I've just realized how much easier to use my tablet is, in portrait mode. Easier to hold, easier to type, easier to touch stuff on the screen, easier to scroll pages up and down.
I never realized this before, so that's why I bought a 8.9 instead of a 10.1 I know now what my next tablet will be.
Aside from the browsing experience, which forces you to either read small fonts or turn off Open pages in overview and scroll the page horizontally (but only on certain pages where the text doesn't reformat properly), everything is awesome. Even this will eventually be fixed and screens will have higher DPI so I guess it won't be a problem anymore.
My next tablet will definitelly have higher DPI and a bigger screen, possibly even 4:3 if some quality devices like this show up and manufacturers figure out this format has its advantages.
How is your experience with 16:9 or 4:3 tablets and landscape vs portrait use?
I actually moved down from a 10.1 to an 8.9
Personally, I find that the 8.9 size hits a happy medium of portability and usability.
It's the right size to hold one handed in portrait, and not too small when in landscape to type out lengthy emails and documents.
As for aspect ratio, I prefer the widescreen of my tab 8.9 over the 4:3 of an iPad. It's just better for watching movies, and seems ideal for digital magazines and ebooks.
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA
Except for the movies part, obviously, I just feel that doing stuff in portrait is more comfortable. Reading is the most basic thing you have to do in order to get other things done, so if reading is more comfortable in portrait, everything seems easier.
From time to time, when I turn my tablet to landscape something suddenly seems un-natural and it's almost like I start to get a headache moving my eyes from left to right and scrolling down all the time...
I'm just trying to figure out if it's just me or if there are others that feels the same way. I remember reading somewhere about website design and the optimal width of a text column and being surprised to find out how small it was, but now I get it
When I got my wonderful 8.9 I used to hold it in landscape positions, but after a few weeks I felt portrait is the perfect position to hold it, I realized that in portrait I could handle it with just one hand and I had no ache in my fists, in landscape I need to hold it with two hands and is no good to touch screen, it is so said that 8.9 appears to be the unique Sammy tablet (now and ever).
Landscape mode for browsing and film viewing, portrait mode for ebook reading and most apps. The good thing about 8.9 is I can hold both portrait and landscape in one hand (in landscape I cradle it with my thumb and support it with index). I can type the same in either mode with one finger since I use swype. Yhe best of all worlds in my opinion!
It is great in portrait, particularly considering very few Android apps are built with wide screens in mind, like you say it's just the low horizontal resolution when web browsing that lets it down. I find it easier to type horizontally too. The iPad 3 fixes the portrait resolution issue but I've used one and to be honest it's more the size of the text on websites in portrait that's the problem. Smaller devices boost font sizes for this reson; you'll find sites in portrait easier to read on some phones for that reason!
Sent from my GT-P7310 using Tapatalk 2
Related
A couple of apps so far (angry birds & rock player) are not the orientation I would like. Basically, I want to flip their orientation in landscape as it's not comfortable holding my nook while in it's case.
Is there an app or a means of doing that?
My birds are always flipped ohohoooo that sounds bad
Heh, I guess there's no way to do this. I don't understand why landscape apps wouldn't read the orientation of the device and change the display accordingly.
I thought I came across a way to force screen orientation, but I can't find it. Maybe I was hallucinating - wouldn't be the first time.
I'm so used to reading books on my Touch Pro2 in landscape that it was downright uncomfortable reading in portrait on the NC. The Kindle app recognizes the orientation of the tablet, but the Nook reader doesn't and I could find a way last night to force it.
Maybe that'll be my first app.
edison said:
I thought I came across a way to force screen orientation, but I can't find it. Maybe I was hallucinating - wouldn't be the first time.
I'm so used to reading books on my Touch Pro2 in landscape that it was downright uncomfortable reading in portrait on the NC. The Kindle app recognizes the orientation of the tablet, but the Nook reader doesn't and I could find a way last night to force it.
Maybe that'll be my first app.
