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Comment by bruceboughton | Hacker News Reader

That the author suggests that, since the iPad has a landscape homescreen, this could just be enabled for iPhone shows a lack of appreciation of Apple's design sensibilities that pervades this article. Just because the iPad has it doesn't mean it doesn't need designing for the iPhone.

Furthermore, the iPhone is primarily a portrait device. The iPad, not fitting easily in one hand, is as much a landscape device as it is a portrait one. I'd be surprised if Apple "enabled" a landscape home screen for iPhone in iOS 5.

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My phone spends 80% of its time in landscape mode. Mail, Messages, Safari, Camera, Twitter and the half a dozen games I have are all better in landscape mode than portrait. If you see that list, 4 apps are by Apple itself. Not to mention any app that needs you to type is infinitely better in landscape mode. Only Calendar, Maps and Phone aren't there because Calendar doesn't have landscape mode, and Maps and Phone are better in portrait.

I wasn't trying to imply that Apple shouldn't redesign landscape mode home screen for the phone --- it was just an idle comment you make when you're thinking out loud. My point/request still holds. Having the option of a landscape mode home screen is much more useful than not. And that's precisely why there is a portrait mode lock available --- for people who don't want it.

I agree that I would prefer they don't add in landscape home page. As it is, most people have developed a certain flipping technique for rotating their phone in their hand, which is much harder to do with an iPad. And once you introduce a landscape home screen, then you can't use spatial memory to launch apps anymore. Personally, I would prefer that the iPad used a 4 x 4 set of icons for just this reason. Icons are always in different positions and I need to search rather than know where they are using memory. In contrast, My finger is on the correct icon instantaneously on the iPhone.

If the icons rotated in place, the icon positioning might not be too bad.

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