The Google Chrome browser for Android introduces a preview of its innovative Speak This Page feature, enhancing user accessibility. To access this functionality, users must install the beta version of the browser and enable a specific option within the experimental features.
Activation and Navigation
To activate the “Speak this page” feature, navigate to “chrome://flags/#read-aloud,” enable the option, and restart the browser. Following this, a new item will appear in the drop-down menu accessed by clicking the three-dot icon.
Enhanced User Experience
Upon activating “Speak This Page,” a user-friendly mini-player emerges within the browser. This compact player features a round play and pause button, the page title, site name, a timeline indicating material duration, and navigation buttons for forward and backward. Users can also adjust playback speed between 0.5x and 4x. An additional option, “Text highlighting and autoscrolling,” automatically scrolls the page and highlights the current text being read.
Seamless Integration
The mini-player remains pinned even when opening other tabs, providing uninterrupted playback. While playback persists when the device is locked, it pauses when the browser is closed or switched to another application. NIXsolutions notes that the experimental option is available in the public version of Chrome 120, but the Speak This Page menu only appears in Chrome 121, which is currently in beta.