What is Amóvil?

Amóvil is an initiative led by the ONCE Foundation and developed by ILUNION Technology and Accessibility that aims to help people with special needs identify accessible mobile devices that are compatible with available assistive technologies and that suit their preferences and needs. It is an interactive website that also offers information on mobile applications that comply with Universal Accessibility and Design for All requirements. In addition, Amóvil offers news and general information on accessibility to ICTs and promotes the active participation of experts, users, manufacturers as well as telephone/wireless service providers in the project.

The Amovil project is the result of the master thesis titled “An Experimental Study for the Identification and Comparison of Accessible and User Friendly Mobile Technology” promoted by ONCE Foundation and co-financed by Plan Avanza. It was presented at Universidad Nacional a Distancia (UNED) by Lourdes González Perea and Soledad Clemente Izquierdo, both ILUNION Technology and Accessibility's employees, the company which has taken charge of the project’s development.

The project’s specific objectives are:

  • To develop a methodology that enables a comparative analysis of the diverse accessibility and usability features and assistive technologies present in mobile devices (operative systems, hardware components, communication software, user interfaces) as well as the main access services to information society they render.
  • To test a large number of mobile devices sold in Spain and available assistive and web-based client applications for accessibility and usability compliance.
  • To design an expert wizard for the search, selection and configuration of mobile devices, compatible assistive technologies, and access services to information society rendered by mobile operators that accommodate the needs users.
  • To generate knowledge and raise awareness about the importance of accessibility to mobile technology by creating an interactive Web 2.0 network.
  • To establish a collaboration network comprising accessibility experts that constantly updates the features offered by mobiles sold in Spain in order to ensure the project’s sustainability.
  • To raise awareness among phone manufacturers, operators and distributors about the need of access to the information society of people with disabilities, by making them part of this project.

A set of collaboration guidelines has been established, which are already available for review.

As a part of the Amóvil project, Fundacion ONCE has made available to all users the Accessible and User Friendly Mobile Technology Design White Paper that aims to provide a set of guidelines to develop accessible mobile devices that are also easy to use.

The White Paper is already available for downloading from Amóvil’s blog site.