Pinch-zoom not pure zoom in Web browser on HTC Desire Z because text is auto-re-formatted: irritating / layouts break When I (multi-touch) pinch to zoom and release my fingers from touching the screen to see the zoomed display, the Android web browser on the HTC Desire Z performs a shrink-to-fit re-format of the page (or a block of text).

This re-formatting is unsatisfactory because:


the original page layout is not retained, for example horizontal navigations get squashed e.g: from


ABOUT SHOP FORUM SUPPORT


to


ABOUTSHOPFORUMSUPPORT


or worse the text overlaps
when pinching to zoom photos on a site, the zoom occurs but on releasing the fingers to complete the pinch, the photos shift as if they are anchored to a spot.
the shifting affect of the reformat is irritating at best and confusing at worse, because the user's eyes lose track of where they were reading once they release their fingers from the screen to complete the pinch


Is there anyway to turn off the auto reformatting?

I notice that this "feature" of reformatting is not present on my iPod Touch - this device performs a "pure zoom" whereby the multi-touch pinch simply zooms in without reformatting/shrinking to fit the text block to the screen, this flows better and feels more natural. (Please note: No this is not an Apple Fan-boi rant, remember I am an owner of a HTC Desire Z Android phone as well as an ipod touch and would like to see my suggested improvedments in the Android phone).

I suspect that this occurs on other Android 2.2 phones but can't be sure.
I believe this feature is called text reflow and is not an actual a feature of Android but more of HTC. The HTC browser reflows the text as you zoom in. This can get very annoying especially because after reflowing it can move your focus area to the closesr text not what you were zooming into.

My personal pick for an alternative browser is Dolphin Browser™ Mini. It has both the functionality you're missing in the stock HTC browser but also the speed you expect when loading webpages and launching the browser.

Dolphin Browser™ Mini