Talkback is sluggish

No one wants to talk about this problem. Its a huge problem though. And don't think its just the Pixel. It is also all the Samsung Flagship phones. Someone once mentioned disabling like advanced keystrokes, but that's just stupid. Why buy a phone that you have to disable accessibility features on. Thanks but no thanks. Maybe in another decade they'll fix it, and fan girls canfinally admit what they claim is great is currently a load of s**t.
This is why Apple is superior.

hi, this has been a known issue for years in the android world. Unfortunately, most of the most vocal android fans won't discuss this topic. Is the subject says, I gave up on the pixel nine and bought an iPhone 16E. It's much more responsive and most important to me it's stable.
another important thing for me is the Google culture. The pixel had a working assistant, but Google ripped it out and replaced it with Gemini. Gemini was not a drop in replacement so all of the features that made the pixel stand out are now broken. Because Apple is adopting those features from the pixel, the iPhone is now a much better experience for me. That's sad, because I would like to use android, but I have to be realistic.

One simple way to speed out TalkBack is using Acapela TTS engine
in order to speed up key presses you have to make changes under keyboard.
open TalkBack menu by placeing 3 fingers on the screen, select TalkBack settings then advance settings and under typing and keyboard
heading make some changes
typing preferences and touch and hold delay
Also make some changes under G Board
open settings app, system, keyboard, and keyboard preferences.

Hi,
I’m using both an iPhone and a Pixel 10. I picked up the Pixel because I was hoping TalkBack would feel a bit smoother, but honestly I still don’t find the experience great. Out of the Android devices I’ve tried, I actually found the Galaxy S25 more responsive. What I do prefer about the Pixel though is the cleaner software. Samsung just feels cluttered with features I don’t really use.

That said, if you’re coming from iPhone, I don’t think you can expect TalkBack to ever match VoiceOver in terms of smoothness. At least I’ve never been able to get it there. I like Android for other reasons, but screen reader performance isn’t one of its strengths. I do a lot of typing on my phone, sometimes long emails or messages, and I don’t use dictation. For me, typing on Android is just not great, no matter which voice or keyboard I try.

One thing I’ve noticed is that Google’s own voices make TalkBack feel even less responsive. If you haven’t already, try Vocalizer or Acapela voices, they might give you a slightly better experience. I also came across a post on AppleVis a while back where someone had tweaked some settings on their Android and said it improved things. Didn’t work for me, but I’ll drop the link here anyway in case it helps

https://applevis.com/forum/android/improving-talkback-experience-android-phones-solving-double-tap-issues-enhancing

From the tests I did with Android, I tried everything, even the last solution posted here about changing TalkBack developer settings, but I didn’t notice such a big improvement. The only way I found is to use Commentari. What’s the problem? To install it you have to download it manually (it’s not on the Play Store), you have to get past various Play Protect blocks, and on top of that it’s Chinese software, which, not being on the Play Store, can raise some security concerns. That said, many blind users do use it, and having tested it myself, it significantly sped up the screen reader.
But it’s precisely for this reason that I want to stick with the iPhone, because I feel safer using a screen reader that’s already integrated, and with which I know security isn’t an issue.

Hi

Changing your TTS to something other then google TTS does inprove it a bit but CSR is way more responsive, there is also another screenreader called prudence that is on the Playstore that is more responsive

3>The Luck Of One Plus

If you want to learn about having the best Talkback experience anywhere on a phone (or at least one of the best experiences), check out Devin Prater's 6 Months With Android & OnePlus Review over on Accessible Android via the link above. Can't forget the pair of Realme and Redmi devices, mostly do to how well their UI skins are optimized.

Prudence's Power

The Prudence Screen Reader (which you can find on the Play Store here), is the only screen reader on Android that has built-in OCR. Though ya do need to assign thy gestures first, along with sining up for a freen account if you want to use their AI description features.

One other nice thing about Prudence over Talkback (which Commentary also has), the ability to pause/resume Explore By Touch. Many games can be playable thanks that toggle alone!

To learn about Prudence's default gestures, you can easily learn about them among Accessible Android right over here.

Jumping To Jieshuo

You can thank Google for kicking Commentary out of the Play Store, as it indeed indeed use to be among its fortress. With that being said, you can learn more about Jieshuo & download the latest "Plus" version right over here from Accessible Android. For all other versions (including Beta versions), you can get those over here on GitHub.

