Hi Jeanie,
Code Factory have now released Eloquence for Android (the tip seems to
be to search for "ETI Eloquence" or "Eloquence text" or similar since
it's called "Eloquence Text To Speech" and just searching for
Eloquence doesn't find it as quickly). Here is the link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=es.codefactory.eloquencetts
On that is a video which gives you an idea of what it sounds like.
THe feedback I've seen from a couple of users here is that it is
slightly compressed compared to say Jaws on a PC, but not badly and
overall it works really well. It does work with a few languages, but
not ALL languages yet, so if you need support for a specific language
just double check it has that before you buy it (It costs around $20
US).
With Google's voices, it depends which language you prefer. For
English US there is only Female, or Female (High quality), though for
English UK there are both male and female regular and high quality
voices (The high quality voices sound much better but are much larger
- the UK English Female voice is 4.6mb for instance, wheras her high
quality counterpart takes up a whopping 276 mb - As far as I can find
out that definitely gets stored on your phone, you can't store it on
your SD card).
And there are other voices as well - some manufacturers (like Samsung)
include their own voices (though I prefer the Google ones to
Samsung's), and there are third party voices you can download from the
Play Store. "Ivona" make a range of different voices and accents for
a few dollars each (some are in beta and are free), and you can
download eSPeak, Pico and a few others you might have come across
before as well.
Finally re your own messages, yes the way the group is setup, you
don't get a copy of your own message. I'll have a look and see if
there is an option I can change for that (I admin the group).
Regards
Quentin.
On 15 May 2014 13:54, Jeanie Vejil <proud2have-tsedog@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Thanks Quenton.
>
> You guys are teaching me a lot about what to consider and what not to
> consider, which is exactly what I need to know.
>
> I've heard that Code Factory is about to release a version of Eloquence for
> android phones. What have you heard about that?
>
> Also, I've not had the phone in my hand yet, but have heard TalkBack. Is
> there only a female voice available at this time with TalkBack?
>
> Are we supposed to be able to see our own posts with this list so that we
> know they got to the list? If so, how does one change the settings so our
> own posts show up?
>
> Jeanie
>
> On Thursday 5/15/2014 12:40 PM, Quentin Christensen wrote:
>>
>> And then there are the alternatives to Android - the iPhone and the
>> Windows phone.
>>
>> The iPhone works very similarly to Android, and like Android, the
>> iPhone comes with a screen reader (called VoiceOver). iPhones tend to
>> be more expensive than equivalent Android phones and are not as
>> customisable (the advantage of that being that if you have an iPhone
>> it will be the same as everyone else's so what works on one will work
>> on another. The disadvantage being that if you don't like the stock
>> iPhone keyboard or text messaging app, bad luck because it's your only
>> option).
>>
>> Windows Phone doesn't yet have a screen reader to the extent of
>> Android or iPhone. I did hear that the newest ones will start to
>> include a version of Narrator, and I believe they also have a
>> magnifier, but I would definitely be going with either Android or an
>> iPhone for accessibility, particularly screen reader accessibility for
>> now.
>>
>> Re different Android manufacturers, yes as Glen said, Nexus devices
>> run a more 'pure' Android interface and don't have as much bloat ware
>> (extra apps and software features) which most of the manufacturers add
>> on to their phones. Samsung are quite good, and their newest flagship
>> phone, the S5, also has the ability to triple click the home key to
>> quickly turn Talkback on and off, which is one feature of the iPhone
>> which we have been hoping to see overe on Android. Some of the other
>> manufacturers have had issues with accessibility, as when they have
>> customised their interface, it has caused things not to work so well
>> with the screen reader. I know at least HTC and Sony have suffered
>> from this, and I'm not sure about LG. Even if you get one of their
>> phones, you can replace most of the inaccessible apps and features,
>> though there can still be issues, so I would stick with either a Nexus
>> or a Samsung for best acessibility with Talkback.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Quentin.
>>
>>
>> On 15 May 2014 12:30, Jeanie Vejil <proud2have-tsedog@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> wrote:
>> > Thanks Glen. Every little bit helps since I know very little about
>> > android
>> > phones other than that they have touch screens.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Thursday 5/15/2014 12:15 PM, Dialup @ 56k wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Hello Jeanie,
>> >> I'm sure Quinton has some really good info here, but here's my sixpence
>> >> worth.
