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Getting Around Unfamiliar places.

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Around Me app icon dropped gps pin over blue circles

This week I will be traveling to the CSUN 2017 AT conference, and it occurs to me that it would be a good thing to get a few apps that can help me find things in San Diego, so lets look at two of these kinds of apps that can really help you in these types of situations.

BlindSquare

BlindSuare is a blindness specific app that utilizes the power of GPS and Foursquare to let users find places near them. Foursquare is an app that lets users check in and name places. You get points for each check in, and you can even make points of interest that may not be in Google Maps, or on Apple Maps. BlindSquare is on iOS. BlindSquare has a mode that lets you see what is around you by moving your phone. The good thing is that it works with Foursquare, so all of the user points of interests that have been made will show up in the app.

Blindsquare will also let you see what town you are flying over. You ca learn more about this by visiting Blind Bargains and it is on one of their podcast episodes.

BlindSquare is $39.99, and also has in app purchases. Unfortunately, BlindSquare is only for iOS and is not currently available for Android.

Around Me

Around me is a free app on iOS and Android, and is $2.99 as an in app purchase to remove ads. With AroundMe, you can select a category like hotels or restaurants and the app will give you a list of the closest points of interest in that category. Alternatively, you can select the visualization button and pick between list, map and live view. Live view is a really neat feature, because it lets the user move the device they are using around and items will float in to view. This uses the camera, and does utilize explore by touch for VoiceOver on iOS. Unfortunately, Live View is not available on Android devices, but more map options are available.

Nearby Explorer for Android

Nearby Explorer by the American Printing House for the Blind is another app for Android and iOS also assists users in this area, but will run you around $80 and will not be covered in this article.

Conclusion

While BlindSquare is a grea5 option for users, it is quite expensive, and will only be on the iOS platform. If you are on Android you can look at Nearby Explorer, but this will also run $80, so while AroundMe doesn’t have the live view feature, it does allow you to see what is in your general area.

Amazon Tap Without the Need to Tap?

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Image of Amazon Tap on white background

Amazon just announced that the Amazon Tap would be updated soon to support a new feature known as hands free mode. This will allow the device to work more like the traditional Echo or Echo Dot where you can just say, “Alexa” to activate the Alexa voice system, so all you would have to do is ask it questions as if you were using an Echo or Echo Dot. Here is how to turn this feature on.

Enable Hands Free mode on Amazon Tap.

To Enable Hands free mode, you will need to have the updated device software on your Tap. At the time of this post I do not see this software update, but here are the steps if you were to have this software update which rolls out over the air as long as the device is on Wi-Fi.

  1. Open the Alexa app on your mobile device
  2. Find the menu button at the top left
  3. Find Settings in the menu
  4. Find and select your Tap in the list of devices. It should have the name similar to Your Name’s Tap
  5. find the setting for Hands free mode and activate it

While using Hands free mode you should still get 8 hours of battery from your Tap. You can also press the power button on the back to put the device to sleep so it keeps charged longer.

Conclusion

Many have said that the Tap was a useless device because it did not have hands free use with the Alexa platform. With this software update, Amazon has gone a long way to make this device more useful in making it a battery powered alternative to the Echo Dot and to the bigger Echo device.

I personally plan to use this device now while I travel and at convention season this summer.

Amazon Tap – Amazon

Hours Time Tracking for iOS Provides Only Seconds of Accessibility

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Hours Blue icon with minute and second hands in white

I recently have been looking for good time tracking apps for iOS and Android to keep track of my project hours. I went to the App Store business section in iOS and found the app Hours which promised to do just that. As a visual user I found the app to be appealing and would do what I wanted, but I fired up VoiceOver, and received a completely different experience.

How does Hours work

Hours lets the user create a new project, with basic text fields. Once you create your project you can track how much time you work on that project. One nice thing about this app is that it lets you track multiple projects at the same time so you can record your hours for multiple projects.

