Controlling the orientation of a Windows Phone (Hacking the accelerometer)

Windows Phones, by definition, are equipped with an accelerometer for detecting the physical orientation of the device. Applications can subscribe to notifications from the operating system of orientation changes and adjust their layouts accordingly. Early reviews of Windows Phones were apparently in consensus that few applications would be orientation-aware. I've encountered just one, I think, that evidently wasn't orientation-aware, however. What often happens is that the accelerometer and I are in disagreement about the orientation of the device. I'm holding it, according to my senses, upright, whereas it's telling the operating system that it is being held sideways. that's particularly relevant when using Internet Explorer, because it's useful favorites bar doesn't seem to show up in landscape orientation. Here is how to force the accelerometer to notify applications that the device is being held upright and that portrait mode is therefore desired. Hold the device so that the top thereof is parallel to your chin. Then--and this is the crucial step that informs the accelerometer unequivocally that the device is upright--tilt the top of the device toward your chest for a moment. That may cause the screen to pass out of view for a moment, as you find yourself looking down at the top and rear of the device. Yet, as you tilt the device back so that you can see the screen, then you should find that any application that had gone into landscape orientation is back in portrait orientation.