Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch
Lets face it. Most of our club members are getting on in age. I know that I am. Sometime it is hard to use my Android phone. Thankfully, there are a lot of settings that make it easier to use. Some only work on newer models. Here are a few tweaks that I use to make Android better for me.
1. Increase Font and Icon Size to make reading easier. My old eyes appreciate text that is easier to read.
Open the Display settings menu.
Tap on “Font size.”
Adjust the font size using the slider given till the preview text becomes large and easy to read.
Tap on “Display size.”
Drag the slider to the right to increase.
2. Increase Screen Contrast to make text more readable.
Open the Display settings menu.
Navigate to “Screen mode” and use the “White balance” slider to adjust the colors.
3. Change the Keyboard Size. My big fingers used to hit the wrong key.
Open “Settings -> System -> Language & input -> On-screen keyboard.”
Select the keyboard you want to customize.
Open the keyboard height settings.
4. Enable TalkBack to have Android read aloud whatever is on your screen. I don’t use this all the time, but it sometimes comes in handy.
Navigate to “Settings -> Accessibility -> TalkBack.”
Use the toggle button to turn the feature on.
Give the required permissions to activate TalkBack.
5. Enable the magnification feature to help zoom in on the active screen.
Open “Settings -> Accessibility -> Magnification.”
Toggle on the “Magnification shortcut.”
You should see a magnification glass icon on your screen. Tap on it to open the magnifier. A box that magnifies anything it’s placed on will appear on the screen. You can drag and move this box around to highlight various parts of the screen. When the magnification glass is active, you’ll see a toggle button that allows you to switch from the small magnifier to a full-screen zoom.
While you’re in the Accessibility section, check out many of the other settings than can make your phone easier to use. You might find something that is helpful for you.
Although these are Android specific settings (for the latest version), many people have told me there are equivalents for the Apple world.
Thanks for reading.