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Help HTC Sense UI Browser vs Stock Android Browser. Different Pinch-To-Zoom Behavior.

pingpongboss

Android Enthusiast
Apr 19, 2010
541
278
Update (11/7): Calkulin has made a mod for the Evo! http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=785271

Update: An XDA dev has made a permanent solution for Desire froyo ROMs. If anyone's interested you can follow his thread to see if it'll work on an Evo. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=786290

Update: A commenter on my Youtube video has found a fix!
I was able to disable this annoying zooming behavior on my HTC Incredible with stock Android 2.2/Sense. Here are the steps I went through: Enable debugging options by typing "about:debug" into browser address bar. Then go to Menu > More > Settings. Scroll down to settings under "debug" heading. You should see the option "Enable GEP zoom", and it will be turned off. Turning it on will give you the Google zooming behavior.
Presumably the fix only works if you have Froyo 2.2
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How many of you guys noticed this? Pinch-to-zoom on the HTC Evo 4G's browser behaves differently than on a stock Android browser. It's driving me crazy!

Evo Browser's pinch-to-zoom causes all the text on the screen to move around. Take a look at this short 20 second video of how the HTC Sense UI's browser and how the Stock Android Browser does pinch-to-zoom:
YouTube - Pinch to Zoom: HTC Sense UI Browser vs Stock Android Browser

To see more of what I mean, watch this longer video
YouTube - HTC Sense UI Browser vs Stock Android Browser

Basically, pinch-to-zoom is recalculating the layout on the Evo, while the layout is unchanged in the stock Android browser. The double-tap-to-zoom behavior are the same, and depends on what you set in your Settings.

Anyone know how we can get the stock Android browser's pinch-to-zoom behavior? Dolphin Browser HD has the same problem on the Evo but not on the Droid. It's using the underlying browser for rendering I'm guessing.

I think I should clarify this thread: If you've never used a phone with a stock Android browser before, you will most likely not see Evo's pinch-to-zoom auto-fit behavior as an issue. And you will believe very strongly that this is a feature. It's nice that you guys are coming out and letting us know how you feel, but ignorance is bliss. You guys have never used a browser that does auto-fit correctly, so you think i'm just crying about nothing. What I would like is a browser on the Evo that behaves like a stock Android browser. And I think it's possible if someone was able to just port over the Android 2.1 Browser.apk file to the Evo. But this thread has turned into an argument on whether people feel that this is an issue, so that may be already too late.
 
I actually liked the way the evo adjusted the text to fit on the page when zoomed. Especially on wide forums because I always had zoom issues fitting certain pages on the iPhone.

The double tap zoom though, has a lot to be desired. iPhone double tap zoom was great.

I disagree. With the stock Android browser, you use pinch-to-zoom to get to the correct zoom level, and then if you want to restructure the layout to fit the text, you just double-tap. The final double-tap doesn't change the zoom level. However, with the HTC Sense UI browser, you don't have the option of a pinch-to-zoom that retains the layout. For example, if you wanted to zoom into this bold word, you would pinch to zoom, but when you let go, the layout restructuring might move it to another part of the page. This happens to me a lot when I'm hunting for small links.

agree, also there is no such thing as "HTC browser" :p

Haha of course there is! I'm assuming you don't own an Android device that has the stock Android (non-HTC sense) browser. One thing that's different is the URL bar. When you click it to enter text inside, it leaves the http:// part un-highlited and the rest of the old URL is highlighted. But with the stock Android browser, the entire old URL is gone. And that's only one of the differences.
 
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Dolphin browser > settings > system settings > unchecked 'auto-fit pages'

I turned it off and zooming in does not reformat text.

I wish it was that easy! The problem with that is, sometimes you WANT double-tap to auto-fit the layout for you. For example when you're reading a long article, and you'd like to zoom in a bit. When you uncheck 'auto-fit pages', you end up with half the text outside of the screen area.

However, you don't want to auto-fit ALL the time. Especially in the scenario that I use in the 20 second short video.

The stock Android browser: Auto-fits when you double tap, but doesn't auto-fit when you pinch-to-zoom. I'd like to see that on the Evo.
 
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Are you saying that your pinch-to-zoom does NOT affect the layout of the page? Or do you mean you personally don't MIND the behavior.


Reformatting the page is what it's supposed to do. It's not a big deal if you have to do one small flick to get the link back on the page. I believe that this is being picky as all hell. :-\
 
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My pinch to zoom works great in the sense browser. What ever text is in the center of my pinch is what is centered on the screen after the pinch zoom. In the video the OP posted HTC Hero ink is above his index finger. Why would anyone expect something above the focal point of the zoom to be the center of the zoom. If he was using a magnifing glass would he expect the link to be in focus if the center of the magnifing glass was centered and inch lower.
 
