Last updated on 13 November 2023
Hello everyone from the 8th episode of our Android History article series!
It’s been a while since our last post and I think it’s time to publish a new one.
In this article, we will talk about the “Spiel” screen reader, which is one of the first screen readers that were released one by one, especially after the way was opened to support screen readers with Android 1.6, during the first days of the Android operating system. Although I tried the Spiel screen reader for a while at the time, I currently remember very little about the app. It was once possible to find enough information about Spiel On the Internet. However, I think many websites have removed outdated information, so it was very difficult to collect enough data to complete this article. However, in the light of the limited data at hand, I tried to write a brief review of the “Spiel” screen reader.
As it is known, 2009 has been a milestone for visually impaired users in terms of Android platform. It was because with Android 1.6 Donut, screen reader and text-to-speech output (TTS) support was integrated into Android and individual or corporate developers were encouraged to develop screen readers or TTS applications. It could be said that the accessibility functions of Android at that time were quite limited, and when today’s criteria are considered, it was almost impossible to use. Because today’s users may find those functions very sluggish or primitive because they are familiar with the newly developed features. As a matter of fact, at that time, visually impaired users had great hesitation in choosing Android, because iOS and Voice Over stood in the way of Android accessibility with their mostly settled and stable features. No one wanted to prefer Android’s new accessibility functions that was crawling at a snail’s pace over Voice Over, which allowed access to many points of the touch screen. Apple was doing this job almost on a professional level, so to speak. The difficulties faced by Android users and their direct effects on the user were almost nonexistent on iOS devices, and if any, these hardly influenced the end users adversely. Because even the first Apple device that could be used with Voice Over had an extremely accessible and stable system, as someone who has tried it myself, I can say that the accessibility features of the iPhone 3GS model were able to be implemented on the Android after 5-6 years. Accessibility functions in the Android operating system have only become comfortable with the Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) version. Some of our friends will be angry at this much praising of Apple. Unfortunately, there are fanatics among us in this matter, as in everything else. However, it is not wise to ignore the facts in the name of fanaticism. Whether the fanatics admit it or not, this is the truth…
It was precisely at a time that I have described above, when an American blind developer named Nolan Derilek decided to develop a screen reader. Because Apple imposed its own screen reader for iOS, not allowing other users to develop screen readers or accessibility tools. Talented people like Nolan Derilek also decided to test their skills on Android.
Nolan Derilek started developing the Spiel screen reader in 2009. In November 2010, the application was released on the Play Store, which was then called the Android Market.
Although Spiel was a very successful screen reader, it could not provide the desired level of ease of use due to limitations in the Android API. Unfortunately, using the touch screen with screen readers was not possible at that time. As a result, Spiel could only be used conveniently with keyboard phones.
By the developer’s own definition, Spiel is a flexible, scriptable screen reader that provides voice feedback for most interface controls and actions. Spiel started to be developed with Android 2.0, the developer was only able to support it until the 2.3 Gingerbread version, and then the development of Spiel was discontinued because the Android Application development kits were difficult to understand and had major problems in accessibility. In the following periods, some volunteer developers adapted the screen reader for Android 4.0 and 4.2 and distributed its apk files. Unfortunately, no improvement has been achieved for later versions. The Spiel screen reader is not available today.
Besides that, Spiel was only available in English. At that time, there were no Turkish TTS voices other than Espeak. As a result, usage in Turkish language was also limited. Localization of applications was also not common at that time. Of course, it can be said that the visually impaired people of the period did not prefer Android as well.
so As a result, the Spiel screen reader contributed to the diversity of the Android operating system, revealing that Android is a world of alternatives even in those early days when Android accessibility could be considered in its infancy. In this respect, it has a very important place in the development of the system. However, it has also been an incentive for other developers to work on this issue. It is possible to find Spiel screen reader apk files on various sites. Although it will not work fully on today’s phones, those who want to try can search for these apk files. Even on Github, I have seen that there are versions with changes made in 2015. Those who want a summary of the screen reader’s settings and features can check the following link
Ideal settings for Spiel Screen Reader (English Content).
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