/documentation/android_access/customizing.html
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- <html>
- <head>
- <title>Customizing Your Experience - Android Accessibility</title>
- <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css">
- </head>
- <body>
- <div id="main_body">
- <h1>Customizing Your Experience</h1>
- <div class="nav">
- <div class="nav_back"><a href="market.html">Previous: The Android
- Market</a></div>
- <div class="nav_up"><a href="index.html">Up: Android Accessibility</a></div>
- <div class="nav_next"><a href="tips.html">Next: Tips and Tricks</a></div>
- </div>
- <p>One of the best things about Android is that almost everything is
- customizable. This is something that all users can enjoy, but it's particularly
- helpful for accessibility, because just about anything on the phone that's
- inaccessible or not fully accessible can be replaced by another app that's more
- accessible.</p>
- <h2>Voices</h2>
- Android comes preinstalled with a voice based on the SVOX Pico engine, but you
- are not limited to using that voice. There are currently three other choices on
- the market.
- <ul>
- <li><strong>eSpeak</strong> is a free voice. It sounds a little unusual,
- but is free, fast, and supports dozens of languages.</li>
- <li><strong>Loquendo TTS Susan</strong> is a commercial voice. While it's
- not free, it's not very expensive and the quality is very good. It currently
- only support US English.</li>
- <li><strong>SVOX Classic</strong> is a set of commercial voices. Like the
- Loquendo voice, while each voice is not free, they are also not very expensive
- and the quality is very good. It currently supports several languages.
- <br><br>
- In addition, IDEAL has an accessible voices sampler application called
- "Best Voices for Android" that lets you listen to previews of these SVOX
- Classic voices.
- </li>
- </ul>
- Installing a voice requires a couple of extra steps:
- <ol>
- <li>Open the app to download any voice data and finish the installation.</li>
- <li>Enable the voice in the Android Settings. In Android 2.1 or earlier,
- this setting is found under the <i>Text-to-speech</i> menu. In Android 2.2 it
- is found under <i>Voice input/output</i>.</li>
- </ol>
- <h2>Screen lock</h2>
- As described in <a href="basics.html">Basics</a>, by default you need to perform
- a swipe gesture to unlock the screen. You can install applications that
- eliminate the need for the gesture, or replace it with a separate lock screen
- which requires a password. A couple of apps to get your started:
- <ul>
- <li><strong>No Lock</strong> is a simple app which allows you to enable
- or disable the screen lock via a checkbox.</li>
- <li><strong>Rock Lock</strong> is a screen that lets you listen to music
- while the phone is locked. It also makes a great music player.</li>
- </ul>
- Search the Market to find many other lock screen apps.
- <h2>Home screen</h2>
- <p>The <strong>Eyes-free shell</strong> is a home screen designed to be used
- without looking at the screen. It uses an innovative touch-screen input method
- that lets you access a lot of functionality without being able to see the
- screen, and without needing to open the keyboard.</p>
- <p>To use, press and hold your finger near the center of the screen. Pretend
- that you are in the center of a 3 x 3 grid of squares. Drag your finger to each
- of the 9 cells in the square to hear a description of the cell. Release your
- finger while over a cell to select that shortcut.</p>
- <p>The Eyes-Free Shell comes with a separate app, <strong>Shortcuts
- Manager for Eyes-Free Shell</strong>, that allows you to customize the
- shortcuts</p>
- <p>For more information on how to use the Eyes-free shell and other
- Eyes-free Android apps, see <a
- href="http://www.youtube.com/user/EyesFreeAndroid">the Eyes-free YouTube
- videos</a>.
- <p />
- <h2>Email</h2>
- The email apps that come preinstalled with Android are not yet accessible. You
- can download an accessible version of the K9 mail program, <strong>IDEAL
- Accessible K9 mail</strong> from the Market. For more information on this app,
- see the <a href="http://apps4android.org/k9.htm">IDEAL website</a>.
- <h2>Web</h2>
- <p>The default Android web browser is not yet accessible. The IDEAL <strong>Web
- Access Plug-In</strong> provides an accessible alternative. See the <a
- href="http://apps4android.org/web-access-plug-in-news-release.htm"> news
- release from the IDEAL Group</a> for additional details.</p>
- <div class="nav">
- <div class="nav_back"><a href="market.html">Previous: The Android
- Market</a></div>
- <div class="nav_up"><a href="index.html">Up: Android Accessibility</a></div>
- <div class="nav_next"><a href="tips.html">Next: Tips and Tricks</a></div>
- </div>
- </div>
- </body>
- </html>