Thy Jieshuo pages on Accessible Android explain what the differences are between Jieshuo Lite, Plus, and its new Max version.

For the longest time I wanted to get a Pixel Pro device. Then I read some random articles online about these devices constantly overheating. I also know a lot of folks really like the Samsung devices, even though Samsung's version of TalkBack is a little different than Google's version.
However with screen readers such as Commentary and Prudence, who cares? Both of these seem to be better than even Google's version of TalkBack.

So with the screen reader issue seemingly resolved, more or less, and the overheating issue with Pixel devices being a thing, what would be a good alternative to explore android with?
Right now I am seriously considering one of the latest galaxy devices, but I also still kind of have my heart set on getting one of the Moto G stylus. I really, really am hoping to get my hands on one of those to test out, because if the stylus on the lock screen to write notes is actually a thing, and accessible, I'll probably end up grabbing that device over anything else. Even if I use it for nothing more than a notetaker.

I have switched multiple times over the years, and have found that yes, there is a lag between Talkback and Voiceover. The quality of device does make a difference, no doubt. You can't expect the screen reader on a bottom of the barrel device to perform the same as it would on a flag ship, in the same way you wouldn't expect your screen reader to perform as well on a 20 year old machine with 2 gb of ram as it would on a modern computer. Having said that, the devices in question are all solid. Yes, tts does make a real difference. Since Eloquence is no longer available on the play store or being developed, I've gone with Vocalizer and it's good enough for me.
Also, if you make Android your only mobile platform, you kinda get used to that slight lag after a few days and you really don't notice it nearly as much. If, on the other hand you are constantly switching back and forth, I can see how the difference could become madening. But honestly, I would recommend sticking to one platform either way for muscle memory. Few things are more annoying than going to perform a gesture on a device and then realizing, oh, woops, wrong screen reader. If you really want to learn the ins and outs, at least for a good few months, stick with one exclusively.
I find the Talkback Braille keyboard accuracy to be much better than Apple's implementation, even though they did it first. Back when I was having to switch languages a lot more frequently, the Talkback way of doing language and grade switching was a bit annoying, but now that I don't have to worry about that nearly as much, I much prefer talkback.
I have tried Commentary before, but didn't care much for the default gestures, but honestly didn't feel like taking the time to make them more like Talkback, when honestly I could just use Talkback. Also, no Braille keyboard with Commentary, and I wasn't a big fan of other Braille keyboards that were available. Lastly, I find talkback's image descriptions to be quite nice.
I'm using an S22 Ultra but with Google Talkback. The only thing that could make me switch to a Pixel would be guided frame, but since I have the Galaxy Watch and buds, will probably stick with Samsung when it does come time to upgrade. Even on this slightly older phone, with soeme setting modifications of course, I'm incredibly impressed with the battery life. Also, I really like the default One UI launcher. I used to put Nova on everything, and now don't feel like I need to do that.

Hmmm.... Let's See... If OS updates ain't an issue (since it comes with Google's version of Talkback anyway), the Moto G Styless should be more than adequate. If you do get a Samsung though, you could litterally have all 3 screen readers available to you since ya can have Bixby turn on/off Talkback with your voice. Well okay, you can do that with normal Talkback on all devices too to be fair so.... Whatever works! And as much as many people may not like sideloading Commentary or using Prudence (which sadly their Web Site currently does not have video tutorials in English yet), both screen readers indeed are more leaps & bounds over Talkback! Honestly, I'm not even sure why Google added a 'Describe Screen' feature, without virtual navigation support first. But then again, its Google! If ya do use Prudence, be sure to share more feedback! Why am I using a VoiceOver sound scheme with their screen reader for, no idea! And just like with Jieshuo, you can make your own sound schemes if ya so desire. And with Commentary thanks to their cloud labels feature, I've made two apps more accesible (possibly 3) thanks to being able to have labels like that in the cloud. The only other screen reader that had cloud labels like that was System Access! And I don't know what Google did, but their labeling system (which remains on-device still till this very day), labels don't work with all elements anymore!

Seems that most haven't heard about Commentary's large community of external keyboard & screen gesture schemes people have made. And its massive! I found at least 6 or so Talkback specific gesture schemes. I did make a Chromevox-like keyboard layout for Jieshuo, though I'm gonna re-do it and publish it under my actual name.