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Beautiful Widgets has rotate one..
-CC
I installed beautiful widgets, I couldn't even get the clock to appear on my desktop. Not sure if this will help with apps like angry birds etc.
edison make it your first app!
I am having trouble with using custom wallpaper and need some input from you fine people. I understand our tab has a resolution of 1024X600 so plain, dumb redneck logic tells me a wallpaper image of that size will fill the screen perfectly and completely. However, that is not the case apparently.
If I put a 1024X600 image on the tab and select it as wallpaper, I am presented with a photo-cropping interface that FORCES me to crop the picture. OK, no biggie, it is high-quality at 300dpi, so I do that and it includes the whole picture I want displayed.
The problem comes when you actually go back to the home screen, the picture has been blown up so damn large that it only shows a small piece of the image.
Does anybody have any real specs on what format the wallaper needs to be in?
I've searched forever regarding this as well...and can't find a straigt answer. What's strange to me is that if you click on a picture on the web, and select set as wallpaper, it will be formatted relatively accurately (there's a little cropping, but not much) if you save the same photo, and set it as wallpaper through the setup screen, it's all zoomed in and cropped horribly.
I've used an app called Wallaby to set wallpapers. you can tell it to NOT resize the image you select, and it works OK.
Basically, what I've found is that even though the resolution is 1024X640, you actually need an image that's more line 1024 wide by 1920...the reason for this is that when you are presented with the "crop" screen, you select a box, but it will only actually show the top 1/3rd of that box as your wallpaper. If you make the box smaller, it will select the top 1/3rd AND zoom in. the odd part for my is that the box is not axis specific...you are only able to crop vertically AND horizontally, not one or the other.
If you pull out a wallpaper image from a rom, you'll see that it's REALLY tall, and the bottom 2/3rds are pretty much blank...that's how it needs to be made in order to look right on the tablet.
so, if you can locate an image that's 1024X1920, it will not zoom in, but it will only show the top 1/3rd of the image on the screen as wallpaper...
Hit up the market for MultiPicture Live Wallpaper. Free app. Easiest way to get the most of your wallpapers back in landscape. Most of the current versions of android are based around Portrait orientation so it crops to fit across a few smaller windows.
For those with newer devices that are landscape oriented, we get screwed. lol But, gladly this app is free to get what you need done at the very least. Has some other interesting features too, need be, but a lot are paid features, I think.
Hope this helps.
Flick ur pics from the market does a really fine job also.
Sent fom my OC'd CM7 gTablet
theclassicalgod said:
Hit up the market for MultiPicture Live Wallpaper. Free app. Easiest way to get the most of your wallpapers back in landscape. Most of the current versions of android are based around Portrait orientation so it crops to fit across a few smaller windows.
For those with newer devices that are landscape oriented, we get screwed. lol But, gladly this app is free to get what you need done at the very least. Has some other interesting features too, need be, but a lot are paid features, I think.
Hope this helps.
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I actually have had multi-picture live since I first got the tab. It does something very strange with BoS. Multi-picture provides for screens 1-7 but the device shows screens 8-14 so it won't even configure correctly at all. I am sure it is the difference in res for screen.
Actually, I have been able to get both 1024X1024 and 1024X600 images to work with the regular wallpaper chooser. The problem comes after waking it up from sleep, the image is borked.
Tried Wallaby - absolutely worthless for me. Wallpaper Wizardrii is ok, but still difficult to work with.
Hi all, I've had this tablet for about 2 weeks now. Before I received it, I assumed that I would set up my home screens for landscape mode and go Tablet UI right away. But as time goes by I find myself using portrait mode a lot more, whether or not it be setting up my launcher or using apps (with the exception of watching videos, of course).
What do you prefer?
mjs2011 said:
Hi all, I've had this tablet for about 2 weeks now. Before I received it, I assumed that I would set up my home screens for landscape mode and go Tablet UI right away. But as time goes by I find myself using portrait mode a lot more, whether or not it be setting up my launcher or using apps (with the exception of watching videos, of course).
