ScreenRotationLock
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iPhone 101: Lock / unlock screen rotation
Welcome to iPhone 101, the series that explains the basics of iPhone operation. A friend told me his iPhone was broken because the screen no longer rotated in Safari, Mail or any other app. He suspected the accelerometer was broken, but was confused because it still worked in games and apps like Google Maps. He remarked how frustrating it was, and that he'd booked an appointment with a Apple Genius. I must admit, I was flummoxed, too. I know you can lock and unlock the screen rotation in the settings section on iOS for iPad, but I couldn't find any such option in Settings on iOS for iPhone. And then it suddenly hit me, there is a screen rotation lock / unlock button when you double tap the Home button and flick to the right -- where the Music player controls are. Sure enough, my friend's iPhone screen rotation was locked. With a simple tap, his screen rotated once more. After a quick search on Apple's support forums -- and there seem to be a lot of people who struggle with this -- I found a support page which details the steps to lock and unlock screen rotation on iPhone and iPod touch. Double-click the Home button to display recently used apps. Flick from left to right along the bottom of the screen. Tap the Screen Rotation Lock button on the bottom left of the screen. If the button used to show a padlock, the padlock will disappear from the button after tapping it. To lock the screen rotation, simply tap the button again, the padlock will appear to indicate it's locked again.
iPad mute switch magicked into a 'screen rotation lock' overnight, a flurry of other tidbits emerge
Apple's pushing out a few more scraps of info about the iPad in conjunction with the launch of pre-orders. One of the quirkier details is that what was previously known as the mute switch on the iPad -- similar to the one on the iPhone -- is now known as the "screen rotation lock" on Apple's website. We suppose it makes more sense for this sort of device, both due to the "hold it any way you feel like" marketing push, and since it's less likely to start ringing in the middle of a Remember Me screening than your iPhone is. In other news, it's been confirmed that iBooks will be able to sync free (non-DRM'd) ePub titles in from iTunes, which is good news for people who want to use an existing ePub stash of theirs with Apple's fancy page-flipping interface. Also on the books front, it was clarified today that the iPad can indeed use VoiceOver screen-reading for reading pages of books out loud -- we knew the screen reading tech was on the iPad, but now it sounds as if it will be more directly integrated into iBooks. Apple also clarified today that folks who sign up for the 250MB iPad data plan will receive pop-up alerts when they're running short on data, similar to battery warnings, at the 20 percent, 10 percent and zero marks. There's an account management pane that lets you sign up for or cancel service, add another 250MB, or swap to an unlimited plan. But wait, there's more! Apple's also confirming a few more iPhone OS 3.2 features, like the addition of Google's "Terrain" view in maps and a slightly revamped iPod app UI. 3.2 also brings some nice video tweaks like support for additional formats (AVI and MJPEG) and native uploads to Facebook -- further boosting the iPad's external camera friendliness.
