Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Simply turn the iPad to change its orientation. In fact, from the software's
point of view, there is no “correct” orientation. No matter how you hold it,
the screen contents rotate to be right-side up.
Screen orientation is just a parlor trick for the accelerometer, however.
Because it calculates the iPad's position in three dimensions, it also knows
at what angle you're holding the device and responds to that. Plus, a built-
in gyroscope and compass make it possible for the iPad to calculate where
it's being held in physical space. Lots of games take advantage of these
features, turning the entire iPad into the game controller to affect what's
happening onscreen.
You may not want the screen to adjust its orientation at times, like when
you're reading while lying down. The iPad offers two ways to do this: The
iPad side switch, located next to the volume adjustment button, can be
set to lock the orientation or to mute audio. Or, you can tap a control in
the recents list.
When the switch is configured to lock screen orientation, you can still
easily mute the iPad's audio: Press and hold the volume-down button
for a couple of seconds. The volume level dips and then drops to zero.
To choose which behavior to use, you need to specify how the iPad side
switch is used:
1.
Open the Settings app and tap the General setting.
2.
Under the “Use Side Switch to:” heading, tap to choose either Lock
Rotation or Mute.
Based on your choice here, the opposite action becomes the option
available in the recents list.
