Mobile Accessibility

As part of Bell Mobility’s ongoing commitment to providing solutions for accessibility, the Mobile Accessibility app is available at no charge to all Bell Mobility customers (a $100 USD value).

Designed for blind and low vision users, Mobile Accessibility for Android is two products in one:

- A screen reader that reads aloud what’s happening on your screen and allows you to navigate it using swiping gestures. You can also touch the screen to hear what’s underneath your finger.

- A simplified suite of 13 accessible applications (Phone, Contacts, SMS, Alarms, Calendar, Email, Music Player, Web, Where am I, Notes, Explorer, Apps and Settings) specifically designed for the blind and visually impaired. They feature:

- a simplified interface

- textual information spoken using Nuance Vocalizer® voice synthesis

- ability to connect to a Braille display for Braille output

The suite of accessible applications lets you do the following:

- Phone: make and answer calls, hear Caller ID and manage your call logs

- Contacts: manage all your contacts even those from social networks

- SMS (text messages): compose and read messages and manage conversations

- Alarms: set your alarms

- Calendar: create, edit, delete a calendar entry; and view all calendar events (by day, week or month).

- Email: full access to your Gmail account

- Music Player: play music and audio files stored on your phone and external memory card.

- Web: full web browser experience. Jump by the control of your choice (links, paragraphs, headings, forms, etc.) for faster navigation, bookmark your favourite webpage.

- Where am I: updates on your current location using GPS

- Notes: take notes.

- Explorer: manage files and folders on your phone.

- Apps: access the apps installed on your phone

- Settings: change ringtone, configure feedback and notifications (vibration or audio), configure keyboard echo,punctuation verbosity, speech pitch and rate, etc.

The suite also provides quick access to the date and time, phone status information such as battery level and network coverage, and notifications such as number of missed calls and unread messages.

Input Methods:

- Touch navigation: Simply move your finger around the screen and the screen reader will read the text located under your finger. You can also swipe up/down/right/left and tap on the screen to navigate through the interface. Sound and vibration feedback can be enabled.

- Voice Synthesis: use your voice to write an SMS or email (leverages solutions from Nuance and Vocalizer)

-Trackball or physical keyboard of your device

- Braille input/output devices

System Requirements:

All Android phones running Android version 2.1 (Éclair) and up.

Please note the following:

-Voice Synthesis features require Android version 2.2 (Froyo) and up.

-Functionality of the Mobile Accessibility screen reader outside of the specialty suite of applications could require a phone with physical navigation controls (i.e. trackball or trackpad)