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Lauren Hurley/PA Wire

Soon you'll be able to control your Android phone without using your fingers

Google has quietly rolled out the beta version of its Voice Access app, allowing you to navigate using speech.

GOOGLE HAS ROLLED out the beta version of a hands-free app called Voice Access, which allows people to control their phone using only their voice.

It’s designed for those who have “difficulty manipulating a touch screen due to paralysis, tremor, temporary injury or other reasons”.

While some elements are similar to what Google Now offers (like telling it to open an app), you can also use it to navigate by saying ‘click next,’ ‘scroll down’ or ‘go home’ depending on the context.

Perhaps the most useful feature is how it numbers every action on the screen. Instead of telling your phone to open up an app you can’t pronounce properly, and risk it opening another different app, you can just tell it to open numbers instead.

For example, if you want to open Google Photos, you can just say ‘open 11′ and it will do that. Menus also come with the same feature allowing quick access to certain options.

demo Google Google

The app isn’t accepting any more people for beta testing, but it’s likely it will be made available to the general public sooner rather than later.

Voice Access is part of Google’s work on accessibility services which include a tool that helps developers improve accessibility on their apps, and Vision Settings which controls elements like font size, display size and magnification.

Read: There’s a way to keep your Android screen always on while charging >

Read: How Donegal Mountain Rescue Team is using drones to save people >

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17 Comments
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    Mute Diaspora'd
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    Feb 6th 2023, 11:34 PM

    Why is it still called a “Bank Holiday” in Ireland instead of what it is …a “Public Holiday”?

    The term “Bank Holiday” really smacks of bygone British colonialism.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_holiday

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    Mute Fuji Hakayito
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    Feb 7th 2023, 2:40 AM

    @Diaspora’d: and your English language post doesn’t?

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    Mute Shedonny
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    Feb 7th 2023, 8:01 AM

    I still think that the Holiday should have been on 1 May, as it is in many other countries including our EU partners, to pay tribute to the huge contribution of the men and women workers who have financed this country with their taxes for decades.
    Weather would have been better in May too!
    Instead of dedicating it to a religious figure who may or may not have existed.

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    Mute Shaner Mac
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    Feb 7th 2023, 8:16 AM

    @Shedonny: Er, there is already a May bank holiday…

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    Mute Rob Jones
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    Feb 7th 2023, 8:30 AM

    @Shedonny: February not bad. Just coming out of depressing January. Something to look forward to. If not February, then July as we have one in May, June, and August.

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Feb 7th 2023, 6:58 AM

    Clicked on the first option each time. Got 2/10.

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    Mute Gisèle Ní Mhoinséal
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    Feb 7th 2023, 10:37 PM

    The cloth is left out on 31 January – the eve of St Brigid, not 1 February.

    4
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