Tablet Aspect Ratios

[N2715D]

I love my iFly software on my iPad mini but hate it on my new Android Lenovo M9 because it, like all android tablets since the discontinuation of the 2017 Samsung Tab 3, have absurdly elongated 16:9 displays.
The iFly software renders perfectly on my iPad mini, with its 4:3 display, in both landscape and portrait orientations, but the rendering on a typical Android tablet with 16:9 display is awful, especially in landscape orientation with large top and bottom margins lost to android’s status bar and android navigation soft keys. The solution is simple. Do away with the upper and lower margins in landscape orientation and use the entire height of the screen to render the iFly app. Move the android navigation soft keys to a margin on the SIDE of the screen and display them vertically. This will permit you to Display the iFly app in the same 4:3 dimensions used on iPad displays. Those dimensions are better and the ifly’s soft buttons and data fields will be more accessible and readable.

 

[Cobra]

This has never concerned me because I always use iFly in Portrait mode, but your point is well-taken. Clearly apps *can* ask Android to hide the nav button soft keys--Kindle does this, for instance--and I think that would be a good idea. (Personally, I would prefer that to be a user-selectable option, as I think I would have a small preference to keep the soft keys always available, but I know AP tries to avoid that when possible, so I won't push for that.)

 

[N2715D]

This has never concerned me because I always use iFly in Portrait mode, but your point is well-taken. Clearly apps *can* ask Android to hide the nav button soft keys--Kindle does this, for instance--and I think that would be a good idea. (Personally, I would prefer that to be a user-selectable option, as I think I would have a small preference to keep the soft keys always available, but I know AP tries to avoid that when possible, so I won't p

This has never concerned me because I always use iFly in Portrait mode, but your point is well-taken. Clearly apps *can* ask Android to hide the nav button soft keys--Kindle does this, for instance--and I think that would be a good idea. (Personally, I would prefer that to be a user-selectable option, as I think I would have a small preference to keep the soft keys always available, but I know AP tries to avoid that when possible, so I won't push for that.)

Agreed. The iFly app should display Full Screen on Android tablets and hide both the top and bottom margins.
(Note that changing the "gesture" settings in Android to hide the buttons on the bottom of screen does not increase the display area for the iFly app now. It just centers the same small display area vertically between the margins.)

 

[Cobra]

Agreed. The iFly app should display Full Screen on Android tablets and hide both the top and bottom margins.
(Note that changing the "gesture" settings in Android to hide the buttons on the bottom of screen does not increase the display area for the iFly app now. It just centers the same small display area vertically between the margins.)

My personal preference is to always have the Android top info bar visible. I would push hard to make at least that part a user preference item. Battery status and Wifi/Bluetooth status are critical items to me, and I also like having the time right there, too.

 

[N2715D]

This has never concerned me because I always use iFly in Portrait mode, but your point is well-taken. Clearly apps *can* ask Android to hide the nav button soft keys--Kindle does this, for instance--and I think that would be a good idea. (Personally, I would prefer that to be a user-selectable option, as I think I would have a small preference to keep the soft keys always available, but I know AP tries to avoid that when possible, so I won't p

This has never concerned me because I always use iFly in Portrait mode, but your point is well-taken. Clearly apps *can* ask Android to hide the nav button soft keys--Kindle does this, for instance--and I think that would be a good idea. (Personally, I would prefer that to be a user-selectable option, as I think I would have a small preference to keep the soft keys always available, but I know AP tries to avoid that when possible, so I won't push for that.)

Agreed. The iFly app should display Full Screen on Android tablets and hide both the top and bottom margins.
(Note that changing the "gesture" settings in Android to hide the buttons on the bottom of screen does not increase the display area for the iFly app now. It just centers the same small display area vertically between the margins.

My personal preference is to always have the Android top info bar visible. I would push hard to make at least that part a user preference item. Battery status and Wifi/Bluetooth status are critical items to me, and I also like having the time right there, too.

Most if the relevant info on the top margin can be selected to display in iFly (Time, Battery level). I use the adsb status field to check wifi, but I'm sure IFly could add wifi status as an option instrument.

 

[Cobra]

Most if the relevant info on the top margin can be selected to display in iFly (Time, Battery level).

True. But if the point of this thread is efficient use of screen real estate, then I'd argue that the Android bar at the top is less intrusive to the map than adding the iFly instruments required to replace it. Thus my preference to keep the Android bar.

 

[Don Maxwell]

...The iFly software renders perfectly on my iPad mini, with its 4:3 display, in both landscape and portrait orientations, but the rendering on a typical Android tablet with 16:9 display is awful, especially in landscape orientation with large top and bottom margins lost to android’s status bar and android navigation soft keys....

Which iPad Mini do you have? My Mini 6 has wide black bars at the top and bottom (and left and right sides in landscape):

 

[N2715D]

Which iPad Mini do you have? My Mini 6 has wide black bars at the top and bottom (and left and right sides in landscape):
View attachment 548
View attachment 549

Believe it or not, I'm running iFly on the first generation iPad mini! Kudos to the coders at iFly for efficient code that doesn't rely upon processor speed and compel hardware replacement with IOS version updates. iFly is a great use for old, unsupported iPads that everyone tosses or gives away for nothing. And there are good dedicated mounting cradles for all ipads. The only limitation is the absence of internal GPS in the wifi versions, but uAvionics Sky Sensor or any external GPS will do.
I haven't seen iFly rendered on the ipad mini 6 without the hardware button on gen 1 to 5. I would have hoped it would display Full Screen.
Bottom line: iFly should try try to render full screen on all tablets, or with bare minimum of "letter boxing"

 

[Don Maxwell]

The newest beta version of iFlyEFB has eliminated the black bars at the top and bottom of iPad MIni 6 and iPhone 14 Pro Max and all later iPhones. iFly looks very spiffy now on both devices and has about 25% more map area.