Google Explores 'Eyes-Free' Phones
From: Technology Review - 06/02/2009
By: Kate Greene

Google engineers are experimenting with interfaces for Android mobile phones
that can be operated without any visual attention. At the Google I/O annual
developer's conference, research scientist T.V. Raman demonstrated an
adaptive, circular interface for phones that provides audio and tactile
feedback. Raman says Google is building a user interface that goes beyond the
screen. Eyes-free interfaces are often used for blind users, but Raman says
these interfaces could have far greater applications. Some mobile phones
already support vibrational feedback, but most devices require significant
visual attention. The Android platform already supports vibrational and audio
feedback, and at the conference Raman and a colleague demonstrated that an
eyes-free alternative could be added to almost any Android application using
only a few lines of code. Raman says a problem with most graphical user
interfaces is that the buttons are in a fixed location, which is inconvenient
if the user cannot feel them. To solve this problem, Raman's interface
appears wherever the user's finger touches the screen, centering the keypad
on that location. The phone vibrates as the finger moves from number to
number, and when the finger is lifted a computerized voice repeats the
number. Raman says consumer feedback is needed to make eyes-free interfaces
more useful, and says software ...

Read the entire article at:
http://beta.technologyreview.com/communications/22731/

Links:
Google I/O
http://code.google.com/events/io/

Creating applications for Android that help change people's lives
http://code.google.com/p/eyes-free/