Not a problem per se. Just the way it works. Home screen rotation isn't always the "norm" with Android.

 

Yep ... all depends on how the dev writes the app/launcher. Most stock Android launchers don't rotate. Frankly, I like it. Even when I would flash custom ROMs that enable the feature, or use third-party launchers that could rotate, I would turn that feature OFF. IMO, it gets old.

 

Would be hard to read it if it didn't right? If your asking how does it know to rotate....I think it is through the use of a magnet in the charger to let the phone know, but don't quote me on that

 

As stated above, it is by design. This has nothing to do with the Bionic itself. Apps all give the developer the option of allowing rotation or not and choosing a default position of horizontal or vertical. Almost all(if not all) Android phones do not let you rotate the home screen unless it's in a dock or you pull out a slide out keyboard. There are launchers that let you rotate the home screen if you really want it though. I believe Launcher Pro lets you do this.

 

My big gripe right now is that the car dock app uses landscape orientation exclusively, even when the phone is in a portrait orientation. I'll likely be using a third party app for this reason alone.

Why portrait orientation? Because when I'm driving, I don't care what's to the left or right, I want to see what's ahead. And with a 9x16 aspect ratio, portrait lets me see almost twice as far ahead.

 

I had this issue installed Launcher pro and it seemed to fix it. then i seen that i only had 1 page to each side of my home screen. I removed launcher pro and took all my icons and widgets off my last page east and west and auto rotate worked again but as soon as i put another icon up on the far west page auto rotate stopped once again.

Hardware: Samsung galaxy s
OS: Android 2.2.1

 

I use Go Launcher. It's a lot like launcher pro (has scrollable icons at the bottom) and it gives me 5 home screens. Also, I used launcher pro for a long time, I thought you could add screens in the preferences? Maybe I'm wrong. Also, Go Launcher allows my home screens to rotate, and I can turn that function off if I wanted.

 

Auto-rotate worked on the home screen out of the box and for the first couple of days. Then it stopped. I removed the widgets I put on and it's back to stock, but auto-rotate still doesn't work from the home screen anymore.

If it was by design, then why did it auto-rotate when I first got it? It's not by design. Something is broken.

 

I have to ask ...

Does he perhaps have Auto Rotate turned off ...

Settings
Display
Auto-rotate screen

... Thom

 

It was the first thing I checked. I even tried turning it off and on. Turning if off and exiting to the home screen and then going back and turning it on. No luck.

 

Apparently some of the apps you care about do rotate ... correct?

Can you identify some apps that don't rotate for you?

As was mentioned by someone else ... rotating the screen is an option that the App Developer chooses. Many apps don't support it.

... Thom

 

The apps rotate. The home screen does not, except when docked. The home screen used to rotate.

 

I have a dock for the Droid X. I do not have a dock for the Bionic.

The home screen rotates if the Droid X is in the dock.

The Bionic and Droid X do home screens do not rotate if they are not in the dock.

I believe this was true on the Droid X prior to the Gingerbread upgrade.

... Thom

 

I had the below posted in the 5 must have apps thread. I can over-ride apps and rotate (or not) the way I want:

 

The homescreen does not rotate unless it is docked. I have a standard dock and when I place the phone in the dock the home screen rotates. If it isn't docked the home screen doesn't rotate. This is exactly how the phone was designed to work.

 

Then why didn't it work that way for the first two days that I had it?

For the first two days, the home screen rotated. Your "by design" argument makes no sense.

 

I hated the stock so much i got car dock home. There are others in the market but you can set car dock home to the orientation you like.

 

I am on my third Bionic and none of them had a rotating home screen. If you installed a launcher then some of them are capable of rotating the hime screen. If you are using the stock launcher the home screen doesn't rotate unless it is docked. If your home screen did rotate for two days then you have the only Bionic in the entire universe that did so.