Goodbye iPad Mute Switch, Hello iPad Orientation Lock Switch

Something has changed on Apple.com’s revamped iPad specs page — the mute switch is gone and in its place, a physical hardware button for “screen orientation lock”. That’s right, now you can sit or lounge without fear of the iPad spinning around willy-nilly every instance you shift one way or ‘tother. However, you can’t quickly turn the sound off. (We’re guessing you’re supposed to hold down the volume rocker for that operate now).

We’ve faraway hoped for a Settings option for that, but hardware is certainly more convenient to rapidly turn it on and off at whim. Sacrificing the mute button though? Couldn’t it be (will it be?) user assignable like the home button? And what’s with the last minute change? Focus groups give feedback, or did Steve Jobs get tired of his screen

flipping around, stormed down to the underground lab, and demand the change? Will it be confusing to have orientation lock on the iPad where mute is on the iPhone? Or will the 4th generation iPhone get the same change?

Are we reading too much into that, or is Apple not reading decent into what’s being hailed as the next great leap forward in personal computing?

[via the Loop]

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