Talkback 16 is roling out

While VoiceOver appears to be slowing down in terms of introducing new features and capabilities for blind users, TalkBack is steadily catching up by delivering practical tools that offer real support and value.

Maldalain, you literally beat me to the post! I was thinking this very thing when I read the OP above. 🫣

Thinking of picking up another budget tablet to give this a test. Would I love an iPad? Yep! Do I wanna pay iPad prices? Nope! Especially for just a media consumption device, something I can use outdoors and not kill my phone battery.

Even though you buy $2000 worth android phone the latency is still there and the phone is hanging especially Samsung S2 four so and also pixel phones are not so great as the hype so if talkback want to catch up they have to reduce latency and better responsiveness

That's been fixed with Talkback 15 & later. Though it also depends on the voice used.

One thing to keep in mind, some talkback features (such as the spelling of words with the proof-reading rodor), only work with Google TTS voices (for some reason.)

Thanks to Talkback 15 (though more with Talkback 16), you don't necessarily need a pixel or Samsung phone to take good camera shots anymore. After ya take your picture, use the "Describe Images" function to view the result. FYI: The Describe Image feature also works great with printed tables & graphs. And even if you are not using a Pixel or Samsung device, you can still get auto focusing with the camera if using either LookOut from Google, or Seeing AI from Microsoft.

My friend recently upgraded her Pixel 8 Pro to a Pixel 9 Pro. I cannot wait to play around with it.
... and to think I was impressed with Android 14.

The peeps over at at Accessible Android & their sister spot Blind Android Users also have more details on said subject, if anyone is interested on diving deeper.

How well does it work with android since there are so many phones.Just asking. I listened to Flossy Carter review so many android phones and they sound nice but do not know about talkback. Just curious. Not planning to leave my 16 pro max or my iPad 9 or watch.

I'm surprised that Apple haven't added this image description to VoiceOver. I don't own an iPhone anymore as I ditched my 15 Pro Max for a Pixel 9 Pro XL because of this image description feature and the Gemini Live Video Assistant. If I was an Apple fan like many are in the applevis community, I would be screeming out for these features. I know it is possible to ask Siri to describe a photo or your screen in general as it would then get chat gpt to process the image but this is a bit long winded because Siri will ask you if you want to ask chat gpt to describe the image. Also the image descriptions are not as detailed which means you have to ask a few follow up questions in order to get further image results.

OMG. Seems that from android 15 to 16 we are being even more prioritized than ever in terms of accessibility from Google. I know what we got with 15, what about 14?
As for the latency, in their episode with double tap, accessible android and Carrie, both did agree that the latency is a real systemic issue with talkback with no real work around to make it as fast as VO, I am very impressed by their honesty and so was Steven I think.
Actually this latency see,ms to be the same with chromevox though I feel perfectly productive with it so I really wonder if it's as bad as it may seem? Like VO vs Talkback different certainly, but we seem to have more and more blind android users out there. On a side note I am curious and a bit anxious to see about this merger of android and chromeos and how accessibility will be... changed.

If Talkback can have an easy to use feature, similar to Braille Screen Input in Voice over, maybe, and maybe I might consider getting an android device.

The latency, especially when trying to type on the on screen keyboard remains the major show stopper for me.
There is some really nice stuff in TalkBack though, not least that image descriptions feature.
Dave

Latency is an absolute non-starter for me, no matter how many other bells and whistles the software may have otherwise. It's the reason I can't stick with macOS. I am used to instant performance with JAWS on Windows, and I measure everything to that very high bar.

Do you mean to tell me that there is a touch screen based interface that actually keeps focus within the UI?
Wow! I wonder what that's like…? 😮

This makes me wish I switched to the Pixel last year instead of upgrading to the iPhone 16. I upgraded to the 16 because I upgraded my Apple Watch. It's also really hard to switch when your friends/parents use iPhone (primarily Find My and iMessage), but Voice Vista is a great app too.

But, gosh, the Gemini image descriptions are so good. I played with a Pixel 8 Pro at JB HiFi and set it up, my bf helped me find a picture (sadly, no automatic alt-text) and I got it to describe. I turned to him and was like "holy ****." I just watched the Kerry On Accessibility video on Gemini live video description and it is awesome. I also love the Google Lookout app.

Apple really botched Apple Intelligence... they haven't announced anything promising for VoiceOver users with Apple Intelligence, it is so frustrating.