1. classact's Avatar
    I am coming off the Classic onto the PRIV. Come on, man. I'm 60 years old, wear low-powered reading glasses, and have had no problems at all reading anything on the Classic without reading glasses (I had set the font size to larger than normal but not extremely large, and turned up the screen brightness).

    Now, with the PRIV, using the default BB Launcher, after having set Fonts to Huge (not many choices there) and screen brightness to max, I'm not sure I can even use this phone. On far too many screens it ignores my request for larger fonts (which are not that large anyway when it does make them larger). I just cannot read it. And even in the Tasks screen it makes some of the icons ridiculously small.

    Please tell me there's some third-party "theme" or launcher or something that will maintain a professional look and allow me to use this phone without constantly carrying around a pair of reading glasses just to use it.
    David Healing likes this.
    05-20-16 03:26 AM
  2. FF22's Avatar
    While I have not used any 3rd party launchers, I know you can change the number of icons on rows and columns. so maybe they would be larger. Not sure of the tonts.

    I had the same problem on the Z30. Icons and fonts way to small and I don't use reading glasses and I am older.
    05-20-16 08:59 AM
  3. partizan666's Avatar
    I completely agree with OP. What is the point of specifying the font size if the system will just ignore it? Looking for some options as well.

    Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android
    FF22 likes this.
    05-20-16 09:08 AM
  4. JM_forfun's Avatar
    Hey guys, do you have the names of some of the actual screens (other than Tasks) that do not adapt to the system settings font changes? Thanks
    05-20-16 02:29 PM
  5. JM_forfun's Avatar
    As well, what sw version do you have on your device?.. Go to Settings>About Phone to check.. Thanks
    05-20-16 02:38 PM
  6. swcomputerdesign's Avatar
    Go to settings. Then to accessibility then scroll down to turn on larger text.

    Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android
    05-20-16 03:03 PM
  7. classact's Avatar
    This may appear larger on a computer or tablet, but on the PRIV -- for anyone who wears any kind of reading glasses for working at a computer or reading (and is not in the habit of carrying around and wearing reading glasses all day long to use their phone) -- this is not even remotely sufficient. Notice the differences between some of the text that is a lot larger and very easy to read, vs a little bit larger and tolerable, vs the very small text which is really a huge challenge and is essentially not readable.


    For starters, this is a screen shot of just reading an email -- in this case an email telling me I got a reply on the CrackBerry forum:

    How do I improve the readability on the PRIV? Bigger fonts and icons so I can see them?-screenshot_2016-05-20-16-00-13.jpg


    And, on the other hand, note that when I go to Reply to that same message, the fonts do get larger and are well within appropriate tolerance (the text of the entire email, even what's not showing, got as large as what is showing):

    How do I improve the readability on the PRIV? Bigger fonts and icons so I can see them?-screenshot_2016-05-20-16-02-03.jpg


    And here's a text message that I received, which is plenty larger enough, BUT the problem is that the text at the bottom where I'm typing a text is very, very small -- I can't even tell when I have typos:

    How do I improve the readability on the PRIV? Bigger fonts and icons so I can see them?-screenshot_2016-05-20-16-07-53.jpg


    There are countless other screens where the fonts are as small as when I was typing that text, whether Android, BB, or third-party apps.

    Android version is 5.1.1

    I already had gone into Accessibility and turned on "Large fonts" yesterday. What you're seeing above is the result of it being on.

    I had also gone into Display yesterday and set "Font size" to "Huge," the highest setting. Again, what you're seeing above is the result of it being on.

    And I'm familiar with the options to magnify the screen with a triple tap, or to magnify and pan momentarily with a double-tap then a hold, but that is not at all a reasonable way to make ongoing use of a core business tool that needs to be used constantly by a very busy business person.

    This is no minor issue. It's a critical usability issue. I'm sure I'm not in a minority here. Many if not most people of reasonably mature age wear reading glasses at their desk -- but don't expect to need to constantly wear reading glasses in order to be able to use their smartphone!!!
    05-20-16 03:33 PM
  8. JM_forfun's Avatar
    The difference between the font size of the original email and the Reply screen is interesting.. As for the texting app (not sure which one it is), is there a font setting within that apps setting menu that might allow you to change the font within that particular app?

    And, for the Android version.. in settings>about phone , scroll to the very bottom of the page and you will see the build version. Can you provide that please? thanks
    05-20-16 03:52 PM
  9. Tanya Frost's Avatar
    This may appear larger on a computer or tablet, but on the PRIV -- for anyone who wears any kind of reading glasses for working at a computer or reading (and is not in the habit of carrying around and wearing reading glasses all day long to use their phone) -- this is not even remotely sufficient. Notice the differences between some of the text that is a lot larger and very easy to read, vs a little bit larger and tolerable, vs the very small text which is really a huge challenge and is essentially not readable.


