How can I make my phone less keen on portrait?

asked 2015-02-16 00:00:27 +0200

pichlo gravatar image

updated 2015-02-17 15:49:17 +0200

jiit gravatar image

It seems to me it has been designed only with portrait in mind and landscape is only a very reluctant afterthought. Most things do not work in landscape at all: the home/lock/launcher/notification screens, Store, Clock, Calendar, Settings...

At least Email and Browser sort-of work in landscape but even those take any opportunity to switch to their preferred portrait the moment I turn away. For example, I have to turn the phone very explicitly horizontal for Browser to very reluctantly turn to landscape but the moment I put it down on the table, it seezes the opportunity and jumps back to portrait.

Is there any way to change that? To make landscape the preferred orientation? Portrait is kinda undestandable in a phone although reading most web pages in that layout is a torture but presumably no one would ever want to subject themselves to that on a tablet, so I am hopeful that even if not right now, there might be a chance in Sailfish 2.

Oh and before some smart... err, person (;)) points to me that orientation is in Display Settings... Yes, I know. It does not work. To start with, system screens are still in portrait and second, I actually want dynamic orientation, only with a preference for landscape.

edit retag flag offensive close delete

Comments

2

From Update on SailfishOS roadmap:

The following activities continue [...]:
Continue working on landscape mode for apps

I agree that landscape support in both apps and system screens should be better, but I'm sure they're working on it, with the tablet coming and all.

As for the sensitivity of changing orientation, I haven't noticed such "preference of portrait mode". My Browser changes to landscape as quickly as it does to portrait (and no need to be very explicit about the turn) and it stays that way when I put the phone on the table.

ssahla ( 2015-02-16 00:53:14 +0200 )edit

I think Jolla's UI designers actually have a preference to portrait orientation, at least for the system screens, because they designed the UI to be as convenient as possible for one-hand use. Jaakko Roppola, Senior Designer of Jolla, writes about these design principles in his blog: http://jaakkoroppola.blogspot.fi/.

Probably orientation flexibility for the system screens is a quite complex task, but I'm sure the developers are working on it now for the upcoming tablet.

wanderer ( 2015-02-16 10:52:43 +0200 )edit

Of the people at tjc that also have a Nokia N9, I think most of them have the landscape mod installed on their N9. I think it was a huge mistake from Jolla not to bring landscape mode in from the beginning. The way landscape mode on the N9 works is sub-optimal (rotation happens when switching between running apps). I guess we will never have a true landscape mode in Jolla, but I do hope.

martinrusler ( 2015-02-16 12:09:02 +0200 )edit
1

I realize there is little I can do with system screens orientation, at least until the tablet comes out. But how about the rotation sensitivity in Browser etc? Basically I am after a Sailfish equivalent of this N9 guide. The path mentioned in that guide is an empty folder on my Jolla.

pichlo ( 2015-02-16 19:05:50 +0200 )edit