The recent update to the Google TalkBack screen reader (version 4.2) includes several updated features and enhancements. Among the most significant of these is the ability to show local and global context menus in list views, instead of having to explore a circle of options by touch. Also, you can now toggle TalkBack off and on by pressing and holding both volume buttons simultaneously. Samsung beat the TalkBack development team to the punch, however. Like Amazon before them, the company has developed their own, device-specific version of TalkBack. It's called Galaxy TalkBack, and for now it comes preinstalled on both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge.
I spent several weeks testing this new version of TalkBack using a Sprint Galaxy S6 (GS6). The Edge model differs from the standard S6 only in that it has an edge display sighted users can check even when the main screen is not visible.
Physical Description of the Spring Galaxy S6
To put it most succinctly, the S6 resembles nothing so much as an iPhone 6. With a glass front and back wrapped in a metal bezel, identically placed volume buttons and a lock button just a bit more centered than that on Apple's flagship model, the Galaxy S6 represents a new form factor for Samsung. There are differences. The Galaxy S6 Home button/fingerprint reader is raised and rectangular; the device lacks a dedicated mute button; and the rear-facing camera is surrounded by a dime-size extension that is larger than the one on the iPhone 6. It's also slightly wider and a few millimeters longer than the iPhone 6, but I found it just as comfortable and well-balanced in my hand as my iPhone 6. Indeed, with both phones sitting beside one another on my desk, I often picked up one when I meant to grab the other.
This new form factor does not allow for a user replaceable battery. Nor does the S6 include an SD card slot. Describing their preference for Android over iOS, many Android users cite these very features—expandable memory and user switchable batteries—as major reasons they enjoy the Android experience. I don't know how these form factor changes will affect their loyalty, if other new Android models follow suit, but as for me, after using the Galaxy S6 I found myself enjoying the Android experience more than ever. Specification junkies can get the full hardware rundown here.
As for my personal experience, the Sprint GS6 is without doubt the snappiest, most responsive Android phone I have ever tested. I also enjoyed using Galaxy TalkBack more than the standard Google TalkBack.
Galaxy TalkBack
The physical form factor is not the only resemblance between the GS6 and iPhone 6. The GS6 comes with its own version of triple-click Home to toggle the screen reader on and off. This setting is enabled by default, so starting Galaxy TalkBack on a new device is a simple matter. Unless, of course, as happened to me, the review unit you have been sent was previously used, and triple-click Home and the two-finger spread startup gesture were both disabled. Performing a factory reset re-enabled the triple-tap speak at startup feature, however.
The preloaded GS6 voices, one male and one female, were roughly equivalent to the stock TalkBack voice. You can download free, high-quality Samsung English and Spanish voices if you like. I found these enhanced-quality voices excellent in both tone and comprehensibility, and they did not seem to slow down the phone's performance at all.
As with Google TalkBack, the first time you start the screen reader you are given the opportunity to learn and practice the various touch gestures. You can repeat this tutorial at any time via the phone's Accessibility Settings menu. Many of the basic gestures are the same as the ones you may already know for Google TalkBack. For example, swiping to the left or right advances you one unit. Double tapping activates the focused element, and a two-finger slide up or down scrolls you through a list.
As is also the case with Google TalkBack, a two-finger swipe in either direction advances you one page left or right. Use three fingers, however, and you begin to rotor your way through several options unique to Galaxy TalkBack, including:
- Punctuation
- Speech Rate
- Media Volume
- Notifications
- Large Cursor
Perform a one-finger swipe up or down to adjust any of these settings. For example, three-finger swipe in either direction until you reach the Punctuation option, then one-finger swipe up or down to toggle punctuation off or back on. Swipe to the Notifications option, then perform a one-finger swipe in either direction to summon an extensive notifications screen. The list includes a direct link to Galaxy TalkBack settings, though sometimes a double tap would not activate the menu. When that happened, closing and reopening the notifications screen corrected the problem.
Apple iOS users may compare the three-finger swipe gesture to the VoiceOver two-finger rotor gesture, which also determines what happens when you one-finger swipe up or down. The VoiceOver rotor contains many more options, such as reading by letter, word, link, etc. Galaxy TalkBack also offers these options, and as we will demonstrate, many of these controls act more like VoiceOver commands than those in Google TalkBack.
Gone is the swipe up and then left gesture to call up the local context menu, where you can set reading granularity to character, word, Web element, and the like. Galaxy TalkBack uses a simple three-finger swipe up or down to rotor through these granularity choices, which is a more elegant way to accomplish this, in my opinion, than using either Google TalkBack or VoiceOver.
Likewise the down and right Google TalkBack Global Context menu has also been done away with in the Galaxy version. Double tap with three fingers to read from the current item; triple tap with the same three fingers to spell the last utterance. Other gesture commands that will already be familiar to VoiceOver users are the two-finger single touch to pause and resume speech playback (the proximity sensor still also works,) and the two-finger double tap to stop and restart media playback.
I found text editing much easier on the SG6 than on other Android phones. The default keyboard includes a number row across the top, so mixed text entry is much swifter. I did experience a few annoying bugs typing on the GS6, however. When attempting to enter my Google credentials, the second L in Bill refused to voice when I pressed the key. This happened on most double letter entries, though most times the letter was entered, only instead of speaking the typed letter Galaxy TalkBack voiced "End." Also, often when I was entering my e-mail address into a login text field, if I tried to edit my entry "character" was not available as a granularity option. Instead, I had to backspace to my mistake and retype from there.
