Help Sense Rotate

[westlam]

I use a car stand to hold my phone and would like to have the Sense displays rotated.

When the keyboard is open, the Sense screens rotate horizontally.

I've looked at the settings and whiles apps rotate when Horizontal with the keyboard is closed, Sense won't rotate unless the keyboard is open.

Is there any way to get the Sense displays to rotate with the keyboard closed?

Thanks,

Mike
Calgary.

 

[Menddles]

Someone has asked this before...I think the answer was no. Can't do that yet

 

[justme8800]

Can launcherpro be installed over sense? When I first got my G2, I had the same issue, but switching to launcherpro solved it.

 

[mullepol]

It's possible to install multiple homes.

 

[westlam]

Thanks for the answers. its too bad. How does one put in feature requests to HTC? Seems like a soft switch that simply needs to be enabled. I need somebody smart to have a look at this and see if there is a hack that can be used.

I've looked at LauncherPro, it does sort of do my needs but I'm not that eager to use it since I like Sense and it works for me. Adding more layers on to get this one feature is a bit of an overkill approach.

Thanks again,

Mike

 

[Stuntman]

The car mount that I use can be oriented both ways. I set it up so my phone is in portrait mode. The mount I use is called the "Bracketron." It's available at London Drugs in Western Canada. Not sure if it is available elsewhere.

If you do use this car mount, you need to cut some divits in the foam grips. The reason is that the Desire Z is rather heavy and the friction from the foam grips is not strong enough to hold the phone in place. Any quick acceleration may cause the phone to fall out. After cutting divits in the foam, part of the grip then wraps around in front of the phone to hold it in place better.

Here's the link to it: 0 Bracketron Grip-It Universal Holder - PHV200BL ;Electronics ;Accessories ;Electronics ;London Drugs

 

[westlam]

An update:

I installed ADW.Launcher and it rotates the home screen with the keyboard closed. It rotates no matter which way is up when horizontal. Does exactly what I wanted.

I wanted this as I have an IGrip car stand and the location of the charger jack doesn't work with the little tabs it has at the bottom of the grip when in vertical position. As they are too close to the stand, it forces the phone up in the stand and it blocks access to the usb port. I have turned the phone horizontal so that it is better supported and removed the little plastic base pieces so I can have it charging when in the car.

One problem that maybe someone else can solve. None of the HTC widgets work in the ADW launcher. Is there a way around that?

The ADW launcher, btw, seems pretty good and has some great features over the sense UI, at least in the way I want to use it, anyway.

Stuntman, thanks for the link to the Grip-it holder. Mine is similar but that one will work well for my girlfriend so I'm off to pick it up. Mounting it on the air vent might be a concern though. That extra heat does not play well with electronics.

 

[Slug]

HTC widgets require Sense. You've replaced Sense with ADW.

 

[Stuntman]

I wanted this as I have an IGrip car stand and the location of the charger jack doesn't work with the little tabs it has at the bottom of the grip when in vertical position. As they are too close to the stand, it forces the phone up in the stand and it blocks access to the usb port. I have turned the phone horizontal so that it is better supported and removed the little plastic base pieces so I can have it charging when in the car.

<Snip>

Stuntman, thanks for the link to the Grip-it holder. Mine is similar but that one will work well for my girlfriend so I'm off to pick it up. Mounting it on the air vent might be a concern though. That extra heat does not play well with electronics.

Universal stands will have this issue with some phones as they cannot account for all possible locations of the various ports where you plug cables in. The Bracketron that I use worked well for my old Nokia N97. For my Desire Z, I have had to make a few modifications to the mount.

As is, the strength of the grip is not strong enough to keep the Desire Z in place if I accelerate quickly. It fell out a couple of times. I had to cut grooves into the grip so that it wraps around the front of the phone a bit. It is easy to cut the grooves because the grips is made of a foamy material that is easy to shape.

The micro USB port is slightly hidden behind the grip. If I use my car charger, it does cause the phone to ride up a little. It doesn't bother me that much. I can fix it by putting a folded piece of paper beneath the phone.

The Bracketron is completely solid on the back of the phone. It would deflect some of the heat away from the vent. The winters aren't as cold here in Vancouver. We probably only have a dozen or so days at most where the temperature drops below freezing all day. I do turn on the heater in the winter although I usually keep the fan on the lower settings.

I personally thought it would be an issue in the summer as it would block the AC. This past summer, I didn't have any issues and the car was able to cool down as quickly as without the Bracketron the previous summer. There is some clearence between the vent and the phone, so the vent is not entirely blocked off. The air would just be deflected somewhat.

The good thing about the Bracketron is that you can mount your phone in both the horizontal and vertical position. The joint is a ball and socket joint that can rotate to any angle you want.

 

[westlam]

Yeah, I know the widgets are from HTC, just thought that maybe they were universal. Chalk it up to my ongoing Android education.

So after a month or so, the ADW launcher has proved to be perfect for what I wanted. My next step is to root the phone, when I can be bothered, and get rid of HTC sense. I created a login account on HTCSense.com and can't get the location program to work properly anyway and the rest of the features hardly seem worth much. Lookout premium has the same feature and it works.

This thread also discussed car mounts. Based on a recommendation I bought a mount from Proclipusa.com

HTC Desire Z - Charging Holder with Tilt Swivel and Cigarette Lighter Adapter

HTC Desire Z - Charging Holder with Tilt Swivel and Cigarette Lighter Adapter*-*ProClip Car Mounts for Mobile Phones, GPS, and Handheld Devices

Not trying to do their sales but I have found it much better than the universal one I had previously.

Definitely not the cheapest but I can't say enough good things about it. The vehicle mount has to be bought separately specifically for your model and mine clipped on perfectly. The phone mount is great. Allows rotation, has the USB fixed in place and allows access to all buttons and jacks.

Really worth the money.