I almost always use the iPhone in portrait and seldom use even the iPad in landscape mode unless I am watching a video, which is seldom. I don’t play games, so count me out on that one. Overall, though, I find it more natural to use portrait mode and, despite the ease of flicking round a tablet to change viewing mode, I have no great desire to switch permanently to landscape. That’s why I don’t favour the move to longer 16:9 screens which are designed to appeal to gamers and video fans.
Landscape mode was winning up to three or four years ago, and we still use it exclusively on computers, but the arrival of the tablet has resurrected the more natural method of portrait viewing: just like in books and newspapers.
This article by Ben Bajarin takes us along the winding path from landscape back to portrait. I’m glad to see portrait fighting back.
by Mike Evans, 6 November 2012