Device Used: Motorola Droid On Verizon

We briefly introduced TalkBack in the previous video while enabling Accessibility from the settings menu.Here, we show off some of this screenreader's features.

TalkBack is designed to be a simple, non-obtrusivescreenreader. What this means in practice is that you interactdirectly with your applications, and not withTalkBack. TalkBack's job is to remain in the background andprovide the spoken feedback that you need.

TalkBack works with all of Android's native user interfacecontrols. This means you can configure all aspects of the Androiduser interface with TalkBack providing appropriate spokenfeedback. What is more, you can use most native Androidapplications --- including those downloaded from the AndroidMarket with TalkBack providing spoken feedback.

Here are some examples of Android applications (both from Google as well as third-party applications available onmarket) that work with TalkBack:

• Google Maps: Perform searches, and listen to directions.
• YouTube: Search, browse categories and play.
• Simple Weather: Listen to local weather forecasts.
• Facebook: Moving around on the social Web.

But in this video, we'll demonstrate the use of a very simple butuseful Android application --- the Android Alarm clock.

• Launch: I launch the alarm clock from Marvin's eyes-free application launcher.
• TalkBack: TalkBack takes over and starts speaking.
• Navigate: Navigating with the trackball speaks the alarmunder focus.
• Activate: Activating with the trackball produces appropriate feedback.
• Navigate: Selected alarm displays its settings in a list-view which speaks as we navigate.

Device Used: MotoRola Droid on Verizon

Starting with Android 1.6 --- fondly known as Donut --- theplatform includes an Accessibility API that makes it easy toimplement adaptive technology such as screenreaders. Android 1.6comes with a built-in screenreader called TalkBack that providesspoken feedback when using Android applications written in Java.

The next few videos will progressively introduce TalkBack,SoundBack and KickBack, a suite of programs that augment theAndroid user interface with alternative output.

All of these special utilities are available through optionAccessibility in the Android Settings menu. Once activated, theaccessibility settings are persistent across reboots, i.e., youneed enable these tools only once.

Notice that because I have accessibility enabled on my phone,all user actions produce relevant auditory feedback. Thus, eachitem is spoken as Imove through the various options in the settings menu. The spokenfeedback also indicates the state of an item as appropriate.

Activating SoundBack produces non-spoken auditory feedback;KickBack produces haptic feedback.

When we first launched project eyes-free in early spring 2009, wepromised to post frequent video updates to the eyes-freechannel. Well, sadly, we have been remiss in keeping that promise --- but all in a good cause --- we were busy building out theneeded accessibility APIs in the core Android framework.

We're now returning with a fresh set of video updates thatdemonstrate the new accessibility framework in Android, and howthese access related tools mesh with the Eyes-Free shell shownearlier.

To summarize:

1. All of the eyes-free utilities from project Marvin continueto be developed in order to provide fluent eyes-free interaction.
2. The Marvin shell that we demonstrated last time continues tobe my default home screen.
3. We have added an application launcher on the Marvin screenthat can be launched by stroking 8.
4. This launcher uses stroke dialing to quickly navigate andlaunch applications.
5. With the launch of the Accessibility API in Android1.6, and the accompanying Open Source TalkBack screenreader,I can now launch any Android application, e.g., GoogleMaps or YouTube.
6. TalkBack provides spoken feedback for native Androidapplications, including the settings menu.
7. You can use Android Market to install third-partyapplications, many of these work outof the box with TalkBack.

We'll demonstrate these, and a variety of other new coolenhancements in these forthcoming videos, stay tuned!

Device Used: T-Mobile G1 from HTC

The Marvin shell pulls together available eyes-free applicationsto provide an integrated user experience. Note that talkingapplications can come from many sources, with project Eyes-Freebeing but one such source. For other exciting talkingapplications that use our open Text To Speech (TTS) APIs, seethe Android Marketplace, where you will find many useful toolsthat integrate seamlessly with Marvin.

when you install the Eyes-Free Shell, you can choose to makeMarvin your default home screen --- this means that pressingthe home button always brings up the Marvin shell. To return tothe default Android home screen, hold down the back button for3 seconds or more.Here is a brief description of the Marvin user interface.

Here, we demonstrate some of the talking mini-applications thatcan be accessed from the Marvin screen.All of these mini-applications speak useful information withoutthe need for the user to do some form of context switch.

Device Used: T-Mobile G1 from HTC

The MotoRola Droid does not have a call button. Instead, Use the search capacitivebutton, i.e. the button on the extreme right, in place of the call button.

So now, let's use the stroke dialer for something practical ---let's make phone calls with our smart phone!Well, we know Marvin would disapprove if we just made phonecalls, so rest assured, we'll do a lot more later!

Pressing the call button on Android phones launches thebuilt-in dialing application. When using the Marvin shell,pressing this button launches the Talking Dialer application--- if you are not using Marvin as your home screen, you canlaunch this dialer as you would launch any Android application.

The Talking Dialer announces dialing mode upon start up.You can start dialing using the technique described in theprevious video on stroke dialer --- if you make a mistake, simplyshake the phone to erase. Once you have finished dialing, pressthe call button to initiate the call. The application speaksthe number you're about to dial, and makes the call once youpress the call button to confirm.But you say

Dialing phone numbers is so passe'!

--- well, there is still hope for the Talking Dialer. Inaddition to dialing mode, the Talking Dialer provides an easyto use Talking Phonebook that provides eyes-free access to yourcontact list --- we will cover this in our video on the talking phonebook.

Device Used: T-Mobile G1 from HTC

The stroke dialer enables one-handed keypad input using thetouch-screen --- and that without having to even look at thescreen. Here is how it works --- we start with a briefdescription of the problem that asks the rightquestion. The answer becomes self-evident as you follow thisvideo.