Question about auto rotate

[Raigne]

So I keep seeing people asking if there's a way to disable auto rotate, and news posts indicating the next general release will put a rotate lock in, which indicates that WP8 has that functionality. I just got my Lumia yesterday, and I came from android, so I know nothing about how it's supposed to function normally. My google-fu (bing-fu?) has failed me.

My screen doesn't rotate in internet explorer. Is this normal? The home screen doesn't rotate either. What about that? The former bugs me, because I can read fine minimized in landscape, and pinching everything in portrait is getting annoying. The later I don't care about but wondered, since if it's supposed to work in IE, I should probably ask about that too.

I downloaded Sensor Emitter from the app market and it indicates that it's reading my accelerometer fine, which brings me here.

 

[hopmedic]

Home screen should not rotate. IE should. Keep in mind that it uses gravity to know that it rotates. So if the phone is lying on its back on a table and you rotate it, the phone has no way of knowing which orientation it should be at, so it will remain in portrait.

 

[Raigne]

I am aware of how it detects its orientation. It doesn't rotate in IE at all, no matter how it is held. I did find one reference to a WP7 user having this issue, but all that was suggested was to do a factory reset on the phone and see if that helped, and there was never a reply to indicate whether it worked or not (insert XKCD comic "WHAT DID YOU SEE?"), and after having spent several hours getting the phone set up just right, I am loathe to do that without knowing if it will work. My concern now is whether it will affect auto rotate in other apps. Apart from using Sensor Emitter I have no other apps that are supposed to auto rotate that I am aware of, but maybe they are supposed to and just don't.

ETA: Nevermind. It works after a reboot. I have rebooted a couple times since receiving the phone, however. I'll keep an eye on it and if it returns, I'll update the bug thread and this one, just to save someone else from having a what did you see moment.

 

[hopmedic]

I am aware of how it detects its orientation.

My explanation wasn't meant as a derogatory statement, but with only one post at that point, I have no way of knowing what your level of experience is with smartphones.

 

[MikeLip]

I wish there was a way to lock rotation and fixing that would be simple enough I would think. I was hoping the new update would come with that but no, it doesn't. It's really annoying when I am trying to read in bed and the screen keeps flipping, but my brain is getting used to it. The world looks sideways now when I stand up, which makes driving a challenge. I turn up and down instead of left and right now. Thanks, WP8! You messed up my reality.

 

[psiu_glen]

I had this problem on my Trophy. Started off as intermittent failure to rotate, eventually complete failure. Bought a new one at that point.