iPad's Orientation Lock Switch Becomes Mute Switch With iOS 4.2

[ranReloaded]

I agree that the orientation lock functionality IS useful; I just wonder how often people need to SWITCH it on and off for it to be an annoyance that it has been moved to the multitask tray.

In any case, havi g the button configurable would be a win-win.

 

[Warbrain]

+1 on this

if the ipad actually "rang" like the iphone, I could see it. Press-n-hold volume switch mutes the ipad anyway

But it will when it has FaceTime.

 

[sushi]

I agree that the orientation lock functionality IS useful; I just wonder how often people need to SWITCH it on and off for it to be an annoyance that it has been moved to the multitask tray.

In any case, havi g the button configurable would be a win-win.

When riding the trains, I find the lock very convenient.

However, at the same time, being able to lock the same way as the iPhone would be nice as well.

I think it all depends on how you hold and use the iPad. In my case the display is always spinning unless I lock it.

 

[samcruise]

I thought..

Doesn't changing a button's default action 'confuse users'?

If not, can I now use my iPhone volume button to take a picture, please?

 

[Kahnyl]

I prefer it. I hated constantly searching for the switch.

 

[bmacir]

Maybe Apple will make it an optional setting.

You can always provide feedback to Apple here --> iPad Feedback

Or you can always Jailbreak, so you don't have to bother asking permission to Apple and wait for an "app for that" in Cydia...

 

[sushi]

Or you can always Jailbreak, so you don't have to bother asking permission to Apple and wait for an "app for that" in Cydia...

Sure, Jailbreaking is an alternative.

I would venture to say that for many JailBreaking is something they don't want to attempt for whatever reason and would prefer an option within the iOS.

YMMV.

 

[StudioGuy]

Developers, please let them know we don't like this.
I, as most probably do, use that switch a lot.

Or, at least make it a preference of which functionality.

 

[Piggie]

Doesn't changing a button's default action 'confuse users'?

Not if you have a brain no.

Now I know we are not all university professors, but I'd take a guess that even the most thick human (or ever an intelligent chimpanzee) could manage to understand that you could set one button to do a function of your choosing.

I know for Apple this way of thinking about it's customers intelligence is a bit radical.

But you know, I think we could handle it.

Of course there is always the Apple genius if you get confused, or you have a particularly thick chimpanzee!

 

[Evangelion]

why don't they just re-program the volume buttons to work when the screen is off then? oh wait, that would just be the best of both worlds in your one scenario.

In that case you don't know what's happening, since the volume is displayed on the screen, so you don't see it when the screen is off.

i turn my ipad a lot, i view it at angles sometimes and i pass it to my significant other often in the course of using it, the orientation lock being one easy to use switch is much easier and more convenient than having to double tap the home key and then swipe over the the menu option and then change it every.single.time.

You don't have to do it "every.single.time".

Ranting that orientation lock is not needed is just as foolish as ranting that mute is not needed. Ask for options, don't be daft.

Nowhere did I say that "orientation-lock is not needed". Fact is that you need orientation-lock when the screen is on and the device is being used. So it could be accessed using a software-button. Mute could be used when the screen is off, therefore it should be implemented in such a way that you do not need to turn the device on to use it. And that means hardware-button.

Add to that the consistency between different devices, and this change becomes a no-brainer. Orientation-lock will still be there, you just access it in a bit different way.

I haven't tried this -- had not heard of it until now. Are you speaking of the iPhone, or the iPad? Do you mean that I can lock the screen in its current orientation WHILE looking at photos (in Apple's Photo app on iPad)?

EDIT -- I just tried double-clicking the home button while looking at a photo, but this did NOT cause the screen orientation to lock; it simply caused the Photos app to quit, and returned me to the Home screen. So if you have a secret way of doing this that works better, please let us all know. Thanks -

Macwheels

Are you running 4.2 beta? I mean, you DO understand that this ia feature of 4.2, so if course it's not going to work on the current 3.2 version! Sheesh!

It seems to me that you are grossly misinformed about this thing, which casts serious shadow over all the arguments you have made here

 

[Evangelion]

merged posts

 

[paulypants]

Ughh

I use the lock switch all the time, this is going to add a step to the process. Not excited about it at all.

 

[kaplanreject]

Ill agree with the screen lock setting. It seems like I would benefit with button having that function more than the mute function. I don't have my iPad yet (next week I get it), but I can see the benefits of the screen lock.

So, I went ahead and put in my two cents to Apple....

Greetings

I will be purchasing my first iPad next week.

I look forward to using and enjoying it for personal as well as business applications. I also look forward to the 4.2 iOS update with one small issue I would like to address.

