Screen direction (Android)

Which way an Android POS's own screen may be held. Landscape, Portrait or Follow the device, in Settings, Hardware, Screen; the direction a phone or a new tablet chooses by itself; the back office's Screen direction that sets it for a POS; and how each screen is laid out held upright, on a tablet and on a phone.

Who uses it:OwnerManagerWhere:Android POSBack office
On this page

An Android POS can be held wide (landscape), upright (portrait), or turn with the device. A tablet on a stand at the counter is usually wide; a waiter's phone is upright. You choose it on the device, and every screen of the POS lays itself out for the way it is held.

The setting belongs to this device only. The screen turns at once, and nothing on it is lost: a bill on screen, a half-typed quantity, an open window. The customer display on a second screen, and everything printed, take no notice of it.

Where it is

  1. On the table screen, tap ⚙, then Hardware.
  2. In the list on the left, tap 🔄 Screen (Landscape or portrait).
  3. Tap Landscape, Portrait or Follow the device. The screen turns at once.
  4. Tap Close at the top right to leave Hardware.

On a kiosk, the same choice is in the staff sheet, on its 🔄 Screen direction tab.

The panel, part by part

Settings, Hardware, Screen on an Android tablet.
  1. Screen: the row in Hardware's list, Landscape or portrait under it.
  2. Screen direction: the three choices; the one in force is ticked.
  3. Landscape: Wide, like a tablet on its stand. Either way up.
  4. Portrait: Upright, like a phone in the hand. Either way up.
  5. Follow the device: Turns when the device is turned, all four ways, as the device is held.
  6. The note: the setting is this device's alone, and the customer display and printing are not affected.

When nobody has chosen

A device the setting was never touched on chooses for itself, once:

The deviceIt is
A phonePortrait, shown as Portrait (chosen for this phone)
A tablet that FooodPos is new onFollow the device, shown as Follow the device (chosen for this tablet): one held upright comes up upright, one on its stand stays wide
A tablet that had FooodPos beforeLandscape, as it always was

Under the choices it says Chosen automatically for this device. Tap a choice to set it yourself. A choice you tap always wins over it, from then on.

Set it from the back office

The owner or a manager can set the direction for a POS in the back office. It then wins over the device's own choice.

  1. In the back office, open Outlets, click Edit on the outlet's row, then the POS terminals tab.
  2. Click Edit on the Android POS's row, then its Hardware tab.
  3. Under Screen direction, choose On this Android POS: Let the device choose, Landscape, Portrait or Turns with the device.
  4. Click Save screen direction.

The POS takes it within about a minute, without a restart. On the device, the Screen panel then shows the choice greyed, with Set in the back office for this POS (POS terminal > Hardware > Screen direction). Change it there. When the back office lets the device choose again, this device's own choice comes back.

To give the choice back to the device, choose Let the device choose and save. See POS terminals: Hardware tab.

How the screens look held upright

Each screen chooses its layout from the shape of the window, not from the setting:

  • Sign in: the FooodPos logo is a band across the top, and the card opens on the PIN pad, its keys sized for a thumb. See Sign in.
  • The table screen: the tables in a run, left to right and then the next line, every tile the same size, scrolling down. Where the floor has an upright layout of its own, made in the back office's Table plan under Upright (phones), the tables stand where it puts them instead.
  • The sales screen: the menu on top, with its categories across the top, and the bill under it. On a tall tablet the bill is docked under the menu. On a phone the bill is a bar along the foot: on its left how many items and the total, such as 3 items and RM 37.40, which a tap opens to the full bill (▲, then ▼ to close); on its right Pay RM 37.40. Save & Fire is on the bar above it, always on screen.
  • Other screens: two panes side by side stack one under the other, tabs that run down the left run across the top, and grids take fewer columns.

A large tablet held upright, wide enough for two panes, keeps the wide layout of every screen but the table screen.

A phone held upright: the sales screen with the bill as a bar along the foot.
  1. The bill bar: how many items and the total. Tap it to open the full bill over the menu; tap again to close it.
  2. Pay: the same Pay the bill has held sideways.
  3. Save & Fire: on the bar of bill actions, just above.

What if…