Taking orders on a phone or an upright tablet (Android)
How the Android POS lays itself out when it is held upright. The table screen's two-line top, the upright table plan or the run of tables, the sales screen with the bill docked under the menu or behind a bar at the foot, the table window in pages, and the payment window in one column.
On this page
A waiter walks the floor with a phone. A counter has a tablet standing upright. The Android POS takes the shape of its screen: held upright, every screen lays itself out for a narrow, tall window, with the buttons a thumb needs where a thumb is.
Nothing has to be switched on. The POS reads the shape of its window each time it turns, and draws the screen for it.
Before you start
- Let the device turn, or set the way it may turn: Settings, Hardware, Screen direction. See Screen direction (Android).
- Give each floor an upright layout in the back office, so a phone shows the tables where you placed them: Room, Table Plan, Upright (phones). See Table Plan: an upright layout for phones. Without one, the phone lines the tables up by code.
Which layout, when
| The window | The POS draws |
|---|---|
| Wider than tall: a tablet or a phone held sideways | Every screen as always: the floor plan as drawn, the menu and the bill side by side. |
| Taller than wide, under 840 dp across: a phone or a small tablet held upright | Screens stack: the menu over the bill, tabs across the top, fewer columns. |
| A phone held upright, under 600 dp across | As above, with the bill behind a bar at the foot and buttons that wrap. |
A large tablet held upright (840 dp across or more) keeps the wide sales screen, but its table screen still draws the upright plan.
The table screen, upright
- The top line: the FooodPos logo and four buttons, 🔄, EN, ☀ and ⚙, a little smaller on a phone so all four fit.
- The second line: Tables and the chips (3 unsynced, 1 refused, 2 QR waiting), with ⏰ Clock in / out at its end when someone at the outlet can clock. A Waiter POS shows no Tables; with nothing to say, there is no second line.
- The tables: the floor's upright layout, fitted to the screen, when it has one. Without one, the run of tables: every table one size, in code order (T2 before T10), left to right and then the next line, scrolling down. Three across on a phone, up to six on a wider screen.
- The colour key, wrapping onto a second row when the words are long.
- The bar: it scrolls sideways when it holds more keys than the screen is wide. ⚡ Quick sale stays at its right.
In the run of tables, decorations, tables that cannot be tapped, and tables out of use with nobody at them are left out: in a run there is no "where". A floor with none to show says No tables to open on this floor.
The orders panel is not drawn on a phone: open the QR orders from the QR key. See The orders panel.
The sales screen, upright
The menu goes on top, with its pages as tabs across the top. Where the bill goes depends on the screen.
On a phone: the bill behind a bar
- The top line, in two rows: Tables (back to the table screen), the bill's title and number, the member, the order type and who served. On a narrow screen they share two rows; nothing is hidden.
- The bar of bill actions: Print bill, Split bill and the others, with Save & Fire held still at its end. It stays on screen.
- The bill as a bar: how many items and the total. Tap it to open the full bill over the menu (the arrow turns to ▼); tap again, or press Back, to close it.
- Pay: the same Pay the bill has sideways, always on screen.
- Tap the dishes. The bar at the foot counts them: 3 items, RM 21.30.
- To check the order, or to change a line, tap the bar. The full bill opens over the menu. Tap a line for its window, which opens as a sheet from the bottom.
- Tap the bar again to go back to the dishes.
- Press Save & Fire, then Pay when the guests are ready.
On an upright tablet: the bill docked under the menu
A tablet held upright, at least 900 dp tall, shows the menu on the top three fifths and the bill docked under it, the width of the screen: its lines on the left, its totals and Pay on the right, both read at once. A shorter upright window keeps the bill behind the bar, as on a phone.
The table window, upright
On a phone, a table with several bills shows each bill as a page: swipe sideways between them, with dots under them. The page on screen is the bill the buttons act on. The five buttons wrap onto two rows. See The table window.
Payment, upright
On a phone, or a tablet held upright, the payment window is one column: the receipt sits behind a Payments (1) line instead of beside the keys. The Paid screen says Total paid RM 21.30 and Change to hand back, with Print receipt, Email, WhatsApp and Exit (10). See Take payment and close a bill.