Accessibility Issues

Once I downloaded this app I was happy to see a mainly text interface, but my happiness stopped there. Once I enabled VoiceOver I only received, “Button” on any graphical button. To make matters worse, the buttons would not work while VoiceOver was on, which makes the app unusable to VoiceOver users. Beyond this presenting a problem to VoiceOver users, sighted users with partial to low vision will have a difficult time using this app because the buttons to me at least, do not tell me anything by just looking at the pictures, so I would need to use VoiceOver to gain perspective on what I am doing, so this makes this app fairly useless to low vision users as well.

Conclusion

While it is a great concept, Hours is not the app for blind and low vision users. Its lack of labeled and usable buttons with VoiceOver makes this app be unaccessible, and I urge the developer to take a look at the accessibilityHint and accessibilityLabel attributes to make these buttons accessible. It is also on Apple because they are featuring these apps which not all users can use.

Hours Time Tracker – iOS App Store

Commentary: Are VoiceOver Actions a Help or a Hindrance?

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Image showing VoiceOver icon. icon is a grey gradient to white with a universal access symbol and a speaker with sound waves going to the right.

Please note that the opinions expressed in this article are my own, and do not necessarily reflect those of iAccessibility.

As I’m sure most VoiceOver users know, there is an “Actions” item in the VoiceOver rotor in iOS. This is a very handy item as it allows for tasks to be accomplished faster without the need to tap through app menus, or perform a passthrough (double tap and hold on an item). An easy example of this would be deleting messages in the Messages app. Simply find a message, set the rotor to “Actions” if it’s not automatically set for you, flick up or down to “Delete,” and double tap. Your message is then deleted. It really does help speed things up.

So what am I complaining about? From time to time, I’ve been in the really neat position of being able to help a sighted person with there iPhone. It’s not neat because I get bragging rights or anything, just that with VoiceOver, I can use the same device and mostly, use it in the same way a sighted person can, all be it with some changed gestures, obviously. But getting back to the topic at hand, let’s say a sighted person asked me how to delete messages from there iPhone. I wouldn’t tell them to turn on VoiceOver, learn the basic gestures so they can navigate the screen, then use actions to delete there message, I’d tell them how to do it without VoiceOver enabled, and that’s where I’ve run into a bit of a problem. You see, as I was writing this article, I realized I had forgotten exactly how one would go about deleting messages from an iPhone without VoiceOver enabled. Because of VoiceOver actions, I no longer had to remember things like that. I could just flick up or down, choose what I wanted and double tap on it. While that’s really great, it doesn’t help me remember how to use an app normally, and that’s a problem.

To make matters worse, you have apps that detect that VoiceOver is enabled, and only allow you to use VoiceOver actions to perform certain tasks. Twitterrific is one such app. I wish we could either unselect “Actions” in the rotor, or add an item to quickly turn actions on or off like you can with Hints, Sounds, and Audio ducking. VoiceOver would behave as it did before they were introduced. I would also want to be able to perform a swipe without having to do a passthrough. I feel that this could be accomplished by allowing the three finger gestures to perform swipes when appropriate. This already happens in the app switcher. A sighted person swipes up on the app they wish to close, and of course a VoiceOver user can do a three finger swipe up which will perform the same action. Again, you can use VoiceOver actions to close apps and switch to them, but I find using the three finger swipe to close an app and double tapping on an app to switch to it is much faster for me.

So what do you think? Do you agree? Am I crazy? Follow us around the web and tell us what you think. We love hearing from you.

Matt’s Favourite Device of 2016 – Apple iPhone SE

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iPhone SE all colors

Mobile phones are everywhere and are used for many different tasks. Reading email, searching for recipes, chatting with friends from all around the world, and oh yes, actually making phone calls!
When Apple announced their new iPhone SE at their event I was overjoyed. There was going to be another phone on the market that was the same screen size as the 5S. Those of us who weren’t comfortable upgrading to a larger sized phone are still able to enjoy apple’s iOS operating system, have a faster processor, and the most important part for me, being able to afford a larger capacity phone for a decent price.
I had never been able to purchase an iPhone on release day. All of my phones have been purchased under carrier contract and not unlocked from Apple.
When I started on my iPhone journey, I had the iPhone 4, which by that time was a year old. then I had the iPhone 5 in 2014 and the iPhone 5s in that same year after apple was kind enough to give it to me after they were unable to get a replacement battery for my 5.

