In October, Apple released an update for the iOS software that runs on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Digital Accessibility had a quick look at this and the new iPhone 4S to see how accessibility has improved.
iPhone 4S with low vision
Our low vision tester Robin Spinks said of the iPhone 4S:
At first glance, the iPhone 4S offers an modest upgrade over the previous model. It's visibly different in that that antenna system has been redesigned to reduce call drops. Eagle eyed iPhone enthusiasts will also notice that the volume buttons and mute switch have been slightly repositioned. However under the hood, the iPhone 4S is quite exciting, with a dual core processor, voice recognition capabilities and better camera.
As a low vision user I've been particularly pleased with the dictation facility. Whenever the on-screen keyboard appears, press the microphone key to the left of the space bar and then speak your message. Of course it works best in quieter environments or when using the supplied in line mic and headphones when out and about. It's already saved me quite a lot of typing and the results have been very accurate so far - and if it isn't accurate, I can simply shake the phone to cancel it.
The upgraded camera module now features an eight mega pixel sensor and improved optics. I'm a keen photographer and often use my iPhone camera to take pictures when out and about and the results are noticeably better especially in low light conditions. The new camera is pretty much a replacement for a standard point and shoot camera.
The camera upgrade also makes it better for use with magnification apps like ZoomReader from Ai Squared, which allows the user to magnify small print and enhances illumination and contrast by using a range of colour themes and also the phones LED flash light. There are various free apps which magnify text but none that offer all of the features of ZoomReader
Siri is a really promising new feature, even though it's currently in beta form. It allows the user to ask their iPhone questions like what's the weather like today in Edinburgh? It's a bit limited right now but in the very near future, the possibilities are mind blowing!
iPhone 4S with no vision
There are notable changes for users of the VoiceOver screen reader that comes with the iPhone. The British English voice has changed from female to male, and there are new Irish and South African) voices. There is an option to use lower quality voices. We prefer the Australian voice, Karen, and thought this sounded crisper and brighter.
The improved camera optics should also improve the ability of OCR apps to recognise text. When you go to take a photo, VoiceOver even tells you when your subject's head is completely in shot. This feature only works when you are less than about one metre from the subject, but it's amazing when it does work!
If you use a Bluetooth keyboard, you can now use single letter web navigation with VoiceOver. And you can customise the labels for controls in a web page or app.
Other notable iOS 5 features
With previous versions of iOS, you needed to connect the iPhone or iPad to your computer to turn VoiceOver or Zoom on easily. Now, a triple tap of the Home key turns VoiceOver on. We didn't find a way to turn Zoom on automatically in the same way.
The Notification Center can include alerts from apps like Message, Reminders and Calendar, and it can be set to appear automatically or manually. It's unfortunate that you can't change the font size, and the background colour can only be inverted with White and Black.
On some web sites, a Reader button appears in the Safari address bar (and is announced by VoiceOver). Pressing this button produces a simplified version of the webpage. On the iPad, Safari is now a tabbed browser.
Twitter is now embedded into the device - you can download it from within Settings, it works with VoiceOver, and you can now tweet from within Safari.
There are a couple of disappointments, of course. Newsstand, where you can subscribe to and read magazines and newspapers, currently has only one title that is accessible with VoiceOver (the New York Times). We really hope that this is put right soon.
The Music app (renamed from "iPod") has a new interface which we found less clear and well-defined, with the contrast of the arrow controls being particularly poor.
One hoped-for feature was the ability to run VoiceOver and Zoom together, but this still isn't possible. However, the VoiceOver rotor does offer a Zoom option. This allows you to zoom up to x11 within some applications like Safari - however, we were unable to scroll around the magnified screen.
Overall then, it looks like Apple have done a decent job with the new releases, and we're really looking forward to how Siri develops - it could be a game-changer!
Robin Spinks and Steve Griffiths, Digital Accessibility
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