1. shootsscores's Avatar
    So I'm up at the cottage using the PB in bright sunlight while wearing my sunglasses. BTW, no wifi here so I'm using the bridge browser which is simply outstanding. As many well know, the PB display is so powerful that viewing in direct full sun while wearing shades simply a non-issue. Bam! There's the full screen in all its brilliance.

    Well, for some sites, I view them in portrait mode because their layout lends itself to more efficient scrolling in that orientation. So I'm in landscape mode, rotate the orientation to portrait and the screen goes completely black. I tilt back to LS and the screen reappears in all its normal clarity. Back to portrait and and everything goes black again. I'm wondering if what is occurring is some kind of odd OS glitch and as I put the PB down, I see the screen appear again briefly albeit dimly. I picked up the PB again while taking my sunglasses off for a closer look and suddenly there the screen is perfectly normal. Put my shades back on and the screen goes dark. Tilt my head 90 degrees to the portrait mode screen with shades on and out pops the perfectly normal screen display.

    The phenomenon is caused by polarization. Polarized sunglass lenses at perpendicular angles cancels the light being emitted by the screen which is how polarized lenses function to cut down on glare.

    Perhaps this phenomenon could be why images in the picture file are not set up to be viewed in portrait mode. Just why that might be, I really haven't a clue but the polarizing effect is real.
    06-18-11 08:02 PM
  2. Max_Powers's Avatar
    I noticed that my sunglasses do similar eye tricks with my PB. More than likely something to do with the Digitizer and how it's manufactured.

    Ever looked at it with the screen off on a steep angle with a lamp or something infront of you? You can just barely make out a bunch of lines that make up the digitizer surface. Pretty cool stuff.


    max
    06-18-11 08:30 PM
  3. my_handle's Avatar
    Think it was here talked about before. Happens with smart phones also. Different glasses do it at different rates. Most lcd screens do it actually.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    06-19-11 12:18 AM
  4. ssbtech's Avatar
    LCDs work by polarizing light. Polarized sunglasses cut reflections from surfaces like water, etc.. by blocking light that enters from a certain direction.

    When you rotate your PlayBook (or any LCD screen for that matter) the direction of the light changes and is blocked by the sunglasses.

    Same thing happens if you take those sunglasses and hold them in front of your LCD monitor at home and rotate the sunglasses.

    This won't happen if your sunglasses aren't polarized, but I'm not sure why you'd want non-polarized sunglasses.
    06-19-11 12:58 AM
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