Via Guardian UK - Open the iPhone's Settings application, tap on General, and swipe down to the second-to-bottom option: Accessibility. Many iPhone owners won't ever see this menu, but its features – sorted into Vision, Hearing and Physical & Motor sections – are a big selling point for people with disabilities.
Abi James, head of product innovation at iansyst – a company with 27 years' experience working on assistive technology (AT) – says Apple is setting a high standard for its rivals to follow when it comes to accessibility.
"The native support for screen-reading, magnification and other tools assists many blind and disabled users in accessing all the functions of an iPhone," she says. "By incorporating these assistive technology into the iOS operating system, Apple has enabled apps developers and AT providers, such as ourselves, a range of tools to build on. Other smartphone platforms are playing catch-up."
There are several new accessibility features in Google's new Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) software, which wins praise from Richard Orme, head of accessibility at the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). He is less impressed with Windows Phone though. "Microsoft has a good pedigree of accessibility on the desktop through Windows, but a year after the launch of Phone 7, it is still unusable by most people with sight loss."
"Nokia's move to Windows 7 Mobile has effectively excluded blind and partially sighted people from using those handsets," says Léonie Watson, director of accessibility and web development at Nomensa, and a screen reader user herself. "Windows 7 Mobile isn't accessible to blind and partially sighted people, and this has caused something of an anti Microsoft/pro Apple outburst. It is worth noting that Apple didn't introduce VoiceOver for the first couple of iOS generations either though."
It's fair to say that experts in the field at charities and academic institutions agree that accessibility for smartphones is more prominent than it ever has been, but many say there is plenty more work to do, especially when it comes to seeing accessibility in a context wider than just people with sight and hearing-related disabilities.
"The iPhone provided some accessibility options but it felt a bit like an afterthought. Phone manufacturers will need to design from the ground up to consider the needs of users more effectively," says Geoff McCormick, director of design consultancy TheAlloy, which has worked on a number of inclusive technology projects. "The average phone designer is a male, in his 20s, so a great deal more empathy is required to understand the challenges of a 60-year-old man or a disabled mother of two."
"Apple is clearly leading the way on accessibility and to a large extent leading the industry," says Robin, a manager in a disability charity who has albinism, and has been partially sighted since birth. "Other smartphone makers and platform developers are waking up to the benefits of building accessibility at system level. The iPhone that I use is identical to the one a fully sighted person uses, I've just switched on the magnification feature. Today, partially sighted people want accessibility out of the box."
Experts are worried that some manufacturers continue to think about accessibility in terms of a relatively narrow range of disabilities. Professor Jonathan Hassell is director of Hassell Inclusion, and until recently was head of usability at the BBC. He is concerned about the way accessibility settings in most mobile web browsers are a fraction of those available in desktop browsers.
"While speech and zoom functionality is standard, the ability for users to change the font size in their browser is not included on many mobile phones," he says. "In audience terms, the needs of the small audience of totally blind people are being catered for well, whereas the needs of the much larger audience of people with more moderate vision difficulties, probably because of ageing, seems to be being ignored."
Research is being conducted into these problems. Mike Bradley, senior lecturer in product design and engineering at Middlesex University, says his department's studies have found that many older people without significant impairments are struggling with some of the "basic interactions" that smartphones rely on users grasping.
"Even simple menu selection through highlighting the desired menu item and then selecting it is extremely error prone, and in a recent study only about a third of over 75s were able to do this simple task correctly," he says.
What may help is the realisation that making smartphones more accessible for disabled and elderly people can actually make them more usable for everyone else.
"Accessibility helps all," says iansyst's James. "The mobile phone industry is starting to realise that accessibility and usability go hand in hand, and improvements for those with disabilities can assist all." She points to Apple's Siri and Nuance's Dragon Dictation software as examples of technology that have been used by people with disabilities for years, but are now appealing to a wider audience.
Hosking agrees. "The solution to this is to create products using inclusive design, that takes into account the diversity across the whole population," he says, citing a non-tech product – Oxo Good Grips kitchen products – as a potentially inspiring example. "By considering the needs of people with impairments, the manufacturers created a product that benefits everyone without being stigmatising."
Case study: Nuance voice control
Nuance is one of the companies at the forefront of voice control technology in mobile phones and other devices. Its principal speech architect, John West, says the company is seeing more interest in its technology for accessibility purposes.
"Through our development programmes, we are seeing many more of the innovators in the accessibility market now testing and trialling voice as an input method," says West.
In fact, he thinks much of the impetus in smartphone accessibility is coming from apps developers rather than the handset makers themselves, although the latter would argue they are providing the platform for developers to innovate on top of, so are still playing an important role.
West gives an example of Nuance's own work in this area: a hands-free mode application that announces when a mobile device has received a new message.
"If the user wishes to listen to the message, they can tell the device to read it back to them. The user then has the option to dictate a response, which, once transcribed, is read back so they can confirm they wish to send their message," he says. "The entire process is completed without the need to see or touch the phone. The same application allows command and control of the device by voice and voice-activated dialling and voice search."
West also says that the next generation of voice recognition is emerging. "We're now seeing full natural language understanding, which enables users to articulate themselves in their own words and be understood by the system they're speaking to," he says.
