Google now offers a braille keyboard for Android

San Francisco, April 10 (IANS) Google has launched a new braille keyboard named TalkBack to simplify smartphone typing for those who are suffering from visual impairment.

“TalkBack braille keyboard is a new virtual braille keyboard integrated directly into Android. It is a fast, convenient way to type on your phone without any additional hardware, whether you are posting on social media, responding to a text, or writing a brief email,” Brian Kemler Product Manager, Android Accessibility said in a statement on Thursday.

TalkBack keyboard uses a standard 6-key layout and each key represents one of six Braille dots which, when tapped, make any letter or symbol. “To type an ‘A’ you would press dot 1 and to type a ‘B’, dots 1 and 2 together,” Kemler added.

It works on all Android text fields – from Docs to Gmail to text messages – and also offers the way to delete letters, words, add lines as wll as submit text.

The keyboard is rolling out to all devices that run Android 5.0 or later.

To enable it, just go to Settings > Accessibility and select TalkBack. One can see full instructions on the Android Accessibility Help website.

–IANS

wh/na