The Envision Glasses are designed in an audio-first way. None of the interactions require vision. Although, if you have some rest vision, you will be able to see a screen that is projected on the glass display in the front of the Envision Glasses.

 

This article explains the following:

• Screens
  • First Level: Main Menu
  • Second Level: Activate
  • Third Level: Context Menu
• Types of Gestures
  • Swipes
  • Taps
• On-Device Tutorials
  • Trainings
    • Smart Guidance Training
    • Gestures Introduction Training
    • Gestures Practise Training
  • Manuals
  • About Your Envision Glasses

 

Screens

The interface of the glasses consists of a series of screens. A screen is like a page and the content of each screen is always spoken out by our screen reader, informing you about where you are. You interact with the screens by using different gestures on the touchpad.

 

The interfaces of the glasses are designed essentially on four different levels, with each level consisting of a menu. Let’s go through them:

• First Level: Main Menu
• Second Level: Activate
• Third Level: Context Menu

 

First Level: Main Menu

After completing the Gestures Introduction Training on the Envision Glasses, you will end up on the Home screen. This is also the start of the main menu.

Each screen in this level represents a category of actions you can complete. You can scroll through the screens in this menu by doing a one-finger swipe forward and back. As you do a one-finger swipe forward from Home, you will find our most popular features: Instant Text, Scan Text, Call an Ally, Call an Aira agent, Describe Scene, Recognise Cash, Find Object, and Detect Light. At the end of the main menu, you will find a new sub-menu called More Features. This includes all other features, such as: Batch Scan, Find People, Explore, Scan QR Code and Detect Colors.

The sub-menus Help and Settings can now be found by doing a one-finger swiping back from Home.

When you double tap at any screen on the main feature menu, except for the Home screen, you will enter the second level, which in most cases, is where a certain feature is active and ready to perform. This is activated with a one-finger double tap on any feature from the main feature menu. If you select Instant Text, it will start reading out things to you, or, if you select Describe Scene it will go ahead and capture what’s in front of you. This is the only level where your camera is actually active and capturing. On all other levels, the camera is off.

 

Second Level: Activate

When you double tap at any screen on the main menu, except for the Home screen, you will enter the second level, which in most cases, is where a certain feature is active and ready to perform. This is activated with a one-finger double tap on any feature from the main menu. If you select Instant Text, it will start reading out things to you, or, if you select Describe Scene it will go ahead and capture what’s in front of you. This is the only level where your camera is actually active and capturing. On all other levels, the camera is off.

 

Third Level: Context Menu

The third and final level is the preferences level, where you will find the Context Menu. On the Context Menu, you can choose any additional option that exists for a feature and is activated by doing a two-finger single tap on that particular feature. One example is in the Instant Text feature: by doing a two-finger single tap, it will show you the preferences menu to enable or disable Offline Mode recognition.

 

Types of Gestures

The Envision Glasses menu is controlled by the gestures made on the touchpad. The touchpad is located towards the front of the body, on the side. It covers the area that goes from the fold of the body until the smaller part that sits on top of your right ear. During the Gestures Tutorial, the tutorial that is given when you pair your glasses for the first time, you will be able to discover where the touchpad is located. While you are in the menu, try to use the touchpad and see where it reacts to you tapping it. This will allow you to understand where the touchpad ends. You could also use the Gestures Training in the Help category to practice the gestures.

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There are two kinds of gestures that can be performed on the glasses: Swipes and Taps.

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Swipes

Swipes are mainly used to navigate through different screens and levels in the glasses and taps are used to interact with particular screens and features. There are five kinds of swipes:

 

1. One-finger swipe forward: A one-finger swipe forward is done by putting one finger at the back of the touchpad, near your ear, and moving it to the front while holding your finger on the touchpad. This gesture is used to navigate to the next item in the main, or feature, menu. It is also used in the settings screens to increase a value, such as the volume or speaking rate.‍
2. One-finger swipe back: A one-finger swipe back is done by doing the opposite gesture of a swipe forward. Put your finger at the front of the touchpad and move your finger to the back, towards your ear. This gesture is used to navigate to the previous screen in the main, or feature menu. It is also used in the settings screens to decrease a value.
3. One-finger swipe down: A one-finger swipe down is done by starting at the top edge of the touchpad and swiping gently down towards the ground. This gesture is used to exit a screen or go to the previous screen or menu. It can be compared to a back button on the smartphone.
4. Two-finger swipe down: A two-finger swipe down is done by starting at the top edge of the touchpad and swiping gently down towards the ground, with two fingers. This gesture allows you to go back to the Home screen from anywhere inside the Envision Glasses operating system. When doing a two-finger swipe down on the Home screen, your device will be set to Sleep Mode. A great tip for this gesture is to make sure that the middle finger and index finger are hooked at the same level, are 1 centimetre apart and that both fingertips are positioned on the touchpad before swiping all the way down.
5. Two-finger swipe up: A two-finger swipe-up is done by starting at the bottom edge of the touchpad and swiping gently upward towards the sky. This gesture can be used anywhere you are to open the volume shortcut and quickly access the volume settings. Keep in mind: the only screen on which this shortcut cannot be used is during a call with an Ally or an Aira agent. In this case, you can do a one-finger swipe forward and back to increase and decrease the volume. A great tip for this gesture is to make sure that the middle finger and index finger are hooked at the same level, are 1 centimetre apart and that both fingertips are positioned on the touchpad before swiping all the way up. We recommend that users hold the frame with their left hand when performing this gesture to lock the glasses to their nose bridge, which will allow them to comfortably swipe both fingers upwards. 

