iPad screen darkens in portrait orientation/polarized sunglasses

[MobiusStrip]

It's an unfortunate oversight on Apple's part since (as several people in this thread have illustrated) you're more likely to use portrait orientation in a vehicle, which is also when you're likely to be wearing sunglasses.

Why would you want the screen to be visible with sunglasses in landscape? There's no advantage to that.

Apple has had the problem with this decision pointed out, so if they don't fix it for the iPad 3 then they're just purposefully alienating pilots and anyone else who wants to use the iPad in a mobile environment with good sunglasses.

 

[Candurin]

If you can still get your hands on a piece of transparency film (yup, I remember printing them in college to conduct my presentations on an overhead projector), you can cut these to fit the screen and reverse the effect of polarization.

I had to cut a piece to fit my GPS screen becasue my polarized Oakley's would cause me to lose the screen if I switched the GPS to portrait orientation.

The transparency film has it's own polarizing effect, so it "cancels out" the polarization of sunglasses. Depending on the brand of file, you might have to cut it length-wise or width-wize, just check and see which orientation works on your ipad.

Just my $0.02.

 

[MobiusStrip]

Thanks. I've been seeing reports of this, and it's an interesting potential workaround until the problem is fixed.

 

[gmanist1000]

This happened to me for the first time today, it was pretty strange until I figured out what was happening.

 

[MobiusStrip]

still not fixed

Still not fixed in the iPad 3, even though Apple definitely knows about the problem. That's just unfortunate, willful disregard at this point:

So we're supposed to put a sheet of cruddy plastic over this highly touted "Retina" display now?

GJ, Apple.

 

[dmccloud]

If you can still get your hands on a piece of transparency film (yup, I remember printing them in college to conduct my presentations on an overhead projector), you can cut these to fit the screen and reverse the effect of polarization.

I had to cut a piece to fit my GPS screen becasue my polarized Oakley's would cause me to lose the screen if I switched the GPS to portrait orientation.

The transparency film has it's own polarizing effect, so it "cancels out" the polarization of sunglasses. Depending on the brand of file, you might have to cut it length-wise or width-wize, just check and see which orientation works on your ipad.

Just my $0.02.

If you have put a screen protector on your iPad (the Zagg screen for example), it will reduce the effects of viewing the device while wearing polarized lenses, but it will not completely eliminate it. My iPad still darkens noticeably, but I can read it, which I could not do at all prior to installing the Zagg shield.

 

[gnagy]

On a recent trip to Hawaii, I couldn't figure out why my digital camera's LCD stopped working in the portrait orientation. The problem fixed itself, and I completely forgot about it.

This thread explains it. LOL!

 

[Stealthipad]

This is going to sound strange, but...I use my iPad a lot during my commute to the office, and noticed that when I am wearing polarized sunglasses, I can read the iPad screen in landscape orientation, but as soon as I turn it to portrait, the screen darkens to point where I can't really see anything. This effect goes away when I take my sunglasses off.

Can anyone else confirm they have this issue, or do I need to be checked for some sort of "vertical orientation blindness?"

It does not sound strange to most as it is a well know and common effect.

Get rid of the poilarized sunglasses as APple is not going to change.

 

[LoneWolf121188]

Still not fixed in the iPad 3, even though Apple definitely knows about the problem. That's just unfortunate, willful disregard at this point:

Image

So we're supposed to put a sheet of cruddy plastic over this highly touted "Retina" display now?

GJ, Apple.

You can't make an LCD that emits light of all polarizations. Its just not possible with LCDs. How is that Apple's fault? Pilots (myself included) are well aware of the fact that LCD screens are polarized and hence buy non-polarized sunglasses. Modern cockpit instrumentation has been using LCDs for years now, so it's not like the ipad is a new, specific case.

 

[dgstan]

What we need are some round sunglasses that will allow me to rotate the lenses to match the iPad's orientation.

Kickstarter, anyone?