2017-03-16 13:33:14

Hello there,

The subject might be a bit unclear. Let me explain it a bit further

I am looking for a secondary android phone with a duel sim,with the OS
variant that's most accessible out of the box and requires no rooting, as
rooting voids the warranty from what I know. Since its basicly gonna act as a secondary device I'd like it cheaper I.E mid range or the starting segment as aposed to the flagship models

I have noticed that most android phones seem to be slightly sluggish when it
comes to touch sensitivity, I.E you have to apply a bit of force to have
your touch register, I'd rather not have to deal with that, if it can be helped.

So here are my needs.

1: It has to be between 10k to 15k translated that comes to around $150 to $230 or so, the lower the better. Since my Iphone 6 plus meets all my needs and this will just be around for its duel sim
capabilities and a bit to enable me to get a feel for android and its
workings.

2: duel sim, read above.

3: doesn't have issues that most phones are bundled with I.E shitty
performance.

The ones I have heard good things about but know nothing when it comes to
their accessibility are the Lenovo k5,red me note 4? Or something,Moto g5 and 5+ (yeah I know this is almost 17k but eh), moto g4 plus? or J5, although Samsung is one company I know to have issues.

Have you owned any of these? What have been your experiences like? Is there
another you'd suggest?

Thanks a bunch.

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
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2017-03-16 17:40:52

Hi mate,
I believe any smartphone from Motorola might do the job for you. They are cheap and offer a clear Android experience, since they often do not have many apps that load and fil up the processor and RAM. Google phones are those who a regular android user would recommend, but they cost more than you are actually willing to pay. The reason why they recommend Google smartphones is because they offer a true Android experience as well as deliver Android updates far more quickly than they deliver in other smartphone brands like Samsung or Sony. Motorola and LG are the second to do this, and that's why I'm recommending them.

I have had a Samsung device a year ago or so, but at that time Talkback was a nightmare compared to Voiceover, so I ended up handing it in to my brother after having had used it for a year and a half. There came a time when I felt I could not take advantage of what my smartphone offered, so I bought myself an iPhone 6, which I'm very happy with.
I would say my experience was positive but also negative. It was positive because I was eager to find workarounds for things or apps that didn't work with Talkback, and it was negative because I felt it was not necessary to install third-party apps to gain access to almost everything that didn't work well with Talkback. I didn't think installing a call manager, an e-mail client, a different synthesiser, and a different homescreen from what came with the phone was a true compensation for what I had spent money on, so I decided to give it to my brother.
Hope it helps,
Cheers!

2017-03-16 18:08:54

Here's an article from Blind Bargains CSun coverage, regarding what's coming up in Talkback 5.2, and future version of Brailleback. New public beta of Talkback  will be available with in April of this year.

2017-03-17 00:01:12 (edited by Chris 2017-03-17 00:04:21)

I heard that the accessibility shortcut doesn't work when you first get your Motorola phone. That is inexcusable! Still, this could have changed. If so, Motorola Moto phones aren't too bad since they run near stock Android and seem to receive updates more frequently than other phones. Make sure you get an unlocked Android phone. This eliminates the phone carrier from the process of providing software updates.

Grab my Adventure at C: stages Right here.

2017-03-17 06:24:24

Hi,

Seems like moto g4 plus or the moto g5 and the 5 plus are the way to go,then.
Although I have heard horrible reviews about the g4 and I guess its mostly only available around here so I'll wait a while, see what people have to say about the 5 and then get it.

this is one device that I like
But again, the OS it runs might or might not be accessible and the like so I'll give it a shove out the window.
grryf

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
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2017-03-18 07:13:44

Ah, the Galaxy J line.

If anyone once to get this phone from a carrier such as T-Mobile, I'd wait to see what comes with the Galaxy J7 2017 when it arrives vs the Galaxy J7 2016.

At least with the Galaxy J3 Emerge found on Sprint, that one has Samsungs own screen reader called "Voice Assistant" instead of TalkBack, though if you grab TB from the Play Store, you can use the "triple-click-home" command once setup, to switch between the two, without losing speech.

2017-03-18 09:11:27

Hi,

When I get a Android phone it'll be unlock, as carriers here don't offer their own customised UI's and the system of carrier custom OS's hasn't come around here,yet.

The J 7 prime looks like the best to me ,at least out of all the Samsungs phones that I can aford. also because of Samsungs screenreader shine plus or voice assistance. slightly confused here, I thought shine plus was Samsungs  screenreader?
Because I have heard its quite similar to IOS voiceover.

