On the iPad, when you change orientation from landscape to portrait mode, only 8 of your app icons out of 20 stay in relatively the same place — the 4 top, leftmost icons and the 4 bottom, rightmost icons. That means 12 of the icons — more than half — change positions, and 5 of them change rows completely.

iPhone has never done landscape mode home screens, but even if it did its 4×4 icon grid would stay the same no matter which orientation it was in. iPad’s grid, however, is 4×5 in portrait and 5×4 in landscape. It’s a rectangle not a square.

On one of the first episodes of the iPad live! podcast, I mentioned how this seemed to create extra mental work when looking for an app. Their position no longer being reliable and dependable, I found myself looking for them rather than just tapping them on instinct, especially the apps that wrapped to a new row when orientation changed.

Consistency is a huge part of iOS’ success. UI elements in the same place tend to do the same thing. One built-in app tends to work the way other built-in apps work. And up until iPad, app icons were always in the same place on an iOS home screen.

This might seem like a minor detail, but Apple’s always been a company that sweats the minor details, that almost always nails them. Steve Jobs said people don’t always notice design, but they notice when it’s missing.

I notice when my icons are “missing” or not in the same place just because I’m not in the same orientation.

Since I don’t have a better solution in mind, however, and enjoy having 20 icons per screen, what I’ve started doing is placing icons I use most in those 8 relatively static positions so I know they’re always top left or top right no matter what orientation I’m in. That’s consistent enough that I can hit them without thinking about it.

If you’ve got any better tips, let me know in comments.

How to keep (some) apps in the same place when you change iPad orientation is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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You know the drill. Come time, we’ll be talking about everything iPad. We’d love to talk with you, so come by, chat, and share you views.

We’ll be talking iOS 4.2. Be there!

• 6pm PT/9pm ET/2am BST

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So click on through, we start setting up 15 min. before show time. Chat with you soon!

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Some Apple patents were made public this weekend giving possible hints at the the future of the iPad, include a landscape dock port and “smart-bezel”.

The first one shows a second 30-pin dock connector on the left side for landscape docking. I’m sure this will make the keyboard dock and bluetooth keyboards even easier to use with some apps.

The second patent is for something called “Smart Bezel” which isnt really described well but by the pictures it looks like you touch a part of the bezel and and you can assign that part to a particular action.

Neither of these are bold re-designs, but are they features you want to see in a refresh? Oh, and let us know if you think that’s a front-facing camera in the smart-bezel illustration after the break, or just the ambient light sensor…

[Patently Apple via 9to5mac]

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Landscape dock port, smart bezel for iPad [patent watch] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The European Commission is calling off the investigation into Apple’s ban on cross-compilers after Apple reversed the policy. The EU also claims that the policy change was a direct result of their investigation.

“Apple’s response to our preliminary investigations shows that the Commission can use the competition rules to achieve swift results on the market with clear benefits for consumers, without the need to open formal proceedings,” Almunia said.

While the FTC/EU investigation is certainly one of the leading theories behind Apple’s new App Store policies and guidelines, others have suggested increased competition from Google’s Android, and a desire to have games in the App Store based on engines like Unity and Unreal.

So which theory is correct? Or was it a combination of factors that made Apple change their minds?

[Electronista, Engadget]

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EU Commission calls off investigation into Apple is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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