Intelligent Text To Speech Support in Augmented SmartWatch Pro (updated for 8.3.5+)

This trial version of Augmented SmartWatch Pro (ASP) now support Intelligent Text to Speech (TTS) Support. Here is the paid version of the app.

TTS Use cases supported  (can be configured in settings):

• Always – TTS is either on or off for all alerts (notifications are spoken out);
• Display Off – notifications are spoken only if the phone display is off; In 8.3.5+ there is an option to speak alerts if the screen has been on for > 2 minutes. The use case is watching videos. This option is disabled by default.
• Headset Specific – notifications are spoken only when a specific bluetooth headset is connected (ideal for automatically enabling headsets used for running +/or specific situations);
  • 8.3.0 Enhancement- if upside down and lying flat then TTS is suppressed. This could be useful if on a phone call or just want to temporarily suppress alerts. This is configurable (default is false)
• Lie Flat –  Notifications are spoken if the phone is lying flat and display facing up (or down – this is now configurable in ASP settings). Note if  TTS output has started you can lift the phone to stop the TTS output – very useful feature.
• In 8.3.5+, Charging on a stand – Notifications are spoken if the phone is charging AND in an upright position (on a stand). This is enabled in settings. Note if the TTS output has started for the alert, you can unplug the phone or more it to stop the TTS output.

Note the above is listed in priority order to determine if to speak the alert:

For example, if the display is on and the phone is lying flat then alerts are not spoken (as the display is not off).

In addition there are several additional (configurable) options:

1. The ability to play a built in “Earcon” prior to the notification;
2. The ability to pre-pend the first name of the sender to the message of the notification;
3. The relative volume of the notification (low, medium or high) – separate settings for speak and connected headset;

How to Enable – Augmented SmartWatch Pro Settings:

1. Enable Notification Access for Augmented in Android Settings (Lock Screen and Security->Other Security Settings->Notification Access)

2. Enable TTS in Augmented Settings: (Tap on Text To Speech Options -> set Enable TTS to on): A summary of all options are shown below:

3. Option to enable TTS under specific conditions:

• To emit TTS only when the phone screen is off. “TTS only when screen is off”. This has priority over the other settings.
• To emit TTS only when a specific bluetooth headset is connected to the phone (the name of the bluetooth headset must be provided in either the “bluetooth headset name” or “bluetooth headset Name 2”) and the “Specific Bluetooth headset” must be enabled. Note the name is case-sensitive. This has priority over the lie flat setting. Hote if the Silence if upside down option is enabled then alerts are not emitted if the phone is lying flat but screen is facing down;
•        To emit TTS only when the phone is lying flat and the display is facing up. Note if an alert is being spoken and you raise the phone up (or turn the phone over),    this will stop the rest of the alert from being spoken.

3. Enable which apps to emit as TTS their alerts. Augmented is a proxy for any 3rd party application. When you enable in Augmented, Augmented intercepts the notification and emits it as TTS (whereas the original app would not). There are two areas to enable these apps: a) Optimized Notification Options and b) All other notifications. Try to enable in Optimized first as Augmented will tweak the notifications to be more readable (e.g. whatsapp, email).

Advanced Features:

• Augmented Engine (AI) to learn which notifications (sender/subject) are important to you;
• Intelligent Quiet Time – can set different quiet time start/stop for weekend vs weekdays. Also an option to enable (in addition to time) if and only if power is connected (i.e. quiet time enable when connected to power during time period specified)
• Global Filters – ability to suppress alerts based on sender and subject content (4 filters each provided)
• High Priority Senders – ability to define 4 senders that can override quiet time and have custom vibration patterns based on sender (and not the app).
• Intent API interface (for support via Tasker, etc). More info here.
• Support for S8/S8+ Edge Notifications and Android Wear with an optional support for the Minimal and Elegant Watchface.