<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; "\>Event ID: 1762059
Event Started: 6/8/2011 5:30:00 PM
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>> 6 MINUTES PAST START [Captioner on stand by waiting for event to begin. If there has been a change, please contact Caption Colorado at  800-590-4197  or cc@captionedtext.com. Thank you.] 
>> Hello everybody this is Kathy with the Washington Access Fund, thank you for your patience, so we will get started now. This webinar platform works by listening to audio to the computer. You probably aren't enough that you have had some time to check it out and let you can chat so as we are going along, the REIT to text questions and we will keep an eye and try to answer your questions if we don't see ones and forget to answer it, just text it in a game in which I took it to everybody's questions. You can actually change the size of your screen if you want the PowerPoint presentation to be larger or smaller, or the chat area to be larger or smaller, you can pick your aero over the borders and click and drag and change that to CQ -- suit you. I'm going to my mom and two start the recording and then we will introduce the speakers and get started. Now, we are recording the webinar. 
>> Today, we are going to have a presentation by Debbie cake and Gaby Dejonge and Murray Kelly. Debbie Cook is the assistance quarter for the Washington assistive technology act program, Gaby Dejonge is the training quarter and ATspecialist for WATAP.  They will be presenting a webinar on selecting a smartphone and accessibility comparisons. Maria Kelly is the assistedtechnology specialist for WATAP, and will assist in building questions from the audience.  So, at this point, I will turn it over and just before you get started, if you could send current page number tend to make sure everyone is following you. And, I will turn it over, and thank you. 
>> All right, I did send the current page, so everyone can see us RC the current page [Laughter] Welcome to our webinar on how to select mobile technologies. And, this presentation is really intended or individuals with disabilities, consumers were not familiar with these technologies that need suggestions on what to look for when purchasing accessible mobile device. So, we will be covering lots of different devices and OSs today in more detail than you might need at the moment we will be hitting the high points is much as we can. We are going to address the built-in accessibility features across operating systems and we are also going to touch on a few of the readily available, accessible apps or applications that are available for the different phone systems. 
>> Before we get started, we would like to inform you that we will take select it questions through public chat on the computer webinar platform at the end of the presentation. So, now free to submit your questions. We might not be able to address all the questions, but we can make available a list of the questions and answers after the webinar is completed. We've also have a transcript available, an audio archive, and this PowerPoint presentation for both who have requested it. As well, as an online survey, to solicit future topics for webinars and to see how well we did. And one last reminder, any mention of specific products during this webinar is not really a recommendation, but only to use it as an example for information purposes. 
>> Well, I am Debbie Cook, as He introduced me, and I'm the technical assistance where Nader at the Washington assistive technology act program and I'm not going to tell you a whole lot about me here, except to tell you that I am very interested in this particular topic as a person who is blind, and both a user of an iPhone, the iOS device and an Android phone, so I have two of the major operating systems that we are going to be talking about today but I use on a regular, day-to-day basis only. So my message to people is, there are choices and many of these products have a lot of accessibility features. 
>> And, I am Gaby Dejonge and I am an ATspecialist at WATAP and I  conduct AT their mistresses in court and also overseeing the Evergreenexchange and oversee webinar system. And I work on presentations for WATAP. Also join this is Maria Kelly,  who is the senior ATspecialist with WATAP and she oversees the demonstration and lending programs in addition to providing  a T. information and conducting a T. demonstrations and evaluations. She will be handling our questions today. 
>> And, a little information about WATAP.  The Washington Assistive Technology Act Program points the way to assistive technology solutions.. One is a federally funded program that offers low-cost, free services including demonstrations, device lending, we utilized equipment, public awareness activities, AT training and technical assistance and alternative  financing through a partnership with the Washington Access Fund. WATAP is a program  at the Center for technology in disability studies at the University of Washington, and works with Tartars around the state, to offer inclusive services to Washington residents of all ages, with any disability. So, just for quickly, I am having a hard time advancing the slides, so I have another technical issue. So, I am going to mute us for one moment while we work out the technical snafu. So please hold on for just one moment. okay, great, thanks. I think we got that figured out so I'm just going to start advancing some slight here to get caught up to where we should be. And, hopefully, you all should see a slide that says selecting a smartphone, the basics. And, we will take it from there. 
>> I skipped a couple, that's all right, I can go back. 
>>Yes we were supposed to go to a WATAP can help. [Laughter] Practice makes perfect, here. So, all that is good and just looking for that spot again because I blew it. [Laughter] 
>> Why don't you go to that section? 
>> Sure, sure. So,how WATAP can help. What we can help you  through the process firm problem solving optional needs, to making informed decisions to existing with identification of urgency options or the product you choose. And, anyone with a disabilityand their support providers can utilize WATAP , WATAP programs and services as many times as they need.  For changes and ability would regarding whether a consumer is unsupported for have some providers. And now, we are onto the presentation of selecting a smartphone, the basics. 
>> Well I went back to look where you were, I lost myself. [Laughter] So, just one second here while we catch me up. Okay. There. Now, I think we are in a reasonable place. Sorry about that. So, first of all, which carrier should you choose? We are not going to spend a lot of time talking about carriers today because we are going to talk about accessibility, that it really does factor in. There are so many things you want to consider as you pick your phone and obviously, accessibility is going to be key it may not be the only factor for you. So, the big four carriers are AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint. And, there are also other tier 2 carriers such as Virgin mobile, -- Kredo, USL earlier and they offered plans, and you want to check out all of the different issues about the carrier. Some questions you are going to want to think about relate to things like well what is their coverage like? Does it cover where you were going because it doesn't matter how accessible your phone as if it doesn't do anything when you get there. It won't be very accessible, right? Will you need global roaming? Are you a world traveler? Do you have to have a phone that is really flexible and works in a country? Also, you will want to take the cost of calling plan versus data plan versus text plans into consideration. How many minutes of calling will you want? Minutes of texting will you want? Amounts of data? Those don't come in minutes. And, that varies tremendously from carrier to carrier. 
>> What kind of would you be wanting to run on your phone? Many phones come with installed applications, but many also have other applications that you can buy for small fees or download for free. And, are these going to be accessible to you? Things like using the phone itself, making text messages, e-mail, using the web, office production products that people might be using, social networking people do on their phone, entertainment, all kinds of other tools. References, games, and some have many apps to pick from so you want to be thinking about what do I really want to use this device for? Also, ergonomics and form factor of the Smart device, do you want a built-in keyboard? Is a touchscreen something you do or don't want? The location of the volume control, the power button, do you want or need a friend and rear facing -- front or rear facing camera. 