Entering text selection mode was a simple matter using the double- tap and hold gesture. I could then change the granularity and swipe left or right to select the desired block of text. Notice in the table below that Galaxy TalkBack offers touch commands for cut, copy, paste and select all. Unfortunately, for me at least, the two-finger swipe left to right paste command did not work in the tutorial, but it did work when composing an e-mail or text message.
Here is a complete list of Galaxy TalkBack touch gestures.
Action
1 finger
2 fingers
3 fingers
Tap
speak item under finger
Pause/resume speech
read from top
double tap
activate the selected focus;
active edit mode (focus on
editable text)
Start/stop action
read from next item
triple tap
zoom
information center
spell last utterance
double tap and hold
move or drag an icon;
view more options for
selected items
selection mode
label control
left swipe
move to previous/next
item
copy
context meu settings
right swipe
move to previous/next
item
paste
context meu settings
up swipe
move using selected
option of context menu
cut
context menu granular
down swipe
move using selected
option of context menu
select all
context menu granular
left then right swipe
scroll up/down page
right then left swipe
scroll up/down page
up then down swipe
move to first/last item on
page; move cursor to
beginning or end of edit
field
down then up swipe
move to first/last item on
page; move cursor to
beginning or end of edit
field
As a long-time iOS user, in general I found the Galaxy touch gestures made more sense to me than those used by Google TalkBack. I particularly enjoyed not losing my place whenever I needed to use a two-step gesture to invoke a context menu. Long time Android phone users may already have too much muscle memory invested in the current Google TalkBack gestures. If this is the case, you can still use the GS6. Google TalkBack can be run alongside Galaxy TalkBack and hot swapped on demand. Opening one version causes the other to close automatically.
The accessibility "Direct Access" option allows you to add one or more features to the triple-tap Home menu. Along with both versions of TalkBack, you can also add one or more low vision features, including a magnifier window, negative colors, grayscale, and a link to the full slate of accessibility settings.
Another pair of accessibility features unique to Galaxy TalkBack are listed as "Status Bar Information" and "Recent/Back Feedback." Turn this latter feature on and instead of activating as soon as they are touched, the Recent Apps and Back buttons will announce their names when touched; you must then perform a double tap to invoke the command. This is useful if you often accidentally touch one of these controls by mistake and lose your place.
The Status Bar Information option offers a checkbox list of all the information that can be spoken when you tap the Status Bar, including:
- Time
- Signal Strength
- Bluetooth
- Missed Events
- Battery
Check and uncheck items to create your desired level of verbosity.
A Few Opportunities Missed
Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a good deal of communication and integration between the Samsung accessibility team and the rest of the software and hardware developers. Technical support is also woefully unaware of their products' accessibility features.
The stock Samsung camera app can be set to open with a double tap of the Home button. The app also offers several useful voice commands. Say "Cheese," "Smile," "Capture," "Shoot," or "Record video" and after two seconds the camera snaps a photo or begins video recording. Unfortunately, the rest of the app is extremely screen reader unfriendly. You can't use swipe gestures to locate the camera controls or settings menus. Many of these buttons and icons remained quite elusive, even using explore by touch.
The Samsung Play Store offers OCR and navigation apps, along with a Samsung TV Remote Control app. Again, none of these apps offers a pleasant Galaxy or Google TalkBack experience. Using the OCR app I was unable to recognize any text, and as for the navigation app—let's just say I am not about to delete APH's excellent Nearby Explorer.
The TV Remote app presented a few unlabeled graphics, and did not provide an accessible way to reach the channel buttons and other controls. This was surprising, considering all of the recent advances Samsung has made in developing an accessible TV.
Final Thoughts
All in all, I consider the Sprint Galaxy S6 a well-designed, responsive Android phone, among the best I have ever used. Of course the caveat to this is the fact that I am a longtime iPhone user, so naturally I feel more comfortable and confident with a device that already feels familiar. With its more iOS-like touch commands, Galaxy TalkBack also felt more familiar and useable. It is still a bit buggy in places, so I do appreciate the ability to hot swap between the Galaxy and Google versions of TalkBack.
Currently, Galaxy TalkBack is only available on the S6 and S6 Edge. Samsung has not announced if or when it will be made available for legacy Samsung phones and tablets. Even if a Samsung phone or tablet is not in your immediate future, however, this new touch screen reader should be viewed as an exciting development in mobile accessibility. Consider the amount of competition and feature cross-pollination that has occurred over the past several years between Google TalkBack and VoiceOver. (Amazon's TalkBack version, called Screen Reader, is not known for innovation.) Good ideas are good ideas, wherever they originate, and when it comes to enhanced mobile accessibility, a rising tide will definitely lift all ships.
Product Availability
For this review the 32 GB Sprint Galaxy 6 was evaluated. It is available free for qualified new or existing individuals on the Sprint Unlimited Plus plan, or family members on the Sprint Family Share plan.
To learn more about the Galaxy S6 and other accessible phones visit the Sprint Accessibility Store.
More articles from this author:
iPhone 6 and iOS 8: A Look at Accessibility with the Help of iOS Without the Eye, by Jonathan Mosen
A Look at the JAWS Training Bundle from Freedom Scientific
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