Comments on: Tip: How to Make Siri’s Twin, VoiceOver, Read Your Email on iPhone

By: Jack McCracken

Jack McCracken — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 09:17:20 +0000

Why this tirade about risking lives? Did you miss the entire concept? It’s not illegal or necessarily unsafe to talk aloud in your car. And if you hate distraction so much, you better outlaw billboards, radios, and sunsets.

I personally think cell phones should deactivate themselves while in motion by law, unless in hands free mode. Or make people get a cell phone drivers license endorsement, like needed for motorcycles.

But I dictate in the car all the time, with no problem. It’s completely different.

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 01:48:45 +0000

In reply to Kerry D. I took a quick look and signed up to beta test. Their iPhone app doesn't appear to be available yet.

By: Kerry D

Kerry D — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 17:51:55 +0000

I found this free iPhone app called Talkler that DOES read emails aloud, the way that Siri won’t. I think it even understands spoken commands for hands-free. They call themselves ’email for your ears.’ Here’s the page for them: Facebook.com/Talkler Hope that helps!

By: Allen Borza

Allen Borza — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 04:45:26 +0000

In reply to Peter Bryenton. Thanks for the great post. This will definitely help with productivity. I have been wanting this for a while and had very limited knowledge of the iPhone VoiceOver. Much appreciated! It should also be noted that Siri is actually in beta, so perhaps they'll actually integrate these reading features as part of the core of Siri.

By: Peter Bryenton

Peter Bryenton — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:13:08 +0000

Thanks Raul.
Many of the students at the school where I teach I.T. have found the accessibility of their Apple products suits them very well indeed. I’ve been trialling the iPad2 recently for music, art and writing.
Your comment about photography interested me because I have also taught some blind students to use digital photography to communicate their ideas successfully.
Regards,
Peter Bryenton
IT Teacher & Trainer
New College Worcester
UK

By: Peter Bryenton

Peter Bryenton — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:34:47 +0000

Thanks Raul, many of the students at the school where I teach I.T. have found the accessibility of their Apple products suits them very well indeed. I’ve been trialling the iPad2 recently for music, art and writing.
Your comment about photography pleased me because I have also taught some blind students to use digital photography to communicate their ideas successfully.

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:02:49 +0000

In reply to Raul Gallegos. Raul, thanks for the valuable perspective and information! I didn't know some of those uses existed!

By: Raul Gallegos

Raul Gallegos — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:48:41 +0000

I am totally blind and rely on Voice Over to use the iPod Touch and the iPhone. I just upgraded from the 3GS to the 4S and Voice Over works on all of these. It doesn’t work on any iPhone older than the 3GS and any iPod lower than the 3rd generation. When Voice Over is enabled, touching the screen once only voices what that item is. To enable that item, you quickly double-[tab with one finger. So think of Voice Over like that sighted assistant which confirms what you are touching before actually activating it. Doing one finger swipe left or right is sort of like pressing tab through a dialog box in Windows where it places focus on each next and prior item so that you can double tap it to activate it. This is just the tip of the ice though since there are many gestures which make using Voice Over and the iOS devices a breeze. a 2-finger swipe down reads from your current position to the end while a 2-finger swipe up reads from the top of the screen to your current position. If Voice Over is on, you can do a 2-finger single tap to start and stop something. I.E. Answer a call, hang up a call, start music, stop music, take a picture. In fact, speaking of pictures, with Voice Over it has face recognition so that a pic taken by a blind person will be possible. It tells you if it finds a face and if it’s centered or to the left, etc. I could go on and on, but it’s just a neat thing. And yes, I am very good at taking pics of people and things even if I can’t see anything. Happy iOSing.

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:10:38 +0000

In reply to Snake Eyes.

I agree that driving while distracted can contribute to driver error. And perhaps there will be future laws that prohibit complete cell phone while driving.

My hunch is, however, that the technology that currently resides in a smart phone will eventually migrate to the vehicle itself, and we will be talking aloud to our smart cars instead of our smart phones. Ironically, this article was intended to show how to have an email read to you, not about composing an email. And since talk radio hasn’t been banned yet, it’s unlikely that having something read aloud to the driver (by a passenger, for instance) is going to be illegal in the near future.

By: Snake Eyes

Snake Eyes — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 05:07:20 +0000

Sounds like a lot of distraction while your driving… probably why most states will end up banning all cell phone use while driving. To many people abuse what they do with their phones while driving. Talking distracts enough but outside of that pullover if you have to send an email. I mean come on it can’t be that important to risk lives to send your email while driving.

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:34:53 +0000

In reply to Sandra.

Great tip, thanks!

I find if I’m “working in my mobile office” at the time, I can only use my thumb, so two fingers wouldn’t have occurred to me. Good suggestions otherwise!

By: Sandra

Sandra — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 23:14:15 +0000

Instead of flicking right to read each paragraph, try flicking down with two fingers to have VoiceOver read the entire Email.

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:40:59 +0000

In reply to Renkman. Scary, huh? :-D Actually Patrick introduced me to VoiceOver over a year ago.

By: Renkman

Renkman — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:26:20 +0000

Jay, did you work this compromise out on your own?