Many Android smartphones come with specific "skins" (graphical user interfaces) to differentiate themselves from Google's stock Android. How usable are these skins for blind users?

The Android operating system is open source, which makes it possible for device makers to create their own customized user interface with a particular look and behaviour of icons, menus and widgets. These interfaces, also called "skins", serve to differentiate smartphones from the stock Android look found on the Nexus and (some) Motorola phones. Many skins also slip in skin-specific custom apps for core functions (dialler, calendar, messaging, mail, etc.) in place of the stock Android apps.

In our test, a blind expert, Robbie Sandberg, investigated whether the different devices were usable with the built-in screen reader, TalkBack. We compared the stock Android version on a Nexus 4 with the skins on recent Samsung, HTC and Sony smartphones.

Approach

We tested the following devices (the respective Android version is noted):

• Google Nexus 4, Android version 4.4 KitKat
• Samsung Galaxy S4, Android version 4.2.2 Touchwiz
• HTC One, Android version 4.1.2 Sense
• Sony Xperia Z, Android version 4.2.2 Xperia UI

For the test, we defined seven actions which a blind user should be able to carry out if the smartphone is to be considered accessible:

1. Unlock screen
2. Set up PIN
3. Add contact
4. Dial number / contact
5. Send an SMS
6. Add calendar entry
7. Connect to WLAN

We checked for each of these actions whether they can be accomplished at all by a blind user, and how easy it is to carry out the component steps.

Results

The test revealed significant differences in the accessibility of the four devices / skins. Not surprisingly, Google’s Nexus 4 with its stock Android interface came out on top. Here, all actions and their individual steps could be accomplished (except a problem when setting the event time in the calendar).

The Samsung Galaxy S4 with its Touchwiz Skin did not allow the use of calendar and contacts since focused numbers and data are not spoken by TalkBack. To use the device efficiently, calendar events and contacts have to be maintained via synchronizing, for example, with a PC.

The HTC one skin Sense showed rather little sense for accessibility. The user has to make do without phone number input via the keyboard: the Talkback renders the focused numbers but does not allow input. An SMS can only be sent after an introduction by a sighted person since buttons are masked or have no accessible name.

On the Sony Xperia Z smartphone, most core functions cannot be accomplished due to a completely inaccessible keyboard. Focusing over the virtual keys does not cause a TalkBack output. We tried to install third-party virtual keyboards such as Eyes Free, TouchPal or SwiftKey but we could not get any of them to work.

Conclusion

So far, third-party device makers building on Android seem to be paying little attention to the accessibility of their skins and degrade the level of accessibility built into the Google’s ‘stock Android’ operating system.

Until further notice, blind users are well advised to choose smartphones running stock Android, i.e. Google’s Nexus 4 or 5 devices manufactured by hardware partner LG, or Motorola’s Google Play edition of the Moto G. Not only is stock Android more accessible than the skinned versions, the stock version also receives Android and software updates much more quickly than devices where updates first have to be worked into a custom skin.

Tabular results for by task and device

The following tables show in more detail how the devices have scored in the seven different tasks.