Why Does The Nexus 7 Have A Portrait/Phone Setup?

[chaseman28]

Sorry if this has been answered: How come the Nexus 7 is setup like my Galaxy Nexus instead of a Galaxy Tab or Transformer Pad? I mean that the notification bar is on the top of the screen instead of along the bottom of the screen with the on-screen buttons. I feel like Google did this to make the Nexus 7 more user friendly to compete with the Kindle Fire. But are they going to make this the form factor on all tablets or just 7" tablets or just on (Nexus) tablets aimed at the less tech savvy? Also, can you change the Nexus 7 to look like a standard tablet form in the settings anywhere?

Thanks

 

[Caldera]

It was designed to be used primarily in portrait orientation (as evidenced by the location of the speakers and camera) hence the phablet ui. Some custom roms enable the standard tablet ui by default, but the stock rom can be modified as well if you are rooted. There is no setting in the interface to enable it, but a quick google search will turn up plenty of guides.

 

[retsaw]

It is up to the manufacturers what they do with their own devices, but I think Google decided that 7" was too small for the tablet UI, so that is how small Nexus tablets will be for now. Google showed they do listen to their users by enabling rotation on the home screen, so they may change it in future based on user feedback.

If your device is rooted you can lower the DPI which makes Android think the device is bigger and it will switch into full tablet mode, but when I did this I found the fonts on some apps to be too small, so I switched back to the default DPI.

If you want full control over which parts of the UI and apps run in tablet mode and which run in phone mode, then you may want to check out the Paranoid Android ROM as it allows you to set DPI on a per app basis.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[slywalk]

I read somewhere that with the new update coming around the corner you'll be able to change portrait to landscape ...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

 

[cyanogen-man]

Idk about the home buttons but the 4.1.2 update added land scape support for it so maybe it added the chance to move them??

INSPIRE AOKP ICE COLD SANDWICH ROM

 

[1812dave]

I never use my n7 in landscape except for Video

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[Justinicus]

I read somewhere that with the new update coming around the corner you'll be able to change portrait to landscape

It's actually been out for something like a week now, according to The Verge. I only received the update a few days ago. I use many apps in landscape mode; most games, and some websites, as well. Hopping out of a game to check a notification and then back in is much more convenient when I don't have to rotate the device to read and reach things properly. Likewise, when I have it in its case, in the easel configuration, it's nice to have the icons and such not facing sideways.

 

[Unicorn Rancher]

I use my Nexus 7 in landscape mode almost exclusively except for broken apps that don't rotate. (Early on, I unlocked rotation, turned it to landscape, then relocked to force landscape mode. Except for home screen until Google fixed that bug..)

I like having the controls at the bottom of the screen and the notifications and status (time, battery remaining, wifi strength) at the top of the screen. So I think Google made a good choice with the UI, once they fixed home screen rotation issue. But I get that tastes differ, so it's good Android can be rooted and made to look like Windoze if that's what people want.