>> Debbie, here is a an interesting factoid, smart phones represent more than half of all handheld wireless devices used by corporate wireless use. And, that is up 22% from 2010. The most notable users are smartphones in the US are for personal e-mail and text messaging. 
>> While. That is amazing. -- Wow, That is amazing. What that really means is people are using their phones besides making phone calls. That is incredible. 
>> I have printed just use their phones for texting and they don't use it to make bold calls at all. I find that interesting. 
>> And one of my phones has a data only plan and I use it for texting. Absolutely. 
>> Will onto the operating systems.
>> So, the first operating system that we are going to talk about is the now get Symbian -- Nokia Symibina system from this is the operating system for all Nokia handsets to be. Basically, Windows phone 7 is going to become the operating system for Nokia, but in the current world where people have been living, most people will have Symbian on their Nokia handset. And it is the leader in telephone market share, about 36% worldwide and it's popular everywhere, except in the United States. So, that is a very interesting notion as well and it is something you may want to consider if you do in fact need to take your phone overseas a lot. Let's talk briefly about vision accessibility for these phone. The Symbian offers Nokia TTS the reader which is a text reader for multimedia messages and e-mails. Is available on Nokia compatible Series 60 phones and there are third-party applications or screeners at you can buy for these that are available and these are Nuance Talks, which is a screen reader, and Xoom which is a low vision product magnifier or low vision speak, these generally cost about $90, unless you get them through your carrier. In some cases, the carrier will provide some of that. 
>> The gnocchi a bank -- Nokie magnifier uses the existing camera functionality on the compatible Nokia series 60 phones and is available also for about $90. so, for hearing assistance related to the phones, Symbian offers lower radiofrequency emissions for hearing aid compatibility, which is important. And most models are compatible with TYY and a wireless loop set for hearing aid users. That is also very good. The newer Nokia E5 handset comes with mobile caption service, preinstalled and allows the user to receive captions directly on their cell phone. So that is a very, very cool... would have been handy today. [Laughter] There are also some ability support features for these particular phones. They have dished keys, that curve inward which makes it a little easier to use a mouthstick or other device with them. They have these, which many phones do not, so if you like a phone with you, that is a feature that would be important to consider. Audio voice interaction with the user interface eliminated the need to grasp the phone, so that helps a lot. You can talk to the phone to provide many of the phones functions. Now, that is not voice recognition for text necessarily, but to tell the phone to dial a phone number or two do -- to do something. 
>> The voice activated [Indiscernible--low volume] 
>> Right. And the speaker point with voice activated answering, and as we have said I'm a speech independent dialing, voice dialing, voice recorder, and voice command with integrated, hands-free speaker's. So, a lot of flexibility that way for a lot of people. If they can use that, and it does include Bluetooth functionality you can add on a lot of devices previously with these phones. And they have eyelets for connecting a lanyard, if you want to attach the phone to yourself or to a wheelchair or some other kind of thing, that is easily done as well and so that makes it very nice. 
>> Cool. 
>> And four Cognition, they have the standard future which is a dial-up button which allows users more time to complete a process. When I worst had one of these Nokia phones I appreciate that, because it had a small keyboard and to be a long time to dial the numbers. The fact that you could set it up and it wouldn't timeout on you was very, very helpful. 
>> Yes, I appreciate that. 
>> Yes. And the internal public has images for easy identification of numbers so that if reading is challenging, that is actually a nice feature. 
>> So, Debbie, Tyler B has a question. What will support be like when Nokia drops Symbian? 
>> So Windows phone 7 will be the current operating system and products made for the Symbian  phone, like Xoom, mobile speaks, those companies will continue supporting those prop -- products as long as the Nokia phone is being service. So there is likely to be support for those existing products for a long time. But we will talk about where accessibility is in Windows phone seven and a little bit if it is a completely different operating system. But, essentially, there is a pretty good candidate to supporting this existing technologies for some time and that is why we are talking about it. Because a lot of people have it and a lot of people are still getting it so even though the phones are not being manufactured in this way, they still have been available and lots of people still have them. So we want people to know that there is hope for that. 
>> Thank you for your question, Tyler. And Donna have another question it we will probably say that to be in but I just wanted to recognize Donna's question is, we please explain more about mobile caption service? So, that is kind of a bigger, global question so we will address that towards the end. 
>> Sure. 
>> Act to cognition for Symbian. 
>> Users also have the option for audio, visual or vibrating alerts, so that is obviously useful for people with a variety of disabilities, they can also help in particular were concentration. And, when pressed keys can provide audio, visual or tactile feedback, which is helpful for many people and users can have prerecorded voice commands to control functions so they can actually use their own voice to create additional phone functions that are recorded and there can be a lot of discrete and distinct sound for icons to alert users to things like NetWare strength and battery level and those kinds of things. So, lots of friendly screen layouts on these phones, familiar language and descriptive icons, which my parents appreciate. They have one of these phones and they particularly like that it is not quite so geeky as many of the other phones. So there is a lot of consistency throughout the phone. Help menus are designed to anticipate the information that a user is seeking, so that is always good. And of course, many keyboard shortcuts that people can use. That is good. So that is all very, very good stuff. Basically, to get a lot more information about the support from carriers for these phones, you can check with AT&T, their customers are able to get many tools through the phones -- for the phones through AT&T as part of the plan for windows mobile and Xoom are available through AT&T for AT&T customers. That is an incentive that this particular company has tried to make available to people. 
>> That is very good. 
>> Right. And, mobile magnifier, which is the product -- I said roughly, mobile magnifier is the product for low vision and has lots of layouts, lots of features and is available also as part of that package. And, mobile speak is provided as part of the AT&T package. 
>> Are those available separately? 
>> Yes, they can also be purchased individually I people -- by people, and there are a variety of dealers throughout the country near made by Code Factory  in Spain and they have lots of rest -- readily availabledealers. We have lots of information in WATAP about that. If you're an AT&T customer, they will provide one of them to you  as appropriate, depending on your particular needs. 
