Blind Android Blog

I got my ChromeCast with Google TV back in January 2021. At that time the directions were to setup using the Google Home app on your phone. That was partially accessible until it was ready to make some changes & install updates, then things just crashed & there was no way to turn on Talkback. I got help from my Wife & after we got things working, using the device was an excellent experience. I read a tweet today about the setup part of the device being available on the play store for updating the ChromeCast with Google TV. I wondered at that point if accessibility changes could be made & rolled out to the device. I sent a few tweets & hadn't checked to see if anything had changed yet in the process of setting up this great device. After tweeting I thought I should check that. One of the sites I was reading mentioned setting it up with the help of the Home app or just doing it all on device. I thought I should try just setting it up on

One app that I use often is Lookout By Google. Here is the info from the Play store. Lookout by Google Google LLC Productivity Everyone Rated 4.1 stars out of five stars 891 Lookout uses computer vision to assist people with low vision or blindness get things done faster and more easily. Using your phone's camera, Lookout makes it easier to get more information about the world around you and do daily tasks more efficiently like sorting mail, putting away groceries, and more. Built with guidance from the blind and low-vision community, Lookout supports Google's mission to make the world's information universally accessible to everyone. Lookout has five modes for a variety of activities: • Use Food Labels mode (beta) to quickly identify packaged foods by their label, in addition to scanning barcodes. Available in more than 20 countries. • Read a whole page of text with Documents mode. Take a snapshot of a document, and Looko

There has been an ongoing battle between phone operating systems but it didn't start with mobile phones. People have been making comparisons for ages, Chevy vs Ford, Sony vs Panasonic, the brand of seed one neighbor puts in their yard vs the brand your Dad always used etc... When it comes down to which choice or side is better it has always come down to what works best for you at a price you can afford. Sometimes with technology one has to consider the availability of help to learn how to use the particular device and who is there to help when things don't work as they should. Some people might need more assistance than others. Its like something my Dad said once about having a foreign car in a small town. If the closest person who can repair your car is 100 or more miles away, what are you going to do when your car breaks down and there is nobody nearby to fix it in a timely manner. So I understand why some who may not be as tech savvy would just go

All About Android I've been listening to this show since just after it started, about ten years ago. Its a weekly show on the TWIT Network & you guessed it, they are all about android. Good thing that is what they named the show. :) Its hosts are three experienced users of Android phones, devices, & services. From time to time they have a guest on the show. The guests have varied from app developers, Google employees, and other Android enthusiast, & journalists. The show covers Android news, hardware, apps, discussions of phones, tablets, Chromebooks, and more. I like to listen to the show while its recorded live. You get to hear some of the discussions before the show starts and sometimes that is where one learns these three hosts are just people too. They drop & break phones, they accidentally reveal passwords during a show, they have frustrating problems, equipment used in recording of the show randomly locks up, and also people

I plan on using the blog along with the new twitter account to share my experiences as a blind android user. I don't know it all, this is an ever changing experience that requires one to always be learning something new. I find that to be fun. I will write some guides from time to time, helping people learn a new app or service. Sometimes I'll just share my comments about something going on in the world of Android. That may or might not always include how it relates to accessibility. You can reach the blog by going to its address     https://www.blindandroiduser.me/   You can follow me on twitter BlindAndroid & you can send email to:   steve@blindandroiduser.me   I'm just in the process of getting everything working together and am learning my way around.   Steve