Galaxy A9+ and Google Assistant issues

[Bateman71]

Hello,

I bought this tablet for my aunt, who is blind, so that she can do some basic things like listen to music, audiobooks, radio, send/read emails and sms, etc., but I'm having big problems getting Hey Google to work with many apps. The biggest problem I have is that it won't read or send emails, even with the gmail app. One of the first things I did was to try Bixby, but it seems that this tablet doesn't have it, and when I tried the Google equivalent, Gemini, it was next to useless and won't even open apps, so I've turned to Google Assistant thinking it would be the most solid of the bunch. When I ask Google to read a mail it says simply, 'sorry I can't do that yet', and I'm starting to wonder whether this tablet is a) up to the job or whether it is just too underpowered to handle some of Google Assistant's possibilities, or b) in need of some sort of reset. 

Google have an online chat service for people with disabilities, but it seems that Samsung have nothing at all; they seem to simply push people to this forum, so I'm hoping that someone from Samsung can tell me if this Galaxy A9+ is powerful enough for what I'd like it to do. Can anyone help me please? Many thanks 🙂

[AndrewL]

@Bateman71: There are limitations to Assistant apps like Gemini, Google Assistant and Bixby, in that the things you're attempting cannot be achieved simply through voice commands alone. For instance, Gemini/Google Assistant can read an email for you, however you would be required to select the email in question through touch interactions. This would be the same across all devices with Google Assistant and Gemini, and isn't a software/hardware limitation. 

Even features such as TalkBack require you to select the area of the screen you want to be read aloud, and is intended more for partially sighted users who have trouble seeing the screen. It does, however, feature a braille keyboard which might be helpful to your aunt when navigating the tablet. To find out more, please take a look at the link below. 

https://www.samsung.com/uk/support/mobile-devices/how-to-use-the-talkback-feature/

[Bateman71]

When I speak to the online chat service at Google this is not the impression they give me at all. They tell me it works at their end and they just continually try to get you to use Gemini, which is even worse. There are people out there dictating emails via voice command and Google states that it can do this, but my experience is that their promises are from from reality.

[AndrewL]

@Bateman71: Is is absolutely possible to dictate emails with Voice to Text, and utilise options such as TalkBack to read the contents of the screen aloud, however this does also require some physical interactions with the tablet which might not be possible for your aunt. 

[Bateman71]

I spoke to a blind guy at a local association yesterday about his experience with using phones, tablets and computers, and what was clear from the off was that all of the blind people at this particular association use Apple products as they simply work better. He said that Google has more applications available, but that they just don't perform as well as the Apple stuff. It's a bit too late for me now as I have bought this Galaxy tablet, and to be fair, I'm not sure I would have shelled out for an ipad knowing that there's an 80% chance that my aunt will reject it within a short space of time anyway.

In saying this, he did have an Android machine that he was able to use, and what became very clear was that he uses tactile apps pretty much all the time, and that the voice controlled services are very, very limited in their scope. I'm very pleased to have learned this as I can now approach the machine in a different way, getting more involved with tools like Talk Back, etc.

[Bateman71]

Sorry, I forgot to say thanks @AndrewL , I appreciate the input from you 🙂