GARI: How personal assistants, voice control and flashlight notifications are connected

How personal assistants, voice control and flashlight notifications are connected

Thanks to the great feedback received in the GARI feature review, we will be adding a good number of new accessibility features to the database – meaning that users will be able to search for devices with these features to make the use of the device much easier.

Two of these new features that we will be adding are:

Personal Assistant / Voice Control; and
Flashlight Notifications

… and both can help users who are hard-of-hearing, deaf, or operate their device in very loud environments.

Below, we explain in this short blog article how these features work.

Personal Assistant / Voice Control

Whether the personal assistant on your mobile device is called Siri, Bixby or Google Now, they have one thing in common: they can greatly simplify the interaction with your device.

Personal assistants can help users with reduced vision and mobility to place calls, write text messages, open apps, and carry out searches. They are supported by artificial intelligence and learn the preferences of their users, and their built-in dictation function allows users to operate the device by simply using their voice.

Depending on the type of phone and its operating system, the user activates the personal assistant either by pressing a specific key (as in the case of Bixby), by pressing and holding the home button (as in the case of Siri) or by placing the finger on the microphone icon at the bottom left corner of the lock screen and swiping in any direction on the screen (as in the case of Google Now).

A great comparison of the three assistants can be found here:

Bixby vs Google Assistant vs Siri

https://www.androidauthority.com/bixby-vs-google-assistant-vs-siri-763201/

Flashlight Notifications

Smartphone users can utilise the LED flash on the back of their phone to alert them of incoming calls, messages and notifications. This is a handy feature for persons with hearing loss and anyone who finds themselves in loud environments where ringtones cannot be heard.

Flashlight notifications can be activated by going to the accessibility menu and looking for Flash notification. If the accessibility features are categorized, the Flash notification will be under hearing features.

Further instructions on how to turn on flash notifications can be found here: