Huawei’s latest flagship, the Ascend P7, is an affordable Smartphone equipped with some interesting state of the art features. This device includes a few accessibility improvements but also several barriers. It can be suitable for blind or deaf people as well as for those with poor dexterity skills. Amóvil was able to review this device thanks to a loan by Orange.

The handset runs on Android 4.4.2 (Kit Kat), and features a perfectly rectangular and elegant design that includes a rounded silver power button that reminds Sony’s Xperia models. It also measures 139.5 x 68.8 x 6.5 mm and is very lightweight. In fact, at 124 grams it is actually one of the lightest devices currently in the market.

The phone is equipped with a 5-inch IPS LCD display with 1080x1920 resolution protected by a panel of Corning Gorilla Glass. It also includes a primary 13 megapixels camera with autofocus and flash LED, and an 8 megapixels secondary camera for videocalls.

This device allows internet connection via wi-fi, supports Bluetooth and is NFC-enabled. It is also compatible with 4G data network.

Accessibility review

Vision

The Ascend P7 is suitable for blind users. TalkBack, the screen reader for Android, reads out loud the visual content available. However, a minor problem worth mentioning was detected. If the text of an icon includes abbreviations, the screen reader will read it as it is. It will not convert them into words.

People with low vision may have difficulties using this handset. Although it comes with an inbuilt screen magnifier, the option to change the size of the text may be insufficient. It only works in the Settings menu, email and the phonebook. In addition, it does not include a high contrast color scheme, and inverting foreground and background colors is not possible in this device.

Hearing

There is no information available on the Hearing Aid Compatibility Rating of the Ascend P7. Hearing aid users may be able listen to phone calls with their hearing devices in the M mode although there may be some interference. To use it in the T-coil mode a compatible loopset is required.

This handset support instant messaging and videocalls.

Dexterity

People with poor dexterity skills may be able to use the Ascend P7 with some comfort. Besides being lightweight and easy to grip, it comes with cable slots that are easy to manipulate.

In addition, it includes an inbuilt voice recognition system that works very well. This tool not only opens menus with voice commands, but also informs the user if it is unable to execute an action and why.

However, we are still unable to recommend this device to users with very little or no dexterity skills. The functions of the side buttons cannot be reproduced from the display, so they will be unable to navigate this smartphone using assistive devices such as styluses, mouthsticks or headwands.

Comprehension

The Ascend P7 is unsuitable to people with limited comprehension skills. It includes customized icons that are hard to identify and that do not comply with accessibility standards.

However, a feature that may improve the experience of these users is that help information is rather easy to understand. When the user access an interface or a menu for the first time a message containing a brief explanation on what to do and how to do it is launched.

For more information about the accessibility features in the Ascend P7, please consult the full accessibility report available in Amóvil.