Synapptic for Android

00:21 S1

Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from July the 30th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolley. Great to have you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia radio or associated stations of the Radio Reading Network, formerly known as RPA Australia and the Community Radio Network. There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you need to do is search for the two words talking tech and Dan. It can all come usually on a Tuesday afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask your Siri device or smart speaker to play Vision Australia Radio talking tech podcast... Vision Australia Radio talking tech podcast.

With me, someone who can explain all this tech stuff really well: Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology, David Woodbridge. David, let's start with the product minute. It's going to go for a bit more than a minute today. A product from the Vision Store of Vision Australia. And quite an interesting one.

01:22 S2

Yeah. This one is one of those things that I know it's always there, but sometimes I forget it is there. And it's actually a really cool bit of software. Now, when I say software, I'm really talking about an app for your smartphone. In this case, it's Android smartphone or tablet, and the software itself is called synaptic, which is syn-a-double-p-t-i-c. So it's the word synaptic with two Ps... n case you're trying to find it. And what it is, it's an application or an app that when you install it - and you can install it as a trial version on your phone or tablet - when it starts up, it takes over the whole phone because what it's trying to do is give you a nice, safe, protected environment to do all the things that you would normally do on a smartphone. 

And when I say all the things this thing covers email, web browsing, radio stations, making notes, text notes, voice notes, scanning, using your phone's camera as a electronic digital magnifier, barcode, QR code reading. The list goes on and on. I think all up from memory, there's about, I want to say, between 16 to 20 applications that you would expect a phone to do - including... some GPS location, look-around-type stuff. And the way I say, it's a protected environment because it's all menu driven. So you have a menu on the main screen. So let's say, let's just dumb it down. We won't go through all 16, but let's say for example, you had Email, Web browsing and Notes on the main screen. So you choose them the way you want it ever done via your voice, via using gestures on the smartphone, which is pretty straightforward. Or you can use an external keyboard to, you know, go up and down and hit Enter on one. 

Now the whole system is that menu structure. So let's say you go into Email, then you would have send a new message, read messages, delete messages. And if you just keep going down and down in that structure, it's all menu driven. And then you can go back a level to the previous menu, or you can zip back straight to the (quote) Main menu. And the other really cool thing about it is that it will not only speak out to you, which you can turn on and off if you don't want it. It's also in large print, as I've already mentioned, it's voice input as well. You can do voice dictation into anywhere you can type to use the on-screen keyboard or the external keyboard. And on the top left hand side, you've got a lovely Back to Menu button. On the top right hand side, you've got a nice context menu button as well, so it's just a every time I use this, I just think this is for people that don't want to learn how to use multiple applications, even just an email program, a web browser, and a note-taking system. 

There are three different programs with three different ways to use it. So it's really important that people know that this is available. Price-wise it's about $450, so it might sound a bit expensive for a (quote), an app, but when you're considering you're getting all this functionality built into it, it works very well. And for those sort of smart techy people out there that want to use more things, you can run and use Android apps with the Synapptic screen reader. And if you really, really want to, you can also exit Synapptic and use the other functions of the smartphone or tablet. And the reason why I keep saying smartphone or tablet: of course, when you run this thing on the on a tablet which doesn't normally have a SIM card to make phone calls. Of course the phone call option is disabled. You won't see it. 

So a really great app. Like I said, you can download and install a trial which you can get off the main Shop Vision Australia.org website, and then if you think it's fantastic you then buy a licence, license it and off we go.

05:35 S1

So it's actually a really different and user friendly software or application environment for a blind or low vision person on their Android device, isn't it?

05:47 S2

Correct. Because you only really have to deal with screens that are all menu driven. You don't have to think about commands or where do I go for this bit of information or function. It's just all there in front of you. So it's been around for quite a long time, and people that might have used the guide software on windows PCs, which is all menu driven as well. This is very similar to that functionality.

06:11 S1

Synapptic. Synapptic from the Vision Store of Vision Australia. Shop dot Vision Australia dot org. Well, we've read some disappointing news recently about the imminent closure of AppleVis, a place where many people will have gone over the last, well, maybe 14 years from when it started. If you're blind or low vision and use the Apple environment.

06:38 S2

Indeed. So this is the main site from a community perspective that's covered everything to do with Apple accessibility, watch, TV, Mac, etc., etc. since 2010 and I guess, you know, like everything, things have to come to an end eventually. And because the website has effectively been run by volunteers since 2010. After a while you start to have to look at your own commitments in life and what other things may be going on, and how much effort you need to put into different things and that sort of stuff. And I think with AppleVis, it's just come to a stage in the main... person that drives the website, David Goodwin, that he really has decided that, you know, if all the volunteer help that he's got from all the other editors, his family's supporting him to keep doing the project over the last 14 years, since 2010. I really think it's just got too much. 

And, you know, sadly, the community is going to lose an absolutely fantastic resource. Now, I know, a couple of years ago, David did open up the website for donations and that sort of stuff, but I sometimes think we don't appreciate things enough until either when they're taking taken away, Or two, we seem to almost have this mentality that because we're blind or low vision, we should sort of get stuff for free. I'm not saying everybody's like that, but... I just wish to some extent, Stephen, that he would have perhaps done the the AppleVis podcast with a... subscription because I know he did the, the donations on the website, but I've noticed on the internet lately a lot of businesses are sort of shutting down their main business and now working from home, and they're actually charging people for their podcasts. 

