Android power users rejoiced when they spotted a DPI Scaling feature in the Android N Developer Preview. However, it appears Samsung’s Touch Wiz appears to be ahead of the Android N in quite a few things like multi-window, quick toggles for Notification bar, and now the DPI scaling that appears to have been integrated in Samsung devices, at least the ones running Marshmallow.
Since a bigger screen means you should be able to see more things on your device, not bigger icons and fonts, you can access a hidden DPI scaling menu in Samsung Galaxy S7 running Marshmallow. This may work for other Samsung devices on Marshmallow, try it.
Daniel Marchena of XDA Developers shared a detailed overview of this feature, and here is how you can access it.
- You need to install Nova Launcher. Not for the sake of a third-party launcher, but for the sake of the Activities widget. You don’t even need to make it your default launcher forever. Just launch the app to get to its home screen and navigate to the Widget selection.
- To do so, long-tap on the home screen. A pop-up window will appear, choose Widgets.
- Long-tap the “Activities” widget and drag and drop it on your home screen.
- Once it loads the list of the activities, scroll down to Settings → .DisplayScalingActivity. Choose it.
- It will create a quick access icon on your home screen leading to the DPI Scaling capability. Launch it. Make your selection.
- Reboot your device. Revert back to your default launcher.
Samsung has the stock and condensed scaling, and as you can see from the screenshot, you do get more content on your screen with the condensed look. The resized look persists after you revert back to your stock Samsung TouchWiz, a reboot, or system update.