>> Right. So that is all very good. And, we also have just a quick list of AT&T's phones that are supported in the AT&T usability program right now. The Nokia Surge 6790, and the E71x are the two they are primarily supporting. That doesn't mean the other ones don't work, but those are the two they are supporting. 
>> All right. Moving along to Blackberry RIM. so Debbie according to a survey reported in Computerworld, RIMs Blackberry remains the software and web personal use of 36% market share. That is pretty big. Apple iOS and  enact are close behind. Apple has about 25% and Android is closing in at 24%. So,  that is pretty cool. To make now, Apple at their symposium they had developer symposium this week said that there is was actually higher than that, but that is according to them. So, we don't know for sure. We don't actually now. So my family all has BlackBerrys so I guess there are lots of them out there. There are lots of accessibility features that are built into the Blackberry. They are noted for having a physical keyboard and tactile buttons, that is very good. They are also notable for audible and visible and vibrating alerts so a good, accessible alert system. Adjustable contrast settings, very important for many people, and they have text messaging, of course, and support for closed or open captioned in many of the areas on a blackberry phone. So, if you are at websites that have -- the you're watching video or audio, you can have the captions available on Blackberry phones. Multimedia support is available only on the selected Blackberry models. There or auto text features, short to keep -- shortcut keys, voice notes, voice dialing, all other things you might be -- might assume would be on the phone, them are becoming very standard. On the vision by, the screen reading product for the Blackberry is the ratio, which is marketed in this country by humanware.is also made by codefactory in Spain.  The mobile speak guys, so they have also created the app for the Blackberry. Now, this application is somewhat limiting. You can access and instant mission among e-mail, it SMS, they can receive phone calls, cholerae D., managed to contact, the caller, scheduling appointments and tasks and the alarms and reminders. Those things are expensive -- accessible and access to the phones settings for reading and volume, dialing, although things are accessible. If you use the Blackberry curve 8250 smartphone from AT&T, and I actually heard that the stone has been discontinued. 
>> Oh. 
>> I haven't seen an official word on this them about my understanding is the next obvious the question the ever more right in, we don't now. So, we will have to keep you posted on that. It is certainly still available today. I checked on that it's absolutely available for purchase and totally good. 
>> Said that is the question, it is hard when these phones, they turn over so quickly. So that is another big issue 
>> Longevity on this stuff is -- at least they are supported a long time. I sister has a really, really old Blackberry that meets her needs, it's still finding is, as long as it is meeting her needs, that is fine. So, they keep the support going even though we couldn't begin to even find hers in a museum probably anywhere. 
>> Hold onto that it might be some day. 
>> It could be, one of the keys fell off. So one of the things that is really am a really missing on the Blackberry site is browser support for vision technology. So, I read off all the things that you can do but the biggest thing you can't do is access a browser and that might matter. So that might matter and might be a major issue for people to do that., Blackberry also does have what is called a clarity being that is simple to use, easy to interface for a home screen and that is also nice and they have some large text icons and high contrast screen display. For many low vision users, and people with cognitive issues, but Blackberry might be a very, very good choice. So, they have lots of good things that are that way. Okay. That pretty well wrapped up our discussion of Blackberry right now. And, I guess we go on to theApple iOS Apple iOS number pretty darn exciting. 
>> Okay.  So versions of this iOS are available  for allof the iOS platform, the screen reading and screen magnification  and other kinds of features that are supported for accessibility. Are pretty much the same on all platforms including the iPod touch, the iPhone and the iPod. So, once you have learned one of these, you can fairly, reasonably gravitate over to another one of these products.
>> That is really nice. 
>> Yes, it's great to pick up one and keep going. So, the apps that are going to be preinstalled on yourApple iOS  type device will include the mail, messaging, calendar, contacts, notes, calculator, Internet, the app store it sounds you can buy more apt, -- more apps, and maps. these all the accessible using Apple's voice over screen reader built into the phone. So, the phones we have been talking about have all had products that you had to add on yourself, we were talking about the Blackberry and the Nokiaphones but now we have Apple's iOS which has accessibility built in. And,, soap -- there is the voiceover screen reader which has a gesture based screen reader and is very similar to the screen reader that Apple provides also on the Mac, which they also called voice over about which is slightly different but pretty similar stuff. 
>> So if you are familiar with using voice over on your Mac, image be pretty simple to get used to it on an iPhone, iPad. 
>> Right. Employs over supports 21 differently which is and it can be enabled by the user with vision impairments using iTunes. If you can figure how to use iTunes. [Laughter] Now, iTunes is fine but a lot of people struggle about more than the you -- do using voice over the. There many, many voice over reading features. It has the full range of features that you might expect for being able to a just the speed and pitch and tone and various things. Of course, as I said, you can access most of the built-in apps, pretty much all of the built-in apps on the phone and many third-party apps. There is also a zoom feature, magnification, which works best on the iPad and you have bigger real estate. 
>> Right. 
>> So it would be better -- better on a bigger screen sothat it is part of the whole iOS , and if you can use that, -- one of the problems is you cannot have that and voice over both. You have to have only one. Or the other. 
>> You have to choose one. 
>> You do. They both come installed but you must choose after you get them. But basically, all of the functions of the phone will be supported when we or the other. There is also a lot of accessibility just in general in the phone. There is a tactile buttons that are for the home button and power and things, there is audible and visible and vibrating alerts that you can have, like we have been hearing other places. There is support for Bluetooth and in Apple, this is going to be the only operating system where this is fully true, although it is a little bit true in Nokia, there is support for braille displays. So Bluetooth braille displays can be supported by Apple on August -- actually can be supported under some conditions with -- a product for Nokia, the mobile the -- Mobile Speak. sorry I get them confused. So that one will support braille on a no gift -- Nokia phone. The Apple support for braille is actually pretty significant. 
>> So we have a question from the audience from Marsha. does iPhone have captioning for phone calls? And, I think we are going to address this. 
>> I don't think it does. 
>> I don't think -- if you wanted to do that it would have to be a third-party app. 
>> If it is available and actually works well, there are some closed-captioned apps that you would really have to research ones because I have downloaded a couple for iPod touch that works sort of well and we can put that on their website. I think it's called Clear Caption. so -- 
>> Tyler be noted that it does not come native to the OS, UI have to seek out a third-party for that. 
>> That's correct it's not part of the OS,  that you could do it.
