[nfbcs] FW: compiling iPhone apps to Android apps

Sun Mar 29 03:45:23 UTC 2015

I have a few things to say on this topic. First, as some people have already
said, one of the reasons that I have an iPhone is because there are certain
apps that I use that are not available on Android. However, I am sure that
the same is true for some Android users. Second, I think that we need to
remember that TalkBack is much younger than VoiceOver, and it may be
developing at a slower rate, but that does not mean that it will never catch
up with VoiceOver. Given that most people probably get a new smart phone
every two or three, four at the most years, it is not like you are
committing to one or the other. If you have one, but are considering the
other, then it might be a good idea to try to find someone who would let you
experiment with his/hers for a while. Third, no matter how stable or
accessible a system or screen reader is, I think that it is also important
to consider how a company treats its customers. I am starting to doubt
Apple; several new accessibility bugs that have not been fixed were
introduced with iOS 8, and I know from other sources that there are several
older standing issues that have not been addressed. Finally, unless we
actually work at a company, we cannot know what is really going on there.
Even if accessibility is bad, that does not mean that nothing is happening.
Also remember that companies often try to keep information from being
shared, so if one company wants to make something that performs the same way
that something from another company behaves, the company is probably going
to have to figure out for itself how to do it.

Nicole

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jorge A. Paez via
nfbcs
Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2015 3:46 PM
To: Steve Jacobson; NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] FW: compiling iPhone apps to Android apps

I think the bottom might just be dropping out of Apple, at least for us.
Let's see how this wwwatch pans out first though.
I called them and no one could give me info on whether the watch would be
accessible, but let's see.

On 3/28/15, Steve Jacobson via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Joseph,
>
> To some degree I am disappointed in the direction this discussion has 
> gone, but I, for one, am also very interested in understanding the 
> strengths and weaknesses of both phones.  I've owned an iPhone now for 
> almost two years, and I'll have to consider what to do when I can next 
> upgrade which will be soon.  The learning curve has been steep enough 
> for me that I don't know that I want to throw it away, but as someone 
> who has been into computers, I like the idea of just managing the data 
> on my phone as a drive or being able to access an SD card.  While I 
> see some advantages to more closed systems and don't have strong 
> objections to them, iTunes has never felt natural to me.  Before I had 
> an iPhone, I had a Windows Mobile 6 phone with CodeFactory's 
> MobilSpeak.  It allowed me some of the same access that you mention in 
> terms of files.  What I've really liked about the iPhone compared to 
> my previous experience is the stability.  It just seems to work.  
> There are occasional glitches, but nothing substantial.  I've heard a 
> few stories of people working with Android tablets indicating that may 
> not have always been true, but would you comment on that?
>
> One reason I said I was a little disappointed in the direction this 
> went is that we really need to understand development better, 
> particularly in terms of accessibility.  Having been involved with 
> accessibility for a long time, I see us fighting the same battles over and
over again.
> Solutions seem to come faster now, but I am concerned about our 
> long-term accessibility.  We pushed for years to get blackberry phones 
> to be accessible, and about the time we got somewhere the bottom 
> dropped out of their market.  A lot of work was done with Windows 
> Mobile, and by the time I got rid of my Windows Mobile phone it was not
too bad.
> However, Windows Mobil 7 had virtually no accessibility built into it, and
> I'm not honestly certain where we are right now with Microsoft.    While
> Apple is viewed pretty favorably now, it took years before anything 
> significant was done.  All in all, though, I think I can say with some 
> degree of accuracy that once they built accessibility in, it probably 
> was the most stable approach we saw.  Android came along, but even if 
> accessibility is good now, it had to play some degree of catch-up.  It 
> seemed as though it was an after-thought in many ways.  Given all 
> this, I don't have a great degree of confidence that we won't see 
> another operating system come along and the bottom drop out of one of 
> the existing ones and find we have to start all over again.  For one 
> thing, we have to figure out how accessibility could be easier to 
> implement, and I don't know the answer to that.  We also need to 
> understand the difference between accessibility and usability.  Some 
> say that if something is not usable it is not accessible, but I don't
think that is always true.
> Sometimes, our tools could bridge the gap if they would.
>
> In general, we probab ly have a better chance to gain accessibility 
> where systems are closed.  We also can be completely locked out of 
> closed systems as was more or less the case with Blackberries for a 
> long time.  Open systems present more challenges.  As a developer who 
> has stated you prefer more open systems, do you have thoughts on how 
> we get accessibility more into the core of such systems sooner?
> What degree of governing or guidelines would be acceptable to 
> developers without restricting their need to have flexibility?  Thanks 
> for any thoughts.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Joseph C.
>>Lininger via nfbcs
>>Sent: Friday, March 27, 2015 3:10 PM
>>To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
>>Subject: Re: [nfbcs] FW: compiling iPhone apps to Android apps
>
>>I've been hearing a lot of talk about how great Apple's accessibility 
>>is, how that in Android is lacking, etc. However, as of today I'm just 
>>not seeing it. I'm not necessarily saying you're wrong, as I don't 
>>have an Apple device. That being said, I've watched people using them 
>>and I'm not seeing a lot of difference in their capabilities using an 
>>iphone and mine using a Galaxy S4. A couple of years ago, I would have 
>>said there was a major difference. I won a Galaxy S3 tablet in a 
>>raffle, and it just didn't work that well as far as accessibility 
>>goes. However, my Galaxy S4 phone has a newer version of Android and 
>>is much more capable as far as accessibility goes. I can even install 
>>things from Google Play and they usually work. In fact, there has been 
>>exactly 1, count it, 1 app that I just flat could not use. It was one 
>>that came with the device. I would be interested in hearing about what 
>>abilities the iphone has accessibility-wise that I don't have with my
Galaxy S4.
>
>>What I have seen, and what made me make the original choice of Android 
>>over Apple is that the Android offers me some choices that are simply 
>>not available with the iphone. I can use an SD card to exchange data 
>>between my machines if I want to; I'm not required to pass data over a 
>>network or sharing service. I can synchronize my address book, 
>>calendar, and task list wiht that in Thunderbird by installing a 
>>program on my computer and an app on my phone. I can connect my phone 
>>to my computer and have it appear as a drive so I can transfer files 
>>if I want to do that. No itunes or other software required to make 
>>that work. (Apple might have that ability too; unsure) I can write 
>>software and load it on the device over USB without publishing it to
Google Play.
>
>>In the interest of complete honesty, I will admit that I am not overly 
>>fond of how the dialer works. It's not the easiest thing in the world 
>>to get it to cooperate and work the way I'd like, although I'm not 
>>sure how much of that is an access issue and how much of it is just 
>>that I don't like the way it operates. I think it's a bit of both, 
>>actually. From what I saw, the one in the iphone works more the way I 
>>would like. I wouldn't make a purchase dicision based on that, but I do
acknowledge it.
>>Joe
>
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--
Thank you.

Jorge A. Paez

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jorgeapaez

Elance page: http://jorgeapaez1994.elance.com

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