As the world marked the Global Accessibility Awareness Day on May 16th, Samsung has emerged as one of the leading corporates keen and also deliberate about developing technology that is accessible to everyone.
Technology that is accessible to everyone means one that is fit for purpose by users of all abilities. Our needs and priorities are highly personal, changing throughout our lives – accessibility reflects these individual nuances, ensuring convenience for as many as possible.
Samsung Electronics creates technology that is accessible and easy-to-use for customers, regardless of their age, race, gender, or ability. When creating a product, there’s one simple principle that Samsung follows without fail – it ensures that the device is accessible to everyone including those visually impaired, with physical disabilities as well as children and the elderly.
There are several examples to support this. Let’s start with a device we use every day: the smartphone. Visually impaired people might have trouble locating buttons, turning the device on, opening apps, selecting options just to name a few. However, Galaxy smartphones are equipped with a Screen Reader Voice assistant so users can receive audio guidance and use simple gestures to help them navigate without needing to see the screen.
Second, Samsung’s AI platform, Bixby can also help people that are visually impaired. When sending messages, they can simply press the Bixby Key and indicate what they want to say then Bixby transcribes the words into text. Additionally, the One UI was carefully designed to help all smartphone users see everything they need to, allowing them to: enlarge and bold any font, with content scaled accordingly, increase brightness and contrast across the screen to enhance visibility and readability.
Third, the control panels on Samsung home appliances are positioned at a height of 360-1200mm to ensure accessibility for wheelchair users. The company has also ensured that its refrigerators and kitchen appliances meet the same standards and aims to expand this initiative to other products in the future. Also, when designing refrigerators, Samsung ensures content and controls displayed on the refrigerators with built-in screens may be easily lowered or raised to suit users’ needs, including children.
Lastly, Samsung TVs offer a variety of accessibility features that help ensure nobody misses a moment. The Multi-output Audio function can connect the TV to more than one audio device. This means that the hard of hearing can connect the TV to their very own Bluetooth headset. The TVs also offer features for people with low vision. Moreover, the Voice Guide helps users navigate the channels, functions and settings, high contract mode displays all menus with maximum contrast and visibility of text and Learn Remote Control assists users in memorizing the position and function of individual buttons on their remote controls.
Viewers can also adjust the position of subtitles, helping the, to focus on the words and creating a more comfortable viewing experience.
To ensure that their products are easy to use by people of all abilities, Samsung will continue to develop technology that is accessible to everyone