What do you prefer?
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I use portrait mode for most thing but web browsing and videos. Its real nice having the option
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Portrait is so much easier to type and see text with since there's more text listed than landscape. I also find it LOADS easier to type with my thumbs in portrait mode.
I'm finding the typing a lot easier as well with two thumbs and the ability to swipe as well.
I use landscape for videos, portrait for everything else
Portrait for almost everything except YouTube.
I am 50-50 so far. I like landscape for web surfing and videos, portrait for reading and replying to messages. I should find an alternative keyboard to make thumb typing a little easier.
cjacks9 said:
I am 50-50 so far. I like landscape for web surfing and videos, portrait for reading and replying to messages. I should find an alternative keyboard to make thumb typing a little easier.
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Get on the SwiftKey Flow beta. It's great on this device in either mode. Just change it to separate thumb mode while in landscape.
I'm about 50 50. I like using landscape and with the 4.2 keyboard it's pretty easy to type... for me
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
With my iPad I use portrait all the time probably because its big and heavy but with my nexus 7 I use landscape for almost every thing. I think because its pretty small and I feel I get more on the screen that way, plus I get to see all of the wallpaper on my home screen too
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
Landscape 99% of the time here... I could never find any advantages of using it in portrait - folks say that it's easier to type, but the keyboard is much smaller in portrait mode, which makes it harder to type in my opinion (much easier to hit the wrong key by accident).
Very interesting that it seems most folks prefer portrait.
Of course my case caters to landscape mode too, so that may play a big part as to why I use landscape mode most of the time...
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
the problem in landscape mode is the navigation bar that the bar is always on front.
That reduces the screen and make it too small.
I would like to have the choice to put the navigation bar at the side in landscape mode.
Does it possible ?
I find in landscape you can't see much, when the keyboard pops up it takes most of the screen and is so hard to view and type at the same time.
Watchaa said:
the problem in landscape mode is the navigation bar that the bar is always on front.
That reduces the screen and make it too small.
I would like to have the choice to put the navigation bar at the side in landscape mode.
Does it possible ?
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I usually use apex (sometimes nova) launcher, when you keep it in landscape (or portrait) only, you can maximize the area available. But then youre not able to use the other way ...
michalurban said:
I usually use apex (sometimes nova) launcher, when you keep it in landscape (or portrait) only, you can maximize the area available. But then youre not able to use the other way ...
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the problem with apex is the portrait / lanscape compatibily.
you can have a big desktop on landscape but the icons will disappears when switching to the portrait mode.
That's very annoyoing and this fix should be a basic feature !!
Watchaa said:
the problem with apex is the portrait / lanscape compatibily.
you can have a big desktop on landscape but the icons will disappears when switching to the portrait mode.
That's very annoyoing and this fix should be a basic feature !!
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Is there any launcher capable of having icons arranged differently in portrait and landscape modes?
90% portrait
Both
jtrosky;36533214...folks say that it's easier to type said:
True, but N7 screen width in portrait mode is same size as ~4" phone landscape.
In landscape, I can't type comfortably, because I guess I have quite short fingers and my thumbs can't reach the keys in the middle of the screen.
I use it mostly in portrait (my homescreen is arranged for portrait), I also browse in portrait mostly, because of exact thing Apple was bashing N7 on their iPad mini release (those extra pixels on iPad mini) - there's too much stuff on top and bottom, making visual area small (in chrome you can't hide address bar, like on stock phone ICS browser (it hides automatically when you scroll down the web site).
I find it more comfortable to hold in portrait, and it's easier to read stuff too (books are portrait after all).
I use landscape for videos and games (and stupid new skype).
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Both ways but I guess its in Portrait most often.
I actually realized this since the first day of using the tablet... I noticed that the screen actually got stretched when you set your tablet in landscape mode and squished in while in portrait mode.