On March 31 I sold my iPhone 5s, unlocked from my phone carrier and went to the store and got an iPhone SE 64GB (I could not deal with a 16 gb phone) as that has been the storage capacity I had since the iPhone 4.
The iPhone SE has an excellent 12.2 megapixel camera for use with apps like TapTapSee and KNFBReader. It may look like the iPhone 5 and 5S externally, but it has the internals of the iPhone 6s, apart from the Touch ID censor which is the first generation model found in the 5S. It also lacks the 3D Touch function found in the newer model phones. To be honest, I was just happy to purchase a new phone, 64 gigs, on release day and certain little bells and whistles didn’t bother me.
I have been very satisfied with the iPhone SE! I definitely will not be upgrading to a new phone any time soon. This is my favourite device of 2016.

iAccessibility’s top devices of 2016

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iAccessibility Logo

Many of our staff members wrote articles about their favorite device of 2016. In this post we are going to give you a link to each of them.

  • Michael Doise’s post about AirPods.
    The first post was from Michael Doise. He talked about Apples brand new
    AirPods.
  • My Favorite Device Of 2016 Bose QC35’s
    Rich posted the next post, talking about some cool new headphones from Bose.
  • My Pick For Best Tech of 2016? Beats Solo 3
    Next up, Jason wrote a post about the Beats Solo 3 headphones. The first thing Jason focuses on right off the bat is the battery life of the Beats Solo 3’s. Check out the article for more information.
  • Jessica’s Favorite Device of 2016!
    Jessica wrote this really interesting post about the Ring Video Doorbell Pro If you’re looking for a security camera for your home or apartment, you might be interested in this post.
  • Ashley’s fav device of 2016
    I, Ashley, wrote about the Amazon Echo Dot. I received my Dot at the end of 2016 so I had a short time to explore the Dots capabilities before I published my post. I suggested some great Alexa skills in my post.
  • Carlos’s Favorite Device of 2016
    Carlos wrote about the Smart Battery Case from Apple that originally came out for the iPhone 6s in 2015, but was then updated in 2016 to work with the iPhone 7
  • Matt’s favorite Device of 2016 iPhone SE
    Matt decided that the iPhone SE was his favorite device for 2016. Read his article to find out more and why he picked this phone as his favorite.

Witch of these devices is your top pick? Let us know in the comments.

Carlos’s favorite device of 2016

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Apple Smart Battery Case for iPhone

I’ve always been interested in battery cases for the iPhone, I’ve even owned one of them. But until recently I owned a 6s plus. I only got one for the battery life and didn’t really care for how big it felt in my hands. So, I downgraded in physical size and upgraded in battery life by getting an iPhone 7 smart battery case.

Here’s why I think that for me, the iPhone 7 smart battery case is my best device of 2016 choice.

  1. It obviously doubles or mite even triple the battery life of the iPhone itself. I can go from 7 in the morning to about 10 at night and my iPhone still isn’t dead.
  2. You can set it and forget it. Install your iPhone and then you’re done. No need to flick a switch or press a button, it’ll just work.
  3. One thing the other cases do when you use them is activate all the backup and other services your iPhone uses when its charging draining the battery of the case even more than its supposed to. To me, it’s supposed to keep your iPhone battery topped off and not use any other services until you plug it into a charger.
  4. I like the design. A lot of people complain about the hump being there, I don’t mind that at all, it makes it easier to grip the phone.
  5. You can use one lightning cable to charge both. Need I say more on that one?

Those are my reasons why to me; the iPhone 7 smart battery case is the best device of 2016.

What do you think? Leave your comments below. I’d love to read them.

Take care all.

