Well, had it not been for the unusability of many Reference apps, I'd have mentioned this first. Any decent and feature-rich screen reader should provide a pronunciation editor. All TTS engines have their own pronunciation problems or quirks and VoiceOver's TTS engine (called Nuance…
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As I’m gradually adding apps to my iPhone 4S and enjoying the extensive features and gestures provided by VoiceOver, I thought I’d add my desired features which might be considered by Apple for inclusion in future releases of iOS. Of course, I use the phrase “iOS 6” here and in the rest of posts dedicated to this topic because it seems the most logical release of the OS which can accommodate my features; however, there would be nothing wrong with implementing one or…
In our latest campaign we turn our attention to three apps from Nuance; Dragon Go!, Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search.
Earlier versions of these apps were usable with VoiceOver, but recent updates have rendered all three inaccessible.
When you launch the latest versions of these apps VoiceOver effectively 'freezes' and will not respond to gestures. Nuance have also added a number of non-standard controls to the Settings pages, and these are not recognized by VoiceOver…
It's been a few weeks since 1 comments : last update or comment 5 years 2 months ago
When it comes to choosing a new handset, I can become as meticulous and picky as hell! It’s not necessarily a vice; however, if it takes more than three months to make your final decision, it can no longer be called a “virtue” either.
Having used several Symbian handsets such as the 6630, N73, N82, N86, and X7, I finally decided to kiss goodbye to Symbian about four months ago. My phones were sort of decrepit and I needed something new. Having had heard many good points about Android…
We are pleased to announce the two apps chosen this month by users of the AppleVis website for induction into our iOS App Hall of Fame.
Our goal for the Hall of Fame is to showcase the passion and hard work that developers put into creating great apps that are fully accessible to VoiceOver users, and we think both of your choices are worthy inductees.
The first inductee is Dropbox…
A quick word of caution about an app that's just been released called VisionAssist.
The app has been developed specifically for those with low-vision, and claims to offer the same functionality and performance that you would expect from a handheld electronic magnifier, but with a few extra features and the advantages of being on your phone.
I had high hopes…
LookTel have just released a new app that promises fast and accurate recognition of everyday items, such as cans, packages, ID or credit cards and DVDs.
26 comments : last update or comment 5 years 2 months ago
It's been reported that Sendero is in the early stages of developing a full-featured GPS application for the iPhone.
Most of you are probably aware of the Sendero Group, and many of you will have used their location-based information and navigation systems for the blind. Considering how highly-regarded these GPS systems are, and the company's near 20 years of experience, it is easy to be excited by news of an iOS…
This month we are encouraging you all to contact Starbucks and ask that they make their iOS app accessible to their many blind and low-vision customers.
Earlier versions of their app were usable with VoiceOver, but this all changed when new features were added that enabled customers to use the app to pay for purchases and to manage their Starbucks Cards. The app is now totally inaccessible with VoiceOver. Considering Starbucks' commitment elsewhere to equality of access, including…
The number of people visiting the AppleVis website continues to grow each month. Naturally we are thrilled by this, but when combined with the additional features and resources that we've added over the past few months, it has placed an increasing strain on our current web hosting.
We have decided, therefore, to move the AppleVis website to a new server. This will remove some of the problems that we currently experience, and also allow us to ensure the future stability and…
We are pleased to announce the two apps chosen this month by the users of this site for induction into our iOS App Hall of Fame.
Our goal for the Hall of Fame is to showcase the passion and hard work that developers put into creating great apps that are fully accessible to VoiceOver users, and we think the apps that you have chosen are great examples of this.
The first inductee is Downcast…
For the second year running, AppleVis has been nominated in the category for the "Best Blindness-related Website or blog" in the Blind Bargains Annual Access Awards.
We are very flattered by this, and would like to thank all of you who nominated us.
This will be the 5th time that Blind Bargains have invited the blindness community to vote for the best products, innovations and technologies, and as always there are some difficult choices to make.
In total…
Scott, one of our Editorial Team, talks about the AppleVis web site on the latest podcast from Accessible Devices.
This podcast is always entertaining listening, and Scott does an excellent job of adding to the usual mood of irreverence, whilst still managing to talk about some of the things that we are trying to do with this site.
You can subscribe to the podcast here or…
We were recently contacted by the developer of 0 comments : last update or comment 5 years 2 months ago
Some of you may have noticed a slight increase over the past few weeks in the number of spam posts making it onto the site. In most cases the automated bots responsible for these will try to make just a single post, but earlier this morning we were hit by about 20 spam posts in just a few minutes. Fortunately I was online at the time, so was able to quickly remove these and block the account from posting any more.
In part, this increase in spam is due to the success of the site.…
I've just read about a new GPS app that sounds very interesting.
Called MyWay, it's been developed by the Swiss Federation for the Blind, and supposedly works like Loadstone on Nokia phones.
It is described as a GPS orientation aid which provides distance and directional information to a selected point of interest. These might include an address from your address book or a point on a self-defined route.
A…