We can all accord that cell phones should have devoted mute buttons . We frequently encounter state of affairs — coming together , movie theaters , put the kids to bed — where our phones ’ claxon and boops must be silence , and rapidly . That ’s why it makes perfect sense for the iPhone to have its Ring / silent toggle permutation .
When the iPad was introduced , what had at one spot been delineate as a similar wordless switch was repurposed as an preference ignition lock switch instead . That seemed to make sense , too . While the iPhone , as a cell phone at bosom , needed that instantaneous ability to be hush , the iPad fell into a different — and new — category , where the indigence to dead dumb was less than paramount .
Early testers ofiOS 4.2 for the iPad , however , have discovered that the computer hardware switch on the iPad now mirrors the functionality of the switch on the iPhone : it mutes the iPad , instead of locking its orientation course . To mesh your iPad ’s predilection when running iOS 4.2 , you ’ll call for to use the same combining of play you use on iPhones run iOS 4 and up : double - dab the Home release , hook the multitasking bar to the right field , and then tap the software predilection lock button .
It would seem that Apple is standardizing the demeanour of hardware switches across iOS machine . That ’s at least an intelligible approach . But , to me , changing the functionality of the iPad ’s hardware switch makes small sense , for a potpourri of cause .
1 . The iPad already has a dumb permutation .
weightlift and defend the book Down button on your iPad and it damp in less than a minute . I utilize this pick at least once a twenty-four hours , since my personal bedtime routine includes muting my iPad before grade it on my nightstand . I ’ve never once begrudged this hardware feeler to muting or found it too sluggish . In fact , the control itself is intuitive enough that most new iPad possessor seem to discover it for themselves : the first fourth dimension you require to put the volume down in a rush , the instinct is to hold that button down , and the exact trust result fall out .
2 . The iPad is a very different equipment from the iPhone .
I ’ve already made the case that a mute electrical switch makes mother wit on a cell phone . There ’s a similarly compelling event that orientation course locks are necessary on a tab . I hold my iPad every which way of life when I ’m using it to read — whether I ’m perusing an e - book , a Web page , RSS feeds , Twitter , or a practical paper .
When it number right down to it , I hold my iPad in far more bizarre positions than I throw my iPhone . Sometimes it ’s flat on my lap covering , sometimes it ’s held over my head as I understand in bed . In every one of those situations , it ’s become second - nature to me to twitch that orientation lock switch to avoid the frightening iPad Screen Dance that every iPad owner has meet . Given the frequency with which iPad owners benefit from orientation course - locking , straightaway entree to the feature is better , and the hardware switch is far quicker than the threefold - tap , swipe , tap software approach shot . To be honest , I almost never lock in my iPhone ’s predilection because I come up locking it ( and unlock it again ) annoying .
3 . The consistence argument is blemished .
If Apple ’s argument is that the improved eubstance is a greater welfare to customers overall , that ’s blemished logic . It would be one unreal consistency between two twist which — while manifestly very standardised in legion shipway — still sport a host of differences between them .
For exercise , the iPad ’s volume control and shift are on the right ; the iPhone ’s are on the left . The iPad can work upside down , with the home plate button on top ; the iPhone ca n’t . The iPad ’s multitasking shelf on Io 4.2 — where you ’ll need to reach the software orientation lock — can appear in both portrait and landscape painting modes ; on the iPhone , that bar is restrain to portrait modality . An iPad can be lock in so that it stay on in portrayal or landscape mode ; iPhones can lock only in portrait . And , of course , the keyboard layouts between the two devices different in several ways — ways which , at least ab initio , can be confusing if you ’re already acquainted with the other iOS gimmick ’s glide slope .
And lease ’s not forget the the third appendage of the family unit : the iPod pinch does n’t even have a hardware switch . Aiming to completely standardize iOS gadget ’s hardware behavior is arguably counterintuitive , pay how much magnetic declination already exists between the devices . But like the other remainder , it ’s one that you could master rather quickly .
4 . Orientation , like failure , is not an alternative . But it should be .
Steve Jobs allegedly told one iPad possessor that the iPad would offer no taste to control the hardware switch ’s behavior . I hate taste overload as much as the next guy — unless the next guy is Steve Jobs , who seems to detest it a whole lot more — but this is an option that ’s theoretically in keeping with other iOS scene . For instance , the Accessibility controls permit you select the conduct that happens when you triplex - hydrant an iOS twist ’s home release .
Then again , there is case law for Apple here : in iOS 4 , the company alter the behavior fordouble - tapping the home base button . On devices that bear multitasking , the double tap can only make for up the multitasking bar . other versions of iOS lease you fix what happened when you double - tapped ( iPhones that do n’t plunk for multitasking still do ) . Many iPhone users — myself included — chose to connect the double - tap legal action to launching the Camera app . But when Apple introduced multitasking , the company did n’t offer a agency for client to rejuvenate the old doubled - tap functionality .
In that slip , though , I cogitate Apple was mostly right . Multitasking fundamentally change the style you apply an iOS gimmick . ( That ’s one reason why we ’re all so activated at the expectation of iOS 4.2 for the iPad . ) impel acceptance of multitasking was a smart long - term move on Apple ’s part . Muting , however , present no such fundamental shift . Not offering a predilection for the ironware switch ’s behavior does n’t support any obvious long - condition iOS behavioural change that Apple ’s seek to prompt ; rather , it feels like a more punitive , “ we know what ’s dear for you ” change .
So , what can we do ?
I think the response is unsubdivided : plain . I ’d contend that the loss of the hardware predilection lock up certainly degradesmyiPad experience . Perhaps the gadget is no less knock-down or merriment to use , but a bit of what Apple might call its “ magical ” sheen has worn off . Some iOS exploiter may well disagree with my preference for the iPad ’s hardware switch — many of them vehemently , I suspect — which is fair . But it also means that this is the perfect situation for Apple to blow it up and make this a mise en scene in iOS 4.2 and above .
