Android 12 accessibility win: navigate around your phone with your face

Date:
Mon, 16 Aug 2021 22:57:34 +0000

Description:
Android 12 quietly added a feature to let users control their phones with smiles, eyebrow raises, and other face gestures.

FULL STORY ======================================================================

While the Android 12 beta has been available for months, new features are being discovered all the time like one that allows users to control their phone with their face.

The feature, which was first noticed by Droid Life via Twitter user Hani Mohamed Bioud, adds the feature specifically to expand accessibility, though theres nothing stopping other users who have downloaded the early version of Android 12 from trying it out. You haven't talked about this feature @MishaalRahman @iamkellex! pic.twitter.com/0FAa8zj9hD August 15, 2021 See
more

The feature, called Camera Switch, recognizes particular facial movements from smiling to raising eyebrows to looking left, right, and up which can be mapped to navigation options. The feature is nested deep in the phones settings to reach it, head to Settings > Accessibility > Switch Access > Settings > Camera Switch. Analysis: Android 12 is big on features, but not necessarily accessibility

The Android 12 beta was made available shortly after it was officially revealed at Google IO 2021 , and while new perks like the Material You
unified UI redesign and new privacy controls were showcased, we havent seen much in the way of accessibility with beta releases aside from making it easier to summon Google Assistant by long-pressing any phones lock button.

That makes Camera Switch the most exciting accessibility feature weve seen
yet in Android 12, making up some ground behind Apples operating systems, which have offered superior and more widely-ranging accessibility options
for instance, an iPadOS update earlier this year added support for
third-party eye-tracking devices to navigate using eye movements.

But if youre curious, the Android 12 beta is open to more than just Pixel phones, though admittedly Googles handsets will get a more stable public
beta; if youre using one of a dozen other Android 12 compatible phones like the Oppo Find X3 Pro, OnePlus 9, TCL 20 Pro 5G, or Xiaomi Mi 11, youll have access to a more finicky (but still free) developer beta. Stay on top of tech news with the TechRadar newsletter



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/android-12-accessibility-win-navigate-around-yo ur-phone-with-your-face/


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