 

Taps

Now, let’s learn about tap gestures! These are mainly used to interact with particular screens and features and are of four types:

1. One-finger single tap: A one-finger single-tap is done by tapping with one finger on the touchpad. Put your finger on the touchpad and take it off. This gesture is used as a play/pause feature for the screenreader. Doing a one-finger single tap on any menu item will also speak out that screen again.
2. One-finger double tap: A one-finger double tap is done by doing two quick taps on the touchpad with one finger. This gesture is used when you want to activate or enter into a specific screen. By double-tapping with one finger on a feature screen, you will enter/activate the feature screen. This is similar to double-tapping with TalkBack or VoiceOver on your phone to activate something. In some cases, if the two taps are made very quickly, Envision Glasses will only pick up one tap. You can perform them with 1-2 seconds difference between the two taps.
3. One-finger tap and hold: The one-finger tap-and-hold gesture is done by placing one finger on the touchpad and leaving it on the touchpad for a second. When you tap and hold on any screen, it provides you with additional information and a description of what that menu, or feature, is. So if you are ever lost or unsure about how to use a feature, you can just tap and hold with one finger when you are on that feature. This gesture can be compared to a long-press or a force touch on the smartphone.
4. Two-finger single tap: A two-finger single tap gesture is done by tapping once with two fingers at the same time on the touchpad. This gesture is used to access more options for any feature that you are currently on. It can be compared to a right-click on a desktop or long-press on most smartphones. When you are on a feature, you will be able to access its options instead of navigating to the feature preferences menu.

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On-Device Tutorials

By doing a one-finger swipe back twice from the Home screen, you will find the sub-menu Help which contains the following options:

• Trainings
• Manuals
• About your Envision Glasses

 

Trainings

Smart Guidance Training 

The Smart Guidance Training is an area designed for you to understand how to position and hold a document in front of the camera and have it automatically captured. 

To access the Smart Guidance Training, follow these steps: 

Step 1: Navigate to Help in the main menu, do a one-finger double tap and go to Trainings. 

Step 2: Go to the Smart Guidance Training and do a one-finger double tap. 

Step 3: The screen reader will announce that the training is starting followed by a sound. After this, you can begin to practice positioning a document in front of the camera. Once you’re inside the training, you can do a one-finger swipe down to exit.

 

Gestures Introduction Training 

The Gestures Introduction Training that takes place during the Onboarding process of the Envision Glasses can also be found here. This training will introduce you to the touchpad and swipe and tap gestures. 

To access the Gestures Introduction Training, follow these steps: 

Step 1: Navigate to Help in the main menu, do a one-finger double tap and go to Trainings.

Step 2: Go to the Gestures Introduction Training and do a one-finger double-tap.

Step 3: The screen reader will announce that the tutorial is starting followed by a sound. After this, you can begin to learn about the gestures.

Step 4: To exit the Gestures Introduction Training do a two-finger swipe down. 

 

Gestures Practise Training

The Gestures Practise Training is an area to practice gestures of the Envision Glasses. Here, any gesture you try will be spoken out and described by the glasses. Not sure what a two-finger single tap does? Simply enter this training and try it for yourself. 

To access the Gestures Practise Training, follow these steps: 

Step 1: Navigate to Help in the main menu, do a one-finger double tap and go to Trainings.

Step 2: Go to the Gestures Practise Training and do a one-finger double-tap. 

Step 3: The screen reader will announce that the training is starting followed by a sound. After this, you can begin to try gestures. 

Step 4: To exit the Gestures Practise Training, do a two-finger swipe down. The available gestures are as follows: swipe forward, swipe back, swipe down, single tap, double-tap, two-finger single tap and tap and hold. 

 

Manuals 

The Manuals provide an explanation of all the features of the Envision Glasses. This explanation includes when you can use the different functionalities, helping you to get the most out of your Envision Glasses. Whenever you forget what a feature does or how it works and what you need to do to use it, you can refer to this section for more details.

 

About your Envision Glasses

This option will simply let you know what software version your Envision Glasses are running, the serial number, MAC address, Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and the option to reset your glasses to factory settings. 

 

For more information about each feature, see Instant Text, Scan Text, Batch Scan, Call An Ally, Describe Scene, Detect Light, Recognise Cash, Detect Colors, Find Objects, Find People  and Explore