I've already tried a beta version of it and I must admit that it's not my cup of tea atleast. A good start though.
Karan On 04-Mar-2011, at 12:51 PM, Srikanth Kanuri <[email protected]> wrote: > Mobile Accessibility: Code Factory Goes Android! > > Features Touchscreen Navigation, Speech Recognition, Web and Email Access, > and Nuance’s Vocalizer® Text-to-Speech > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > > Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain, March 2nd, 2011 > > Today, Code Factory is delighted to introduce Mobile Accessibility, a > screen-access application that allows people who are blind or have low > vision to use > an Android phone in an intuitive, easy and simple way. Mobile Accessibility > is the first accessible Android application that permits intuitive > touchscreen > navigation of Android phones, featuring text readback via natural sounding > voices powered by Nuance’s Vocalizer® text-to-speech technology. > > “Mobile phones have proved to be among the fastest-changing consumer > technologies in the world – particularly with the advent of the Android > platform. So > making mobile phones accessible to the blind and visually impaired is > therefore challenging, fascinating, thrilling and totally exciting all at > the same > time,” explained Eduard Sánchez, Code Factory’s CEO. “There was no doubt > that we would target the Android platform, as we very quickly realized that > there > was a real need in this specific market for an accessible solution that can > provide a user-friendly experience for all blind and low-vision consumers. > Mobile Accessibility allows everyone, from beginners to the most tech-savvy, > to use an Android phone, no matter if it has physical keys or is > touchscreen-only.” > > Mobile Accessibility is two products in one: > > • A suite of 10 accessible applications (Phone, Contacts, SMS, Alarm, > Calendar, Email, Web, Where am I, Apps and Settings) that have been > specially designed > for the blind and visually impaired. They all have a simplified interface > whose textual information is spoken using Nuance Vocalizer® voice synthesis. > > • A screen reader that allows users to get out of the suite and navigate the > standard interface of their phone. > > “Mobile Accessibility provides both access to the mainstream apps of the > phone and access to special apps for blind people. Why? Because our > philosophy > has always been to allow our users to use the phone the same way as everyone > else. However, we also believe that having some special apps for the most > common tasks can be extremely useful if it means gaining in productivity,” > added Eduard Sánchez. > > The major features of Mobile Accessibility are the following: > > • Touch navigation: You can use Mobile Accessibility not only with the > trackball or the physical keyboard of your phone, but also with its > touchscreen! > Simply move your finger around the screen and the voice synthesis will read > the text located under your finger. Or if you prefer, you can also swipe > up/down/right/left > and tap on the screen to navigate through the interface. And if you wish you > can enable sound and vibration feedback. > • Easy to input text: In or outside the Mobile Accessibility suite you can > use the touch QWERTY keyboard as well as the speech recognition to write > text > quickly and easily. Imagine writing an SMS or an Email using your voice > only. > • Voice synthesis: Code Factory has been making mobile phones accessible to > the blind and visually impaired for many years now, and they know that the > voice > matters... and a lot! For Mobile Accessibility, Code Factory has partnered > with Nuance® to leverage its trusted Vocalizer text-to-speech technology, > providing > consumers with natural sounding voice readback. > > “With around 314 million visually impaired persons around the world, we > believe that it’s our joint obligation to facilitate access to information > and mobile > communication to everyone” says Arnd Weil, VP & General Manager Automotive / > Consumer Electronics, Nuance Communications. “By offering screen reader > functionality > for Android phones using Nuance Vocalizer, Code Factory gives blind and > visually impaired persons access to one of the most important mobile > platforms > with the market’s most natural sounding and intelligible voices.” > > Inside the Mobile Accessibility suite of accessible applications you can do > the following: > > • Phone: Make calls, answer calls, hear the caller ID and manage your call > log. > • Contacts: Manage your contacts, even those from social networks such as > Facebook. > • SMS: Compose and read short messages. Manage conversations. > • Alarms: Set your alarms. > • Web: Full web browser experience, similar to what you can find on your PC. > Jump by the control of your choice (links, paragraphs, headings, forms, > etc.) > to navigate faster to the information of your interest. Bookmark your > favourite webpages. > • Calendar: Create, edit and delete a calendar entry. View all events per > day, week or month. > • Email: Full access to your Gmail account > • Where am I? : GPS application that gives you updates on your current > location. > • Settings: Change ringtone. Configure feedback and notifications (vibration > or audio). Configure keyboard echo, punctuation verbosity, speech pitch and > rate, etc. > • Quick access to date and time, phone status information such as battery > level and network coverage, number of missed calls and unread messages, etc. > > To hear Mobile Accessibility in action listen to videos and audio demos at > http://www.codefactory.es/en/products.asp?id=415#video > > Mobile Accessibility supports all Android phones from version 2.1 and above. > Please note that voice recognition is only supported with version 2.2 and > above. > Note also that if you want to use the screen reader functionality of Mobile > Accessibility you will need a phone with physical navigational controls such > as a trackball or trackpad. You can find more information about Android > phones at > http://www.google.com/phone/#manufacturer=all&category=all&carrier=all&country=all&reset_filters=1 > > At the time of this release Mobile Accessibility is only available in > English, but soon Code Factory will release other versions of Mobile > Accessibility > for Spanish, Italian, German, French and Portuguese. Note that Mobile > Accessibility doesn’t support multiple languages at one time. If you buy the > English > version of Mobile Accessibility you will not be able to use it in another > language like French or Spanish. There will be a specific version of Mobile > Accessibility > for each language and each version will have to be purchased separately. > > You can now get a Mobile Accessibility Demo from the Android Market and try > the product for free for 30 days: > > list of 2 items > • Mobile Accessibility Demo US: > https://market.android.com/details?id=es.codefactory.android.app.ma.vocalizerenudemo&feature=search_result > • Mobile Accessibility Demo UK: > https://market.android.com/details?id=es.codefactory.android.app.ma.vocalizerengdemo&feature=search_result > > Soon Mobile Accessibility will be available for purchase through the Android > Market at the price of 69 EUROS. You can purchase the application directly > from the Market application of your Android phone, or from the web page > https://market.android.com > . Before buying the app make sure to check out our website at > http://www.codefactory.es/en/products.asp?id=415 > to see what carriers offer the product for free to their customers. > > To learn how to use Mobile Accessibility for Android, please consult the > user guide at > http://www.codefactory.es/MA/en/ma_1_0_manual.html. > For technical assistance, please submit a ticket through Code Factory’s Help > Desk at > http://www.codefactory.cat/helpdesk/. > > For more information about Mobile Accessibility and Code Factory subscribe > to the Mobile Accessibility mailing list at > http://www.codefactory.es/en/list.asp?id=88, > visit our website at > http://www.codefactory.es > or follow the company on Twitter at > http://twitter.com/codefactory > and use the hashtag #MA to talk about Mobile Accessibility. > To unsubscribe send a message to > [email protected] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. 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