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When using a maps app on a smartphone, I find it distinctly more appealing to position the phone in landscape mode. I'm not entirely clear why, perhaps because the app designers (google maps, say) pay special attention to this orientation.

Does the same hold true for cycling? I'm expecting that portrait mode would be more helpful, to see farther ahead where one is going.

The sturdiest designs for mobile phone handlebar holders are meant for one or the other. Rare are the designs allowing one to rotate. I'm shopping for one, hence the question.

Calaf
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  • I've got a cheap one with complete rotation (an aluminium one from ebay). So they do exist. I actually broke mine on Saturday (randomly, not in the crash I had a few hours later) , but I'll repair it or buy one the same – Chris H Jun 24 '19 at 13:41
  • Last time I checked the stats 90% of the users of my bike computer app use it in portrait but the 10% are landscape users. – Ifor Jun 26 '19 at 08:01
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    As a long term user of @Ifor's app, I prefer the almost square map in portrait mode, with the speed etc at the top. I have a little wind/rain shield over my phone that means the lower part is easier to read than the upper - and navigation is most important – Chris H Jun 14 '21 at 07:52

5 Answers5

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Consider the zero case - stick your phone in your pocket instead of on the bars.

Most smartphones shut their screen off fairly quickly - if you force the screen to stay on, it eats battery and produces heat.

The phone is exposed and vulnerable to rain and damage from impact.

The phone can be relatively easily snatched and stolen.

Many smartphone screens are hard to read in full sunlight and require extra attention from the rider, when they should be focusing on the road and traffic.

Upshot - consider storing your phone safely in a pocket while riding. If you really need to interact with your phone, pull over safely. At that point you can use Portrait or Landscape as you see fit.

Criggie
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    Using @Ifor's app (see comments above), with aeroplane mode enabled most of the time I can routinely navigate for a long ride on my phone. I tend to lose my nerve and charge it after about 16-17 hours. The screen goes very dim after the usual timeout, but a tap wakes it up. I've had issue with cold shortening battery life but not heat, and find it less distracting to use the map on a big screen (with all pertinent data at the same time)than try to follow turn-by-turn on a Garmin with a smaller screen that keeps flipping to the wrong data. Phones can work really well as bike computers. – Chris H Jun 14 '21 at 07:51
  • @chris I get like ~4 hours max before the phone is dead, and then its useless if I really need it. That's with the screen off, just running Strava. – Criggie Jun 14 '21 at 07:53
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    Aeroplane mode? Strava likes to be online, but IPbike needs no data once the maps are set up properly (OpenStreetMap which gives really good detail for the whole country). Saturdays' ride was atypical in that I was with others the whole day so used my screen less, but that was 15 hours elapsed (including using it with data at the pub) and it still had 20% when I got home. Not a very special phone, just a cheap rugged one – Chris H Jun 14 '21 at 07:58
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I use osmand for navigation and much prefer the portrait orientation. Can’t really say why since I always have the map aligned northwards, so it’s not about being able to look farther ahead. I guess it’s just because I’m used to it and all apps work in portrait mode but some do not work in landscape mode.

The Topeak Ridecase Mount (+Omni Ridecase silicon straps to attach the phone) I use can easily be turned 180° though. I can highly recommend osmand and the Topeak mount.

Michael
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  • I second the recommendation for the Topeak mount but I'd recommend Komoot or RideWithGPS over OsmAnd from the usability standpoint. – ttarchala Jun 24 '19 at 09:12
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Bicycle-oriented navigation devices tend to use the portrait orientation. Net searching for images of e.g. Garmin bicycle computer, Wahoo bicycle computer, and basically any other minor brand gives you devices with their screen exclusively in the portrait orientation, both those that can show a map and those which cannot. There are also smaller square-shaped devices, and it obviously makes no difference to rotate them.

I failed to find a single bicycle navigation device that is offered in the landscape orientation configuration as a default. On the contrary, car GPS-navigation systems from e.g. the same Garmin are predominantly in landscape.

A smartphone is often used to navigate on the go, when a user holds it in one hand. The landscape orientation is more comfortable when two hands are used to hold a phone, and that is not always optimal when one is walking. As such, it makes sense that navigation applications are focused on single hand operation and related experience.

It is not exactly clear to me why there is such a uniformity in the designs, except for a slightly (possibly undetectable in practice) more aerodynamic configuration the portrait mode offers. Another thing is that handlebars have limited width (especially drop bars which are typically no wider than 48 cm), and everything that is placed on them or near them takes space from hand positions. The landscape orientation is clearly disadvantageous in this case, as the portrait configuration is "narrower".

Grigory Rechistov
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  • Many devices can be switched to landscape mode, though, and mounted that way if the user thinks that's more convenient. But you rarely see that in use. – Carel Jun 24 '19 at 08:54
  • @Carel sure, but this is not the default setting, and people rarely bother to change something to a non-default position unless it is so uncomfortable that it is worth going a trouble. But fair point, I will edit my answer to soften it a bit. – Grigory Rechistov Jun 24 '19 at 09:19
  • Maybe the bicycle computers are in portrait orientation because they are mainly used to display data in rows. In landscape mode you’d have to split the screen into two columns. – Michael Jun 24 '19 at 09:20
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I use Topeak F55 mount with Smartphone Drybag which allows you to click the case in place in either portrait or landscape orientation.

Personally I'm not that interested what's to the sides of the path I follow, I'd rather see further ahead, so I use portrait mode and have the map orientation set to the direction of movement. I suppose the landscape orientation of the phone can be useful when you want to watch Calvin Jones showing you how to fix your bike.

Johnny Baloney
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I use the Quad-Lock system. As the name implies, you can position the phone at any 90 degree point you want. You have to rotate the phone to snap it in, which can cause interference with other things on your handlebars like lights.

Ross Millikan
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