Lenovo's phones do interest me,but I am not sure if the experience with their own ui I believe its known as the vibe pure UI will be accessible and how good/bad it would be.

grryf

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
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2017-03-18 10:36:40 (edited by afrim 2017-03-18 22:35:40)

Hi,
I don't personally recommend Lenovo phones, as they are reported to have some problems with Accessibility by some blind users in the Android community. Samsung J7 is a really good alternative and don't confuse ShinePlus with Voice assistant, they are two different screen readers. ShinePlus is produced by a small Korean company voluntarily, but also considering the feedback of the community. While Voice assistant is a screen reader produced by Samsung, based on the source of Talkback. However, Voice assistant is very different, as it allows you to perform three finger gestures, something that is technically impossible in Talkback. I haven't ever tried myself Voice assistant, but if developed constantly, it can become a great screen reader for Android users.

2017-03-18 14:33:19

Hi,

@afrim, thanks for that mate.
That's sad to here, as Lenovo has some really good devices at good prices. ahh well.
Red Me devices at least by the reviews are really great, so if anyone has used those I wouldn't mind knowing the good and the bad.

That's strange about the shine plus, was almost sure that it was made and developed by Samsung,but eh. I don't know much about android anyway,so that's good to know.
The good thing about voice assistance that I have heard is that as its developed by Samsung, its ripping off the features or gestures of voiceover almost,which is good in this case. I.E 2 finger double tap to play and stop audio.
I recently read somewhere that customiseable as android is, it doesn't support that.

If I get the moto g5 plus or the j 7 prime, I' guess I'll have to wait a bit,and unless I get some new information those are the 2 I am leaning towards. based on reviews and the accessibility experiences from people.
Thanks
grryf

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
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2017-03-18 22:42:50

@Griff, you can try any Lenovo phone if at least somebody could set it up for you unless the two finger gesture works when you power on the device for the first time. If the device works in the beginning, than it will supposedly work for the rest of the process.
The main problem with these devices was that they didn't have Talkback installed in first place, so somebody had to install and set them up for anybody who needed them with accessibility enabled.
For more information on any problem or experience with Lenovo phones, you can go to a more specialised Android community called Eyes-free.
You can type "Eyes-free - Google Groups", and it will appear in the first result.
Cheers!

2017-03-20 06:35:23

Hello there,

Thank you afrin for your post.

I wouldn't mind someone else installing talkback for me,but even after the installation its the accessibility of the UI I am wondering about.

I tried  a samsung j2 yesterday, wasn't as laggy as the galaxy device I tried 6 8 months ago,ironically enough considering j2 is almost a entry level phone and the galaxy edge I tried was supposedly a flagship model.

However there were issues even in the samsung UI. In the settings there were a few unlabled buttons, and the buttom 3 buttons, one a physical home button,and 2 virtual buttons I suppose to the left and right of it.
They activate with a single tap and one was for recent apps. the other as I was told by afrin yesterday was for the back or the loopback button.
So how do you deal with buttons like that? which can activate without you knowing where they are and with a single tap/touch?

I actually posted a similar topic on eyes free list to see if I could dig up more responses sinse its a list dedicated to android and all that,but so far its been 2 days and my post hasn't even been approved. *shrug*

grryf

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
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2017-03-20 08:51:39

Hi.
I'll recommend the phones from Google. They are expensive, but you're sure you get the phone and Android system as Google want you to experience, and not as an other company wants you to experience. Then, you'll get a clean version of Android.

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
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2017-03-20 15:29:32

I used to have a galaxy s 2 a long time ago that had 4 of those virtual buttons like that in a row. I basically just avoided touching near the bottom of the phone unless I needed the buttons. If I was on one of the home screens, I could kind of guess where the different buttons were based on things in the "dock" area. Eventually though, I got really good at just guessing where they would be based on feeling the edges of the phone. The phone was in a big case though, so the area where the buttons were was shrunken quite a bit. If it is like the phones that came immediately after mine, you can just learn where the virtual buttons are based on the real one. They were kind of nice. Holding the search button down brought up the google voice search, and holding the options button (I think they took this one out after my phone) brought up samsungs voice search. Google's worked way better.