It seems as if the update has modified the screen orientation lock button (the physical button) to now become a mute button. I would prefer the button to stay as a screen orientation function. At the very least, perhaps a choice of functionality so the end user could toggle between a mute/screen lock selection.

I plan on purchasing an additional couple of iPads for work integration (oilfield data collection) for a system I am trying to develop and implement for said data collection. In this work environment a psychical mute switch would be quite useless while the screen orientation lock would be quite useful.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

xxxxx xxxxx

 

[kas23]

Ill agree with the screen lock setting. It seems like I would benefit with button having that function more than the mute function. I don't have my iPad yet (next week I get it), but I can see the benefits of the screen lock.

So, I went ahead and put in my two cents to Apple....

Nice letter, but I'm sure they stopped reading it right after the first sentence. No need to change anything, you already said you're buying one. End of story there.

I wonder if this is just more evidence of FaceTime for the iPad, coming very soon. Why else is a mute switch so important? And its coming out in November. Hmm.

 

[phpmaven]

I just downloaded the 4.2 beta last night and started playing around with it this morning. FWIW, in thought it would be annoying, but I find that I can click the software orientation lock just about as quickly as I can reach up and find the "mute" button and slide it. So for me, it's not a big issue.

What I do find really annoying is that I can't print from my iPad without having OS X 10.5.6, which I don't have access to. Of course, if some kind soul wanted to help me out with that, that would be awesome.

 

[markgo2k]

Some posters have said that Apple is implicitly against customization. That's not quite true. In the pre iOS 4 days you were able to choose what the result of a home double-click would be: iTunes (quick menu), Favorites, and one or two other options I can't remember.

That said, I think Apple is slightly trapped here. To use the physical switch, you'd have to remove the software switch from the UI (or else they could end up out of sync). And making core UI look (the swipe screen) variable is probably something they want to avoid for confusion reasons.

Personally, I'll probably find it slightly irritating as I do use orientation lock more than mute. But that's partially mitigated by the facts that:

1) volume level will be remembered across mute/unmute
2) you'll be able to adjust volume downward smoothly without actually muting.

2) is probably the more significant. I have always found it irksome that to adjust volume downward on the iPad I have to "click, click, click" to avoid accidental mute. I'm constantly muting my iPad by accident and it's time consuming to unmute, since you have to bring the level up from zero.

 

[anjonjp]

Have to agree

This in itself is a reason not to upgrade.

I must admit, this is indeed a big turn off to upgrading. We don't have Apple tv in Japan so I won't need Airplay anyway and I've lived without multi-tasking so far....so....

The only positive for upgrading is the print function, but there are apps for that already.

 

[tdream]

Bad idea to change the function of a hardware button 6 months into a lifecycle. Everyone is already used to the idea of the lockswitch, it's ingrained in all users now as the lockswitch.

It's like changing the standby button instead of turning the screen off, it puts volume to max and starts flashing downloading porn in bright red to the noise of a siren.

 

[scotty321]

Folks, Apple doesn't read these forums!

But you have to MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD TO APPLE!

Send them feedback on their feedback page at http://www.apple.com/feedback and send an email to Steve Jobs.

Here's the letter that I just sent Steve Jobs:

------------

Hi Steve,

It has come to my attention that the orientation lock switch on the side of the iPad has become a mute switch in iOS 4.2, and that locking the screen orientation now requires screen-based controls.

This is a VERY UNWELCOME CHANGE for all iPad users, and one that will make our lives increasingly difficult & complex on a daily basis.

THE iPAD IS NOT AN iPHONE!

Therefore, we have NEVER needed to mute the iPad... not even once!! In 5 months, we have NEVER muted our iPad. And even if we DID want to mute the iPad, all we had to do was hold down the "volume down" button for 1 second! Simple! What could be easier and more intuitive than that?

But because the iPad is NOT AN iPHONE, WE ABSOLUTELY RELY ON SCREEN ORIENTATION LOCK HUNDREDS OF TIMES A DAY!

When reading books, watching movies, playing games, working on documents... WE CONSTANTLY HAVE TO LOCK OUR iPAD SCREEN THROUGHOUT THE DAY!

There was NOTHING MORE CONVENIENT than having the screen orientation lock being a REAL BUTTON ON THE SIDE OF THE iPAD!

Sometimes we will switch orientations MULTIPLE TIMES while reading the very same book! We need a HARD SWITCH for this... not software-based controls!

Please, at the VERY VERY LEAST, PLEASE give us the OPTION to control what the switch on the side of the iPad controls.

