Google has issued an update to its Gmail app for Android devices, bringing in the resize option that it recently touted in Android Jelly Bean 4.2.
The update is pretty hefty and applies to all devices running Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” and 4.1 “Jelly Bean”. It’s available now as an update via the Play Store, and most people’s devices will notify them when the download is ready.
For as long as we can remember, Gmail for Android (and other platforms) has contained a really annoying flaw whereby all emails do not properly fit the screen. Users would previously need to scroll left and right as well as up and down in order to view an email, with no option to zoom in or out. The new version adds this functionality, with the option to auto fit email messages to your device’s screen and to also zoom in and out.
After updating our own Gmail app we discovered that this option was not automatically turned on, and so we had to find it out and enable it. To do this, follow these steps:
Open Gmail > Press Menu > Tap Settings > Tick Auto-fit messages
From here all emails should automatically fit the screen perfectly, with the option of using good old pinch to zoom to zoom in and out. The app also adds the option to swipe right to left or vice versa across an email in the inbox to add it to your archive.
Photo previews have been made larger to suit the latest trend of smartphones with giant screens, and you’ll also be able to attach photos and videos to a new email directly from within the app, which is bound to save time.
What do you think of the new Gmail for Android?