#Top10 Posts of 2016!

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iAccessibility Logo

iAccessibility saw tremendous growth in 2016, when compared to previous years. For this, we would like to thank you all for reading our articles, sharing our posts, listening to our podcasts, and following us on social media. To celebrate, we would like to share with you the posts that received the most traffic in 2016! That’s right, here are your favorite articles.

Note: This list is in reverse order, with the most popular post appearing last on the list.

  1. Product Review: Apple AirPods, written by Jessica Smith
  2. Zooming in on the Touch Bar, written by Jessica Smith
  3. This iPhone 7 Plus Feels so Accessible, written by Jessica Smith
  4. VoiceOver at the Bar, written by Michael Doise and Jessica Smith
  5. Organizing Apps in iOS 10 With VoiceOver, written by Rich Cavallaro
  6. A Guide to iMessage in iOS 10, written by Jessica Smith
  7. The Magic Tap isn’t so Magical, written by Michael Doise
  8. New VoiceOver Features in iOS 10, written by Jessica Smith
  9. These Mail Changes in iOS 10 will Make You Happy, written by Ashley Coleman
  10. The iOS 10 Feature No One is Talking About, written by Jessica Smith

There you have it – the most popular posts, as chosen by you, our readers! What do you think? Is this list accurate, or do you have a favorite that did not appear on this list? Let us know! And once again, thank you all for your support! We look forward to bringing you more content throughout 2017 and beyond!

Jessica’s Favorite Device of 2016!

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Ring Video Doorbell Pro

So many great products were released in 2016 – it’s hard to pick just one favorite! I love my iPhone 7 Plus, Apple Watch (Series 2), Amazon Echo Dot, and Apple AirPods. However, given my love of home automation and security, there is one clear winner!

If you’ve followed me on social media for at least a year, you will know that in December, 2015, I received a gift of a Ring Video Doorbell. I gushed about this product, and honestly, I still recommend that model for anyone interested in an easy, wire-free setup, that will prevent most home invasions and thefts.

This post is not about the Ring Video Doorbell, as that product was not released in 2016. Instead, I am writing about its successor, the Ring Pro. I will continue to reference both models, as I feel you cannot go wrong with either device, if you are in the market for a video doorbell.

The Ring Pro was released in April, 2016, and I upgraded to it from my original Ring Video Doorbell in August, 2016. These two products are very similar in functionality, with some key differences.

  • Both products are Video Doorbells. They can both integrate with existing doorbells, but the Ring Pro must be hardwired, whereas the Ring video Doorbell can be used with an existing doorbell, or on its own. They also have different power requirements, so if you are purchasing a Ring Pro, make sure your current setup can support it.
  • Both record video, have 2-way audio, and have night vision. The difference is in video quality. The Ring Video Doorbell records 720p video, whereas the Ring Pro records and streams in 1080p! Note: Because the Ring Video Doorbell does not require external power, you can use it on its own, and if you do so, Live View will not be available. This means you will need a Ring or Motion alert to start streaming video.
  • The Ring Video Doorbell comes in different finishes based on your decor, whereas the Ring Pro comes packaged with different colored faceplates. This means, it will fit in, even if you move or sell the device, whereas you may wish to purchase an entirely new Ring Video Doorbell if you move. Added Bonus: The Ring Pro is smaller, so it will replace old doorbell buttons much more nicely.
  • They both work with additional services, but because the Ring Pro is hardwired, it will support Apple HomeKit, eventually. Note: This extra power requirement means that there is some additional setup for the Ring Pro. I had quite a bit more trouble getting started with the Ring Pro, but it works great now that setup is complete.
  • They both receive Ring and Motion alerts. However, the motion alerts for Ring Pro are much more customizable. This is great for eliminating unnecessary alerts, but it is not great for users, like myself, who are visually impaired. Setting up motion alerts is much easier with the original Ring Video Doorbell. In fact, you can complete the entire setup process with VoiceOver, the screenreader on the iPhone.

