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Jobs: There wont be a mute-switch becomes an orientation lock option for iPad
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Because (as always) Apple isn't giving us any other choice. What do they have againt CHOICE anyway? My iPad is my 1st Apple product but it certainly does seem like Apples motto is "our way or the highway". It just seems so......controlling.........not to give people choices when it's so easy for them to do so.
Uniformity.
After years of using the iPhone I'm used to the mute switch. We (iPhone) didn't get an orientation lock until iOS4. I could have missed it if I'm wrong though. iPod Touch owners... almost the same thing. Remember, Apple's intro to this product and the hinge of it's success has been that "you already know how to use it."
Anyway, the point is that when I got my iPad and started a game with sound I instinctively flipped the switch. Nothing. Well then I'm pushing franticly on the volume rocker to mute it. If Apple added this to the lock screen bar like the photo album thing then I don't think it's that big a deal. I never use orientation lock on my iPhone but with the iPad I see the need for it.
I'm probably in the minority of folks who want that to be a mute switch like other iOS devices but I would also like an easy/additional way to lock the screen without going to the multitasking panel.
Uni-crap! I want it to continue the way it is. I can mute the volume with the volume control.
And we want CHOICE!!!
Apple, decide: CHOICE or JAILBREAK!!!
It's not the same thing. The mute switch does not mute audio, which is pretty cool. You don't have to worry about notifications waking you up.
I wouldn't imagine that many people use the iPad as an alarm clock, especially since it doesn't come with one out of the box.
I will keep mine as it is until there is a JB for 4.2, then I will only update and re-JB when there is an app turning it into an orientation lock, otherwise it becomes a 3-stage manoeuvre (double press home, swipe left, tap orientation hold).
The other thing is that I hope it isn't the same as the iOS 4.1 for iPhone, which only lets me lock orientation in portrait, not also in landscape. iPad currently offers both.
I think we eventually need to face the fact that this switch was probably always destined to be a ringer/notification mute switch on the iPad design; the orientation lock was likely only temporary until they got iOS4 out the door. We've come to be accustomed to it as such, but we'll just need to break out of that habit.
After using it under iOS4 for a while, i've found it pretty useful — I can prevent notifications and sounds when people are around, or in a dark area (e.g., watching a movie,) very quickly and without needing to be rude and light up the screen and go into menus while they wait for me. Instead, it's just a very quick flick of that external switch. There's not really much reason for the orientation lock to be a hardware switch, though — it's not something that needs to be done privately or covertly.
The problem is, as soon as we start saying we want orientation lock to be a hardware switch, then we'll ask for physical play/pause/skip buttons, and a separate button for multitasking, and so on, and then you end up with the complicated device Apple always wanted to avoid.
After using it under iOS4 for a while, i've found it pretty useful — I can prevent notifications and sounds when people are around, or in a dark area (e.g., watching a movie,) very quickly and without needing to be rude and light up the screen and go into menus while they wait for me. Instead, it's just a very quick flick of that external switch. There's not really much reason for the orientation lock to be a hardware switch, though — it's not something that needs to be done privately or covertly.
The problem is, as soon as we start saying we want orientation lock to be a hardware switch, then we'll ask for physical play/pause/skip buttons, and a separate button for multitasking, and so on, and then you end up with the complicated device Apple always wanted to avoid.
I agree, some people might, but I don't really think this is the problem. The problem seems to be that Apple have some philosophical issue with giving users choice. I for one accept that the Apple physical design ethos is to have uncluttered devices and a consequence of that is to have as few physical switches on the device as possible. I can live with that but why on earth can't they at least give users software options so that the few switches that they have are at least useful. I did have a use for the orientation lock, I have no use for a mute switch (I've never muted my iPad since getting it on UK launch day) so effectively Apple have removed one of the few switches from my device for me. Thanks Apple!
Browsers, spreadsheets, word processors, photo manipulation software, file explorers all have pages of options. iTunes on the PC has an advanced options tab which allows me, amongst other things, to choose whether my streaming buffer size is set to small, medium or large - that's quite a sophisticated and geeky option to expose to a non-computer-literate user so what is so difficult about letting an iPad user decide whether a button should mute or lock the orientation, especially when the precedent of Apple allowing button customisation has already been set with the double-click action of the home button on iPhones prior to iOS 4.0?
I'm mostly very impressed with my Apple products after getting my first one in April with my iPad and now my iPhone on launch day but this lack of customisation for advanced users is the one thing that really bugs me about Apple and I don't really want to jailbreak.
- Julian
I set up an iPad for an elderly acquaintance, and when I was explaining its functions, the lock orientation switch was very easy to demonstrate, and easy for him to grasp. The new way, however... he's never going to remember all the steps! He lives alone and mainly uses the iPad at home, so it's not like he needs a mute switch, either. I've always gone over to update the firmware for his touch every time there is an update, but I think I won't be updating his iPad to 4.2. It's just not the mute/lock orientation switch, but the whole multitasking thing feels clumsy and unnecessarily complicated, I'm afraid it'll just confuse him, and not like he needs it.
I dont get why you would need a mute switch because its not like a iphone and it rings. I wish we had a CHICE
Of course it can ring. Skype and other VoIP apps work on the iPad under iOS4, and a quick switch to tell all messenger / phoning apps that "I'm busy" is very useful.
That doesn't make sense -- I just don't want them to fix an existing feature. You know how the saying goes; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I dont get why you would need a mute switch because its not like a iphone and it rings. I wish we had a CH
Exactly. The iPad is not a PHONE. Why do I need a mute switch on a device that I almost never hear? What does happen a lot though, is a need to change the orientation of the screen. Apple's approach for uniformity and convenience is actually an inconvenience in this case.
But iPod touch doesn't have a mute switch! Having never owned an iPhone, the first idevice i've owned with a fifth switch is the iPad, and I'm used to it being the orientation lock switch. And surely I can't be the only user with this type of use experience. If Apple wanted it to be a mute switch, it should have been that way from the beginning. Now that they've decided they want to change its function mid-stride, there's going to be a lot of confused users come November.
I See only one reason: FaceTime. But this will not be available before the next iPad generation.
Which renders the change to mute a downgrade for iPad 1gen owners/users. Without a camera, no 1gen users are going to use Facetime.
Sometimes I wonder why I am predominately a Windows user. Thankfully Steve Jobs always finds a way to remind me.
I'd personally prefer rotation lock. However, I'd guess it was Apple's plan to change it right from the outset - the nature of the iPad makes the ability to rotation lock essential, but as the iPad was only running 3.X at launch, in which there's no software function to lock, they had to dedicate the switch to it temporarily until 4.X came along.
I must admit though, as much as I'd prefer the switch as a lock, having spent considerable time with the beta now, it doesn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would.
I must admit though, as much as I'd prefer the switch as a lock, having spent considerable time with the beta now, it doesn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would.