Potential security problem (social engineering) - potential for a spoofed URL

[StR]

Kostya,

When I long-touch a link in the e-mail body (in Aquamail, of course), I get a pop-up "window" that has two lines of the URL, with three options (open, copy, share).
That's a great feature that, besides other functionalities, allows to preview the URL. (Kudos to you for that thoughtful functionality!)

The potential problem in it is that it truncates the URL. While for many practical purposes, the first two lines are sufficient, in some cases, it is not. I just checked that one can engineer a link that looks like
http://reasonable.server.name.legitimate.verylongname.domain.com.some.evil.used.for.phishing.domain.com/bla-bla-bla
will be seen as

http://reasonable.server.name.
legitimate.verylongname.domain.com...

and there is no way to see what's actually there.

Also, by not showing the complete URL, it doesn't allow me seeing if the link actually includes any tracking information, which sometimes is the reason why I want to preview the URL.

I don't know what would be the best way to show the entire long URL (some URLs are atrocious). Scrolling like you implemented for the headers? Clicking on the link to toggle "short"-"long" view like you have for the headers? ...?

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Um, well, it's a popup menu, and its styling is system defined... and forced to be a single line.

I understand that this is a *potential* problem, how do you think it weighs vs. deviating from the standard design?

[StR]

Um, well, it's a popup menu, and its styling is system defined... and forced to be a single

Just in case: it is actually two on my phone (Android 4.1.2).

I understand that this is a *potential* problem, how do you think it weighs vs. deviating from the standard design?

I have rather limited knowledge of Android "standard design" principles. I see that many apps seemingly disregard those, but I don't know what the implications would be (e.g. compatibility problems with different devices, etc.).

In most cases, my personal preference is for functionality and ergonomics over design. But often, I am in minority with that.