At least on my OnePlus phone, you can double-tap the screen and drag up or down to zoom in or out, like a scroll wheel. It's better than buttons, in my humble opinion.

But not discoverable. There is no visual indicator telling you about the feature. Only trial and error.

Not every feature needs to be immediately discoverable. The default and 'main' way of zooming is the (un)pinch gesture.

Take keyboard shortcuts - they're EXTREMELY undiscoverable, but they're not required for most operations, it's more of a power-user feature.

> Not every feature needs to be immediately discoverable.

Not every feature does. But every function does. If there is no visual indication of how to zoom at all, there are users who will never even discover that they can zoom.

Most programs will list the keyboard shortcut against the menu item for the same feature, that makes them discoverable.

Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V works in Android too, among many other classical shortcuts. Try it with a Bluetooth keyboard or over USB-OTG. How about that for undiscoverable in a mobile OS? :)

Off topic, I know, but which OnePlus do you have? Do you like it? I'm considering the OnePlus 3 to replace my 2013 Moto X.

I have the OnePlus One still, actually. It's been in water and dropped on the ground, and somehow is still going strong. For $300, this is the best phone I have ever had, even ignoring the 64GB storage and out of the box rootability.

I've looked at the OnePlus 3, and it seems like a worthy successor. LinusTechTips on YouTube did a review on it. I'd recommend checking it out.

But pinch to zoom is used for everything.

Maps and the occasional website (the browser used to have zoom options too) with crappy css are the only times I really need pinch zoom.

It's annoying as hell when you're holding a coffee and want to zoom.

You're probably outside the 95th percentile on that one, though, and good design targets the rest of the user base. I think most people probably just got annoyed by accidentally hitting those, or by them taking up real-estate or cluttering the view.

> You're probably outside the 95th percentile on that one

In what way? If you mean one handed usage, it's pretty common here when people are standing on public transport, you need to hold on with one hand. If you mean the infrequency I need it, take a look through you're list of installed apps and tell me how many require zooming? Almost all are designed specifically to avoid it.

I agree with all you have written, but there is a way to zoom in or out without using your other hand: use your lips. "Muaa" zooms out, and "auum" zooms in. This will make public transport journeys more interesting (for the others).

I'm not that close with my phone, though.

I probably am. I spent some time in northern Europe, where the temperature would go as low as -25°C, around the time I stayed. I was loath to deglove my barely warm hands, and used my nose instead, for some basic operations.

In maps and chrome on Android you can zoom with one hand by double tapping and dragging up/down

double tap and drag.

http://www.carlsednaoui.com/post/46803524724/google-maps-one...