As a legally blind woman, who was living alone at the time, I was originally interested in the Ring Video Doorbell after some unusual activity occurred at my home. After using both versions of this device for a year, I can say that I was right for choosing Ring. I have felt much more secure, and anytime I receive strange motion alerts, it is very easy to share the video with someone who has better vision than I do. I also am more likely to answer the door, which results in missing fewer important messages, such as when a neighbor returned my dog to me after he escaped from the backyard. In everyday usage, once the device is setup, there is no difference in using the Ring Video Doorbell and the Ring Pro – my sole reason for upgrading was HomeKit support, which has been delayed. I can’t wait for it to be released, because it will make quickly accessing a live feed after receiving an alert much easier. It will also enable me to setup triggers to turn on my Hue lights, without using IFTTT.

Do I think you should get a Ring Video Doorbell or a Ring Pro? Many of my family members now have Ring doorbells, thanks to me, so yes, I believe this is a great device for all users, including visually impaired and blind people. As long as you subscribe to the Cloud Video Recording plan, you’ll have access to all videos for 6 months! This is definitely worth $30.00 a year for the peace of mind it affords. The Ring Video Doorbell is $200 and the Ring Pro is $250, so neither option is cheap. However, they are much cheaper than traditional alarm systems, which only alert you after the invasion occurs – Ring is much more proactive. They also have a stand-alone outdoor camera, and a Floodlight Cam. So, there should be an option, or combination of products that works for you and your home’s setup!

Check out Ring’s complete product lineup, including the Ring Video Doorbell and Ring Pro, at ring.com!

What was your favorite device of 2016? Let us know – we love hearing from you!

Ashley’s fav device of 2016

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Echo Dot Second Generation White

2016 was a great year for technology. One of the things I am excited about is the Amazon Echo Dot. I received the Dot at the end of the year and have come to love the Dot as soon as I started explore some of its capabilities.

Design

The Amazon Echo Dot is a smaller version of the Amazon Echo. The Dot is its own speaker. It can hear you from a good distance away with the seven microphones places in the Dot. You can use the Dot as a Bluetooth speaker for your phone or tablet. You can also connect powerful speakers to the Dot via Bluetooth or the 3.5 MM jack.

Skills

With the Dot, you have access to many skills. To find skills that you are interested in, check out the skills section of the Alexa app.

Some of my favorite skills in no particular order are:

  • Ocean Sounds: This skill will play ocean sounds for a limited period of time. There are two similar skills that are a big favorite, thunder sounds and rain sounds.
  • Bed Time Story: Ask Alexa to open Bed Time story and tell her your name and be put to sleep, or not!
  • Dominos: Yes, go ahead and order up some pizza. Dominos has a skill for Alexa.

I hope with this short post you have learned a little about the Amazon Echo Dot . The Dot is a great buy if you want a portable device that is able to control devices in your home; for example, lights, switches and more.

My Pick For Best Tech of 2016? Beats Solo 3

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Beats Solo 3 White

When Apple announced the iPhone 7 at it’s keynote last year, they also announced several knew headphones as well. The AirPods that are much loved by the iAccessibility staff that have them, the Powerbeats 3, the BeatsX wireless earphones (not yet available as of this writing,) and the Beats Solo 3 headphones, which I will be focusing on. For more on paring a bluetooth device with W1 chip, we have a great article that does a wonderful job explaining the set up process, and how to connect them to multiple devices.

Battery Life

The Beats Solo 3s will last you up to forty hours on a single charge. I haven’t heard of that kind of battery life from any other bluetooth headphone. Beyond that, these headphones have what Apple calls “Fast Fuel.” This means that with just a five minute charge, the headphones can deliver up to three hours of use.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Okay, so this isn’t a cellphone commercial, but discovering just how far they would reach compared to a pare of headphones without the W1 chip almost felt like one. On my iPhone 6s Plus, I was able, with my phone charging up stairs, talk to a friend of mine outside, and even past the point my other headphones would disconnect. While I haven’t measured that distance, I probably could have walked all the way to the street, but didn’t fancy getting hit by a car.

