March 12, 2010   App Store, iPad, iPhone

Apple Replaces iPad’s Mute Switch With Screen Rotation Lock

Apple scrapped stocks and weather app for unsatisfactory bigger versionsAs you might know, Apple’s latest creation, the iPad, is now available for pre-orders in the US.

Folks at 9to5Mac have observed that Apple has made a last minute change in iPad’s hardware. They have replaced the mute switch just above the volume control button on the side of the device with a “screen rotation lock”.

Just like the iPhone, the iPad automatically senses its orientation and adjusts its display between portrait and landscape modes when a user turns the device thanks to the accelerometer. Though its a cool feature, it can be quite annoying when you move around in the bed while reading, as the screen keeps rotating.

Apple scrapped stocks and weather app for unsatisfactory bigger versions

Apple has addressed this annoying issue in the iPad with this last minute hardware change as it would been even more annoying on an ebook reader/tablet like iPad.

iPhone users who have jailbroken their iPhone can disable the screen rotation by using Rotation Inhibitor, which is available as a SBSetting toogle. Amazon’s Kindle iPhone app also has a nifty feature built into the app to disable screen rotation.

Based on this change, it is quite evident that Apple understands that this is an annoying issue, it will be interesting to see how they plan to address it in the iPhone and iPod Touch.

What do you think about Apple’s decision to make this last minute hardware change?

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[via | iPhone Hacks ]

  • http://twitter.com/jayphill89 JayPhill

    That’s very Apple of them. Rotation Inhibitor is so handy. Apple should embrace what the community has come up with instead of acting all high and mighty and changing a button function.