How to Enable Four Column Start Screen on Windows 10 Mobile

Windows 10 Mobile has a new option which lets you change the size of text, apps and other items on the phone. This comes in handy, if you want to add an extra column to Start Screen & an extra quick settings ( aka Tablet Mode, and seen on larger devices like the Lumia 1520). While the option to change the default font still hasn’t made it to the settings, the option once change effects the display globally.

• Go to Settings > Display.
• Under the label “Size of text, apps, and items on this display” there is a slider.
• Change as per your need. This will be followed by a restart.

So what is happening here? This sounds similar to Ease of Access > Text Size option, but its different. It allows you to accommodate more things in the same display, which will come handy for small devices, specially with 4-4.5 inches. After changing this to minimum possible, here are the things I noticed:

• This works only with 720P & above display.
• 5 vs 4 Quick actions. in Notification Centre. It is different for 4 inch devices where I still get 4 quick option.
• 3 Rows vs 4 when you expand quick options.
• Less Scrolling everywhere. You get to see more text on browser which is very handy, though text will be little smaller.
• You get four-to-a-page multitasking carousel.

If you find the display to be too small, you can make it convenient  is increasing the font size using  System > Ease of Access > More Options > Text Scaling. You need to use this with caution though. While it will increase the size of the fonts at many places for comfortable reading, it also messes up text in apps. Photos App is a big example.

Let us know in the comments section if you would like to enable this? Have you already tried in your Lumia 950 and 950 XL ?