Updated May 2024 for Android Devices 

Hable One Android Manual

This guide will take you through all the functionalities of the Hable One. First, it explains how to get started and set up your Hable One correctly. Then it describes how to navigate, type, and edit texts on your phone and finally how the Hable menu works.

This guide is intended for new users, friends, and family, or technology trainers. You can reach out to support@iamhable.com for queries or questions. Find the files to download at the end of this page.

Here you can find an overview of the different chapters:

  1. Setting up for the first time
  2. Operating the phone
  3. Typing
  4. Editing text
  5. Shortcuts
  6. Working with the Hable Menu
You can set your own pace based on how fast or slow you get through the document. For complete beginners, we recommend that you work through one chapter every day.
Have fun with this starter guide!

 

1 First-time set-up

This video explains in full what the Hable One is. With the help of this beginner's guide, you will be able to use the controller quickly. This guide covers how to use the Hable with TalkBack settings switched on. To use Hable with the TalkBack setting switched off, please contact Hable. TalkBack provides audio feedback while using the Hable One. First, we will explain how to hold, set up, and use the Hable One.

 

What’s in the box

In the box you will find the following:
  • The Hable One controller
  • Braille card with link to online manuals
  • USB C charging cable
  • Lanyard strap for your wrist
  • Warranty and Safety document

Holding the Hable One

The Hable One has one flat side and one side with buttons. Furthermore, there is a power slider on the top side of the Hable One. When the power slider is facing the ceiling and the side with the buttons is pointing away from you, you can turn the Hable One on by sliding the power slider to the right. On the bottom of the Hable, there is a charging port.

On the bottom right of the Hable One, there is a place to attach the lanyard, which is also included in the box. When using the Hable One, hold the controller in the air with both hands; do not place it on a table or desk. If you prefer to lay it down, you can, but we recommend you change the button settings. See the Hable Menu section on how to do this. Make sure the power slider is facing the ceiling. The flat backside should point toward you, this way the buttons will automatically point away from you.

Hold the controller with both hands.

You do this by wrapping your hands around the short side of the Hable One. Once done correctly, your index, middle, and ring fingers will fall on the six braille buttons or dots. Note that the buttons point away from you, and you press them towards you. From now on, each button is indicated by numbers. The six small buttons are numbered like a braille cell.

The three buttons in your left hand are numbered one, two, and three, with button one being closest to the power slider and button three being furthest away. The three buttons on your right hand are numbered four, five, and six, with button four being closest to the power slider and button six being furthest away. Place the left-hand index finger, the middle finger, and the ring finger on buttons one, two, and three respectively. Place the right-hand index, middle, and ring fingers on the four, five, and six buttons respectively.

There are two longer buttons, which are the function buttons. On the left side of your left index finger, you will find button seven. On the right side of your right index finger, you will find button eight.

First time connecting to the phone

Make sure that TalkBack is enabled on your phone. To do this go to your phone settings > Accessibility > TalkBack > Turn on TalkBack or use the accessibility shortcut to enable it.

Charging the Hable One

When the Hable One is out of battery, you can charge it with the cable that you received in the box. When it is fully empty it takes four to five hours to charge it completely. The charging port is on the bottom side of the Hable One. When the charger is connected, there will be 3 short vibrations.

Bluetooth

The Hable One pairs using Bluetooth. To pair the Hable One with your smartphone, go to settings on your phone then turn on Bluetooth. You can also use Siri to turn on Bluetooth. The next step is to switch Hable on.
When you hold the device in the correct position, you turn the Hable One on by sliding the slide switch to the right. The Hable One will vibrate twice when it is switched on. This indicates that the device is charged and ready to use. The next step is to pair the Hable with the phone.
Look for the name of the controller "Hable One", in the list of more devices. Once you have found the device name, double-click to start pairing. If the controller is not visible, try turning the Hable One off and on again. If the pairing is successful, the Hable One will vibrate to indicate that it is connected. The Hable One is now ready to use.

Smartphone mode

The first time your Hable One connects to your phone, it automatically recognizes whether it is in iOS or Android mode. If you have previously paired it with an Android phone, you can change the mode manually. To find out how to do this, go to the Hable Menu section in this manual.

Language

The Hable One can be set to several languages. Before we send the Hable One to you, we already set it to the right language for you. If you want to know how to change the language, please check the Hable Menu section of the user manual.