2017-03-20 15:51:35

Hi Griff,
I think you can get quite accustomed to the virtual buttons in a very short time. You have to learn their position on the screen and you won't touch them accidentally. By the way, the Lenovo phones I think do not longer use a physical home button, so that might be even harder to work with. Anyway I still think you can even get familiarised to the lenovo devices if you get one. As to the user interface of the device, I believe Lenovo has an accessible home screen which you can use to at least set up the phone, enter your credentials and set up your Google account so that you can install the Google Launcher or nova launcher, which ever you want; you can change them to your preference and have an accessible home screen which looks much like the iPhone first page with Dock icons, camera, playstore, weather, calendar, messages, and so on. After that, you will have to use another synthesiser which for me would still be Eloquence because of its comprehension and speed of reaction. In fact, the reason why you may think that the device is sluggish might bear on the synthesiser. The Google TTS used to be slow, although I don't know what has happened in the latest versions of Android. I don't think I'd ever use it though. Whatever phone you decide to buy, and whenever you feel, drop a message to my e-mail for more suggestion on what to install and special apps you will need to use to have a fully accessible device.

2017-03-20 15:53:46

Okay...
I have been going and trying out various android phones, however what I don't get is how to switch pages or the like on a application screen?
And aye, those virtual buttons are really a pain in the arse,but I suppose in time I could learn to deal with them, although its a bloody shame that talkback or other developers have tried and fixed those buttons.

All,that may be true, but like I said this is just a secondary device meant for only curioucity and other times where I neeed duel sim capability, doesn't make much sense to put down $600 $700 just for that, at least to me anyway. big_smile

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
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2017-03-20 16:04:48 (edited by grryfindore 2017-03-20 16:06:57)

Ahoy there,

Afrin, thank you for that offer and I'll take you up on that.
You wrote that post just as I was writing mine. big_smile

Ahh, so I can install my own home screen as it were? That's good to here. I was under the impression that the flaver  and customisation OS was installed affected the accessibility a lot.

I have had to double post because I am writing all this on my iphone be it with a bluetooth keyboard but I can't read shite in the edit fields, so editing will be slightly difficult. Hence ignore the errors I make as well. lol

I tried the oppo fs1 today along with j7prime and the j5 prime. All of which were good enough based on touch sensitivity, not as good as the iphone of course but not as bad as it was before hanging up the phone slowing it down and the like.

Grrryf

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
Follow me on twitter

2017-03-20 17:00:40

Ah, I forgot to mention something; to avoid the use of those virtual buttons, you have the possibility to use Talkback gestures to get to the home screen, to get back, and to get to the recent apps. I don't know why, but I think you'd be better with familiarising yourself with the virtual buttons. As I told you above, besides the speed of the phone, it may also depend on the synthesiser you use. So, if the synthesiser is pretty responsive, you can get a pretty good touch sensitivity which I believe can be still enhanced in talkback settings to high.

2017-04-06 09:46:48 (edited by lysincos 2017-04-12 04:08:28)

I have some good  experience with OnePlus X. It should be a good option for your needs. When you switch from Android to Android, Samsung Smart Switch is a great app to transfer data.

2017-04-06 11:23:28

A friend of mine is using Lenovo K6. It's accessible, however there are small accessibility issues. The worst problem is answering a phone call, so the best way to answer a call is by bringing your phone to an ear, which is available as an option. I'm using Lenovo P70, but with unofficial Lenovo Marshmallow Rom due to problems introduced in official Lollipop upgrade for that model.
For Nokia lovers, it's a good news that Nokia is coming back to Finland and they've produced fiew new Android phones also with Nexus-like Android experience. These are Nokia 6 and Nokia 5, and both will be cheep phones.
My candidates for my next phone are definitely Motorola Moto G5 or G4, or General Mobile 5G, or even Nokia 6 if it comes to our market. These devices are cheep and they receive regular Android updates, which is now top priority for me at least. If I decide to roll with custom roms, then OnePlus 3T will probably be my phone of choice.

2017-04-07 03:57:01

Hi,

I have been keeping rather busy with exams and the like so haven't had the time to grab a phone yet and I figure I'll get it when I have the time to put into learning the thing. smile

Thanks Hrvoje and lysincos, I didn't even know there was a 1 plus x?
so I'll give that a look.

Welp I'd love a device like the lenovo k6's specially because its speakers and sounds are said to be quite good,but er, picking up calls and ending them is a rather important function in a phone big_smile

grryf

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
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2017-04-07 11:01:16

@Griff, there is a way to fix that problem, through an app called something like Call Manager.