As I've said for 14 years, this isn't a feel good story. The community shouldn't be trapped on 1 mobile platform. I don't blame anyone for not using, learn, tolerate or except the level of android accessibility. I morn that there aren't alternatives to the Cupertino gilded cage https://www.applevis.com/blog/i-switched-android-iphone-15-probably-my-future
@Ranger1138 Considering I switched back to Android from IOS and never going back, probably doesn’t mean a dish thing to most people. But then again, with Accessible Android one of the best sites for this stuff, it doesn’t get enough talk. Are folks scared because of Android Access and other sites before it fall by the wayside? Code Factory burning Android users? Proper coverage for Commentary not being shared among the brought circle? Google themselves? All of the above?
@queenslight@Ranger1138 There's also a lot that goes into it. If I love a Motorola phone or want to try OnePlus, I may not be able to. Which version of Android does it run? What did the company do to accessibility? When I look up how to do something, are there extra gestures or other changes (looking at you, Samsung) I need to know about? Which launcher am I using? Will this skin break some accessibility? I'm not an Android user so I don't know if these are valid.
@queenslight@Ranger1138 With iOS, you always know what you're getting, for better or worse. You decide how fast a phone you want, how new your camera should be, and all that, but the software is always the same. No launchers means a launcher can't break screen reader compatibility. It's a double-edged sword, but many people like the comfort of having far fewer potential problems.
@alexhall@queenslight I'll add to that, there is hardware fragmentation, but it's understandable and manageable. And you can throw money at the problem. It's only going to get worse in the future. The better features for an Apple phone will mean you're spending more money going forward. Which perpetuates the problem we're talking about of course.
@Ranger1138@alexhall One of the coolest bits of the #Jieshuo screen reader which does not get much talk at all, is its support for VR Headsets. Something I’m positive Talkback will never get In the near future.
@alexhall@Ranger1138 To answer your question, the Moto interface in many ways is nicer than a pixel and does not interfere with Talkback gestures. Though you definitely should side load a port of Google camera on the device if available.
I played with a Moto G phone briefly, though it had Android 11 on it. It was the G Pure. 2021.
Newer Moto phones will definitely do way better, although their main issue is the 2 year updates ya get on most phones.
@Ranger1138@devinprater What can we do if iOS is so much better and Android is falling apart with every version? I used Android since 2015 but now its a hot, unusable and a slow mess.
@Nuno@devinprater I truly honestly deeply wish I had an answer for you. All the majors are reassessing every portion of their business. Which unfortunately includes accessibility. You're going to see changes from everyone, the stabilization from everyone and there is very little any of us can do about it until it all levels out in the various restructures
@Ranger1138@devinprater Exactly. It’s not my fault that I am an Apple user. I am pragmatic, not fanatic and that’s what all of us should be, use what is better, weak will fall. Its ironic that the tech industry, something modern and recent is still working on the law of the jungle.
@Nuno@devinprater By no means am I disagreeing with you. But see that's where we get into stickiness, development degradation and lack of sufficient user install bases to make changes. It makes iOS the dominant A.T. developer platform. Smothering the oxygen out of all others. Self sustaining prophecy. Lack of alternatives fosters complacency. And nothing ever changes
@Ranger1138@Nuno@devinprater See also the thing I've been harping on about for years. Microsoft made Seeing AI with Xamarin! I looked at the data of the app and found .net DLL files and things that contained Xamarin in the file names. Xamarin is cross-platform, and is, to my knowledge, easier to compile on Android! So why, then, is Seeing AI not on Android?
@cachondo@Ranger1138@Nuno@devinprater Then why in the intervening time when commentary came out and more blind users were on Android did they not release a port? To my knowledge there still isn't a port, they've just handed the Android side of that market over to Envision.
@x0@cachondo@Ranger1138@Nuno@devinprater To my knowledge, Seeing AI isn't a profitable product for Microsoft. It's more like a tech demo that's good for PR, and maybe a source of input for ongoing AI research. If that's true, then they're not handing part of the market to someone else; they're cutting their losses.
@matt@x0@Ranger1138@Nuno@devinprater it's worrying, isn't it?
something I use daily, hell, four or five times a day is just that close to being finished with and taken away for ever.
@Nuno@devinprater It also bolsters the stereotype that everyone in our community has, must use or must adopt iOS if they go blind. Those kinds of misconceptions outside our community can form strong cognitive bias in ways that you don't know until you step on that rake in the middle of the field.In old vocational rehabilitation circles, this is called tin cup mentality. If you're blind, here's your cane and your tin cup for begging.
Add comment