2019-06-10 13:02:29

Hi all! My iPhone got stolen for the second time in 4 months and, since I'm tired of spending lots of money, I'm seriously considering switching to android. However, I'm a little bit esitant, because I don't know almost anything about the sistem. Can you help me? Here's what I need to know:
What sistem should I go for, android standard or android one?
Can I get a cheap phone, max 400, and get good accessibility?
Can I find the sequent apps? Apps for reading books of any format: I've read that voice dream reader runs on android too, so that's no problem, A good scanner app, facebook, dropbox, a good text editor with the possibility to sincronize with my pc, a good gps, youtube, netflix, a good file manager, an app to reproduce downloaded music, a frotz interpreter.
I've tried a xiaiomi and, while it works quite well, i couldn't read documents of any kind and I didn't understand how to pause music and videos.
I'm sorry for all the question, I'm really a super newbie!

2019-06-10 15:41:46

stock android is probably best, it comes with little blow ware.
Google offers the pixel3a and 3a xl for around 400 dollars.
I have been an android user for almost two years now, and i looooooooooooooooove talkback.
As for a good GPS, lazerio, or how ever you spell it, is a free version of blindsquare for IOS, but with turn by turn directions.
android has fb, dropbox, and dream reader.
It does have youtube, it is google, afterall. I would assume it has netflix. never tried it, but netflix is pretty big.
about the music app, i'm not  sure, but I'm sure you could google and fine one.
HTH

2019-06-10 16:14:02

Hi!
Ty, thanks for the gps recomendation, I'll look into it. And I'm sorry, I didn't explain very well: I know that youtube and netflix are on android too, but I don't know if they're as accessible as on iPhone, and the same goes for the music app, I don't know where to look to find an accessible one.

Also, I forgot to mention that I have very small hands, to the point that the iPhone 7 was almost too big for me to operate with one hand, so I'm looking for a quite small model.

2019-06-10 16:19:13 (edited by pulseman45 2019-06-10 17:39:32)

The problem is, I am not sure switching phone would resolve your main problems of reading documents and pausing media, but if you want to try something else nonetheless, perhaps go for a Pixel 3A.
As for Android One, it is essentially a set of rules by Google that manufacturer can choose to follow or not when they release a smartphone. When they do, they are engaged to deliver major system updates for two years and security updates for three years. They cannot modify the system as they please and are also limited in the amount of apps they can preinstall so, besides the standard Google apps, they install their own camera app, sometimes a feedback app, and rarely more. The Pixel 3A is not an Android One device, but being from Google itself, the experience is very close, closer than most Xiaomi devices except for Mi A1 and Mi A2 that use Android One. It is a bit better though, In theory you should even get major updates before Android One devices, get three of them instead of two, as well as a few more features like "now listening", which can tell which piece of music is playing in the background, "active edge" which allows to squeeze the phone to summon Google's assistant, and more.
As for apps, I have had no problem with Youtube and Dropbox, and there are several apps that can scan text such as Speak! or Google Lens. Not too sure for the rest.
Edit: post #2 was faster than me and explained things pretty well. Stock Android is often prefered as it is indeed quite accessible and you know more about what to expect. As for the size of the phone I am not sure, I don't know if even the standard 3A is small enough.

2019-06-10 17:36:47

well ty thanks for gps.
Also youtube is very accesseble. Well for music player i'm using google play music or samsung music.
also on samsung galaxy s6 edge i'm using voice asistant sometimes, and sometimes talkback.

Yours kindly

2019-06-10 21:52:02

go with anything from the galaxy family that can run at least Orio. The one before that is ok, but it has some glitches. I really have to hand it to that company. They really got serious about accessibility lately

Add me on Skype, search for The Evil Chocolate Cookie

2019-06-10 22:14:51

Yeah, I agree with post 6, it gets better and better.
On pie the battery life I got on my j4 plus is amazing, comparred to Oreo, so try to get a samsung with pie.
I do not know any phone for people with small hands, except that 2.4 inkes phone, I do not remember the name, but it is a nice brick for what it is.

I am myself and noone is ever gonna change me, I am the trolling master!

2019-06-10 22:50:27

It's true... manufacturers have really lost track of small phones for whatever reason. I mean I'm fine with the size of my Galaxy S8, but there's just something really convenient in say, the comparatively tiny size of an iPhone 5S.
I can also highly recommend a Samsung phone, switched two years ago and haven't had a single issue. The A series, though I'm unsure of the size, still have decent specs for the price but the S series is pretty up there, though they cost nearly as much as the latest iPhones.

