Orientation unlocked for too long

Of all the new features from iOS4 for iPhone, I pick the orientation lock for my favorite. I’d like to take it more of a success for human study than ‘yeah we got some more functions’. Actually it is a perennially problematic design  ever since its first release and I’m surprised how long it takes for this lock feature to come out.

The orientation function rejects the use in bed per se, esp when resting on one’s side. One has to adjust to awkward positions to keep the screen from getting crazy. (Actually it’s a cool idea trying to group the apps based on comfort level of in-bed use). Lying when using the phone is such common issue that any study about intimacy between people and their personal devices will tell you people do it a lot. (recent surveys finding saying a number of young women check their Facebook status in the midnight and the first thing in the morning before brushing their teeth)

It just illustrates how arbitrary the gesture of screen-based interaction can be in real scenarios and how it much requires for using the flexibility of body movement to maintain it.

Anyway…I may be wrong person to criticize since I haven’t updated my system yet. There are plenty of stories from 3G phone users, about how much can be done(feeding the dog, emptying trash, using the bathroom…) between the time the photo is taken and the shutter reopens again, that makes me want to postpone update forever.  I somehow remember earlier this year, the genius in Apple Store told me I wouldn’t be able to update to the iOS4 firmware coz I got a 3G thing and it can’t handle the (fanciness of) new system. But now they probably clap for the idea of still allowing 3G users to update. If you can make them envy others getting new OS, why not making them end up desperate and wanting to throw their phone away.