2 Basic functions

Navigating the phone with the Hable One is easy to learn. In this section, you will learn the basics on how to move through your phone. You can go to the next and previous item, select an item, and move to the home screen. This section covers the basic functions. For more functions refer to the all functions guide or check the end of this document.

Some functions will follow. Also, a short explanation will be given on how to perform them on the Hable One and an example of where you would use it:

Move to next item

Hold 7 and press 8

When you are on the home screen and want to navigate from one app to the next app. You can navigate between items even within an app using this function.

 

Move to previous item

Hold 8 and press 7
When you are on the home screen and want to navigate from one app to the previous app.

 

Select an item

Press 7 and 8
To open an app once the focus is on the icon.

 

Home screen shortcut

Hold 1,2 and 5 (Same as the braille letter ‘h’)
When you want to exit the application you are on and want to go to the home screen directly.

In case any problems occur while using the Hable One, you can consult the problem-solving guide for a solution.

 

3 Typing

Typing is one of the most important functions of the Hable One. Typing works the same as with other braille input devices. In case you are not familiar with the braille alphabet yet, the Hable One braille manual will be helpful for you. Let us begin.

 

Typing letters

Same as Braille - So, when you press button 1, you write the letter 'a'. Buttons 1 and 2 give the letter 'b', Buttons 1 and 4 give 'c', and so on. See also the Braille manual.

 

Typing contractions

Same as Braille – You enable or disable contractions by holding 1,2,4 and 5 (these combinations of buttons are the same as the braille letter ‘g’).

 

Dictation

Hold 2
By holding 2 you activate the dictation function. When you are done dictating, hold 2 again.

 

Space

Press 8

 

Backspace

Press 7

 

Enter

Press 1 and 8

 

Shift enter (or new line)

Press 2 and 8
Note that in message apps, Shift-Enter creates a new line, whilst Enter sends the message.

 

Numbers

Press 3,4,5,6 first. This is to create a distinction between typing letters and numbers. Then, button 1 on the Hable One gives the number one. Button 1 and 2 give number two and so on. You might notice, these are in the same order as alphabets. To go back to typing alphabets, press button 8 for space and continue.

 

Capitals

Press 6 first, followed by the letter you want to type. This works the same as the shift key on your keyboard, so the character after the capital letter will automatically be lowercase. Note that the capital sign might be different per language. Pressing 6 twice activates Caps for the coming word. Pressing 6 three times activates CapsLock and is deactivated by pressing Enter.

 

4 Text editing

Making text editing easier is one of the most important functions of the Hable One. With the basic functions of text editing, you can browse through your written texts, and erase, and replace characters or words. You can also start new lines.

 

Functions, how to perform them on the Hable One, and an example of where you would use it:

  • Move the cursor to the next character: Hold 7 and press 4

In the word “Hable”, if you want the cursor to go from the letter ‘H’ to ‘a’

  • Move the cursor to the previous character: Hold 4 and press 7

In the word “Hable”, if you want the cursor to go from the letter ‘a’ to ‘H’

For the above two functions, it is important to remember that TalkBack reads out the character that the insertion point goes past.

  • Go to the next word: Hold 7 and press 5.
  • Go to the previous word: Hold 5 and press 7
  • Backspace: Press 7
  • New line: Press 1 and 8 (Wherever you would use the enter key on your keyboard)
  • Shift enter: Press 2 and 8
  • Reading line
    • Next reading line setting: Hold 7 and press 5 and 6
    • Previous reading line setting: Hold 5 and 6 and Press 7
    • Next item in reading line: Hold 7 and press 6
    • Previous item in reading line: Hold 6 and press 7

 

For text editing, there are a few tricks to remember the button combinations more easily. All text editing is built around button 7 for your left hand and buttons 4,5 and 6 for your right hand. In addition, all actions are mirrored, so if you know how to go forward, you can figure out how to go back.

For example, you can move to the next character by holding down button 7 and pressing button 4 once. To go back to one character, hold down key 4 and press key 7 once.

 

Shortcuts

The Hable One uses several shortcut keys to quickly navigate through the phone. Most of these shortcuts are easy to remember with some tricks. As you read through this chapter, we recommend that you use the shortcuts as you read them. Some of these shortcuts you may have learned in previous chapters, but it is helpful to repeat them. Let's get started!