"You know nothing of death... allow me to teach you!" Dreadlich Tamsin
Download the latest version of my Bokura no Daibouken 3 guide here.

2019-06-10 23:03:49

Erm, i wouldn't recommend a galaxy with pie. Infact, i was using poice assistant until pie. Now, my launcher will freeze with voice assistant, and it will randomly freeze.
The pixel 3a is about the size of the galaxy s8
Also, a music player, google play music, amazon music, or spotify.
and yes, youtube is quite accessible.
I asked one of my friends about netflix on android, and he told me that it works great.
The only thing is, every once in a while, the stop button disappears.
HTH

2019-06-10 23:20:24

Personaly I got used to big phones, my j4 plus feels normal in my hand, but my Iphone 5s is just toooooo small for me now.
The a series is nice, but they have big phones.
But if you want something small from Samsung, get the a40, the only phone that I know of having a 5.9 inkes screen, but I had it in my hands and it feels small, really small.
If you want something abit older, get the a6, but not the best specifications there.

I am myself and noone is ever gonna change me, I am the trolling master!

2019-06-10 23:36:09

@angel
Yeah, I've gotten used to the big phones too. But as someone with slightly smaller than average hands myself, I kinda know what it's like. lol
But what I was getting at was the fact that these days, the option isn't even really around any more, not as far as I know anyway. So even if you can manage with a big phone but would like something smaller, you can't really do that.

"You know nothing of death... allow me to teach you!" Dreadlich Tamsin
Download the latest version of my Bokura no Daibouken 3 guide here.

2019-06-11 01:13:41

I have tiny hands, but now, i perfer the + size of phones. my hands are really tiny, and can comfortably hold an iphone 5s with hardly any room left, but now i perfer bigger phones. well, i'm used to them at least. and they have great speakers and battery. better then smaller phones.

2019-06-11 05:21:36

hi,
i use android for like 3 years now. i usually go with samsung but it has alot of blote ware. go with google pixel 3a or 3a xl. talk back is good.

If you found this post helpful, amusing or funny, please thumb it up!
To get in touch, please email me using the email link below this post. If you prefer, you can also send me a friend request on discord. I'm thetechguy#6969. Please do not send me a PM on here as I don't check those often.

2019-06-11 09:39:25 (edited by siria 2019-06-11 14:10:58)

Hi all!
Thanks for all the recomendations. For now, I've to check out the pixel 3a, the samsung a40, the samsung a6, a7, j6. Any other specific model I should consider? What about Huawei and Xiaomi? I'll go to a phone shop tomorrow or on fryday I think, hope they let me try some stuff.
Also, yesterday I was playing again with the xiaiomi of my friend, and I notice that I couldn't read facebook comments. Am I missing something here?
Oh, and could you explain me the main difference between google talkback and samsung voice assistance? I've read that voice assistance is the most similar to voiceover for gestures, but I didn't find any other information.
BTW, ok google seems so better than Siri!

2019-06-11 18:29:25

I do not know, I can read comments just fine.
I like the a7, but it feels soooo big in the hand, even for me it is on the larger side.
I can not say that I like the j line, only if you are on a really small budget, or if you get it free with a cheap plan like I did with my j4 plus.
And I agree with TY here, smaller phones have small batteries, even when they are new they do not hold a charge that well.
For example my 5s sucks when talking about the battery and over heating which I guess it is normal, but my friend has a 6 month old se and he gets less than a day on a charge and it heats.
I can get almost a day with my 5s, but it heats.
On bigger phones, the heat dissipates easily and the battery should be good, if you keep your screen on low resolution.
Btw, Samsung has a nice feature which just turns the display off completely and, well, it makes a diference.
Talk back has something like this, but it just dims the screen and shows something on it, so it is good just for privaky.

I am myself and noone is ever gonna change me, I am the trolling master!

2019-06-11 18:47:33 (edited by Shadowcat 2019-06-11 18:52:24)

@siria
Voice assistant is similar to Voiceover in that there are no L gestures, multi-finger gestures and the magic tap.
Quick and dirty comparison between Talkback and VA
Talkback: Swiping up and down with one finger changes navigation mode (default, characters, words, lines, etc), left and right moves using said mode. Default is just... items, I guess.
VA: swipe up and down with 3 fingers for text navigation, left and right for some settings (speech rate, audio ducking, quick typing etc) flick up and down with one finger to change the setting/move through text using whatever you last moved to. The settings in the list can be changed to some extent, but not everything is there.
Talkback: No magic tap.
VA: Magic tap, the two finger double tap from Voiceover. As of a recent update now also works on apps to move them similar to on iOS, select the app, double tap on a folder and it'll be moved without you needing to drag.
There's definitely more, but that's the major stuff that comes to mind at this very moment in time.
You might also find that one or the other works better with certain apps sometimes, but if you set up both accessibility shortcuts you can switch between the two very easily.
HTH

"You know nothing of death... allow me to teach you!" Dreadlich Tamsin
Download the latest version of my Bokura no Daibouken 3 guide here.