    For starters, this is a screen shot of just reading an email -- in this case an email telling me I got a reply on the CrackBerry forum:

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Screenshot_2016-05-20-16-00-13.jpg 
Views:	141 
Size:	117.4 KB 
ID:	400235


    And, on the other hand, note that when I go to Reply to that same message, the fonts do get larger and are well within appropriate tolerance (the text of the entire email, even what's not showing, got as large as what is showing):

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Screenshot_2016-05-20-16-02-03.jpg 
Views:	148 
Size:	106.6 KB 
ID:	400236


    And here's a text message that I received, which is plenty larger enough, BUT the problem is that the text at the bottom where I'm typing a text is very, very small -- I can't even tell when I have typos:

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Screenshot_2016-05-20-16-07-53.jpg 
Views:	148 
Size:	94.0 KB 
ID:	400237


    There are countless other screens where the fonts are as small as when I was typing that text, whether Android, BB, or third-party apps.

    Android version is 5.1.1

    I already had gone into Accessibility and turned on "Large fonts" yesterday. What you're seeing above is the result of it being on.

    I had also gone into Display yesterday and set "Font size" to "Huge," the highest setting. Again, what you're seeing above is the result of it being on.

    And I'm familiar with the options to magnify the screen with a triple tap, or to magnify and pan momentarily with a double-tap then a hold, but that is not at all a reasonable way to make ongoing use of a core business tool that needs to be used constantly by a very busy business person.

    This is no minor issue. It's a critical usability issue. I'm sure I'm not in a minority here. Many if not most people of reasonably mature age wear reading glasses at their desk -- but don't expect to need to constantly wear reading glasses in order to be able to use their smartphone!!!
    Thank you, this is perfectly explained and you are NOT the only one with this issue...

    Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android
    05-20-16 09:40 PM
  10. Uzi's Avatar
    Unfortunately like c_bryant said android doesn't have fine grained like bb10 does
    05-20-16 10:33 PM
  11. classact's Avatar
    Turns out I was able to go into the texting app and increase the font size (now THAT'S a huge font if I go to max -- way more than anyone could ever want):

    How do I improve the readability on the PRIV? Bigger fonts and icons so I can see them?-screenshot_2016-05-20-17-47-09.jpg


    But the menu to get to those settings is another example of really small text thats difficult to read:

    How do I improve the readability on the PRIV? Bigger fonts and icons so I can see them?-screenshot_2016-05-20-17-02-27.jpg

    I think it's the stock Verizon messaging app, but I'm not sure.


    Build is AAE601.
    05-20-16 10:56 PM
  12. Techno-Emigre's Avatar
    Thanks for bringing this up, OP. I, too, have had some issues with this. I simply have to put he reading glasses on, which is a pain.

    One trick, tho. Sometimes when I end up with tiny fonts it is improved by going into landscape. Usually on we bites I think. Like a local newspaper.

    Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android
    05-20-16 11:22 PM
  13. classact's Avatar
    Seriously. This is barely readable even WITH reading glasses...

    Calendar > Menu > Help:

    How do I improve the readability on the PRIV? Bigger fonts and icons so I can see them?-screenshot_2016-05-21-02-16-28.jpg


    And, as I mentioned, that's after setting Display to Huge fonts and Accessibility to Large fonts. (There are no other settings available for this.)

    This is really senseless. I would estimate this affects a good 20% or more of all users (or intended target users) in a substantially adverse way.
    buwee and barbarianthemadserb like this.
    05-21-16 02:21 AM
  14. classact's Avatar
    And here, Verizon gets fancy with a grayed-out background, further compromising the readability of the text. The contrast of this type of display isn't great to begin with. (I believe I read somewhere it's OLED and that OLED is known for less-than-optimal contrast). This is truly unreadable. I'll bet a good 30-40% of the executives at Google, BlackBerry, and Verizon (certainly at BlackBerry and Verizon) would have a hard time reading this. WTF? It's really that hard to provide a global user control for font sizes? (Okay, I realize that in this instance there are graphics involved that contain text, but what about the rest of the content of the phone -- like that Help text in the above post, where text in graphics is just not an issue? And of course graphics containing text can anticipate and accommodate this issue as well.)

