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I have a simple activity to make since of screen touches. What is strange is that the activity starts in whatever orientation i'm in but rotating the device does nothing at all.

I am on an Acer A100 running Android 4.0.3



The main activity is a listview that loads my separate system tests. I can run the SingleTouchTest activity without problems except rotation. I have tried every combination of:

android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation" android:screenOrientation="unspecified"

and it does not auto rotate. I even removed the:

public void onConfigurationChanged function and nothing happens.

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I am unable to access the links you posted on pastebin. But i guess my answer should do the trick –  user1092042 Jun 11 '12 at 3:08
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3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

since you are using


for each activity and it is defined according to google as

The default value. The system chooses the orientation. The policy it uses, and therefore the choices made in specific contexts, may differ from device to device.

Which makes me think that the device is declaring the desired orientation for some reason. Maybe try switching the screenorientation to


that should take it out of the specific devices hands.

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I just found a web post that let my hook up my HTC Incredible to ADB. Rotation works fine on my phone but not on the A100. All my other apps rotate normally whats going on? –  uMinded Jun 11 '12 at 10:40
@uMinded did you try and change the orientation? –  MikeIsrael Jun 11 '12 at 11:12
The HTC Incredible (2.3.3) rotates with: <activity android:name=".SingleTouchTest" android:label="Single Touch Test" android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation"/> but the A100 (4.0.3) stays in the parent orentation. I can only force it to be landscape or portrait. –  uMinded Jun 11 '12 at 11:14
no, but what happens if you add android:screenOrientation="fullSensor"? –  MikeIsrael Jun 11 '12 at 11:35
HTC rotates as expected and A100 does nothing at all. The only android:screenOrentation setting that does anything is portrait or landscape. –  uMinded Jun 12 '12 at 0:02
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Try this:


The orientation is determined by the device orientation sensor. The orientation of the display depends on how the user is holding the device. This should be what you want. Also for more options check out this link-Activity Element.

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sorry don't know how I missed your answer, and basically wrote the samething so deleting my answer –  MikeIsrael Jun 11 '12 at 11:11
I dont think you have to delete it as you have put in your own effort to write the answer. Things like this do happen. Not an issue. –  user1092042 Jun 11 '12 at 12:26
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In your AndroidManifest, get rid of |orientation. The reason for this is as follows:

android:configChanges allows you to handle specific configuration changes manually. Since you are not telling your app to rotate manually (via code inside onConfigurationChanged()), it is not doing anything at all. To allow your application to use rotation automatically, you must tell the Manifest that you are not handling orientation manually.

The documentation explaining this is here at the Android Developers Site.

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@uMinded If it is device-specific only, you may check the settings of the device. They may also be interrupting the orientation change. –  Fuzzical Logic Jun 11 '12 at 10:53
Is their a hidden option in (4.0.3) for screen orientation control for apps? (2.3.3) has it under "settings -> Display -> auto-rotate screen" but I found so such option in (4.0.3) –  uMinded Jun 12 '12 at 0:08
That's all dependent on the ROM (i.e. Manufacturer) Who makes the A100? –  Fuzzical Logic Jun 12 '12 at 0:32
Acer makes the A100 (7" Tegra 2) build is Acer_AV041_A100_1.012.00_ww_GEN1 its an official ICS update for the device but I did the install manually as the settings -> about -> system update would not find the update. –  uMinded Jun 12 '12 at 0:41
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