OT:: Latest Windowsphone

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Christian

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Jun 15, 2014, 10:49:49 AM6/15/14
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Hi all,
If anyone isinterested, I have also tried latest Windowsphone Preview for Developers and now, there is a screen reader built into it.
Le tme know if anyone is interested in knowing more.
Christian

Dennis Long

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Jun 15, 2014, 10:51:01 AM6/15/14
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please share.
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Sunil Sangtani.

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Jun 15, 2014, 11:24:50 AM6/15/14
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hi Christian, please do share, the experiences and performences like,
accessibility experience with external applications.
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checkout my blog-
http://www.techbuddyishere.blogspot.in


director| Chandra International | Jaipur| facebook.com/chandrainternational

Suman Bhokray

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Jun 15, 2014, 11:42:14 AM6/15/14
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thats a great news friend.
i wanted to know more about it. so plz keep me updated

Christian

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Jun 15, 2014, 12:55:40 PM6/15/14
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Hi again all,
OK, I'll share my observations so far with the screen reader for Windowsphone Developer Preview 8.1
I got a Windowsphone, a Nokia Lumia 1520 wich was running Windowsphone 8 when I got it.
This phone is not a small phone, its something between a tablet and mobile phone in size. I got it because of its superb microphone quality.
There is no physical keypad on this phone, only the power, volume, and camera key.
The phone has a battery of 3400 ma. I have used it for several days now, allmost 3 without having to charge it.
The phone feels great in the hand. The speaker is good, but the base could have been improved.
The people I talk to with on the phone ays that the sound is very good.
So now, how did I get started?
First, one has to register as a developer at Microsoft appstudio and create a project, nothing else.
So you use your Microsoft live account for that.
Then, I had to setup the phone with sighted assistance and download the Preview for developers package from the appstore. Remember, the screen reader, Narrator is not available in Windowsphone 8.
After that, I had to download the 8.1 update and all aditional updates. It took me about an hour or so and everything is being done from the phone.
Also, the language on the phone has to be switched to English US at this time.
When everything was downloaded I had to get help enabling Narrator under Settings and ease of access since the shortcut for turning Narrator on is disabled by default!
So at last, when everything was turned on I could use the phone with speech.
The voice is quite good, you can switch between a female and a male voice and change speaking rate.
You can read more about Narrator and how to use it at:
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/how-to/wp8/settings-and-personalization/use-narrator-on-my-phone
Narrator is quite responsive when using it too.
And here are my thoughts after a few days.
You can navigate the interface simular to iPhone and Android and the gestures are easy to use.
One thing I miss is a gesture for reading time and date as well as a gesture for reading the information bar such as network coverage, battery status, etc.
Now one has to move to the system tray and find the information there.
It's not possible to press and hold on an item at this time. So I cannot, from what I know of, use the voice assistant without first turning off Narrator. You have to press and hold the search key on the screen.
You can use Internet Explorer with Narrator and select your dezired navigation level such as links, headings, words, characters, etc. You then swipe to the left or right to navigate and double tap with one finger to activate.
Works good.
Move your apps from the applist to the start menu.
The phone app is also accessible and you can dial numbers, use Narrator while on a call and the speech comes through the ear piece and you can explore the screen and find the buttons you need such as turning the speaker phone on, showing the keypad for entering DTMF tones, hangup.
If you are on speakerphone, the person you are speaking with does not hear Narrator wich is good.
When you get an incoming call the number is spoken and you can answer the call or reject it if you want.
One thing I don't like with the phone is that after you have ended a call you are placed in the call history pane.
When it comes to playing music on the phone, it is doable. However, there are many unlabled buttons and you must know a little what the buttons do, but maybe this will be fixed in the oficial release of Windowsphone 8.1.
You can simply connect the phone to your computer and copy the files directly onto it using Windows file explorer. I like that.
The camera app is not accessible. I haven't find any way to take photos.
Appstore works good. The thing I like with the appstore is you are able to try an app before buying it.
When it comes to running apps on the phone downloaded from the appstore I have had bad luck.
None of the apps I have tried so far are accessible. Narrator keeps saying "window" and shows a blank screen.
I heared that it had something to do that the apps have to be updated for the current version of Windowsphone. So I hope that his is the case.
Uninstalling an app is very easy. Just go to the app list and the app you want to uninstall and open up the context menu and select uninstall.
Typing on the phone is very simular to Android and iOs. You have the virtual keyboard and move your finger to the character you want, after you keep holding and tap with one other finger to activate, or, you can double tap with the same finger to insert it.
You have also the option to use voice recognition when typing. Works ok when I tried it.
You can then swipe up or down with one finger to select the navigation level you want such as words, lines, characters, etc.
Wherever you are, you can bring up the start menu, wich can be found in the center bottom of the screen.
You have also a back button wich takes you to the prior screen as well as a search button.
When you listen to some audio the speech turnes the volume down of it.
So to summerize, think this will be good when it's finished and I apologize for not being that structured in this short presentation but I like it actually.
Like it a little more then BlackBerry now, I have to say.
Feel free to ask any question you may have!
Christian

Sunil Sangtani.

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Jun 15, 2014, 1:41:24 PM6/15/14
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hi,
have you tried some common apps like Skype, whats ap, hangout etc?
whenever you get updates, does accessibility related updates comes out?

Christian

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Jun 15, 2014, 1:47:14 PM6/15/14
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Hi,
Yes I had to download Skype from the appstore and at the moment, it doesn't work with Narrator.
Too bad.
You can install updates on your own in the Settings app. That is accessible and I hope accessibility improvements like fixes for Narrator will come that way also.
The phone will reboot and you have to wait for the phone update to be installed after wich it will reboot and you will get a dialog telling you that your phone is ready to go and that the update was installed successfully.

Mike Arrigo

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Jun 15, 2014, 4:21:54 PM6/15/14
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I would be curious to know, so far I’ve heard that it works, but definitely has a way to go before it will be as good as talkback or voiceover.

Mike Arrigo

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Jun 15, 2014, 4:31:53 PM6/15/14
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Sounds like it’s off to a good start, at this point, I would say there is more of a future with windows phone than with blackberry. The blackberry platform just seems to be pretty much done, but you never know. Hopefully in the final release you will not need sighted help to enable narrator. Also, even on IOS and Android, there really is no gesture for reading the status information. You need to touch those areas of the screen to read it, it sounds like windows phone takes the same approach.

Christian

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Jun 15, 2014, 5:10:44 PM6/15/14
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Hi,
Yes true, but on BlackBerry there is one and I like that.

Suman Bhokray

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Jun 16, 2014, 10:25:49 AM6/16/14
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i think this windows phones will take time to come in the market
mean while i think blackberry Q5 or Q10 phones are good to go.

Sunil Sangtani

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Jun 16, 2014, 2:03:11 PM6/16/14
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No
Windows phones are already there in marcket.
Infact, cheaffest too

Sent from my iPhone

Suman Kumar Bhokray

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Jun 16, 2014, 4:27:33 PM6/16/14
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I mean windows phones with the screenreaders. I don't think they r in the market now.
Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel

Sunil Sangtani.

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Jun 16, 2014, 11:49:54 PM6/16/14
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every windows 8.1 phone should have accessibility with it, if this is
true, we have phones in just rs 6500 INR.
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