    How do I improve the readability on the PRIV? Bigger fonts and icons so I can see them?-screenshot_2016-05-22-14-06-06.jpg
    FF22 likes this.
    05-22-16 01:40 PM
  15. misterabrasive's Avatar
    And here, Verizon gets fancy with a grayed-out background, further compromising the readability of the text. The contrast of this type of display isn't great to begin with. (I believe I read somewhere it's OLED and that OLED is known for less-than-optimal contrast). This is truly unreadable. I'll bet a good 30-40% of the executives at Google, BlackBerry, and Verizon (certainly at BlackBerry and Verizon) would have a hard time reading this. WTF? It's really that hard to provide a global user control for font sizes? (Okay, I realize that in this instance there are graphics involved that contain text, but what about the rest of the content of the phone -- like that Help text in the above post, where text in graphics is just not an issue? And of course graphics containing text can anticipate and accommodate this issue as well.)

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Screenshot_2016-05-22-14-06-06.jpg 
Views:	56 
Size:	50.1 KB 
ID:	400402
    Well, if you go into the Verizon messages settings, customize, you can change the colors to just about anything you want. Just click the palette icon. I have my background set to black.
    05-22-16 07:56 PM
  16. EWY's Avatar
    My PRIV acted normal just like all my other phones. I can change the font size with the setting. I set it Large, Huge is a bit much for me. I woke up today and answered a BBM from my son and noticed that the font is very small. I reset the font size to Huge and the font is barely readable. I restarted the phone twice but nothing helps. I am wondering if a factory reset would put everything back to normal.
    05-04-17 11:42 AM
  17. David Healing's Avatar
    Speaking as another older guy with imperfect eyesight, I have a concern about the display text sizes available on my DTEK60. I also have a Z30 and it it seems to me that the font sizes labeled large and huge on the DTEK60 are approximately the same height as font sizes 9 and 11 on the Z30, i.e. not large and definitely not huge. Please, Blackberry, can you give us real large and huge font sizes (perhaps 12 and 14 fonts on Z30)
    FF22 likes this.
    06-12-17 12:46 PM
  18. FF22's Avatar
    Speaking as another older guy with imperfect eyesight, I have a concern about the display text sizes available on my DTEK60. I also have a Z30 and it it seems to me that the font sizes labeled large and huge on the DTEK60 are approximately the same height as font sizes 9 and 11 on the Z30, i.e. not large and definitely not huge. Please, Blackberry, can you give us real large and huge font sizes (perhaps 12 and 14 fonts on Z30)
    Excellent idea. With all of the options and flexibility of Android, they don't offer enough in that area.
    06-12-17 08:03 PM
  19. Mirko935's Avatar
    The contrast of this type of display isn't great to begin with. (I believe I read somewhere it's OLED and that OLED is known for less-than-optimal contrast).
    Not quite true... In fact, OLED is the only display type which can achieve an infinite contrast ratio since black content emits literally zero light as the pixels are actually off when displaying black. But never mind that...

    Regarding your question, take a look at this:
    https://forums.crackberry.com/blackb...mrate-1093326/

    And my reply:
    https://forums.crackberry.com/showth...1#post12897214

    Just as I use screen resolution change to decrease the size of everything, you would be able to do the opposite, decrease it, or change the DPI, and hence get all content on the screen larger.
    This works quite fine for me despite the few bugs I list there. Unfortunately, non-rooted Android phones don't offer a proper and completely bug-free solution to do those changes (despite the fact that it would be incredibly simple to implement); according to Google, Apple and those folks we're obviously all the same with the same eyesight and should have all the same preferences regarding that, as with a lot of other things. But this isn't the place to start my rant so I'll stop here.

    If you need any clarification or assistance, feel free to ask.
    06-14-17 12:47 AM
  20. Mirko935's Avatar
    The contrast of this type of display isn't great to begin with. (I believe I read somewhere it's OLED and that OLED is known for less-than-optimal contrast).
    Not quite true... In fact, OLED is the only display type which can achieve an infinite contrast ratio since black content emits literally zero light as the pixels are actually off when displaying black. But never mind that...

    Regarding your question, take a look at this:
    https://forums.crackberry.com/blackb...mrate-1093326/

    And my reply:
    https://forums.crackberry.com/showth...1#post12897214

    Just as I use screen resolution change to decrease the size of everything, you would be able to do the opposite, decrease it, or change the DPI, and hence get all content on the screen larger.
    This works quite fine for me despite the few bugs I list there. Unfortunately, non-rooted Android phones don't offer a proper and completely bug-free solution to do those changes (despite the fact that it would be incredibly simple to implement); according to Google, Apple and those folks we're obviously all the same with the same eyesight and should have all the same preferences regarding that, as with a lot of other things. But this isn't the place to start my rant so I'll stop here.

    If you need any clarification or assistance, feel free to ask.
    06-14-17 12:48 AM

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