Hi Android Folks,
I recently heard that AndroidOS 15 will bring Braille support for HID protocol Bluetooth Braille Displays starting with the HumanWare Braille displays. You will need to update Android and TalkBack in order to use HID Braille displays.
Just sharing. Please check for updates on this.
Comments
Also needs updated displays
This is indeed true but I don't think all the heavy lifting happens on the android side. I've tried this with my NLS humanware eReader which hasn't received a firmware update in a rather long while and it doesn't work. I've heard better things about more updated Mantis and BIX displays.
Re: Also needs updated displays
It will be planning to be on it's way later on this year. Please check back for updates.
Looking for technical documentation
Hi everyone!
Since HID is an industry standard, how can some HID Braille displays be supported while others are not? Why would devices require an update if they already used HID?
In other words: Is there any kind of documentation out there that tells a Braille display manufacturer what to do in order for their devices to work with Android?
industrya standards are standards on paper
Nothing is truly standardized I don't think, especially in such a small market like Braille displays. Read other threads here and you'll see reports of even apple accessibility reps admitting humanware displays have their own quirks, as indeed all probably do. Certainly my two displays behave quite differently on iPhone and even PC even though they both allegedly use HID. I feel like it's a corporate buzzword at this point.
HID on Paper
Haha, I like that last post. Anyways it is true, up until recently Braille displays pretty much all had proprietary drivers. Finally there has been an effort around it, HID, but it is still not there. JAWS just got a HID driver update--yes I know this is an Apple site overall--and the release notes say it is a work in progress. I have the impression "work in progress" is an apt description for the field at large.
Work in progress
This is not necessarily a bad thing. Software tends to get abandoned rather than really completed, but until it is, we can continue shaping it. Braille HID is a standard with some room for interpretation. While the report descriptors are machine-readable, the specifications are not, so they tend to get implemented differently by various devs.
You are all wrong
AI is and will be the corporate buz word until it ends the world.
I have a focus 4 that's not compatible hid so I don't feel concerned currently but I've been following all this.
Not about hardware but they are also working on a sort of enhanced brf which would more epub like for better structural navigation...
HID
It was suppose to be out long time ago. All agree with it, Google, Apple, and another which I forgot who. Google drop the ball or did not care because they had their own. Recall J. Mosen complaining about this.
Long Time
It seems I've been hearing about it for seven or eight years now. The Braille display world moves slowly.