My experiences regarding other screen readers on the Fire tablet matches
William's experience. The Fire tablets don't recognize Talkback as an installed
service. In general, I prefer VoiceView over Talkback in some ways but it would
be nice to have the option of using Talkback as it offers more robust support
with external Bluetooth keyboards. I suspect that there are significant
differences between Android and Fire OS as to make Talkback not function. If
you think about it this makes perfect sense. Imagine if someone reverse
engineered Windows (a very illegal thing to do) and created a similar yet
different operating system, incorporating parts of the standard version of
Windows but adding some internal components or modules which don't exist in
Windows. If someone did this it would be reasonable to assume that JAWS or NVDA
either wouldn't work or wouldn't work reliably.
David Goldfield, Assistive Technology Specialist
WWW.David-Goldfield.Com<http://WWW.David-Goldfield.Com>
On 9/22/2018 12:18 PM, William Brandes wrote:
Hi Chris. Here is what I know.
1. Talk-back is not compatible. I've tried before, and, no dice.
2. Same with non-Amazon voices. We've all been wondering when they
will open the box of all the voices they have in the bag! But, other
vendors? No dice as well, unless others have different outcomes.
3. I also have a 7-inch 5th generation Fire tablet. I put Aira in my
GPS wish list, but, got the same disclaimer that you got. To be fair,
the problem might be from Aira. I'll see if I can find an .apk file
for side-load. I'd be interested as well as what would be the result.
Stay well ... William
On 9/22/18, Christopher Gilland
<clgilland07@xxxxxxxxx><mailto:clgilland07@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi guys. My name is Chris, and I'm a long time tech guru, however,
admittedly, it wasn't until yesterday that my roomate found an old
Amazon Kindle Fire 7 inch 5th gen tablet that he wasn't using, and
decided to let me have.
Currently, I have updated the tablet to Fire OS 5.6.2.0. It's looking
like this is the most recent version that is supported by the 5th gen
non-HD tabs, which mine is not an HD. Shucks! LOL!
Anyway, I have a few questions in regards to Voiceview, and such.
Keep in mind that I am extremely! familiar with the Android platform,
and use Talkback as well as sometimes the built in Samsung's Voice
Assist option on my Galaxy S8 Plus running Android 8.0 Oreo on a very
very regular basis, so Android, which I know Fire backbones off of is
absolutely no stranger to me at all in the least. Therefore, picking up
the Fire tablet, familiarizing myself with the gestures and such came
almost instantly to me. There has hardly been a learning curve for me at
all.
So, here're my few questions.
First off, I understand that if you sideload the Google Playstore on the
device, which by the way, I have indeed done successfully, you then can
install most, and that's the big key here, most! apps from there.
So, I found the Google Accessibility suite, got it downloaded and
installed, but don't see Talkback under the Accessibility
settings/services like I would on a regular device running Android.
My first question therefore is, why in the confounding blizard of nation
can Shine screen reader be installed, but not Talkback! Well, OK, it can
be, but it's not going to show up, and therefore is essentially a total
waste of capassity to try. Does anyone know a hack, or trick to get
around this short of custom modding the whole device, and flashing full
Android on the thing? Which by the way, I'm not at all in any objection
to doing, but I really would honestly rather not, if I could at all help
it. For one, it probably wouldn't be legal, and plus, I'd not be covered
with support by Amazon at that point, so, uh, yeah... No thank ya. I
think I'll pass.
Secondly, a very similar question, why can I not install any, that I
know of, 3rd party voices like say, Eloquence from Code Factory? I
tried, and again, it installed, but it's not showing up in TTS settings.
All I see are my US English Joey and Sally voices. Is it just that the
TTS engine API's are not open to 3rd parties with Fire OS? If so, quite
frankly? That sucks. Oh well though. Such, I guess is life.
Finally, I am an Aira explorer. Does anyone have an APK of the app, or
think from a regular Android device they could extract one for me? I'd
do it myself with my S8 Plus, but honestly, I don't know of a good app
for extracting free apps to APK's. Now if someone can recommend one? I'd
appreciate it immensely, don't get me wrong. I tried getting the app
through Google Play, but it says the Kindle isn't compatible. I find
that really hard to believe. This thing's definitely got a camera, and
it's definitely got a microphone. I know it does, as I installed Skype,
and that works beautifully. And BTW, no. Aira's not in the Amazon app
store, which honestly doesn't at all surprise me.
Any help greatly appreciated.
I dunno at this point. I have mixed feelings. I love this device, but
maaan! It's really seeming to be limited on what you can put on
it/configure on it. I mean, like, dang!
Chris.
