4 ms·

> Microsoft had been planning to use a number of sensors on the sides of a device to detect how a phone is held by grip, allowing 3D Touch-enabled phones to blo

by Yhippa 11y ago

> Microsoft had been planning to use a number of sensors on the sides of a device to detect how a phone is held by grip, allowing 3D Touch-enabled phones to block an orientation switch when you're lying down in bed. This is a highly underrated feature.

MawNicker 11y ago
WOOOOOOOOW! They seriously do that? This alone could get me to switch. Switching from the iPad 2 to the iPad Air 2 was painful because they removed the physical switch that could be used to lock orientation. I used to use it for this. Now I have to swipe up (sometimes twice depending on the app) toggle rotation and then swipe down. First world problems. I know. But it's really annoying. To just detect the situation with no interaction is absolutely amazing. It's the sort of subtle solution I would expect from Apple specifically in contrast to Microsoft.
- wlesieutre 11y ago
  My Z3 Compact has a feature where it will automatically reorient the screen unless you rotate the phone slowly, in which case it keeps the orientation fixed. Sony calls it "Smart Rotation". It works great except when it doesn't. Pretty frequently I'll lie down, use the phone for a couple of minutes, and then while holding the phone perfectly still it'll go "HEY THE PHONE IS IN LANDSCAPE I'D BETTER ROTATE" all of a sudden. Which is to say, this kind of thing is great if it's 100% reliable, but if you only get to 95% it's a nuisance. More often than not I just manually lock it because I expect the Smart Rotation feature to flake out, and fixing it afterward is more work than locking at the start (rotate back to the right orientation according to gravity, lock the rotation, then rotate back to my viewing position).
- chatmasta 11y ago
  I wish it were possible to move the screen 360 degrees, as opposed to only two orientations. I'm thinking of a "magic 8 ball"... wouldn't it be cool if you were holding your screen at a 45 degree angle, if the whole screen rotated to be straight? Obviously you would then have a bunch of empty space on the side, but it would feel much more physically realistic.
raldi 11y ago
I just put my iPhone in landscape mode and turn it 90° so that the home button is on top. It stays in landscape mode.
grahamburger 11y ago
Samsung devices do this by checking the orientation of your face through the camera. They will also stay unlocked by checking if you're still looking (while reading a long page of text, for example) and also pause/play videos when you look away. The problem, of course, is that none of this works when the lights are off - like when you're in bed - which is one of the most common use cases. Images of options in phone settings: http://imgur.com/a/lyq6q http://imgur.com/a/lyq6q
- rpenm 11y ago
  IR illumination would be a solution for the lights-off case.

by Yhippa 11y ago

MawNicker 11y ago

WOOOOOOOOW! They seriously do that? This alone could get me to switch. Switching from the iPad 2 to the iPad Air 2 was painful because they removed the physical switch that could be used to lock orientation. I used to use it for this. Now I have to swipe up (sometimes twice depending on the app) toggle rotation and then swipe down. First world problems. I know. But it's really annoying. To just detect the situation with no interaction is absolutely amazing. It's the sort of subtle solution I would expect from Apple specifically in contrast to Microsoft.

wlesieutre 11y ago
My Z3 Compact has a feature where it will automatically reorient the screen unless you rotate the phone slowly, in which case it keeps the orientation fixed. Sony calls it "Smart Rotation". It works great except when it doesn't. Pretty frequently I'll lie down, use the phone for a couple of minutes, and then while holding the phone perfectly still it'll go "HEY THE PHONE IS IN LANDSCAPE I'D BETTER ROTATE" all of a sudden. Which is to say, this kind of thing is great if it's 100% reliable, but if you only get to 95% it's a nuisance. More often than not I just manually lock it because I expect the Smart Rotation feature to flake out, and fixing it afterward is more work than locking at the start (rotate back to the right orientation according to gravity, lock the rotation, then rotate back to my viewing position).
chatmasta 11y ago
I wish it were possible to move the screen 360 degrees, as opposed to only two orientations. I'm thinking of a "magic 8 ball"... wouldn't it be cool if you were holding your screen at a 45 degree angle, if the whole screen rotated to be straight? Obviously you would then have a bunch of empty space on the side, but it would feel much more physically realistic.

raldi 11y ago

I just put my iPhone in landscape mode and turn it 90° so that the home button is on top. It stays in landscape mode.

grahamburger 11y ago

Samsung devices do this by checking the orientation of your face through the camera. They will also stay unlocked by checking if you're still looking (while reading a long page of text, for example) and also pause/play videos when you look away. The problem, of course, is that none of this works when the lights are off - like when you're in bed - which is one of the most common use cases. Images of options in phone settings: http://imgur.com/a/lyq6q http://imgur.com/a/lyq6q

rpenm 11y ago
IR illumination would be a solution for the lights-off case.