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iOS 4.2 Beta: Changes to the iPad’s Basic Controls

By | September 15, 2010 | 5 comments
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CNET reported earlier today that developers who were given early releases of iOS 4.2 for testing purposes, found a couple interesting changes to the iPad’s basic controls.

For instance, the screen orientation lock slider on the side of the iPad morphed into a mute button, similarly to the iPhone. Some people will likely love it, but the team at PadGadget is not that excited about it, as the iPad is not an iPhone, and the screen lock button can be extremely useful when reading a book or a web page while on the go. Note that the screen orientation lock function did not disappear completely, as users can still lock their screens by pulling up the new iOS 4.2 multitasking bar.

Another basic change seems to be around the screen brightness: the iOS 4.2 beta allows users to adjust the brightness of their iPad’s screen on the fly, instead of having to exit apps and having to adjust the brightness via the iPad’s settings – an improvement that should be welcomed by most iPad owners.

iOS 4.2 for iPad: easy access to screen brightness, and screen orientation lock

Note that since iOS 4.2 is still in a beta stage, these functional changes may not be included in the final release, scheduled to be out in November.

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  • Sandok

    Changing the screen lock button SUCKS.

    • Melissa

      I agree. Mine is always locked in portrait mode and it’s so easy if I need to unlock it. And why change it to a mute button? I don’t think I’d ever use that function on my iPad!

  • http://www.ipaduseful.com iPadUseful

    I like having quick access to lock the screen. Are you telling me that now I have to invoke some kind of software interface just to lock the screen, much like the iPhone? That’s extremely annoying.

  • AlfieJr

    All i want is the apostrophy on the top keyboard. we don,t need two .?123 buttons.

  • Robotguy

    “the iOS 4.2 beta allows users to adjust the brightness of their iPad’s screen on the fly”

    Now if they would just let me turn on/off 3G, wifi & bluetooth without leaving an app, I’d be happy. SBSettings is my favorite reason for jailbreaking at the moment.

    As far as the lock–>mute switch, sounds good to me. I have the Otterbox Defender case and I can’t get my pudgy fingers in to use the switch anyway. However, why can’t that be a choice in the settings app? Let ME decide what that button does.