2019-06-11 20:14:22

Just curious but how the fuck does your IPhone get stolen? i never leave my phone out where someone can just grab it? and you have find my iphone also. so I'm curious.

2019-06-11 20:17:58

and you're wrong you can double tap with talk back.

2019-06-11 20:23:51

You can't double tap with two fingers with talkback to start and stop things, nor to move items as far as I knw. I have an s10 with Pie and it works just fine. I would also recommend the a-series from Samsung, or the Xiaomi A1 or a2. I don't know about anything from Huawei.

Discord: clemchowder633

2019-06-12 06:38:23

hi,
some models you  should consider are:
samsung galaxy A9 2018
galaxy a7 2018
google pixel 3A.
google pixel 3AXL..
google pixel 3 and 3XL.
iphone 8 or 8+.
iphone 7 or the iphone 6 if you like the home button.

If you found this post helpful, amusing or funny, please thumb it up!
To get in touch, please email me using the email link below this post. If you prefer, you can also send me a friend request on discord. I'm thetechguy#6969. Please do not send me a PM on here as I don't check those often.

2019-06-12 08:26:35 (edited by siria 2019-06-12 12:53:35)

Hi!
17: on the bus. They distracted my guide dog, opened my pocket, stolen the phone. I realized what was happening just in time for them to get off. In Milan, the busses are always packed of people, so it's quite normal to have someone's body touching your body.

For the facebook comments: no matter what I do, i swipe on the comment, i slide with two fingers up or  down, it doesn't read them. I'm using the huawei of my friend, so maybe it's the model? It should be updated though, I think it's a read me something.


Ok, thanks! The voice assistance seems quite handy, so I'll start checking out the galaxies and then the pixel. I'll keep you updated!
Edit
Ok, I've installed audex on the xiaomi of my friend and now I can read facebook comments. I also installed button mapper so to have a magic tap using the volume down button and to switch from the gboard to the braille keyboard quickly.
It works, but I've to get use to it, I'm not used to do so many passages for simple actions.

2019-06-17 09:37:29

Hi all!
So, I've played with some android devices and I think that the samsung a50 is the best I can get for me right now. However, now I'm torn between the a50 and the iPhone 8, because the a50 costs 300 euros counting the apps I've to buy and the iPhone 8 regenerated costs 400.
The pros of the samsung are the price, the fact that I can plug it in a pc and use it with no problems. The cons are that I have to do more passage for simple tasks like writing with a braille virtual keyboard and that I haven't find a scanner app I like yet.
The pros of the iPhone are that I find it snappier, that I have all my stuff already backed up and that I've the scanner and an I.F. Interpreter (I've tried audio if but I didn't get it to work, it is probably my fault though), the con is the price.
What would you choose?
Thanks!

2019-06-17 14:48:19

I think you should probably give the Pixel3A another try if you missed the gesture-based fingerprint sensor. I use a Pixel2 and I get a Talkback roter of sorts. Swipe up or down on the sensor to change the control of up and down swiping on the screen - navigation, speech rate, verbosity, audio-ducking. In navigation mode, swiping up and down on the screen still changes the navigation granularity of left-right swipes. As for a good scanning app, well in the US we have Google Lookout for free (they are going to soon expand to different countries), and it's basically Google's answer to seeing aI, except that anything and everything is done without a network connection at all. Other than that there is KNFB Reader, but I wouldn't recommend i on principal that it doesn't get updated fast enough to accommodate new Android versions, and the complaints I've brought forth on Twitter all fall on deaf ears, and this app while not on discount costs $100. There's myvision as well. Finally there's Envision AI, but that's crazy expensive.

2019-06-17 18:18:42

Look out works on any decent phone if you have the apk and believe me, it is some times better than seeing ai.
I mean my Iphone camera is crap cause it is a 5s, but I saw it on the iphone x and look out works still better.

I am myself and noone is ever gonna change me, I am the trolling master!

2019-06-17 22:01:33

I wouldn't go for Huawei phones right now since the US blacklisted them for trade, which makes acquiring phones a very difficult thing to do.

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
My Github