Old iPhone with a weird mirror display issue
August 20, 2011 1:25 AM Subscribe
I have an old 1st generation iPhone that I left for dead two years ago, after it got wet and stopped working. I put it in a drawer and forgot about it. Eventually, I tried charging it, and it magically came back to life... But with a very peculiar problem: the on-screen image is a mirror image of what it should be. Everything is flipped horizontally, an exact mirror image... But the phone still expects the same touch input! For instance, to wake it from sleep, the slider appears flipped, as a right-to-left slider; but in order to actually wake it up, I have to slide my finger left-to-right. (my question after the jump)
Basically, I was wondering if there was an app that would just flip the display horizontally, thereby restoring this iPhone to a perfect functioning state? Or a hack that can do this? I searched for such an app but couldn't find one. I figured it would be simpler and cheaper than screwing with the hardware.
Thanks in advance.
Btw, I'm sure it sounds suspicious but I swear this is real.
Basically, I was wondering if there was an app that would just flip the display horizontally, thereby restoring this iPhone to a perfect functioning state? Or a hack that can do this? I searched for such an app but couldn't find one. I figured it would be simpler and cheaper than screwing with the hardware.
Thanks in advance.
Btw, I'm sure it sounds suspicious but I swear this is real.
There are no apps short of jailbreaking that will affect the basic UI.
posted by tremspeed at 1:56 AM on August 20, 2011
posted by tremspeed at 1:56 AM on August 20, 2011
Response by poster: I'm not above jailbreaking it. In fact, i think it's already jailbroken.
posted by Silky Slim at 3:14 AM on August 20, 2011
posted by Silky Slim at 3:14 AM on August 20, 2011
i think it's already jailbroken
Maybe your first step should be to do a full factory restore. The horizontal flip is likely caused by some software corruption. A full restore could fix that, and is certainly easier than trying to find software that will flip your display the way you want.
posted by alms at 4:09 AM on August 20, 2011 [3 favorites]
Maybe your first step should be to do a full factory restore. The horizontal flip is likely caused by some software corruption. A full restore could fix that, and is certainly easier than trying to find software that will flip your display the way you want.
posted by alms at 4:09 AM on August 20, 2011 [3 favorites]
Maybe you could find an iPhone fan who would get a real kick out of this for the novelty value, and would be happy to swap it for one of their old, but horizontally correct iPhones.
posted by Diag at 5:38 AM on August 20, 2011
posted by Diag at 5:38 AM on August 20, 2011
Sounds like a strange hardware issue. I don't even know of any jailbreak-only tweaks that will flip the display for you. I agree with trying a full restore first, seeing if that helps. And if it does, you can then jailbreak it again - you might be interested in whited00r, a custom firmware optimized for old iOS devices.
posted by dreamyshade at 9:10 AM on August 20, 2011
posted by dreamyshade at 9:10 AM on August 20, 2011
Response by poster: Update to this bizarre story: After a month or two as a bizarro iPhone, it finally flipped back around on its own. I've been using it as my main phone for the past few months and it's okay :^) Wonders never cease!
posted by Silky Slim at 2:09 AM on August 15, 2012
posted by Silky Slim at 2:09 AM on August 15, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Silky Slim at 1:41 AM on August 20, 2011