Android users may soon have an easier, faster way to magnify on-screen elements

As we inch closer to the launch of Android 15, more of its potential features keep getting unearthed. Industry insider Mishaal Rahman found evidence of a new camera extension called Eyes Free to help stabilize videos shot by third-party apps. 

Before that, Rahman discovered another feature within the Android 15 Beta 1.2 update relating to a fourth screen magnification shortcut referred to as the “Two-finger double-tap screen” within the menu.

What it does is perfectly summed up by its name: quickly double-tapping the screen with two fingers lets you zoom in on a specific part of the display. That’s it. This may not seem like a big deal initially, but it is. 

As Rahman explains, the current three magnification shortcuts are pretty wonky. The first method requires you to hold down on an on-screen button, which is convenient but causes your finger to obscure the view and only zoom into the center. The second method has you hold on both the volume buttons, which frees up the screen but takes a while to activate. 

The third method is arguably the best one—tapping the phone display three times lets you zoom into a specific area. However, doing so causes the Android device to slow down, so it's not instantaneous. Interestingly enough, the triple-tap method warns people of the performance drop. 

This warning is missing on the double-tap option, indicating the zoom is near instantaneous. Putting everything together, you can think of double-tap as the Goldilocks option. Users can control where they want the software to focus on without experiencing any slowdown.

Improved accessibility

At least, it should be that fast and a marked improvement over the triple tap. Rahman states in his group’s time testing the feature, they noticed a delay when zooming in. He chalks this up to the unfinished state of the update, although soon after admits that the slowdown could simply be a part of the tool and may be an unavoidable aspect of the software.

It’ll probably be a while until a more stable version of the double-tap method becomes widely available. If you recall, Rahman and his team could only view the update by manually toggling the option themselves. As far as we know, it doesn’t even work at the moment.

Double-tap seems to be one of the new accessibility features coming to Android 15. There are several in the works, such as the ability to hide “unused notification channels” to help people manage alerts and forcing dark mode on apps that normally don’t support it.

While we have you, be sure to check out TechRadar's round up of the best Android phones for 2024.

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Photoshop Elements 2024 offers subscription-free access to Adobe AI tech

Adobe is rolling out the 2024 version of its lightweight Photoshop Elements app with several AI-powered features leading the charge.

Chief among this batch, in our opinion, is the new Artistic Effect tool which can place a filter over photographs making them look like paintings. These effects are based on notable art styles and famous artists like Vincent Van Gogh. You do have control over how strong the filters can be via a slider or you can keep the colors from the original image if you don’t like what Photoshop adds. Users can even isolate the changes to certain parts of the photograph. 

Photoshop Elements - Artistic Effects

(Image credit: Adobe)

Next, Quick Actions are being compartmentalized into a single panel and simplified for easier usage. So, if you want to remove artifacts in a JPEG image or highlight an entire background, you can now do so with just one click of the on-screen button.

New editing tools

In addition to all of the AI features, Adobe is expanding the arsenal of tools on Photoshop Elements. 

For example, you can pull together a collection of pictures into a slideshow via Photo Reels. It houses its own set of editing tools, allowing users to make adjustments on the fly, insert graphics, or adjust the time each image lasts on-screen. There’s Color Match, which lets you transfer the color and tone from one picture to another seamlessly, or you can use one of the many built-in presets – it’s totally up to you.

Color Match

(Image credit: Adobe)

Guided Edits now has the ability to replace entire backgrounds in an image while leaving the main subject completely intact. As the cherry on top, Adobe has also redesigned Photoshop Elements, adding new “fonts, icons, buttons, and colors”. Plus, you can choose to display the app in either light or dark mode.

Premiere update

Alongside Photoshop Elements, Adobe is releasing the 2024 version of Premiere Elements. Most of Premiere’s changes aren’t backed up by artificial intelligence, but there is one: Automatic Highlight Reels. This will scan an uploaded video picking out clips to put into, well, a highlight reel. Specifically, it targets high-quality footage, close-ups, as well as people in motion. 

Premiere Elements' Highlight Reel tool

(Image credit: Adobe)

Similar to its sister app, Premiere Elements 2024 lets you grab the color from one video to another where you can then “fine-tune” the saturation or hue. For audio, new effects such as Vocal Enhancer have been introduced to improve sound quality.

Everything you see here is available on the desktop versions of Photoshop and Premiere Elements while the “web and mobile companion apps” have received several beta features. The Quick Actions we mentioned earlier are currently being tested for smartphones plus you can try out putting overlays in images. No word on when the mobile update will arrive.

Until then, we recommend checking out TechRadar’s list of the best online Photoshop courses for 2023 if you’re interested in picking it up 

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