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<title>Customizing Your Experience - Android Accessibility</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css">
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<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>