By and large the Android UI can be controlled entirely through a DPAD or trackball, no touchscreen required at all. There is also now a fairly rich accessibility API in the Android platform that can be used to navigate through the standard UI and applications:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/accessibility/package-summary.html <http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/accessibility/package-summary.html> http://developer.android.com/reference/android/accessibilityservice/package-summary.html <http://developer.android.com/reference/android/accessibilityservice/package-summary.html>As far as resistive touch screens, this is really not a software issue but hardware design. For example the HTC Tattoo uses a resistive screen, and there are others. I am hopeful that there will be enough variety in Android devices for there to always be some that meet these needs... though admittedly Droid is probably the worst in this regard with both capacitive keys and no always accessible DPAD or trackball. If you are interested in improving there, we are certainly happy to see patches to the platform. In fact this is how the existing accessibility APIs came about, through contributions from outside of the core platform engineers from people with interest and knowledge in the area. On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 8:44 PM, dav <[email protected]> wrote: > Forgive me if this is the wrong place to post this. With all the > evolution of the smartphones, on crucial aspect has been completely > overlooked. That is one of accessibility. This seems driven by iPhone. > The current crop of capacitive touch screens are all but useless for > people with impairments to use by artificial hands. This is really a > shame because resistive touch screens work incredibly well with > prosthetic hands or other devices secured to hands that don't work > very well. There is barely a mention of this shortcoming anywhere > among smartphone developers. Everyone seems desperate to copy the > iPhone features without regard for the effect on the broader > population. I've written the folks at Apple numerous times and yet to > get any response of any kind. It would be a shame to see Android > devices to get locked in competing for Apple's niche market. It would > be great to see more attention devoted to making it easier to > incorporate these resistive touch screens into their devices. I'm > currently stuck using Windows Mobile on a Palm Treo, only because it > does offer a very good working resistive touch screen. I'm sure there > are many veterans and others with physical impairments would love to > get their hands/hooks or whatever on an Android powered device. > Sincerely, > David > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Android Developers" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<android-developers%[email protected]> > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en > -- Dianne Hackborn Android framework engineer [email protected] Note: please don't send private questions to me, as I don't have time to provide private support, and so won't reply to such e-mails. All such questions should be posted on public forums, where I and others can see and answer them. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
