I ran into the following photo of the new Jolla phone with a QWERTY keyboard “other half”:
Isn't that just the N950? RT @debexpert: RT @adampigg: The keyboard other half! #jolla #sailfish pic.twitter.com/a6ipMbGsb9
— Ifeanyi aka ZUMA (@spacyzuma) December 1, 2013
Here is the Jolla photo again:
And here is the HTC 7 Pro running Windows Phone OS:
And the LG Optimus 7Q:
What is the point of having a slide-out hardware keyboard when the homescreen won’t switch to landscape when you extend the keyboard? The images above tell what platforms are the culprits – Windows Phone OS and Sailfish OS.
When you slide out the keyboard while on the homescreen, this is what should happen:
Those are the Nokia E7 (Symbian OS) and Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro (Android OS).
These other guys whose homescreens stay in portrait even when the keyboard is extended look like misfits. Your thoughts?
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My thoughts.
At least I can say of Windows phone 8, there is a landscape mode even on my Nokia Lumia 520 (which has no keyboard) so I expect switching to landscape mode should not be a problem on these ‘QWERTIED’ (word hereby coined 🙂 ) phones when the keypad is pulled out.
That being said, the qwertied phones have settings which toggle the landscape mode on and off. Maybe landscape mode was not switched on in the above phones?
I don’t want to believe manufacturer will be launching a phone in this age and time with screen orientation remaining in portrait while you slide out the keyboard
Its just a little optimization for the home screen
Just a note about your first image. That is not the new Jolla phone, that is a Nokia N950 which someone ran Sailfish OS on. The current version of Sailfish does not have a landscape home view, but the Jolla phone does not have a keyboard available either. I’m pretty sure landscape mode will be implemented in the end, when official or 3rd party keyboards are available.
Mikko, thanks for the clarification about that shot. Cheers.