"The technology not only recognises what they are saying but extracts the intent and meaning, which means it can not only carry out more complex tasks but can engage in an interactive dialogue. These developments will help remove some of the constraints which may have prevented widespread adoption of voice recognition in the past."
Abi James, head of product innovation at iansyst – a company with 27 years' experience working on assistive technology (AT) – says Apple is setting a high standard for its rivals to follow when it comes to accessibility.
"The native support for screen-reading, magnification and other tools assists many blind and disabled users in accessing all the functions of an iPhone," she says. "By incorporating these assistive technology into the iOS operating system, Apple has enabled apps developers and AT providers, such as ourselves, a range of tools to build on. Other smartphone platforms are playing catch-up."
There are several new accessibility features in Google's new Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) software, which wins praise from Richard Orme, head of accessibility at the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). He is less impressed with Windows Phone though. "Microsoft has a good pedigree of accessibility on the desktop through Windows, but a year after the launch of Phone 7, it is still unusable by most people with sight loss."
"Nokia's move to Windows 7 Mobile has effectively excluded blind and partially sighted people from using those handsets," says Léonie Watson, director of accessibility and web development at Nomensa, and a screen reader user herself. "Windows 7 Mobile isn't accessible to blind and partially sighted people, and this has caused something of an anti Microsoft/pro Apple outburst. It is worth noting that Apple didn't introduce VoiceOver for the first couple of iOS generations either though."
It's fair to say that experts in the field at charities and academic institutions agree that accessibility for smartphones is more prominent than it ever has been, but many say there is plenty more work to do, especially when it comes to seeing accessibility in a context wider than just people with sight and hearing-related disabilities.
"The iPhone provided some accessibility options but it felt a bit like an afterthought. Phone manufacturers will need to design from the ground up to consider the needs of users more effectively," says Geoff McCormick, director of design consultancy TheAlloy, which has worked on a number of inclusive technology projects. "The average phone designer is a male, in his 20s, so a great deal more empathy is required to understand the challenges of a 60-year-old man or a disabled mother of two."
"Apple is clearly leading the way on accessibility and to a large extent leading the industry," says Robin, a manager in a disability charity who has albinism, and has been partially sighted since birth. "Other smartphone makers and platform developers are waking up to the benefits of building accessibility at system level. The iPhone that I use is identical to the one a fully sighted person uses, I've just switched on the magnification feature. Today, partially sighted people want accessibility out of the box."
Experts are worried that some manufacturers continue to think about accessibility in terms of a relatively narrow range of disabilities. Professor Jonathan Hassell is director of Hassell Inclusion, and until recently was head of usability at the BBC. He is concerned about the way accessibility settings in most mobile web browsers are a fraction of those available in desktop browsers.
"While speech and zoom functionality is standard, the ability for users to change the font size in their browser is not included on many mobile phones," he says. "In audience terms, the needs of the small audience of totally blind people are being catered for well, whereas the needs of the much larger audience of people with more moderate vision difficulties, probably because of ageing, seems to be being ignored."
Research is being conducted into these problems. Mike Bradley, senior lecturer in product design and engineering at Middlesex University, says his department's studies have found that many older people without significant impairments are struggling with some of the "basic interactions" that smartphones rely on users grasping.
"Even simple menu selection through highlighting the desired menu item and then selecting it is extremely error prone, and in a recent study only about a third of over 75s were able to do this simple task correctly," he says.
What may help is the realisation that making smartphones more accessible for disabled and elderly people can actually make them more usable for everyone else.
"Accessibility helps all," says iansyst's James. "The mobile phone industry is starting to realise that accessibility and usability go hand in hand, and improvements for those with disabilities can assist all." She points to Apple's Siri and Nuance's Dragon Dictation software as examples of technology that have been used by people with disabilities for years, but are now appealing to a wider audience.
Hosking agrees. "The solution to this is to create products using inclusive design, that takes into account the diversity across the whole population," he says, citing a non-tech product – Oxo Good Grips kitchen products – as a potentially inspiring example. "By considering the needs of people with impairments, the manufacturers created a product that benefits everyone without being stigmatising."
Case study: Nuance voice control
Nuance is one of the companies at the forefront of voice control technology in mobile phones and other devices. Its principal speech architect, John West, says the company is seeing more interest in its technology for accessibility purposes.
"Through our development programmes, we are seeing many more of the innovators in the accessibility market now testing and trialling voice as an input method," says West.
In fact, he thinks much of the impetus in smartphone accessibility is coming from apps developers rather than the handset makers themselves, although the latter would argue they are providing the platform for developers to innovate on top of, so are still playing an important role.
West gives an example of Nuance's own work in this area: a hands-free mode application that announces when a mobile device has received a new message.
"If the user wishes to listen to the message, they can tell the device to read it back to them. The user then has the option to dictate a response, which, once transcribed, is read back so they can confirm they wish to send their message," he says. "The entire process is completed without the need to see or touch the phone. The same application allows command and control of the device by voice and voice-activated dialling and voice search."
West also says that the next generation of voice recognition is emerging. "We're now seeing full natural language understanding, which enables users to articulate themselves in their own words and be understood by the system they're speaking to," he says.
"The technology not only recognises what they are saying but extracts the intent and meaning, which means it can not only carry out more complex tasks but can engage in an interactive dialogue. These developments will help remove some of the constraints which may have prevented widespread adoption of voice recognition in the past."
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