Android also offers the benafits of leveraging open source. I see the fact that a user doesn't have to pay a dollar to buy any app, or use a certain store regulated by Apple as something that draws people in very very soon, especially with some of the new regulations they're throwing around. You also don't have to jailbreak the phone (and effectively void your warranty), in order to do anything useful like install an app not in their store. I don't mind paying for some software, but I want the freedom to be able to install other apps on there, as well. If I decide I don't want to sell my soul to atnt and not go with the three year contract, $700+ should give me that right, with the ability to be able to send in my phone if something happens to it, and not have to worry about the fact that warranty is voided because I wanted a free app on my phone.
On 12/16/2010 6:42 PM, Ken Perry wrote:
If you think for a second that Apple is going to be able to keep up with all the companies now putting into the Android platform you will be sorely disappointed in the long run. I am the first to say that I use my IPhone more than my android right now. That doesn't mean one has all the goodies. Like I said If I want to type long messages or sit and msn with someone I do not even pull the IPhone out of the bag. If however I want to play a good game of moxi or do a web search to find out when the shuttle will get here then I use the Iphone. I see a time not but 6 months away when that will not be the case. Ken -----Original Message----- From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Dave Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 6:55 PM To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: android app development Sure. How much do you think a comparable Android device costs without a contract? Ken, I won't argue that there's problems with Android accessibility at a platform level, but that's going to reflect badly on the whole end user experience. On Dec 16, 2010, at 3:48 PM, Alex Midence<alex.midence@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:Perhaps you are right at that. I don't know much about the nuts and bolts of Android. I am looking at it from an end user perspective. The reason I don't have an iPhone is exactly the same as yours. I refused to pay 700 bucks for a phone. My god, man, that's more than some desktop pc's cost! Ridiculous if you ask me. It's a phone! Alex M On 12/16/10, Ken Perry<whistler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:You keep selling the talk back short but it is not really the problem the problem is actually the accessibility events . You are arguing the price but it cost me 700 $ for my IPhhone cause I didn't want the 3 year plan. Ken -----Original Message----- From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alex Midence Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 4:00 PM To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: android app development Ken, Yeah, I know. I've heard the g2 is nice. It was also like twice as much money. Charm is the most affordable one with the most functionality. All the others either hadandroid 1.6 or didn't have a physical keyboard or were not on the list of phones that worked with eyes-free. The g-2 is the top of the line. Like 500 bucks or something. Mine was about 200 which I had them tack onto my bill over a year or two. My point is that it needs work. That, and that the screen reader is less advanced than that which you can find for Symbian, Windows Mobile and IPhone. I've never used Rimm so, can't speak on that. I was extremely impressed with the gesture interface for iPhone. You explore the screen with one finger and it knows that you are only using one finger. When you want to select something, use three fingers to tap it or just explore with three fingers and lift up on what you want to select. It was pretty cool. I was quite happy with Windows Mobile 6 and MobileSpeak. I moved to Android because I was impressed with Dr. Raman's work in Emacspeak and figured that if there was a blind developer in charge of accessibility for the eyes-free interface that the phone would work very nicely. That and I'm a Linux enthusiast. I'm pleased at the possibilities for the future which are far beyond the competitors. The gps is wonderful and free. Mobile Geo is expensive as is WayFinder. Walky Talky is free and very nice. The haptic thing is seriously cool to and what it suggests by way of possibilities is exciting. There are still bugs to work out, however and I often find myself wishing that I had waited another year or so before going with this option. We need a way to explore the screen without triggering events and still explore with the fingers and not the key pad. We need a way to assign hotkeys where physical keys are not provided. I have two enter keys, one a select key and the other a return key that do basically the same thing. I would gladly sacrifice one to be the hang up button. Heck, it ought to be mandatory that dial and hang up/end call bbe physical keys. The key pad needs to be usable while the phone us up to the ear. Turn off touch screen but keep keypad as input device. Automated systems like a banking system or my special needs transit system's automated menu are brutal to use right now. Just bugs, you see. rough edges that need to be ironed out and which I think should have been before this was released. Yes, it's open source and yes, it is technically free but you have to pay for the phone to get it and I am sure Google gets a slice of the proceeds any time someone buys Android phones. Alex M On 12/16/10, Ken Perry<whistler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:-----Original Message----- From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Littlefield, Tyler Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 2:33 PM To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: android app development Hopefully some of this will get fixed. I know there has been talk about it, but I don't know to much more than that. Thanks for the info though. First off I use a lot of main stream apps from msn to a couple games.Thefact is you have to use eyes free to get all the functionality for nowbutyou can still download apps and use them if they use regular controlsnodifferent than the IPhone and I have both. I will say the web browserisbetter on the IPhone for now and so is email but at least you can usethemwith the ideal plug in. You have one of the worst phones.. I had a G1andnow a G2 and its much better. Ken On 12/16/2010 12:10 PM, Alex Midence wrote:I have a motorola charm with android loaded onto it. It's just OK, Ty. Lots of potential but for now, it's just OK. Sometimes, it is downright frustrating, to be honest. The Talk-back screen reader is very primitive. It's greatest feature is incorporation of tactile feedback. It's going in a completely new direction than others on other platforms because of this "Haptic feedback." apparently, some work is being done to develop an app that produces haptic feedback in the form of a scanned image or picture taken with the camera.. Someone mentioned using it to tactally explore a building or something. What it lacks and this is big, is an exploratory mode for the touch screen. You can not explore that thing without selecting what you touch. Only work around is the "eyes free shell". If you want to use something mainstream, you are out of luck. Also, you can't assign hotkeys for stuff with it either. For instance, I can't hang up my phone. Others have to hang up on me. Reason? The hang up button is an icon on the touch screen appearing in different spots for every call. You can use arrow keys to arrow to it but, they stop working if the phone is up to your face and the screen reader voice turns down to incoming call volume when you are on a call so, if you pull the phone away from your face to use arrow keys, you can't hear the screen reader land on the hang up button. If you try to get the thing just close enough, your cheek will touch an icon or something and launch an application like the web browser or the weather widget or phone book and you have to close that app to get back to the call window to hang up all the while doing this little inch closer and inch away dance with your hand set so you don't turn off the screen and input from keyboard and still be able to hear what you are doing. So, I have a phone that has a gps, text messenger, camera, weather widget, etc that I can't hang up and that is a pain to dial with. Meaning, it's primary function is difficult to make use of. Observations from an Android end user who uses his phone every day. Alex M On 12/16/10, Littlefield, Tyler<tyler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:You've apparently not used android much. I know people that use it for quite a lot, and it does more than narrator does. On 12/16/2010 11:38 AM, Alex Midence wrote:So ironic. Downright sad, if you ask me. "In the house of the blacksmith, they use a wooden knife."--Old Latin American saying. "Mechanics' children have broken cars ..." "... A doctor's family never gets cured."--Old proverbs from elsewhere Alex M -----Original Message----- From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alex Hall Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 10:30 AM To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: iOS development? <snip> Android has the equivalent of Microsoft Narrator, whereas iOS has JAWS, complete with wireless braille display support (which is quite good, especially as it is the first braille support for iOS). __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind-- Thanks, Ty __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind__________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind-- Thanks, Ty __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind__________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind__________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind__________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
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