You can find all of those Jieshuo hotKey/gesture schemes in the Downloads & Resources section of the main menu.

So much has changed with Commentary these days!

Yeah, it bites ya have to be a premium user of Jieshuo to use any of the OCR & much of the voice features... But considering its around 45 dollars for a 3 year membership (or cheaper for one/two years), it might indeed be worth it!

, you can learn more about customizing & applying them here:

https://accessibleandroid.com/gesture-schemes-in-jieshuo-screen-reader/

Thankfully most gestures do not require Commentary premium. HotKey keyboard layout schemes do not require premium what-so-ever.

I can’t really say much about CSR, the Commentary Screen Reader, since I don’t use APKs on my phone. I’m usually a bit cautious when apps ask for accessibility permissions, and because CSR is an APK and it does ask for them, I personally don’t allow it. That’s just me though, it doesn’t mean everyone feels the same. What I do want to point out is that Google is planning to make APK installations more difficult. I’m not sure if CSR will be affected by this, but I honestly hope people will still be able to use it, since having options is always a good thing and CSR is more responsive than TalkBack. I just wanted to highlight this, because if Google really decides to tighten APK installations, like I’ve read on several tech sites, that could be tricky.

I been using Pixel devices for long time and never had this overheating experience, so far I know it's more when refer to gaming performance the classic test.
in real scenario most of the manufacture devices overheating simply by recording a video over 5 minutes long, try using your iPhone or Samsung and you will see the results.

Hi, I've seena lot of comments here but few people offering actionable steps. Please read the following with a few things in mind. Voiceover will be more responsive than talkback, you can narrow the gap. I'm primarily an android guy but, yeah, that is and has always been an addvantage for voiceover. No debates there, I know when I'm beat. That said the gap has narrowed quite a bit over the years and you can do some things to narrow it more.
First, in talkback's advanced settings you can turn on "reduce window announcement delay." You can also enable the developer options by double tapping seven times on the build number in the about section of your settings, it might be the system settings. From there you can open up a menu to force the phone to operate at 120 hz, helps a little. You can also change TTS as many have said, everything from espeak to Acapella to other google voices can help. The last thing is a lifestyle change you may or may not like ... and, please, I get tthe pros and cons here. I use both voiceover and talkback daily, I understand this is a tradeoff but talkback is optimized more for explore by touch than swipes and flicks. So in many situations, like scrolling through a news feed or list of youtube videos, if you jusst tap the screen after scrolling instead of swiping after scrolling it will get it into a better rhythm or something with the next few swipes ... but yeah, if screen reader latency is critical voiceover is better than talkback in the same way that NVDA beatss Jaws in windowsa land.

One more thing you can and should do to reduce talkback lag, in display settings there is an extra touch sensitivity toggle for screen protectors. Flip that on even if, like me, you don't use screen protectors. That will help some.

Is there an easy way to switch between TalkBack and Prudence? I'm kind of curious about Prudence, but don't want to end up locked out of my device.

Thanks for the reminder about reducing window announcement delay. I had this done on my phone, but had forgotten to do it on the tablet, and that seems to have helped just a bit.

On Samsung devices, you can assign one screen reader with the volume-up + side-key command, and the other with thy standard hold of the two volume keys for 3 seconds. Or use Bixby to turn on/off Talkback at will.

With other phones, all you have is the Talkback voice toggle & the holding down volume key methods for another screen reader.

you can use the accessibility button or gesture for another screenreader, the gesture is swipe up with 2 fingers with TalkBack off, 3 fingers if TalkBack is turned on

Ah, thanks for the clarification on how that gesture is supposed to work Joshua.
There is thy obvious Accessibility button (which I currently use for Lookout. Though since I have never used a Pixel before, unsure if that swipe up gesture also applies to Samsung devices. I shall toss Jieshuo on my S23 plus and give the latest version a spin with that accessibility button toggle.

Would any of you lovely Android owners be willing to write a review on Prudence over here, to showcase how it compares to Google's and/or Samsung's version of TalkBack?

Hi
If you like to know how Prudence screen reader works and compare vs TalkBack.
you can contact me privately, so you could listen with your own ears.
click in my profile and send me a email.

I appreciate that, but I'm mainly curious to know how responsive PSR is when tapping, swiping, and performing complex gestures, versus how it is with TalkBack.
Not sure if I would be able to tell that just by listening to it. Unless, of course, I am misunderstanding your proposal?