>> And I know, lots of people with hearing impairments using iPhone, and a note several deaf, blind people who are using iPhone's with the braille support that is there. So, that is actually very cool as well. We have a few resources for items that people might like to get, particularly in the visionary around the iPhone. There is a wonderful book from the national braille press on getting started with the iPhone and I highly recommend that. There is also a great mailing list on Google groups called the VI phone which is the blindness related lists for support for that iPhone with lots of resources there. 
>> And that discussion list e-mail is on this current slide, as well as from the national braille press. 
>> So can we clarify what we do not you're saying get to choose between running voiceover at the same time as zoom? 
>> That is correct you can only run one of those other time. 
>> Right. They cannot both be running. 
>> So, we have our date mentioned a little bit about hearing issues with the support for the i devices and playback of open and closed captions and subtitles is definitely possible. Instant messaging and chat apps, both native to the phone and available as extra resources, everything from AIM, Yahoo, MSN, all of the things that people might like to do their. 
>> And even Google Talk. on an Apple. 
>> [Laughter] To tell you which route my Google Talk works better on my Apple then my Android.  Multimethod immediate service, support from multimedia attachments, TTY support requires an iPhone TTY adapter but it's definitely doable. And we have mentioned before, the various alerts the people can use. Visual voicemail, allows the users to view all of the voicemails at once, inbreeding in order of preference and control the playback. And, Mono audio which is a great teacher. A louse -- it allows you to channel all the sound from the phone into one ear or the other, if you would like to have all of the phone sound coming to just one ear. And, there is also a video chat with face time and certainly, both with the front facing camera on the iPhone and iPad, and basically, lots of good, good features that people can look into for those things. For motor tech-support there is a stereo headset included, and that is true with many, many bones. But, as part of this phone, an on-screen keyboard with rejected text -- predictive text entry, learn to detect, it's kind of a fun future. I have turned mine off. 
>> Yes mine gives me problems. 
>> But lots of people do like it, so that those people a little bit. Voice control, that is the whole range of voice things you can do with the iPhone. Some of them little known. You can ask it for the time, you can ask it for all kinds of things. And, it is pretty reliable responding to those things. Of course, we mentioned the buttons, the hands-free speakerphone, and the downloadable ring tones. Auto syncing of movies, music and berries events, depending on your needs and requirements. So, quite a few things that are available. And, that may be available on other phones as well. The features that certainly Apple touts about the accessibility of the five phone -- iPhone. 
>> So they become according to international data Corp., smartphones outsell PCs for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2010. 
>> Really? 
>> Yeah. Worldwide tablet sales have exploded in the past year which is probably, maybe one of the reasons that the growth is -- the adoption of the iPad, in teaching through K-12 schools. 
>> Right. Well I am also -- almost not using my laptop anymore between my two phone. I don't use my PC as much and I wasn't stressed about buying a high-end PC as I usually have been. I'm more stressed about buying high-end phone. 
>> Yes, it's nice to have an all-in-one. And we are moving in that direction. 
>> Our last, major operating system that we are going to talk aboutis Android.  And, the stock versionof Android,  we are going to get techy -- it is Gaby's operating system from at these stock versions from 1.6 or later have built in accessibility, built-in support for screen reading output and other accessibility features. Now, we are actually at android 2.3. 
>> For handheld. 
>> Yes, for tablets, it's a different deal and we are actually not talking so much about tablets., On the phone, 2.3, most of the phones that I've researched this week were actually being sold with 2.2. That, 2.3 does exist. So, as we talk about this, most of the things that we are interested in, although accessibility goes down to 1.6, I am going to tell you that if -- especially if you're looking for any of the advanced features of android such as screen reading, you should go with 2.1 or higher, even though you could go a little lower. And, it's not hard to find those phones so that is the problem. There are two major problems for accessibilitywith Android.  The first is that all versions are not standardized across all manufactures so, just as we said, there are all these versions, 2.1, 2.2, and all the fields are not standard. So, when you buy an Apple phone, you get an Apple phone. My iPhone looks just like your iPhone. All that kind of thing. And, you get the version of the iOS from Apple and you get everything from Apple. But when you buy a Android phone,  you need to get a carrier, a phone, and you need to figure out which version of the operating system you want. You get lots of choices. And, choices can be really good and they can be really complex. [Laughter] So, user experiences will differ, by carrier and device manufacture. They often create customized versions of the Android operating system  and you want to particular the provision, I think it is kind of true for most accessibility, that involves the operating system, you do want to go with what they call stocka Android.  And fortunately carriers know what that is. I talked to the mall this week tell me what you're stock Android phones  were and they all knew. So that was good.
>> Debbie, some users like to [Indiscernible]There Android phones  do some of the excessively features work with rooted phones/ ? 
>> Now with a stock phone, if you have a stock would already it is not rootedbut it's close. Brooding would be like Joe breaking for the iOS device. So, what it means if it means taking out the specialization  that a carrier gave it and, by the way, voiding your warranty. 
>> [Laughter] 
>> That doesn't stop anyone, but just to tell you, it's very doable and we are going to basically root outone of their Android  -- here, so we are going to do that. You don't necessarily have to come and it is certainly an option if you are geeky or have a friend to do it for you, that's great. But yes, but people sometimes say you can do this if it is rooted, that is what that means. We sometimes think that makes the Droids behave better around accessibility. So, basically for blind and low vision users the main issue with usinga Android phone is that you need  a tactile means of navigating the screen. So, that means if the screen has completely a touch interface, with absolutely no cursor, keys or no trackball our truck that you can find somewhere on the screen, A., the found -- tactilly, the phone will not be very useful to there are is -- there are some limit around accessibility for screenwriters for that support. If you have a phone that does that, you're going to be totally fine, but if you don't, then it might be pretty difficult to use. You are also going to be looking to make sure that you can access some particular buttons. The back button, the menu button, the home button, and the search button. These need to be identifiable either as buttons or as very specific locations on the screen that you can find. Many people also prefer phones with physical keyboards, and there are some Droids with physical keyboards. The good news is, all the screen readers for the Droids  also have very nice on-screen keyboards. So if you're comfortable with that, it is great. They work fine. But if you want a physical keyboard, Droidwould be one of the things to consider. When you enable accessibility on your iOS device, you do that in iTunes by clicking the device at your iTunes and going there and just taking  on the universal stuff and telling iTunes what you want. But, by default, accessibility on the Droid is not turned on and if you are a blind or low vision person, you will need cited assistant the first -- sighted assistance the first time to get accessibility start a. And basically they go to an accessibility menu in they turn on a feature called talkback, or if not already on your phone, the operating system provides a direct link to it in you can turn on. And then, once you do, all of the rest of setting up the phone for accessibility is going to be very available and okay. But, the first time, you do have to have some assistance. And went to turn the phone off, it will all be there when you turn it back on. 