I suspect that the OS is running at a wrong native resolution... Does anyone have similar observation?
Yep, me too
I noticed the same issue. Circular icons look especially bad. Funny enough, the tablet on the packaging also has a distorted screen. In Youtube, videos have black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. This shouldn't be the case, as 1024x600 is a 16:9 aspect ratio, and videos are typically 16:9.
Code:
adb shell dumpsys display
contains the following output:
Code:
mPhys=PhysicalDisplayInfo{600 x 1024, 59.670002 fps, density 1.0, 177.209 x 171.115 dpi, secure true, appVsyncOffset -5000000, bufferDeadline 22758840}
Yup, installed luna icon pack and looks horrible. Same as letters in Google keyboard.
I was just getting on to post about this very thing. Here is an image comparison I put together showing a screen shot side-by-side with a photo of the screen:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Z0bpkQXwBFR1djTnJLSGlsTkU/view
According to the images I pulled, the nominal screen resolution is 600x1024, which is also the hardware spec. But the actual image you see is the same aspect ratio as a display with a resolution of 600x1080. This suggests that the display pixels aren't actually square. I tried a couple of resolution changers in the Play Store but they just scale the display without addressing the issue.
I found an old Google Groups post asking about a cheap tablet with non-square pixels, and the answer in 2012 wasn't very encouraging. I wonder if something could be done through an Xposed module?
I lowered the dpi to 150 just to test and same result...
theophile2 said:
I was just getting on to post about this very thing. Here is an image comparison I put together showing a screen shot side-by-side with a photo of the screen:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Z0bpkQXwBFR1djTnJLSGlsTkU/view
According to the images I pulled, the nominal screen resolution is 600x1024, which is also the hardware spec. But the actual image you see is the same aspect ratio as a display with a resolution of 600x1080. This suggests that the display pixels aren't actually square. I tried a couple of resolution changers in the Play Store but they just scale the display without addressing the issue.
I found an old Google Groups post asking about a cheap tablet with non-square pixels, and the answer in 2012 wasn't very encouraging. I wonder if something could be done through an Xposed module?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, this line from the display dump above similarly seems to indicate non-square pixels:
Code:
density 1.0, 177.209 x 171.115 dpi
Anyone know how to change horizonal and vertical dpi independently?
Apparently the dpi is 160 normally.
You can set it higher and the icons will look less stretched but the dpi seems correct.
Yeah, this is sadly typical in cheap chinese tablets. What really surprises me is that almost nobody talks about this, and most of the people don't even notice it even after pointing it to them
I've also noticed that this screen has what I think is a slow redraw rate (i. e. painting line by line from the top) which cause funky scroll effects, especially in dark backgrounds in portrait. Grab the tablet with the buttons on top and scroll quickly in the Kindle Store and you'll see it
I watched a video on the Fire for the first time, and while this isn't exactly a scientific test, the video did not seem stretched out or distorted to me. I tested with a second video and it too seemed to display with the correct aspect ratio. If so, then that suggests that the display, controller, and drivers are all capable of rendering an image that is not distorted, and that it may be an issue with the rendering of the Android UI.
Up, i would love having a fix for this.
Mine doesnt seem to show these problems? Is it just a some devices problem or am I missing something?
zach61797 said:
Mine doesnt seem to show these problems? Is it just a some devices problem or am I missing something?
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Just got one of the $50 Fire tablets delivered and this is one of the first things I noticed. Look at a circular icon when it's in portrait and when it's in landscape and it's really obvious. I noticed it on the Pinterest icon.
If this really is a hardware issue, I don't suppose there's any way to fix it? If not I'll probably return it and get my money back.
amiiboh said:
Just got one of the $50 Fire tablets delivered and this is one of the first things I noticed. Look at a circular icon when it's in portrait and when it's in landscape and it's really obvious. I noticed it on the Pinterest icon.
If this really is a hardware issue, I don't suppose there's any way to fix it? If not I'll probably return it and get my money back.