Sound

Others have said that these headphones aren’t “audiophile grade headphones,” while others say they sound great. To me, they do sound really good for the most part. Music can sound a bit thin through them, depending on what you’re listening to. Wideband audio calls such as HD voice, FaceTime and Skype calls can sound a bit… I can only describe it as metallic, but it’s not something that is a big problem for me. Remember that sound is subjective, so something that might sound thin or metallic to me, might sound fine to you.

Conclusion

While I’ve not been one-hundred percent positive about these headphones, the things I’ve mentioned aren’t showstoppers to me. I think that the battery life and range improvements made possible by the W1 chip definitely give them a place in our best tech of 2016 series.

My Favorite Device Of 2016 Bose QC35’s

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Bose QC35 Headphones

My Favorite Device Of 2016

As we start 2017, we are at the start of a year where I know we will see new developments in all types of technologies. From smart phones to tablets to audio and more. But in this post, I want to look back at 2016. We saw lots of cool devices introduced including new watches, phones and even a low-cost Braille display being announced. If however I had to choose one device that I use every day that I bought in 2016, it would have to be my Bose Quiet Comfort (QC) 35’s active noise canceling Bluetooth headphones.

First Impressions

The first time I tried these on at a Best Buy I was very impressed. From the build quality to the sound, I was like “wow.” Even with active noise canceling turned off, in wired mode, the headphones had great bass and highs. I also liked in Bluetooth mode, you had controls on the side for play/pause, using Siri, volume and the ability to skip tracks.

ANC-Active Noise Canceling

When turning on the ANC, it was just me and music. This is great for when you are in planes or cars and have a lot of engine noise in the background and you want all of that to just disappear. In my opinion, Bose truly has the best ANC technology.

Unboxing

When I did get a pair of these in October 2016, taking them out of the box, Bose includes everything you need. You get the headphones, a micro USB cable for charging, a detachable cable to use them in wired mode and a very sturdy case to put them in when transporting them.

How to Operate the Headphones

All the controls are on the right earcup. You have a micro USB port to charge the battery. You have three physical buttons on the side. They are volume down, a multifunction button, which acts as play/pause and skipping tracks, as well as using Siri and a third button, which is volume up. A single tap of the multifunction button will pause the music. A double tap will skip forward, while a triple tap will go back to the previous track. You can also hold down these buttons to rewind and fast forward within a track. Hold the button in until you hear a beep to engage Siri.

On the top of the right earcup is a slide switch. A sound indicates when the headphones are turned on while another sound indicates when the headphones are turned off. The headphones also feature text to speech. It can pair with two devices at a time. When using them in Bluetooth mode,

And you turn them on, you get the battery level announced as well as what device or devices it is going to auto connect to.

The Case

The case has a pocket for holding all cables. The earcups of the qc35’s which are made out of a very soft comfortable material, , fold down into the case and lie flat.

ANC

As stated above, I love this feature. I fly a lot as well as travel in cars. I love being able to not have to hear the sounds of engines in the background and just focus on the music. These headphones I feel really have to be worn and listened to to get the full appreciation of there sound.

Cons

Two cons I would have to say at this point because afterall no product is perfect, is that I wish you could use the headphones with ANC turned offf sometimes. For there are times where your working and don’t want to have ANC turned on while using them in Bluetooth mode. The only way around this is to use a wire mode and turn power off. I hope Bose can address this in the future. Battery life is 20 hours using Bluetooth and ANC and 40 hours using ANC with a wire. I charge these at least once a week over the past few months. It is also worth noting that when the battery dies, you can use these in wired mode with no Bluetooth or ANC.

Calling

You can make calls from the headset. You can hold down the multifunction button to engage Siri and make calls. In my tests, callers said I sounded clear to them.

Price

The headphones cost $350-pricy but worth every $. With great sound, great ANC and battery life, your getting great value and performance for the price.

For more information, check out the Bose website at

www.bose.com

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