I really like that so many voices are possible. This is going to help the learning process for sure. I don’t need speech myself, but I do use it for long things like newsletters and to proofread.
It’s kind of amazing if you proof first with speech and later with Braille how many errors you catch as each mode is a bit different.
However, there’s some weirdness with speech. If I do the G-chord for “read all” it works sometimes and other times not. It might read two or three paragraphs and stop, or just a couple of lines. Or it might work for several minutes, then stop. I do understands it starts at the current focus or cursor location.
I’ve noticed this behavior with Ecosia, Victor Reader, KeyWord and the user guide.
Also often when I pan forward, it begins to read what was previously on the Braille display.
I think it should sync better with the Braille display, something it does reliably in menus. The idea is that the ten or eight or six lines on the display should be read out loud automatically, unless of course it’s been toggled off. And the G-chord should read from the current focus forward until a keypress stops it, regardless of how panning is working.
There could also be a “Say this” keystroke which could be useful for learning Braille. You’d point to a word, and it would speak that word but otherwise remain silent. I’ve read Braille since I was five, but occasionally I don’t recognize some UEB punctuation, so being able to put my finger on the unfamiliar mark and it the “say this” key could be super useful, and faster than having to look it up. It’s actually tedious to look up a UEB symbol.
And the “say this” keystroke could also spell for example clearly speak the current word and attached punctuation, paus and spell it phonetically, repeating the punctuation.
To amplify on this for mastering Braille, a key describer app would be great too, you’d hit a key and it would tell you what it is: “Dot 1, the letter A, pressed with Space, move back a line, pressed with backspace, perform current action in file manager, pressed with enter …”