Android devices have offered an underlying screen reader feature called Talkback for Years. This helps people with vision problems what appears on the screen of their phone and lets them control it with their voice. In 2024, Google added its Gemini AI to the users to give more detailed descriptions of images.
Google is now Strong It with a full new layer of interactive feature for users. Till now, Gemini has only described images. Now, when users are looking at the pictures, they can also ask the follow -up questions about them and have more detailed conversations.
How does it help users with vision difficulties?
“Next time a friend gives you a picture of their new guitar, you can get a description and ask a follow -up questions about make and color, or even in the image, what else,” says Google. It creates an accessibility upgrade that integrates the integrated Gemini within the Talkback System at the end of last year.
The talkback menu on Android now shows a dedicated description screen feature that puts Gemini into a driving seat. Therefore, for example, if the users are browsing a garment catalog, Gemini will not only describe what appears on the screen, but will also answer relevant questions.
For example, users may ask questions such as “Which dress would be best for cold winter night?” Or “what would be the best with sauce sandwich?” Gemini will also be able to analyze the entire screen and inform users about granular product details, or if any discount is available.
Caption to express and improve text zoom
In Chrome Browser, Google is giving a small lift for auto-early captions for video. Suppose you are watching a football match. The caption will now not only follow the words of the commentator, but will also match their feelings and manifestations.
For example, instead of “goal”, users with hearing issues will see a luxurious “Gooal” for dash in addition to emotional emphasis. Google is calling them expressive captions.
Apart from human speech, they will now also cover important sounds such as whistle, cheering, or even the speaker cleaned their throat. In the US, UK, Canada and Australia, express captions will be available on all equipment operating in Android 15 or later versions.
Another meaningful change in Chrome browser is the adaptive text zoom, which is essentially an update on the page zoom system available on Android phones. Now, when users increase the size of the text, it will not affect the layout of the rest of the web page.
Google says, “You can customize how much zoom you want to zoom and easily apply preference to all pages you are watching or only specific.” The user will be able to adjust the zoom range using a slider below the page.