But whatever you do, please don't turn that switch exclusively into a mute switch. It is redundant, unnecessary, and makes life more difficult.

Thank you.

 

[markgo2k]

I must admit, this is indeed a big turn off to upgrading. We don't have Apple tv in Japan so I won't need Airplay anyway and I've lived without multi-tasking so far....so....

The only positive for upgrading is the print function, but there are apps for that already.

Ummm....how about folders for the launch screen? Universal inbox and threading in the mail client?

And some multitasking related features mean more than just being able to run stuff in the background. It improves notifications. It improves the ability of an app to "remember where you were". Not to mention the obvious true multitasking benefits for VoIP, streaming music, and even something as utilitarian as an alarm clock (there are clock apps on the iPad, but they're not trustable as alarm clocks, since a single home click and the alarm will never go off).

I don't know that people will be able to avoid upgrading for long unless they never want to buy new apps or upgrade their apps. If you're an app developer, can't use a lot of the new features and still support iOS 3x. While it's technically possible to maintain a totally different version, I doubt the financial incentive to do that will exist for much longer. It's like supporting OS X 10.4 right now--why do all that work for 10% of the market.

 

[igazza]

wow so many people are pissed off about the orientation lock. its only a first beta apple will most likely switch it back.

 

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

This is a VERY UNWELCOME CHANGE for all iPad users, and one that will make our lives increasingly difficult & complex on a daily basis.

This thread is the poster child for Mac user overreaction. No matter how I try to twist and warp my mind I cannot even begin to comprehend how this change—moving a feature somewhere else that will require maybe two seconds to activate—will make your life increasingly more difficult and complex on a daily basis. Hate to break it to ya: Stevo won't care about your letter.

Certainly, I can understand how some users would be bummed that a small change will inconvenience them slightly, but I definitely understand Apple's position—especially with the iPad gaining functionality like Facetime. And now, with multitasking, software-based lock orientation is extremely easy to implement. Mute takes priority as it is a function you are far more likely to need on quick notice—especially in some professional environments. Just amazed.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

Folks, Apple doesn't read these forums!

But you have to MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD TO APPLE!

Send them feedback on their feedback page at http://www.apple.com/feedback and send an email to Steve Jobs.

Here's the letter that I just sent Steve Jobs:

------------

Hi Steve,

It has come to my attention that the orientation lock switch on the side of the iPad has become a mute switch in iOS 4.2, and that locking the screen orientation now requires screen-based controls.

This is a VERY UNWELCOME CHANGE for all iPad users, and one that will make our lives increasingly difficult & complex on a daily basis.

THE iPAD IS NOT AN iPHONE!

Therefore, we have NEVER needed to mute the iPad... not even once!! In 5 months, we have NEVER muted our iPad. And even if we DID want to mute the iPad, all we had to do was hold down the "volume down" button for 1 second! Simple! What could be easier and more intuitive than that?

But because the iPad is NOT AN iPHONE, WE ABSOLUTELY RELY ON SCREEN ORIENTATION LOCK HUNDREDS OF TIMES A DAY!

When reading books, watching movies, playing games, working on documents... WE CONSTANTLY HAVE TO LOCK OUR iPAD SCREEN THROUGHOUT THE DAY!

There was NOTHING MORE CONVENIENT than having the screen orientation lock being a REAL BUTTON ON THE SIDE OF THE iPAD!

Sometimes we will switch orientations MULTIPLE TIMES while reading the very same book! We need a HARD SWITCH for this... not software-based controls!

Please, at the VERY VERY LEAST, PLEASE give us the OPTION to control what the switch on the side of the iPad controls.

But whatever you do, please don't turn that switch exclusively into a mute switch. It is redundant, unnecessary, and makes life more difficult.

Thank you.

We like it.

Sent from my iPhone

 

[ctdonath]

Good idea. Just sent my feedback begging the switch stay an orientation lock.

 

[ctdonath]

No matter how I try to twist and warp my mind I cannot even begin to comprehend how this change—moving a feature somewhere else that will require maybe two seconds to activate—will make your life increasingly more difficult and complex on a daily basis.

Just because YOU can't imagine something doesn't mean it is not a regular part of life for other people.

I use the map a lot while traveling. I don't have "two seconds" (go ahead, mark out two seconds of time while navigating traffic at 80MPH) to spend fiddling with soft switches; I just want to flick a tactile switch and know that map isn't going to be twisting around due to something as then-irrelevant as gravity or inertia. I use the switch several times a day, often when it really is seriously inconvenient to spend more time than touch-and-flick.

Just because your experience or imagination is limited doesn't mean other people's isn't valid.