OneUI 9 Accessibility News

This is awesome to see. I'm still happy with my Pixel, but Samsung insisting on their own version for so long has been pointless. Glad to see this reversal.

I had an old samsung tab 9 e? something like that. I had voice assistance there and it seemed quite good. From what I understand before samsung was really the better screen reader as it took talkback ages to implement multi finger gestures among other trivial things, is my understanding correct? So now should I understand that the hope is google talkback running on samsung phones officially? Or some merge of a sort? No need to sideload?

I have been waiting for something like this. I've been holding off because I've been looking into getting a Samsung for my next upgrade, but the whole TalkBack vs TalkBack debacle had me second guessing things.

Thank the powers that be for this change. Also, thanks Trenton for the info. 👍

Well ultimately it’s good news, only we have to wait until Samsung releases android 17 to the public.
On another news to share Google started rolling on TalkBack version 17 since yesterday.

Regarding Talkback 17, are you sure you are not refering to Android 17? Both are different, and I couldn't find anything on internet regarding Talkback 17.
I also must add that the way Google restricts Talkback beta builds to only few countries and users is very enfuriating. We never know what's coming in the next release until it's announced.

Hello! No I’m not confuse! Lol
I’m speaking about Google accessibility Suite version 17 which includes TalkBack.
If it doesn’t show ready to update yet, it’s very likely that you receive it in the coming days or sometimes in the coming weeks.
You know how Google works, Google is starting to roll it out in stages.
We shouldn’t be surprised as it is highly likely that google will officially announce this at it’s upcoming event May 19 or 20, and Google might even showcase something related to TalkBack with Project Astra during the event.

After reading this, I really miss this screen reader. For the time it was very good and I had a lot of fun playing a blind legend on this tablet of my sister as my ipod touch 6 was dead, before I get my first iphone (xs) 2 years later. Good times.
But also there is something so magic / elegant? about these hold and swipe gesture with OG talkback and I am glad to see that they still work even on the newer android.

A little off topic, but I have been keeping an eye on a couple of S25 FEs for some time now. As I mentioned I have been holding back on account of the whole TB vs TB issue. However, if Android 17 along with Googles TB is coming to Samsung, then I am all for picking up one of these devices in the coming weeks. 😀

Dude, I think you will like the Galaxy. Having been on both Samsung and Pixel, I can say that while there are some things about the Pixel that I love, there are other things from Samsung I do miss. I miss the level of customization. I don't exactly regret making the switch, because Guided Frame is really that good, and my pixel battery life is much better than on the S22 Ultra, but since you're looking at a newer model, I think you will be incredibly happy with Samsung.

I've been going back and forth the past several months with deciding what my next device will be. For a while I wanted the Pixel 10 Pro. Then I read a bunch of reviews that say Pixel 10 standard is better, while others say Pixel 9 Pro are better still. Then a ton of posts, videos, blogs, etc about overheating devices.
I thought maybe a Motorola might be fun to play around with, but I still cannot seem to find a single review on whether or not the notes feature on the Moto G Stylus is accessible. Apparently you can simply tap the screen with the stylus to just start writing down a note. Which sounds amazing... in theory.

Finally everything I have read or listened to lately practically screams Samsung, so yeah, I think that is what I will eventually end up with.

Sidenote, Samsung S25 FE seems to have some nice reviews overall, even from the infamous Flossy Carter. So we shall see. 😇

This news is quite awesome to see indeed. I'm thinking of switching to an android device. Before this news rolled out, I was all in on getting a Pixel device however, with the rollout of this excellent news. I will have to reconsider my options and see about device specs for this year's device lineup. I'm truly still thinking Pixel because of less bloat and the Pixel hardware seems nice from what I've been able to hold and play with.

Yes, hardware is quite nice. I also like only having to sign in to google and done, not having to update apps through two separate stores, as you can't update all the samsung apps via google play, you gotta use the samsung app store, and that gets annoying. You don't end up with duplicate apps you can't uninstall. Less bloat, though Google isn't entirely unguilty, as they have their own stuff they include, that you can't easily zap.
I like the Samsung phone app better than the default Google one. I like Samsung's Modes and Routines setup better. But the Google camera, with Guided Frame, is a lot nicer. I've been able to get some pretty good shots with that, and it's been quite nice. I like the more timely updates on the Pixel. As for the two home screens, Samsung wins out there, as they let you zap the search bar, where Pixel doesn't. I can't compare Talkback with a more modern Samsung, as the one I had was the S22 Ultra, so it stands to reason that Talkback is more snappy on the Pixel 10 Pro with double the ram of what the S22 Ultra had. Gemini also seems faster on the Pixel. Google's face unlock is miles better than Samsung. With Samsung, yes you can set it up, it is kinda accessible, but it only works for unlocking the phone, where Google's face unlock also works in things like banking apps where with Samsung and just about any other Android device, you can only use finger print. I have not had issues with overheating on the Pixel 10 Pro. Think that is an issue really if you are trying to game, but a lot of those games aren't going to be accessible to us anyway.
Okay, there's a list of pros and cons, rather rambly, but I hope it helps anyone trying to make a decision. There's a lot to like about both flavors of Android.

Google has their own bloat yes, if playstore can be classified as such, it's literally the core of *official* android. And I too don't like the useless duplication of samsung services / store and so on. Plus pixel ROM is not actually read only, and graphine os is getting a lot of attention with the privacy nightmares of android 17 as a whole.
Is the cpu that better with samsung that even the defaults of talkback are faster there?
Sorry, don't mean to go off topic in this particular thread. Feel free to dm pls.
PS: aluminum os is almost there it seems?