>> >> Lots of manufacturere release smart phones running Android, like
>> >> Samsung,
>> >> HTC, LG, Motorola, just to name a few.
>> >> These manufacturers also release a large variation in phone styles and
>> >> available options.
>> >> In terms of accessibility, the Nexus family of phones seems to be the
>> >> most
>> >> reliable as they run a pure version of Android without the bloat ware
>> >> which
>> >> compromises accessibility.
>> >> Lots of manufacturers have released this Nexus variant over the years,
>> >> including Samsung, LG, Asus etc.
>> >> The LG Nexus 5 seems to be the most recent of these releases.
>> >> Just to confuse the issue even more, it is reported that Google are
>> >> about
>> >> to rename the Nexus line to Silver.
>> >> Hope this helps in some way.
>> >> Regards,
>> >> Glen Barwick
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> ***
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On 15-May-14 11:38 AM, Jeanie Vejil wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> Hi Quenton.
>> >>>
>> >>> Thanks for the summary below. Jus to show you how uninformed I am,
>> >>> are
>> >>> there other brands of smart phones besides Samsung, smile.
>> >>>
>> >>> Jeanie
>> >>>
>> >>> On Thursday 5/15/2014 09:04 AM, Quentin Christensen wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Hi Jeanie,
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Welcome to the group!
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Ok, a very broad request, but in general, you can actually do most
>> >>>> things on a smart phone that you can do on a computer - you can read
>> >>>> /
>> >>>> write E-Mails, browse the web, play games, read books, get directions
>> >>>> (the phones have a GPS built in so you can find out where you are as
>> >>>> well) and heaps more - and of course you can do the core tasks of
>> >>>> making phone calls and sending / receiving text messages with them!
>> >>>>
>> >>>> The great thing is that, as on a computer, most tasks are able to be
>> >>>> done relying solely on the screen reader (talkback), which reads
>> >>>> everything out to you.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> The trickiest thing to get used to is that there are very few buttons
>> >>>> and almost everything is done by interacting with the touch screen
>> >>>> interface. Once you get familiar with the gestures (tapping / double
>> >>>> tapping the screen, swiping and sliding your finger around) then you
>> >>>> use similar gestures for most things.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> There are alternative interfaces and apps you can get to make things
>> >>>> simpler, it mostly depends on exactly what you want to do with the
>> >>>> phone - whether you want something to just be able to make and
>> >>>> receive
>> >>>> calls and text messages or whether you want to access e-mail,
>> >>>> internet
>> >>>> and other things.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> If you have any specific things you are wondering or tasks you would
>> >>>> like to be able to do, let us know and I'm sure someone can give you
>> >>>> more specific information.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Regards
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Quentin.
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On 15 May 2014 08:19, Jeanie Vejil <proud2have-tsedog@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> >>>> wrote:
>> >>>> > My name is Jeanie Vejil and I am totally blind.
>> >>>> >
>> >>>> > Hello to all.
>> >>>> >
>> >>>> > AS of yet, I do not own an Android smart phone, but am interested
>> >>>> > in
>> >>>> all you
>> >>>> > can teach me regarding what they can do, how difficult you feel
>> >>>> > they
>> >>>> are to
>> >>>> > use, etc.
>> >>>> >
>> >>>> > I hope to read your input soon.
>> >>>> >
>> >>>> > Jeanie
>> >>>> >
>> >>>> > To post to the list, simply send email to vi-android@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
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>> >
>> > To post to the list, simply send email to vi-android@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
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>> To post to the list, simply send email to vi-android@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
>>
>> To unsubscribe from the list send an email to
>> vi-android-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field
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>>
>> To receive the list as a digest, send an email to
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the subject
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digest' in the
>> subject).
>
>
> To post to the list, simply send email to vi-android@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
>
> To unsubscribe from the list send an email to
> vi-android-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field
> (new users, use 'subscribe' to subscribe)
>
> To receive the list as a digest, send an email to
> vi-android-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'set vi-android digest' in
the subject
> (to go back to receiving every message use 'unset vi-android digest' in the
> subject).
To post to the list, simply send email to vi-android@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
To unsubscribe from the list send an email to
vi-android-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject
field (new users, use 'subscribe' to subscribe)
To receive the list as a digest, send an email to
vi-android-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'set vi-android digest' in the
subject (to go back to receiving every message use 'unset vi-android
digest' in the subject).