 

Functions, how to perform them on the Hable One, and an example of where you would use it:

  • Pause reading: Hold 1
    • When you want TalkBack to stop reading a text. If you hold 1 again, TalkBack starts reading again.
  • Two-finger double tap (or magic touch): Hold 3
    • This function can be used for various things including: Picking up the phone, hanging up the phone, pausing or playing music, and pausing and playing videos.
  • Notifications: Hold 1,3,4 and 5
    • When you want an overview of the messages you have received without opening them. Same as the braille letter ‘n’.
  • Status bar: Hold 2,3 and 4
    • If you want a quick scan of the time, WiFi status, etc. Same as the braille letter ‘s’.
  • Control centre: Hold 2, 4 and 5
    • The Control center is a small menu that gives access to some important, much-used functions. Examples are the flashlight, the Wifi, and the Bluetooth settings. Which settings are in here exactly is dependent on the phone and preferences. The control center can always be opened and closed by pressing 2,4 and 5.
  • Move to the top of the screen: Hold 1,2 and 3
    • Navigate to the first clickable item on the screen
  • Move to the bottom of the screen: Hold 4,5 and 6
    • Navigate to the last clickable item on the screen
  • Back: Hold 1 and 2
    • When you want to return to the last page you were on. Same as the braille letter ‘b’.
  • Mute TalkBack: Hold 1,3 and 4
    • Hold again to turn it on again
  • Activating Google Assitant: Hold 1, 4 and 5
    • To open an app with voice command. Please note that these functions only work if you have Google Assistant enabled in your settings. If there are any problems with this function, please go to the troubleshooting guide. Same as the Braille letter ‘d’.

 

5 Hable Menu

In the Hable Menu, you can change the device settings, change the button layout, or check the battery status. Please note that every time you open the Hable menu and perform an action, you automatically leave the Hable menu. So, if you want to perform a new action, you must first press and hold button 1,2,3,4,5,6 again.

  • Hable settings menu: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 to enter the hable menu.
    • 4 vibrations will indicate a hable menu. Hable will exit the menu once you pick an option from the menu.
  • ABAE settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,3,6
    • Is part of language group 1.
  • Android system: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1 to activate settings for android. YouTube Tutorial Link
  • Battery status: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 3,6. 3 vibrations mean full charge and 1 vibration means low charge.
  • Belgium country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 12. YouTube Tutorial Link
  • Braille dot settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,3,4,6.
    • Dots 1 and 3 will switch meaning. Dots 4 and 6 will switch meaning. Repeat to switch again.
  • Finnish country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,4 Is part of language group 2. YouTube Tutorial Link
  • France country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,2,4
  • Germany country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,2,4,5
  • Icelandic country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,2,3
  • iPhone and iPad system: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 2. YouTube Tutorial Link
  • Long press delay or vibration length: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,2,3
    • Repeat the action to change the settings. 4 vibrations is the longest duration while 1 vibration is the shortest. YouTube Tutorial Link
  • Netherlands country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,4,5
  • Spanish country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 2,3,4. YouTube Tutorial Link
  • UEB settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,5

Congratulations! You have now reached the end of this getting started guide. We now recommend that you use the functions manual to look up specific and more advanced functions. If you feel like you need further help, feel free to contact us at support@iamhable.com.

This is the end of the beginner’s guide. For your convenience, we have included more relevant information. On the next page, the functions guide starts. Here you will find all the functions of the Hable One.

On behalf of the entire Hable Team, good luck with your Hable One!

 

 

 

Navigating Android with Hable (Updated May 2024 for Android)

This is a quick overview of all the functions the Hable One can perform. To get some more detailed explanations of Hable One please head over to the training guides. You can navigate through the headings to find exactly what you’re looking for. Make use of the Search in document function by holding 1,2,4,5,6 and entering text. Hold 2,6 to scroll search results. Now, the Hable guides come equipped with YouTube tutorials with every function. To find all the videos in one place head over to the Hable playlist on YouTube.