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Idk.. I don't really notice it maybe it's just my perspective the seem good to me.
It didn't jump out at me, but yes, the screen is definitely wider than 1024/600. Maybe it is 16:9.
I did notice the weird scrolling. Perhaps it's refreshed in some interlaced fashion?
I've noticed that some people just don't see it. Coincidentally in my case it was the same people that watch 4:3 content stretched in their 16:9 TVs and are happy with it
martinml said:
I've noticed that some people just don't see it. Coincidentally in my case it was the same people that watch 4:3 content stretched in their 16:9 TVs and are happy with it
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^^^ This!
The incorrect aspect ratio is really distracting. I hope there's a way to fix it now that custom ROMs are available.
Hey guys! Does anyone else have a problem with scrolling. When I scroll down a page it looks like the left side is scrolling slower than the right. So for example, if you scroll down on a page full of horizontal lines or text, all the text slopes to the right until the page stops. I'm not sure if this is normal because the tablets so cheap or if its just mine?
BadPotato said:
Hey guys! Does anyone else have a problem with scrolling. When I scroll down a page it looks like the left side is scrolling slower than the right. So for example, if you scroll down on a page full of horizontal lines or text, all the text slopes to the right until the page stops. I'm not sure if this is normal because the tablets so cheap or if its just mine?
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Click to collapse
It seems "normal" for this tablet, sadly:
martinml said:
I've also noticed that this screen has what I think is a slow redraw rate (i. e. painting line by line from the top) which cause funky scroll effects, especially in dark backgrounds in portrait. Grab the tablet with the buttons on top and scroll quickly in the Kindle Store and you'll see it
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Can't complaint it's rather solid for it's price imo.
Aghh glad its not just mine then. I'm loving the fire! Though it was going to be rubbish but really surprised!
After a week of using the 6T, I noticed that my typing wasn't as accurate as it was on my Moto Z Play. My thumbs also were a little uncomfortable when typing for a while. I realized that because of the screen extending further down the screen on the 6T vs the MZP, I had to move my thumbs much more down the phone than before. After playing around with the floating function of the Google Keyboard, I found a position that is more comfortable (image attached), and my accuracy has improved as well. The keys are now in a more natural position, lining up right next to where my thumbs fall when holding the phone.
The other option is also holding the phone lower, thereby placing thumbs where the keyboard lies on this phone. The downside of that for me is that I have to shift my hands up and down the phone to get my thumbs to the top of the screen. Time will tell which solution I prefer.
Out of curiosity, I wanted to see if anyone else who is coming from a phone that had a much larger chin than the 6T has had the same challenges. It may be also that I'm just getting old, and my hands are less flexible.
how do you make the gboard float like that? I can't seem to find it in settings.
raing said:
how do you make the gboard float like that? I can't seem to find it in settings.
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Tap the g in the upper left, then the triple dots top right, look in the lower right?
This will be a necessity for me if I ever talk myself into upgrading my MZP to a 6T as well. My stubby, clumsy thumbs will have nothing to do with a keyboard all the way at the bottom of the device.
Actually recently got rid of nav bar for gesture nav on the MZP, and this helps in that scenario too.
I just got my OP6T today and I'm pleasantly surprised by the phone. Maybe the screen is not as sharp as my previous U11 but the difference is quite small so I think I can live with that for now. The secondary thing is like the OP mentioned typing on the keyboard. I tried using the phone with gestures and even though its really easy to navigate around the UI, writing is just horrible. Space bar is so low that I have to hold the phone really low in order to right properly. With standard navigation bar everything is ok. Tried floating keyboard but its so weird to type and look down to see what you are writing.
Also it's so funny that everyone is chasing the 99% front display ratio but at the same time interaction with the phone suffers a lot and we have to find ways to go around obstacles created but those almost full front display phones.
I use Minuum keyboard with adjustable spacebar height independent of the adjustable keyboard height.