Google has created a new type of braille keyboard in Android with software only, potentially greatly improving the typing experience for millions of visually impaired Android users.
Unfortunately, for the last ten years the default typing experience for blind or otherwise visually impaired Android users has typically involved the use of external braille keyboards which can be clunky, buggy, and a hassle to set up and pack down for whenever it's needed.
Well Google has just now finally come up with a solution that may offer a great lease on typing for those millions of V.I. folks as they have announced a new braille keyboard implemented entirely in software – no cables or clunkiness required – and distributed to Android devices via their ‘Talkback' disability feature:
This new keyboard places the six dots used in braille (for 64 possible combinations) across the user's screen, which can then be tapped in various patterns to type in English, for now, via the standard braille forms, and can be used just like any other keyboard on all devices running Android 5.0 Lollipop or higher, where Talkback is rolling out to.
The braille-board can be summoned with a three-finger swipe up once enabled in settings, and I believe the phone says aloud the characters as they are typed.
I can see some immediate potential imperfections in the lack of tactility in the keyboard – un unavoidable issue of course, but this new Talkback braille-board could very well ease the lives of many visually impaired users out there.
