Latest iPhone OS 4 Beta Gains Orientation Lock and iPod Controls in Multitasking Interface

[Berio]

why care?

I'm with aardwolf.

The home button used to do nothing more than take you to the home screen. They have loaded it up with so many functions that currently it does:

One click (in app)- home screen
One click (on another home screen) - main home screen
One click (on main home screen) - spotlight
One click (in spotlight) - back to main home screen
One click + hold - voice control

Double-click - bring up app bar
Double-click + hold - phone favorites/camera/iPod controls, etc.

Triple-click - accessibility

How far are they going to take this?

i don't know how far they will take this. i hope further.

obviously it is not required to use this feature, it is a shortcut, a proposed method to get somewhere faster. optional, not obligatory. so if you don't like and don't intend to use it: why care how far they will take it? just ignore it.

 

[thegman1234]

Horray for orientation controls. Maybe i can use my iPhone in bed w/o it turning.

Haha, that's exactly what I was thinking. Everytime I'm laying on my side and I want to turn the phone the screen rotates. I wonder if they'll implement this into the 3g as well... seems possibly unlikely however.

 

[PeteLP]

That's of course a fair point, too. But I would argue that it's more than "just barely more awkward" in a user interface sense. Explicitly alerting the user that "landscape orientation is locked" and then having the device potentially immediately (or really ever) break that lock would be very very bad behaviour. There are no such explicit promises with the "current" behaviour as you described.

Locking portrait, meanwhile, isn't even disturbed when you get a phone call.

I believe the surprise factor you're concerned about could be totally handled by an "Are you Sure" popup (when requesting to lock landscape mode) such as the following

"landscape mode will be locked only in Apps that support that feature. OK Cancel"

 

[thegman1234]

i don't know how far they will take this. i hope further.

obviously it is not required to use this feature, it is a shortcut, a proposed method to get somewhere faster. optional, not obligatory. so if you don't like and don't intend to use it: why care how far they will take it? just ignore it.

Multitouch home button????

 

[Berio]

arthritis & Alzheimer's

Multitouch home button????

absolutely!

"multi-click"

i'm 45years, i see kids multiclicking a lot more than anything i'm capable of and anything i'm supporting for the home button.

unless the user has arthritis this should not be a problem.
and unless s/he has Alzheimer's it will not be a problem to remember a few combinations.
and it's all optional anyway.
no problem.

 

[twoodcc]

now this is very nice. glad to see 4.0 is looking better and better

 

[dugbug]

you find it really painful to "click twice -> next track" or "click thrice -> go to start of present track"???
this is too complicated for you?
so you also do not use the controls on your earbuds?
no problem, each to his own

Oh I dunno, is using the terminal command line a really a big deal? This isn't too hard:

cd /usr
vi myFile.txt

 

[Berio]

Oh I dunno, is using the terminal command line a really a big deal? This isn't too hard:

cd /usr
vi myFile.txt

hehe... good solution: morse-code your commands into a terminal using the home button.

as i said: everybody has their favourite methods and preferred hardware style. i prefer an iphone with one button. others still claim they'll only buy an iphone "when" it gets a mechanical qwerty keyboard.... there's no right/wrong about it. plenty of devices, plenty of options. maybe one day apple will include an app for programming the home button with as many shortcuts as i desire, and others can happily ignore it. it's all good

take care
-B-

 

[The Phazer]

Yay, two pieces of very good news -

1) Orientation lock. Hopefully it will lock in landscape too before release, but still, good.

2) This means we hadn't seen everything in 4.0. A good omen they'll fix more?

Phazer

 

[Flake]

Don't worry landscape orientation lock will be added in OS 5.0

 

[Berio]

Yay, two pieces of very good news -

1) Orientation lock. Hopefully it will lock in landscape too before release, but still, good.

Don't worry landscape orientation lock will be added in OS 5.0

well, as mentioned in lots of posts above: landscape orientation has been available for quite some time. since iphone OS 1 it appears

 

[Lara F]

Landscape lock has never been needed. Just put the home button towards the top. The iPhone won't rotate to portrait if the home button is on top. In other words, hold the phone upside down and it will stay in landscape.

I wish I'd known this ages ago. Thanks. Hopefully landscape lock will come but this tip should help a lot for now!

Must say I'm pleasantly surprised - orientation lock seemed just the kind of thing Apple would introduce exclusively to the next gen iPhone, like the 3GS battery meter.

 

[Flake]

well, as mentioned in lots of posts above: landscape orientation has been available for quite some time. since iphone OS 1 it appears

of course, I said landscape orientation lock though

 

[jamespa66]

Anyone else not seeing Beta 3? Just went to download Beta 3 and only downloads available to me are all Beta 2.

I see they pulled it from the earlier thread on the release, oh well.

 

[TheAppleGeek]

Awesome!

OS 4 keeps getting better and better.

 

[Berio]

of course, I said landscape orientation lock though

yes, of course you did, and of course i presumed you knew i was referring to this, considering the posts in this thread

as posted above

"Landscape lock has never been needed. Just put the home button towards the top. The iPhone won't rotate to portrait if the home button is on top. In other words, hold the phone upside down and it will stay in landscape."

 

[coldplaysucks.]

That looks ugly as hell.

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

That looks ugly as hell.

Your positive attitude is refreshing.

I like how it looks.

 

[dejo]

That looks ugly as hell.

Depends what that is...

 

[Flake]

yes, of course you did, and of course i presumed you knew i was referring to this, considering the posts in this thread

as posted above

"Landscape lock has never been needed. Just put the home button towards the top. The iPhone won't rotate to portrait if the home button is on top. In other words, hold the phone upside down and it will stay in landscape."

aahh yes that's true
I see

 

[Berio]

aahh yes that's true
I see

 

[Chumburro2U]

To each his own, but...

I see all these people griping and moaning about the lack of landscape locking, but I can't think of a single occasion in which I've wanted landscape mode locked, while laying on my side. Usually, I'm reading something in portrait mode and I scroll vertically, using my thumb. Personally, I wouldn't miss that option one bit.

I can't imagine laying on my side to read in portrait mode. Either u have the keenest eyesight on earth or u don't mind pinch zooming and scrolling to read. (FYI I am writing this reply in landscape mode )

 

[doubleatheman]

So when on the home screen, and the iPod is playing....

what opens if you click, long click the home button?

I thought that click, long click opens what used to be the double click, so no we have two ways of opening the ipod on the home screen?

The addition to the double-click, left swipe ipod controls is nice, I will set double click to always be for my camera now.

 

[calsci]

I knew they wouldn’t just scrap the ipod controls.

 

[Abbaspoor]

iPod control and lock orientation is pretty cool...

if they add swipe up(or down) in app switcher to access some toggles like wif/bluetooth 4.0 will be greaaaaaaat


what do you think guys?