Android has added a new virtual braille keyboard with which to write from the smartphone screen to people with visual disabilities. It is the fruit of the company's work with the collaboration of experts to make it intuitive and easy to use. It is already available in Talkback, Google's accessibility service
El virtual keyboard uses a total of six keys, three on the left and three on the right, each representing one of the six points that make up the braille symbol. To this he adds the support for the two grades of this standard, grade one and grade two.
The virtual keyboard has the normal functions of any Android keyboard, add text, lines, delete words, delete any letter and send the text. It is also possible to make the keyboard disappear by sliding the three fingers towards the top, to return to the keyboard just do it to the opposite side, down.
Enable virtual keyboard
To activate the virtual keyboard in Talkback it is necessary to follow a few simple steps:
- Open Settings
- Go to Accessibility
- Click on TalkBack and click Settings
- Select the Braille keyboard
- Tap for your settings and again to Settings
- Run an application in which you want to use it
- Let's go to the Edit field
- To use the TalkBack keyboard, go to Change input method and Input in notifications.
El braille keyboard It works in almost all day-to-day applications, from WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook and many others. Apart from all that, it has a good user tutorial with which to learn everything from the basics to writing sentences quickly and with shortcuts.
This keyboard is currently available for the English edition initially, but Google promises other language versions in the coming months.
talkback f is a screen reader, that is, a program that interprets what is seen on the screen and transmits it to a synthetic voice so that it can be heard through the device's speakers. This screen reader comes in android since its inception.
The braille keyboard thing is just a new feature of this screen reader. that is, the braille keyboard is not called talkback, but the talkback screen reader incorporates braille keyboard functionality.
TalkBack is a screen reader, a software that represents the content displayed on the screen using voice and sound icons, and facilitates interaction for blind users with Android devices. To do this, it adds a layer of security that, among other things, forces you to quickly double-click an element to activate it. BrailleBack, for its part, is an accessibility service similar to TalkBack, which connects to screens or Braille lines and emits information through them. Neither TalkBack nor BrailleBack are keyboards, no matter how you look at it.
Good José Manuel, a pleasure to read you.
I'll tell you, Google says the following: Talkback is a new virtual braille keyboard that facilitates writing from the mobile screen, is what I said in the article on the Google blog:
A new keyboard for typing braille on Android - https://www.blog.google/products/android/braille-keyboard/
After reading the English version, it seems to me that what has failed here is the translation, and more specifically, the lack of a preposition. Saying "The TalkBack braille keyboard" is not the same as saying "The Talkback braille keyboard." The latter makes all the sense in the world, because it is precisely what Google has done: incorporating a fully integrated braille keyboard into the system, which works as an extension of TalkBack. TalkBack has been around since Android 2.3, although it started to be really useful starting with Android 4.4. It is now integrated as one of the services in Google's accessibility suite. It seems to me of extreme urgency that this article be corrected as soon as possible, since the more people read it, the further information that is incorrect goes. Unfortunately, when it comes to blind people this happens very often, and we cannot afford it. I recommend that you give TalkBack a try before doing anything else, and see what it has to offer.
Hello again José Manuel, it is a virtual keyboard, that's what Google calls it, they have improved it significantly, I tried it before publishing it, especially to see how it was going.
They have improved it so much that they have implemented it, since it did not exist until the day before yesterday.
The open-minded thing in the people you see is great!
For what it's worth, Jose is a blind computer engineer, so I deduce that he might know something about it.
Hello again Dani:
I'm afraid I must contradict you once more. TalkBack is a screen reader, and its Braille keyboard is an extension of this service introduced in the Android 8.2 accessibility suite. It does not seem to me something debatable, especially when it is a blind person who uses this technology daily who is telling you. This article has been the unfortunate consequence of a translation error, since it seems that in the Google blog they have not been expressed very well either. Every time a visitor walks in and reads it, if they don't know blind people and don't know anything about assistive technology, they leave with the conviction that TalkBack is a braille keyboard.
I leave you a link to an article that talks about this topic, but well done: https://www.trecebits.com/2020/04/10/google-braille-android/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
A greeting.
Good José, it is solved, a thousand apologies. It is a virtual keyboard within Talback, Google's accessibility service. A big hug and remain confined !.
Talkback is a screen reader. It is not a keyboard. Talkback includes the braille keyboard.