>> [Laughter] 
>> That, it is a big pain, or if you're like me axially turn it off a couple of good times, so that's all good. So, there are a variety of features that Google provides. Talkback, which is a screen reader, kickbacks which is a wonderful vibration accessibility item that helps you identify where things are on the screen and when you are over a button. I really like it. And, some of the features called sound back, which does the same thing. There are at least three screen readers for Android devices so you get choices. You don't have to use talkback, you can use other screen readers  instead. So, you can install all of the different accessibility options. Usually when you go to the phone store, it's ideal to just ask them to do that, and I have tested that out in a variety of those stores. They seem to be actually pretty familiar with the idea and although they haven't really done a much, they are eager to and make over there and do it. Most of the phone providers can find and download ideal accessibility tax. Ideal As a company, and the accessibility packs are tailored to different phones whisper-- actually they are all the same -- 
>> To the carrier? 
>> They say they are, but they are really the same. I have downloaded them all and checked. They are all the same. So it's okay if they're all together and what that will do is download a whole bunch of things, including an alternative home screen and just a whole variety of things that would help you get started and pretty nice way to get that all started and ideal has a lot a product. The ideal web reader, item identifier, the eyes free shell that comes down which is better than the standard launcher. It's totally available for anyone to use. They recommended for people driving which is a great idea. 
>> Yes. 
>> There is a talking dialer, I think the regular dialer is fine, but there is a talking dialer so there is a variety of things. There is also other screen readers that you can download. A product called spiel. which is free, and our friendsat codefactory came up with  mobile accessibility, it's not free am it is currently not provided by any of the carriers, but it may be at some point. Includes the whole range of programs helping you access a calendar, messaging, Internet, e-mail and a variety of things. So, basically, there is just a whole lot of great applications. Their art a lot of -- Google Mail is currently not accessible to screen reader users. But, there is a product called canine now made by a company called dog walkers. 
>> [Laughter] 
>> It is accessible e-mail client on the open market and usable. There is lots of free, navigation on my iPhone. I paid a big fortune for accessible navigation, but on my Droid, I used Google maps and it was free. And also audible turn by turn directions, very, very nice. So, a lot of things like that. We have some -- the biggest resource for all things accessibility with vision and the Droid, you can find links to at androidaccess.net, and it is a great site which takes you -- which would give you absolutely every bit of the information I gave you an thousands of more ideas including leading you to an e-mail list and variety of other things that will help you get to the ice cream mailing list and the mobile accessibility mailing list and a great resource -- great resources that are part of the android accessibility community for the vision area. 
>> So, we have another question from the audience and just for clarification this is from Kristine Osmond, she asks did you say that Google Mail is not voice access compatible? And so, I think, it may be what Krisitne means is [Indiscernible--multiple speakers] 
>> Not screen reader compatible. That is correct. Neither is the browser in the Droid, but there are accessible mail applications and browser applications that you can use. But, the default ones, today, are not. I say today, because when this operating system merges with Google chrome, which it's going to do, when that happens, those things will probably be pretty accessible aced on the chrome OS, and ChromeVox which is the reader for chrome. 
>> Oh, cool. 
>> So we will see changes on the Android sites and.  But today, for screen reading capability, -- we will come to it, but I was going to save the voice input part of Google is just totally awesome and different and better. I want to be clear, this is voice out the issues we are talking about. 
>> Right, thank you. 
>> So, for hearing impairment, there is handle notification, panel alerts for just about everything in the world. I downloaded an app to make them talk, I'm going to get rid of them, I can assure you there are lots. The Droid has more feedback for notifications any phone I've seen in my life. It is constantly jiggling in my bag and doing things. So, those are very useful for folks with hearing impairments. There is a hearing compatibility for the Droids, definitely, they comply with the Hack,, there is visual voicemail which we talked about with other phones of those things are all fairly clear. The video chat, of course, and we've got a variety of options for that. And of course, a variety of device designs that can really support all of those kinds of things. For the motor and physical support, tactile buttons, generally for power and volume keyson most of the Droids.  Some have a end call button though I am seeing fewer of those these days. But, very good hands-free speaker phone. The downloadable ring tones, as other phones have had, autosync for contacts and calendar and events, and in a variety of ways so you don't have to keep typing all of this stuff in. And, speech to text, which is voice recognition, that is we say it it gets shown up on the screen it is just fabulous in Google, and serves all of us really well. So, you can go to just about any screen or there is an edit field and activate a command as part of the keyboard, to say it instead of typing it. And, if you are in an environment where that is appropriate and your speech is understandable to it, it is going to be very, very responsive. But it will usually do is put up a set of choices of what it thinks you said and you can drop down to the one you want and then you can edit one you chose, if it needs further editing. But, my personal experiences has been in almost never needs editing. And I gave it some horrible were the other night. 
>> [Laughter] 
>> And it has great voice search, and of course voice dialer. Some of the things, already on the system and others are not. The Swype keyboard, which is kind of a cool methodology for touch typing and a lot of different features some of which are part of a very stoned and some of which can need downloaded pretty readily from the Google market. And, one of the nice things about the Google market,over the iOS market is that  you can actually use the PC if that is more accessible to you. You can use the PC buy two and get your apps, and they will automatically transfer overture Google phone. Apple is going there. I thought that was a good idea. And in iOS 5, there will be enhancements that allow much more for that. But today, Apple is still pretty dependent on iTunes to get your apps. The easiest way to get them is actually on the phone. 
>> It's pretty nice, I never have to tether my Android Right you never do .My Android doesn't know anything about iTunes. 