So I don't know if that would have alleviated any of the issues. I've seen a few few comments on the internet saying that people would be quite willing to, you know, undertake the maintenance and blow a blow of the website, but we'll see what happens. So at the moment the website's been put into read-only mode, and then at the 31st of August 2024, it will be taken down. So the email that I'm sure people have seen on the main AppleVis webpage, is warning people that if you want any content off it now, then this is the best chance to get your hands on it. Like I just said, otherwise it'll be gone as of the 31st of August.

09:19 S1

Yeah. So hats off to the founder and curator, David Goodwin. And you mentioned the podcasts. Certainly they've been valuable over the years as well, haven't they? Particularly around the times of new releases of iOS. So it'll be interesting to see whether there's some other arrangement so that that knowledge can be made available to people the way it has been in the past. But hats off to all the Applevis people. They've done a great job indeed.

09:49 S2

And it was very important back in 2010 when everything was new, like the iOS was new, everything was so new to us, including up, including the the Apple Watch. So, you know, I think back then, I think I did about 45 podcasts on the Mac and about 39 podcasts on the Apple Watch. So it has been a really, really great resource.

10:07 S1

It's probably timely to talk about where help is available for the various IT platforms that we use. 

10:16 S2

Indeed. So look lots of different platforms are currently available. So of course we know about the iPhone or the iOS and the Mac and the watch stuff. There's Windows, there's Android and all those operating systems have their own website. So Microsoft does it, Android does it, Apple does it... everybody does it. So if you always tend to go to like Microsoft dot com slash accessibility output.com/accessibility, google.com slash accessibility, they're available. And of course in Australia if you want to get help on your operating system or associated apps or things that plug into all these different operating systems. Of course, you can always talk to the At help desk at Vision Australia itself. And of course that's done via the main 1300 number, which is 1300 847 461 - 1300 847 461. Yep. And of course the main email for the help desk which is at Help at Vision Australia dot org. 

So it's again sad about AppleVis, but don't lose hope. There's also other resources -probably not as good in some ways because of the podcasts, but they're also available still.

11:30 S1

Have you been listening to the Olympic Games at all lately, David?

11:32 S2

I'm glad you asked that, Stephen, because I'm a bit lost at the moment. So I'm just wondering if you've got any tips for me and our listeners on where to find this stuff.

11:40 S1

So the radio arrangement in Australia is owned by Nine radio. It's part of the organisation known as Nine Publishing, which has newspapers and television stations, etc. now Nine Radio covers Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane. So through those radio stations 6PR, 3[?], 2GB and 4BC. but there's about half of the Australian population they don't reach. So people in regional areas and in cities like Adelaide and Darwin and Hobart and Canberra that don't have Nine radio stations, they are able to catch an Olympic coverage from the ABC on their AM or FM analog station. So everyone gets a service, but depending where you live, it will be either through the Nine Radio system or through the ABC service. 

And just a little tip for people who use the Nine Radio service. Around 5:30 in the morning, the stations break away to their breakfast programming, certainly on weekdays, and don't cover as thoroughly the events that they had been covering. And it's only about an hour or so left. 2GB is the best place to go, though they seem to still cover a fair bit of the Olympic stuff, or more than some of the other stations. And of course you can easily get 2GB from your device. You don't have to listen to terrestrial radio these days to get it. 

13:13 S2

No, that's good, because I've literally been a bit of a loss because I'm in a regional area. And yeah, I've been trying to flit around the internet and everywhere else to try and find it. So it looks like I've got a reason to listen to 2GB. Do you have...

13:25 S1

You were telling me you've got a bit of a dilemma with finding the right headset these days, David.

13:31 S2

I do, because there's active listening and noise cancelling and there's also bone conduction headphones. Now, what I'm finding is with bone conduction is they're not loud enough in very noisy traffic or railway station, etc., etc. can't hear them. So I'm just wondering if anybody would like to email me, which is my normal email address, David Woodbridge at Vision Australia dot org, and share with me your favorite headphones for being out in public in particular, and being able to still hear information when you're using your smartphone or any other device in particularly noisy environments. So I would really appreciate that, and I'll definitely share it with information. As soon as I get a couple of comments, I'll let people know what the recommendations are.

14:12 S1

We'll repeat that email address in a moment before we go, a reminder of where there are details of what we've been speaking about in this and previous editions of the program.

14:21 S2

Indeed, you can check out my blog site, which is indeed still going, which is David Wood TBR Podbean pad bn.com.

14:28 S1

David Wood b dot podbean podbean.com and that all important email address to write to the program.

14:37 S2

Indeed which is David dot Woodbridge - how it sounds - at Vision Australia dot org.

14:42 S1

david.woodbridge@visionaustralia.org ... This has been Talking Tech, with me has been Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology David Woodbridge. I'm Stephen Jolley - stay safe. We'll talk more tech next week. See you.