‘Walk straight and within 200 feet you’ll get to the intersection of X and Y,’ ” Mr. Raman said. “This is entirely doable.”

Forget the hottest handsets, sweetest specs, awesomest apps and greatest games… the notion of truly helping somebody overcome real-life challenges – whether it be about the blind, visually impaired or any other real-life situation – might just be the next best thing in the tech world. When you put it into perspective, doesn’t it kind of make you feel foolish for arguing on message boards about which Flashlight app is best? Thought so.

The problems are widespread and two examples provided in the January 2009 article have since been addressed by Google:

  1. One obstacle for web browsing is captchas – distorted strings of letters the user must enter to assure they aren’t a spam bot. Not many of these offer “audio” versions of Captchas, making it impossible for blind people to bypass spam filters. Last month, Google purchased the company who owns the Captcha technology for an undisclosed sum. Hmmmm I wonder why?
  2. The rapid increase in bandwidth capabilities has pushed online video to new heights – but what about the deaf and hearing impaired? In March, Google added features to YouTube captions allowing them to be embedded on other sites and translated into 40+ languages, helping everyone receive better access to the information they want and need. Yesterday Google completed transcribing 150+ videos from their Webmaster Video Channel into captions, providing 11 hours of information to those that otherwise wouldn’t have had it. And in 40+ languages mind you!

The above two elements could DEFINITELY have implications on an Android Mobile phone as well and I’m eager to see what all the gifted developers out there can come up with. Best of luck to the Eyes-Free Project team and we’ll have our eyes bots on you! If this really interests you, check out the 47-minute presentation from Google I/O 2009 below:

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