>> [Laughter] 
>>  But they areare some great things that my iOS device knows like accessible browsers.  We want to show you some pictures of some Droids, because the awful poems all look the same as each other  that in Droid Land, everything does look different. So we have some samples of them owns that have most of the accessibility features that we talked about. From T-Mobile, the G2, and also the -- what is called? The sidekick from T-Mobile is a newer phone then the G2, end isn't listed on Android's list of accessible phones that it is. So you can take our word you will be okay as well. The Verizon LG Ally, which runs 2.1, and most of the Motorola phones, many of the Motorola phones have a lot of accessibility built in and are very good. And, a phone that doesn't have a physical keyboard, but I am quite fond of is the Nexus 1 phone, which basically is a very, very accessible font that you can purchase as an unlocked phone and run it on T-Mobile or AT&T. So, those are all very good. 
>> And I think we got the Nexus from Amazon.
>> Yes you can get it anywhere, and they're also unlocked phones with keyboards that are available on Amazon or eBay. so that kinda gives you an overview of all the range of options for Android and it is available on all the carries. So,  AT&T have some Android phones, they are generally the least accessible. So I don't usually say this. If you want  AT&T phone, you can go for the iPhone and you can go for -- that might be a good way or an older Nokia 7, phone or whatever, or maybe depending on your disability windows phone but Android not so much on AT&T.  But T-Mobile and Sprint, those are the guys, and Verizon, all have some very accessible options in the Droid  line. 
>>And Android the fastest-growing  operating system in the US among individuals 13 years and older. 
>> So all the teenagers have Droids  Yes, but kind of on the downside, depending on how you look at it, there are over 50+ different types of phones, Android phones worldwide.  That are running some version of the Android operating system. So that kind of goes back to what you're saying about  it is not quite universal. Sent user experiences may differ from phone to phone, carrier to carrier, version to version. 
>> Also, Android is beginning to run in some appliances, which is one of the reasons  --
>> Really? 
>> Yes. Which is why I personally jumped on the bandwagon. I figured I better see about this because I want to make sure if I have all the phones, that one of them will run my appliances when this get there. 
>> That is cool. Or terrifying. [Laughter] 
>> Sorry last major OS that we want to talk about is www.watap.org,  it is a complete rework of the Windows mobile platform. And, so, all of the applications that ran on previous versions of the Windows mobile platform do not pour over. None of them part over to the new windows phone seven. -- port over We hope there will be increased accessibility in Windows Phone 7, but at this point, because they are starting out, they didn't start out  with a lot of accessibility. And, in defense of them, and I don't often defend people who make not very accessible things, but in defense of them, neither did Apple or Google. 
>> That is very true. 
>> It took a little while for the features to settle down and for people to really work on accessibility. So, we expect major manufacturers will be supporting accessibility in time. But, there are some basic accessibility features that are part of these phones. Certainly, speakerphone, Bluetooth, phone books with images, is using. Basically, all of the features that were on the Nokia phones that were not provided by third-party things. So not screen reading, but other features that you might find, well worth a look. And, we have seen lots of people who likethe www.watap.org.  Life tiles, lots of things that people would expect to find. And apps and context, like you can in Windows, you can pin vent your taskbar and home screen, you can do cool things like that. TTY Support, speech recognition, all of the things you might expect, but, you know, there are not going to be accessible on the vision platform. But, for many other folks, this is definitely something you can consider. And eventually come and maybe you will be able to consider on the vision side as well. 
>> Okay I'm we have another question. From Donna. she says I noticed you mentioned several times TTY support or compatible with TTY. unique interface with portable TTY or TTY apps is Barbara's. I'm not quite sure how to answer that question. I think, they are mostly TYY apps, or -- I'm not sure if it will work with a portable TTY system. 
>> Yes, I think they will. We need to doublecheck those, but I believe they actually pretty much well.
>> So support in both arenas? 
>> In both arenas, right. 
>> Well for portable and TTY apps. okay, great. 
>> Depending on the phone and the OS and that kind of them. Really what a lot of people do is text messaging. The whole issue of accessible phones for people with hearing impairment has been the total freedom and access to texting and has really made a wonderful equalizer in terms of communication and being able to conduct a lot of business. Because, people are very, very able to text. With people. And they don't have to run around and find their TTY and so just being able to text to a hotel for reservations or to do things like that is becoming a little bit more common. I think those are good. The other OS we want to briefly mention is the Windows mobile 6.5, which is the precursor tothe www.watap.org.  And come it is still available on some newer mobile phones and is probably going to still be around for quite a while. So, it's on some of the HTC phones from Sprint and HTC also makes Droids.  It is also available on at least one Samsung phone from AT&T. So, those are still out there as well. And, there is definitely a market for these. People are using them. There are third-party apps for accessibility of these, visionary in particular, mobile speak and mobile magnifier. They have versions for these phones as well. And, so those are also useful. A couple of phones that we did not talk about, because they don't actually, really provide a lot in terms of Internet access, they are just phones would be phones like the Jitterbug, witches of low vision phone, nice for older folks over people who want just a low vision phone that doesn't have a lot of features. It isn't a smart phone. But it's a fairly accessible phone. 
>> Of the phone with really big buttons. 
>> Big everything. And it is a very nice phone. Also, the Verizon Haven, which has screen reading for some phone functions and texting. But, does not provide any access to any of the other applications on the phone. So, those are all options for people. So if they say I don't want a smartphone, what can they were basic, there are some kind of those that do those kinds of things that we really did not go through. All of those issues. But they are out there. 
>> And then, we have a question from Francie, she asked any thoughts on what those might be best for video relay service? And, I don't think it is the phone that is really dependent on the video relay service, I think it might be the app. so, there is an app called qik  and purple individuals are only available on the Android. Those are both  ready good video relay service. I'm not aware for any for Apple. I'm sure there are. 
>> There could be, a lot of people have trouble with video relay on the phone just because of the size of them and they like to do that on tablet so that is kind of a hard place to do video relay. But certainly possible. And those particular Droid apps would be good choices that.
>> There is based time available on the iPhone that is not really the video relay service. It's more of a face-to-face interaction. If you have two people who are both using that language, then [Indiscernible--low volume] 
>> But it does create a good video relay option when you are talking to people who are not formally using a relay system, I just want to communicate. The same ideas texting. These are things everyone can do with you and that are not specialized. They are nice and I'm glad to see more of these things available. Also, these files, while not all, the Droid, iPhoneand www.watap.org also support  Skype, CDG video activity that way. Remember, it's the phone and the carrier speed, it's slower they are the standard wireless or standard PC interface. So video on any of these is going to be less good than it would be on a better interface. So if you're going to be doing a lot of that, this might not be the best solution for you. Although, it's certainly something you should check out individually. But it might -- might not be the best solution. Because the 4G networks might be better in that case, so that would be Sprint and T-Mobile, might be a little bit better option. And Verizon. 