With Samsung smart phones, there is a stupid level of customization factors that make it more interesting and enjoyable for users. From cited, to blind, to somewhere in between. Things like how notifications pop up and are displayed onscreen, to customizing what your volume keys do, etc, etc.
In my humble opinion, this is what makes Samsung a more sought after device over Pixel and others. Admittedly, the snapdragon elite processors are not so shabby, either. 😇

Someone in my family has Moto Edge Stylous, and as a sighted user, they love it. I've tried using this with talkback, and honestly, it's useless. Phone perceives it as though a finger touch, and imagine having to doubletap or do angular gestures with a stylous? It's not a great experience.
Their drawing/notes function is also fully inaccessible for talkback users.
I have Moto Edge 50 Neo as my secondary phone, and it works great. No Stylous, but no lag or stutters, talk works great. I would advise anyone using talkback to move away from Google TTS if you plan to use it in long-run. Vocalizer or any 3rd party TTS would make the experience much more smoother. Google TTS is absolute pile of dog excrements, and should be set on fire.
Small thing about Motorolla phones, they do have tendency to move you away from accessible built-in google apps and towards their own sponsored apps, which aren't that great in terms of accessibility. Just make sure that you select Always for only Google apps for things like PDF reading and Galary, and not those Motorolla's sponsored apps. Each update also does install lot of their bloatware which you can uninstall on your own. And stay away from Motorolla's app-store or anything related to Moto Games. It will install just lot of unwanted things and you will be left dealing with cleaning. It's the price you pay for afordability I guess these days. This Edge 50 neo barely costed me 250 dollars brand new. I am not from USA, so currency conversions are just back of the hand calculations.
Edit: One more thing, there's a built-in settings in the settings app to change long-presses of volume keys while screen is turned off to previous/next track. Normal presses of volume keys still control volume. Very useful feature if you listen to audio-books ormusic on your phone.

That thing with the volume buttons is clutch. Something you often have to install other apps to get on other manufacturers, so the fact they built that in is pretty awesome!

@MarkSarch was not wrong. I just got the update to Talkback 17. Biggest thing in this update is the ability to customize commands on a Braille display. Also, some more keyboard related hints when interacting with Talkback using a physical keyboard, which is good with the upcoming Googlebooks, keyboard navigation on Android needs to improve quite a bit, and I'm hoping that as devs implement better keyboard support in their apps, that will trickle down to those of us who might use something like a tablet with a keyboard case.

Let's see if the samsung galaxy a16 will get the update. Please make the swiping gestures more responsive. Please. Otherwise all the fuss is nothing to me.
Oh, and also, there's the bug of Talkback sometimes braking explore by touch. Nasty.

Thank you so much for the information. I have been looking everywhere for anything on the drawing/notes thing with a stylus. So, thanks again for letting me know that it's inaccessible. I almost, almost, bought myself a Moto G stylus 2024 (I think it was 2024)), for just under $100 as a refurbished model. I'm so glad I did not go through with the purchase, because that notes feature was my primary reason for getting that particular device.

After reading the latest post here, I still think the Samsung S25 FE, or something equivalent in the Samsung lineup, would be my best bet.

That's the thing, I am complaining that Google could have at least published an official article about new features.
Regarding enhanced keyboard support, I am on Talkback 16.2, and I have those new physical keyboard format/shortcuts as well. Not sure about hints, but I've successfully browsed Applevis, Theverge, and other frequent corners of the internet using an Android tablet and a bluetooth keyboard. In Chrome, pressing Alt+d does take you to address-bar as you might expect, which previously didn't use to work. Pressing Alt+F also opens the chrome's more options, just like a Windows PC. There's that automatic browse mode feature, which works fine, but nothing game changing. It's a bit annoying that now you always need to use a talkback modifier key, which can be Capsloc/Windows/Alt, any of them, to navigate anywhere. Windows is better in this regard, as you need to use modifire only for advance navigation features or customizing screen reader specific settings. Navigation on Windows is fully possible using just arrow keys, ctrl, enter, tab, shift, and space. Basic navigation doesn't need to be a 2 handed operation.

I am really not a fan of having to use a modifier for everything. But also, with the enhanced key map, you can't use different modifiers, only meta or what talkback calls action. If we're gunna be forced to use a modifier, at least give us caps lock. I once had a chromebook, but it's been years. Kinda remember it not feeling quite as intuitive as something like NVDA either. I wish we had better access to talkback devs to actually have our feedback heard.

So, what would be absolutely awesome would be to have caps lock work as talkback modifier, then the actual meta or action key behave like a windows key, taking me back to the home screen, or a double press bring up all apps, and a long press bring up recents. Something like that. I have Key Mapper, so know I could map out those actions, but then run in to caps lock being treated like meta and triggering all the same stuff as described, as opposed to the one key doing what it is mapped to do, then caps lock working as the actual talkback action key. Make sense? I know you know your way around Android though, and are more familiar with the inner workings, so if you know how I could pull it off, I'm all ears.

Don't know what I was doing wrong before, but got caps lock working as meta and meta working as home. Key Mapper is a great app. In Android system settings I set the caps lock as meta, set meta as caps lock, thus reversing them, but then used key mapper to map caps lock (where meta used to be) to take me home. So really, got it feeling in that sense a bit more like Windows.