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Reformatting the page is what it's supposed to do. It's not a big deal if you have to do one small flick to get the link back on the page. I believe that this is being picky as all hell. :-\

You're right it's not that big of a deal. But it is a problem for me and I'd like to control when the browser reformats the page. And to think the stock Android browser did it perfectly.

I can understand what the OP is saying that he wants to have a choice between auto fit or not. For me I think its only a minor problem. Yeah when you pinch zoom it doesn't go exactly where you want, but what you want to see can't be that far away from where you're zooming in.

Yes, I'd like to have the choice and control.

My pinch to zoom works great in the sense browser. What ever text is in the center of my pinch is what is centered on the screen after the pinch zoom. In the video the OP posted HTC Hero ink is above his index finger. Why would anyone expect something above the focal point of the zoom to be the center of the zoom. If he was using a magnifing glass would he expect the link to be in focus if the center of the magnifing glass was centered and inch lower.

I'm NOT expecting that to be in the center of the zoom! I just expect it to stay where it is (at the edge of the screen) when I lift my fingers. The question should be, why would you want to constrain yourself like that? Does the iPhone browser or stock Android browser constrain you to only view what's in the center of the zoom? No
 
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Reformatting the page is what it's supposed to do. It's not a big deal if you have to do one small flick to get the link back on the page. I believe that this is being picky as all hell. :-\

+1 There are so many people on these forums that will bitch about EVERY little thing. God forbid if you have to click on something more than once or GASP, have to scroll the screen 1 mm after you zoom in!
 
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Anyone not using Dolphin HD is silly. And, since Dolphin allows you to turn off resizing, I'm not sure what the problem is. Maybe I'm missing somethingr though.

The stock Android browser will let you double-tap to fit-to-screen. If you turn off that option in Dolphin, you will lose the double-tap reformatting as well.

+1 There are so many people on these forums that will bitch about EVERY little thing. God forbid if you have to click on something more than once or GASP, have to scroll the screen 1 mm after you zoom in!

As the poster above you has stated, this is more than just a 1mm problem. Everytime you pinch to zoom the browser will lag because it's trying to restructure the page.
 
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personally, why do u have to zoom in that close 2 click a link? if ur pinching to zoom that close ur asking for trouble. the software is programmed to do multiple thing to attempt to figure out what your trying to do. if u didnt zoom in so close, it would misjudge ur intentions and auto fit the screen moving ur link out the way. cut the software some slack.
 
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personally, why do u have to zoom in that close 2 click a link? if ur pinching to zoom that close ur asking for trouble. the software is programmed to do multiple thing to attempt to figure out what your trying to do. if u didnt zoom in so close, it would misjudge ur intentions and auto fit the screen moving ur link out the way. cut the software some slack.

Wouldn't it be better if it didn't restructure the links at all? Then you wont have to worry about whether the link you want is in the center of the screen, or worry about whether you're zooming too close and confuse the software.

Before you say that it's a feature, know that the stock Android browser will let you restructure the page at the same zoom-level by double-tapping. You don't want the page to reformat? Just pinch-to-zoom. Now you want the text to all be viewable on screen? Just double-tap! I wish that's how it worked on the Evo.
 
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Wouldn't it be better if it didn't restructure the links at all? Then you wont have to worry about whether the link you want is in the center of the screen, or worry about whether you're zooming too close and confuse the software.

Before you say that it's a feature, know that the stock Android browser will let you restructure the page at the same zoom-level by double-tapping. You don't want the page to reformat? Just pinch-to-zoom. Now you want the text to all be viewable on screen? Just double-tap! I wish that's how it worked on the Evo.

Yes, I miss this very much from my Nexus One. Most importantly, when I'm browsing on the phone with one hand, and I want to zoom in, I can't just double click with my thumb. I have to bring out the other hand. Extra calories!
 
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Anyone not using Dolphin HD is silly. And, since Dolphin allows you to turn off resizing, I'm not sure what the problem is. Maybe I'm missing somethingr though.

The stock Android browser will let you double-tap to fit-to-screen. If you turn off that option in Dolphin, you will lose the double-tap reformatting as well.

+1 There are so many people on these forums that will bitch about EVERY little thing. God forbid if you have to click on something more than once or G

As the poster above you has stated, this is more than just a 1mm problem. Everytime you pinch to zoom the browser will lag because it's trying to restructure the page.

Taking time away from doing what?

__________________
Sent from my HTC EVO using Tapatalk.
 
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