>> Is rolling out. 
>> And AT&T is on that, but not quite rolled. and these things change weekly so we tell you this week isn't necessarily true next week. Which kind of leads us to some other discussions about that. But yes.
>> We have a question from Clara & David Eagen. to they have felt GPS phones for someone visually impaired for walking? 
>> On the iPhone, you need to purchase, or there actually are some free gps apps. there is a range of GPS apps for the iPhone to provide some accessibility to GPS. these are all mostly designed with a couple of exceptions, mostly designed for people who are using GPS in conjunction with seeing.salt some of them provide more information than was. Year it WATAP, we have  a load of  GPS iPhone apps and we are happy to show them to people. Google has some built in things, the Google maps, navigation of Google, is relatively accessible already. And, it comes free on your phone. There are some low-cost and no-cost apps for Google that augment that. That make it very nice. Some of the big name Google apps like Navigan, actually are not accessible although they are on the iPhone by. So the answer is yes, I have GPS a both my iPhone and my Droid. the big thing that is missing from GPS on these is the detail that some of the specialized apps can provide about points of interest in things because they assume you are looking around as you were using these. There are points of interest apps also, Android and Google  have one called Around Me which is accessible on both platforms. There are others as well. We have a variety and can talk to people about them see committees on top of your GPS, and you can get points of interest data on top of your GPS data. 
>> What is the question we had earlier about captioning, Maria? 
>> Multiple caption service? 
>> Oh yeah, can you explain more about mobile caption service? 
>> Mobile captioning service is a service that basically people can use on the web that has a web interface that it's on those. And so, it's basically like any other phone -- like any other caption service but we are using today except that it has a web interface -- a mobile interface for its web stuff so it fits better on the phone. 
>> Any other questions from the audience? Once again, I would like to thank everyone for their patience while working all the technical glitches. So, we are going a little bit long here, but we are happy to take some questions and go over time if you are willing to stick with us. So Jane Elliot has another non-smartphone question. Aside from the Jitterbug, chief any ideas on those with simple voice activated dialing capabilities easy to find buttons used for older low vision folks? 
>> Well, some of the phones that are at the older windows mobile 6.5 phones, and some of those are still purchaseable. we listed a couple here and our presentation. Those are probably pretty reasonable. Possibility for most older folks, and right, my parents, went to all of this, too. it's a tough thing because phones are becoming more and more touchscreen. We are seeing less and less keyboard interface on phones overall. And so, in the very newest operating systems, it's really tough to find -- you can't get a Droid that has a standard dial pad and of course I phones don't have a standard dial pad. So, we are moving away from those phones that you can definitely find phones that work. Now, because the windows mobile phone, for example, can still he activated, even some of the ones that are not sold, you can often go on to eBay, and find lots and lots of phone that people are glad to unload. They will have pictures. And if the phone it basically looks okay that they can do that. The problem is, getting them set up with things like if you want voice dialing, those things require quite a bit to set up and they can be a little bit challenging we really struggled a lot with how to get those things working and they require some real-time to set those up for people. But, there are, particularly in the older phone lines, Samsung has some, Motorola has some, Motorola seems to be the most tactically oriented those digital. So aside from the other accessibility issues, I would probably look at the older Motorola phone. 
>> All right and we have a question from Jim Tobias. what you think of the CTIA information resource. accesswireless.org. I'm not familiar that. 
>> I have found that I'd necessarily kept up her for good things and it's not really -- I don't think it is user-friendly for people for basic users. I went out there to get some of the information that we used for this discussion and we have used that but I haven't -- I found that the easiest way to learn about what is really going on is to jump on to some mailing lists or to call people like you are AT program, and going to sort it is really difficult to figure out what is useful to you by sort of reading research. I find that finding out from users what they are doing has been -- my own recent experience about this, I have been iPhone user for the year. A little over a year and I have been a juried user for a little less than a month and so my experience in picking out my droid was really process of researching the carriers, the phones, the options and just really talking to a lot of people about what does work and what doesn't work. And, I found that was, for me, the most useful way to do this. But definitely talk to more than one person because you want to get as good, and broad perspective. 
>> I think it is important for folks who are considering buying a smartphone to actually go out and try -- they have friends that have phones, try the different options and see if it works out or go into the store and talk to bunch of different people. Just attending this webinar, people are going to say, I got this phone is gonna work for me. That would be great, but I don't think that is realistic. 
>> Well, we have lots of phones here and we have lots of information we are big -- very glad, as part of a demonstration program, to show people phone, or talk to you on the phone about what you specifically need and what to specifically find, and to try to meet those requirements or help research a. Because we don't always know, kind of like  Jane's the question, what should I get today that does this. It does require -- that is also where some other research sites can be helpful. Because we just want to find a feature, show me a list of all the phones with keys. Okay. And then, -- but I believe I wanted a droid with a keyboard but yet I really like mine that doesn't have one, quite well. I don't always want to totally rule out other possibilities. 
>> Right. Any other questions from the audience? Tom Ross, Any thoughts on radiation exposures with cell phones and Bluetooth? 
>> Well, that's not really part of our discussion here, and you should probably research that in general on the market. And do your own consumer research about that. -- I don't think it is especially in accessibility issue, more or less for people with disabilities then I think it is for any other people. 
>> And I think there are some studies[Indiscernible--multiple speakers] 
>> There are some things that people have expressed concern about that some of that is refuted by the manufactures. But, I think some good common sense about using your phone is good. They do recommend that you use your phone without necessarily putting it to your ear if you can help it, and many accessibility things on the phones are much better with headsets and other things as well. That all has some good common sense to it. I think that is something you should be researching is a separate issue. 
