ZoomIt Android

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Please Note

• For most Android devices with Honeycomb and above but tested only on Samsung Note I and Minix Neo X5 with Jelly Bean. Please let the developer know what you find. An email link is provided on this page for that purpose. So please use it rather than employing the comment/rating mechanism for the app on the Play store.
• Basic operation MAY not require ROOT. Advanced operation likely will require ROOT. Your results may vary. Please let the developer know what you find.
• Be sure to read the full help text accessed from the Options menu of the Settings window when the app is active.
• After using on your device in free mode please consider purchasing the Pro Upgrade to unlock other features.
• Please use the email link shown to report any issues. Play Store comments are too limited for this purpose. Thanks!

Summary

I use an Android device to turn my TV into a "smart" TV. This works well in most cases. However my TV's screen is not so large that, at a distance, I can easily read everything that is displayed. Sometimes I need to enlarge the screen image temporarily to see what I need to see. Pinch-to-zoom would help but not all apps offer it. It seems that global pinch-to-zoom capabilities have been added to Jelly Bean 4.2 and above. But many of us have older devices that will never see this version of Jelly Bean. Additionally, the HTPC keyboard/touch pad I own doesn't support multi-touch operations. So for these reasons I needed an alternative.

When previously using a Windows PC for this purpose, I found a great little program called ZoomIt that worked perfectly for my needs. After much searching, I have been unable to locate a similar app for Android. So I decided to write one and have named it in homage to the original. While I have received permission to use the name from the author of the original, let me be clear that this app is my responsibility only.

Installation

Install as you would any normal app from the Play store. Please note that ZoomIt Android should work on Android 3 (Honeycomb) and above only. Earlier versions may lack the system internals required for this app to work.

Usage

ZoomIt installs an on-going item in the notification bar. Simply click it to trigger a screen capture and the display of an enlargement of that screen capture. You can then scroll around on that image using simple touch/drag gestures. Once you have seen what you were looking for simply press the back button to return to normal operation.

ZoomIt operates in both "free" and "Pro Upgrade" modes. In free mode, very few options are enabled and only Portrait orientation is fully supported. Free mode is intended to permit you to discover how well the app works on your device. Pro users gain full support of Landscape orientation and additional options to control how the app works.

Free mode always employs a simple mechanism for screen image capture that may alter some screen colors. It MAY not require ROOT on some devices. Pro users should have a choice of an advanced screen capture mechanism that reproduces color accurately. However, this likely requires ROOT.

Pro users also have the ability to control a delay before screen capture while this is fixed at .75 seconds for free users.

A final limitation of free mode is the lack of ability to control the zoom level. It is fixed at 1.5x original size. This should be adequate for most uses and runs the least risk of overtaxing your device's memory. Pro users will have both the ability to specify their preferred initial zoom level as well as the ability to change the zoom level while the app is active.

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