Georgie is a smartphone app aimed at people living with visual impairment to help make Google‘s mobile operating system, Android, more accessible. This is done through the use of larger text and icons, voice control and even has a function to use the phone’s camera to read out text to you e.g. on menus, signs etc.
The standard app costs £150 (it doesn’t come cheap, so I think it would be interesting to compare this cost with any alternatives out there) and is available from the Android app store, Google Play.
So what are the alternatives? What do you use and/or recommend? We’d love to hear from you, so let us know here, thank you! : )
I think this app looks great but it seems to be designed mainly for blind users. Some straightforward magnification sitting over the existing android interface would make the phones accessible to partially sighted users without compromising on existing functionality. It is a shame that this this is not universally available on android handsets. It is particularly frustrating because it is available on iphone but is limited by the relatively small screen size on the iphone. Some of the android phones have much bigger screens and are therefore ideal for navigating with magnification on. Voice and audio settings cerainly have their place but most partially sighted users tend to prefer magnification.