>> Francie Has a question. Any thoughts on carriers that offer techies? support or training for those of us who are not 
>> That is going to depend by the Sir. My experience with shopping for phones lately was that everybody was very, very interested in having people A good user experience. I read a thing the other day about how, in general, we are very unhappy as Americans. We are unhappy with customer service. I can't say that about this. I thought this would be the. Not easy make the choices and not easy to get around everywhere, the people were very knowledgeable about their phones, they were very knowledgeable about the features, they did not necessarily have a lot of familiarity with accessibility, but when I talked about what I wanted, a new what did and didn't do it. They were very, very helpful and willing to do that. That is the experience you can have them going into a store but rather than buying it online. But it's about customer service. I think they know it. So, I think he general the carriers are fairly committed to that. I think that the training for their employees, particularly about accessibility issues, is raising significantly. But, I really recommend that in addition to talking to people that use the features that you want to use, I also, definitely recommend acquiring a teenager, because they will help you with all those other geeky parts of your phone better hard to -- I'm about ready to adopt one. And, they are helpful for all that. But no, I think the stores have been great. I have been testing a lately the online and the in-store and the phone support for my phones and for the phones but I haven't had questions about and people general have been very overall pretty good. 
>> SMX period, too. 
>> And people know this is hard. People to get that this is challenging for everyone. 
>> Okay, I work with a lot of quadriplegics so they can apply much pressure to any buttons which is on off, home button, etc., have you found a phone that is needed to access without much need for pressing buttons? 
>> Yes. All of the touchscreen phones, most of them can even be turned off without pressing any buttons. Most phone, to get them on, requires some button activation. And so, you might have to do is something that most of them do require that all of the touchscreen phones, the Droids, the iPhone, I don't have as much personal experience with Windows 7, but  she did you, the touch screen Friday, doesn't require much -- any pressure. It just requires contact. And so, that is potentially pretty good. And, some accessibility tools require precise contact and some do not require precise contact. It depends on little bit on the tool. Definitely, interning about. And you don't turn your phone off a lot. You can put it on silent now, but you don't need to reboot your phone all at. I don't turn my phone. I do things to make them be quiet, but I do things to make them -- I do not give them a. I know we have enough medical Center if your report that lots of folks who are high level quads,I think they're using Windows Phone 7 with quite a few  of the folks there. 
>> I just wanted -- and gentlemen, we have on Lott of things going on them but Mary actually mention something that is quite good to know she says be sure to check out the IMEI number if you buy used phones on eBay to see if it works with your carrier or to make sure it's not stolen. So that is a very, very good thing to know. 
>> In any kind of used phones that is right. Also, when you buy your phone, if you buy a phone from Amazon for example, an unlocked phone, you may be getting a phone from a different country and so, that is when you may have to actually jailbreak or root it to get it to work fully functional here. It may work fine but to get it fully functional for the upgrade to whatever you want to do a little research. I'm not just saying go to eBay, but I am saying that it's definitely an option to consider with some care. But take care, find out from them what phones you will be able to look for. 
>> Okay, so we have a couple more questions from the Jane LA. Doing an appointment to come and play with the phones you have there? If it's a time to have one place to go to check out a bunch of phone. So, Jane, I put up on the screen or contact information. You can give us a call, not right now because obviously we are in a webinar [Laughter] But you can give us a call and talk to one of the AT specialist and we can discuss all a bit more about what you are looking for and[Indiscernible--multiple speakers] 
>> We don't have every kind of phone that there is. I wouldn't want to even remotely give you that impression. Because actually, they are not only expensive, but some of them don't work well without carriers. So you have to move them around to get things to work. But, we do have several a month and we also can help to identify additional one or help you on an individual basis, and we are glad to do that for individuals, both professionals and consumers. 
>> And you ask, any good I don't GPS recommendations for audible GPS systems? So I can be a better copilot in the car? 
>> Well, again, as we discussed before, there are a variety. And, there is a relatively free one called -- Navigan is the paid ones that people have liked in terms of both accessibility and thoroughness in terms of either a co-navigator or whatever. But, it is a very, very popular when it's not free. There are several others and I am trying up link about a couple that are actually free or very low-cost, that are really good, too. I'm just not thinking of what they are so give me a call. But, there are actually a whole lot -- there are just all kinds of been in the app store. A lot of them are turn by turn audio. 
>> Okay. Sometimes, I would just do a search for a different app do you can search for like GPS in iTunes to an eventual,. An important thing to do is look at the comments to see what other people think about those apps and the specific features it lists, with the features are of a specific app so you can check that out before you decide to buy. If it is one that is not free. So, usually the comments are pretty helpful. 
>> Yes. I have actually taken lots of risks on apps just based on the comments, even if they are not about accessibility. And he let for comment on the interface and in terms of how thoughtful they are in terms of taking it out. But there are easily a dozen, audible, termite turn GPS apps on -- turn by trun apps. Smack you mentioned -- -- it's part of the android operating system's was present all the time and it's called talkback. 
>> No, it's actually just called text -- the speech to text. No, it's part of the operating system itself. And, it is present on all of the Google phone 
>> It actually works amazingly well. I was really quite surprised. Now, with Apple, you can do thaton the iOS, you can do that by downloading  Dragon Dictate, which is actually free on the Apple apps store, but you have two paste the result of your dictation into your edit Phil. To open up Dragon Dictate, talk into and then paste the results into your e-mail or text message or whatever so it's a little bit more work. Whereas with Google, you can just do it and -- and the message that you are in. 
>> Okay, I think we are just going to take one more question and then we really need to wrap it up as we are way over time. So, Andrea asks can you give a couple of listserv badges as for the iPhone Carmela a transcript? I believe we have quite a few that were in the resources list. Were they listserv? 
>> The major listserv for the iPhone is theiphone@googlegroups.com but there is also a vision related Web servers is applevis.com and that actually is a great place where consumers, very grassroots, review apps. Of that mean, sometimes they disagree with each other. Somebody put in a 5 star rating and one of the rest of us put in a set are you kidding, you didn't use very much of it. So, you do get controversy. But, hey, you get a lot of good information. So, that is also useful, not so much around other accessibility features, but about overall usefulness of an app. So might be useful to you as well. So, those are the two major blindness resources. I haven't seen to many listserv's about other disability access issues,on iOS. 
>> Okay. All right. So, thanks again folks for sticking with us. And, we really appreciate you attending today. And, that is pretty much all I have to say. I don't know, Kathy, is there anything you would like to say? But I am going to turn the mic back over to you.
>> Thank you everybody. I don't have anything to add at this point. But, as Leeann said in the texting, we will be sending out follow up information, a copy of the transcript, resources, the PowerPoint and the URL two they recorded. Bill free to contact us with any questions in the future. Thanks again for your patience at the beginning and we really appreciate your participation. [Event concluded]