  • Backspace word: Press 5,7
  • Character next: Hold 7 and press 4 Character previous: Hold 4 and press 7 Close tab: Hold 2,3,5
  • Copy selected text: Hold 1,4
  • Cut selected text: Hold 1,3,4,6
  • Delete: Press 7
  • Find in document: Hold 1,2,4,5,6
  • First item on screen: Hold 1,2,3
  • Format text bold: Hold 1,2,8
  • Format text italics: Hold 1,3,8
  • Google now: Hold 1,4,5
  • Homescreen: Hold 1,2,5
  • Item next: Hold 7 and press 8
  • Item previous: Hold 8 and press 7
  • Last item on screen: Hold 4,5,6
  • Line begin: Hold 1,4,5,6
  • Line end: Hold 3,4,5,6
  • Lock screen: Hold 2,5
  • Long press item: Hold 3,8
  • Mute Phone: Hold 1,3,4
  • New: Hold 2,3,4,5,6
  • New line: Press (not hold) 2,8 in notes or messages New tab: Hold 2,5,6
  • Notifications: Hold 1,3,4,5
  • Open browser: First hold 2 and then hold 1,2
  • Open calculator: First hold 2 and then hold 1
  • Open calendar: First hold 2 and then hold 1,2,3 Open contacts: First press 2 and then press 1,4 Open email: First press 2 and then press 1,5
  • Open maps: First press 2 and then press 1,3,4
  • Open messages: First press 2 and then press 2,3,4
  • Open music: First press 2 and then press 1,2,3,4
  • Page down: Hold 3,5,6
  • Page up: Hold 2,3,6
  • Paste: Hold 1,2,3,6
  • Pause reading: Hold 1
  • Pick up or hang up call: Hold 3
  • Play pause: Hold 1,2,3,4
  • Print: Hold 1,2,3,4,8
  • Read from next: Hold 1,2,3,5
  • Read from top: Hold 2,4,5,6
  • Reading control next: Hold 7 and press 5,6
  • Reading control next: First hold 7 and then press 6
  • Reading control previous: First hold 5,6 and then press 7
  • Reading control previous: First hold 6 and then press 7
  • Recent apps: Hold 2,3
    • If the focus is not on app. First go to homescreen and try holding dots 2 3. To close an app press dots 1 4 5 6 when the cursor is focused on the app you want to close in the app switcher.
  • Redo: Hold 1,3,4,5,6
  • Screenshot: Hold 3,6
  • Search screen: Hold 1,2,4
  • Select all: Hold 2,3,5,6
    • Select character left: First hold 4,5 and then press 7 Select character right: First hold 7 and then press 4,5 Select item: Press 7,8
  • Show actions: Hold 1,6
  • Space: Hold 8
  • Status bar: Hold 2,3,4
  • Switch keyboard: Hold 1,5,6
  • Tab backward: Hold 1,2,5,6
  • Tab forward: Hold 2,3,4,5
  • Talkback menu: Hold 2,4 or 1 and 3
  • Talkback on or off: Hold 1,2,3,8, does not work on all phones Underline: Hold 2,3,8
  • Undo: Hold 1,3,5,6 Volume down: Hold 1,2,6
  • Volume up: Hold 2,3,5
  • Word next: Hold 7 and press 5 Word previous: Hold 5 and press 7 Android menu: Hold 1,3

 

Hable Menu

  • ABAE settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,3,6
    • Is part of language group 1.
  • Android system: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1 to activate settings for android.YouTube Tutorial Link
  • Battery status: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 3,6. 3 vibrations mean full charge and 1 vibration means low charge.
  • Belgium country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 12 to activate settings for iPhone. YouTube Tutorial Link
  • Braille dot settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,3,4,6.
    • Dots 1 and 3 will switch meaning. Dots 4 and 6 will switch meaning. Repeat to switch again.
  • Finnish country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,4 Is part of language group 2. YouTube Tutorial Link
  • France country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,2,4
  • Germany country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,2,4,5
  • Hable settings menu: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 to enter the hable menu.
    • 4 vibrations will indicate a hable menu. Hable will exit the menu once you pick an option from the menu.
  • Icelandic country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,2,3
  • iPhone and iPad system: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 2. YouTube Tutorial Link
  • Long press delay or vibration length: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,2,3
    • Repeat the action to change the settings. 4 vibrations are the longest duration while 1 vibration is the shortest. YouTube Tutorial Link
  • Netherlands country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,4,5
  • Spanish country settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 2,3,4. YouTube Tutorial Link
  • UEB settings: Hold 1,2,3,4,5,6 and then hold 1,5 Is part of language groups 1 and 2. YouTube Tutorial Link

English