/documentation/android_access/services.html

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  14. <html>
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  15. <head>
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  16. <title>Accessibility Services - Android Accessibility</title>
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  17. <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css">
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  18. </head>
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  20. <body>
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  21. <div id="main_body">
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  22. 

  23. <h1>Accessibility Services</h1>
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  24. 

  25. <div class="nav">
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  26. <div class="nav_back"><a href="basics.html">Previous: Accessibility
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  27. Basics</a></div>
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  28. <div class="nav_up"><a href="index.html">Up: Android Accessibility</a></div>
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  29. <div class="nav_next"><a href="market.html">Next: The Android Market</a></div>
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  30. </div>
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  31. 

  32. <p>A number of <strong>Accessibility Services</strong> are available to aid
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  33. in navigating your Android device. Each can be enabled or disabled via the
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  34. Accessibility menu under Settings. The most popular services are described
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  35. below:</p>
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  36. 

  37. <h2>TalkBack</h2>
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  38. <p><strong>TalkBack</strong> is one of the official accessibility services
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  39. provided by Google. It uses synthesized speech to describe the results of
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  40. <em>actions</em>, such as moving to a new control with the directional pad or
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  41. clicking on a control, and <em>events</em> such as a notification or incoming
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  42. call.</p>
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  43. <p>TalkBack comes preinstalled on most Android phones. However, it is under
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  44. active development. You may want to download the app from the Market to get the
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  45. latest features. Once you download it from the Market, you will be notified when
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  46. updates become available. Note that TalkBack cannot be uninstalled.</p>
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  47. 

  48. <h2>Spiel</h2>
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  49. <p><strong>Spiel</strong> is a third-party accessibility service that
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  50. provides an alternative to TalkBack. It also uses synthesized speech to describe
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  51. actions and events, but it has its own rules for speaking that may differ from
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  52. TalkBack's. For more information on Spiel, see <a
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  53.   href="http://spielproject.info/">the Spiel Project webpage</a>.</p>
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  54. <p>Spiel is not available from the Android Market. To install Spiel, follow
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  55. the instructions in <a href="market">Market</a> to enable non-market apps.
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  56. Search for <a href="http://tinyurl.com/aspiel">http://tinyurl.com/aspiel</a> in
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  57. your browser. While the url will load in the browser which is not accessible, it
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  58. will automatically download the app. You can install it via the Notifications
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  59. screen.</p>
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  60. <p>You can have both TalkBack and Spiel installed at the same time, and then
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  61. enable whichever one you want to use. While it's perfectly safe to have both of
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  62. them enabled, only one of them will actually work at a time. Spiel and TalkBack
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  63. work very much the same way, so you shouldn't expect major differences. They're
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  64. both being actively developed independently.</p>
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  65. 

  66. <h2>Voice Readouts</h2>
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  67. <p><strong>Voice Readouts</strong> is the Motorola accessibility service that
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  68. is analogous to TalkBack and Spiel. It also uses synthesized speech to
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  69. describe actions and events according to a set of rules.</p>
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  70. <p>Voice Readouts comes pre-installed on the Droid 2 and Droid X devices.
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  71. You can enable or disable it via the Accessibility menu under Settings.</p>
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  72. 

  73. <h2>KickBack</h2>
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  74. <p><strong>KickBack</strong> is one of the official accessibility services
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  75. provided by Google. It provides haptic feedback by vibrating the device briefly
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  76. when you perform an action on the phone.</p>
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  77. <p>It can be especially useful when using the touch screen. The feedback
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  78. will inform you when you have found a valid control, like the slide-to-unlock
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  79. handle. Additionally, it can be useful when navigating your device using a
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  80. directional controller, as you know when your movement has resulted in an
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  81. action. For example, when navigating through a menu you will feel a bump every
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  82. time you hit a new menu item. When you stop receiving feedback, you know you
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  83. have reached the end of the list.</p>
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  84. <p>On devices running Android 4.0 and above, the functionality of KickBack is
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  85. included in TalkBack.</p>
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  86. <h2>SoundBack</h2>
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  87. <p><strong>SoundBack</strong> is one of the official accessibility services
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  88. provided by Google. It plays a short sound when you perform an action on the
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  89. phone, such as moving to a different control using the directional controller,
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  90. or clicking on a control that performs an action.</p>
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  91. <p>On devices running Android 4.0 and above, the functionality of SoundBack is
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  92. included in TalkBack.</p>
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  93. 

  94. <h2>TTS Extended</h2>
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  95. <p>Android 2.2 includes a new capability for application developers to include
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  96. enhanced text-to-speech capabilities in their app. If you have Android 2.2, you
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  97. do not need to install anything.</p>
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  98. <p>If you have Android 2.1 or earlier, you can install an app called <strong>TTS
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  99. Extended</strong> to take advantaged of these enhanced capabilities in apps that 
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  100. use them.</p>
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  101. 

  102. <h2>Conclusion</h2>
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  103. <p>The various accessibility services are designed to complement one
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  104. another. While you should normally only use only one talking accessibility
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  105. service at time, the services that provide alternate feedback can be used
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  106. simultaneously for improved efficiency. While there can be a slight delay before
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  107. speech synthesis can talk after you perform an action, KickBack and SoundBack
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  108. can provide much more immediate feedback.</p>
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  109. 

  110. <div class="nav">
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  111. <div class="nav_back"><a href="basics.html">Previous: Accessibility
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  112. Basics</a></div>
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  113. <div class="nav_up"><a href="index.html">Up: Android Accessibility</a></div>
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  114. <div class="nav_next"><a href="market.html">Next: The Android Market</a></div>
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  115. </div>
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  116. 

  117. </div>
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  118. </body>
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  119. </html>
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