All the Things Your iPhone Can Do
The iPhone's hidden sensors can pick up environmental cues and adjust to them.
June 29, 2007 — -- Apple is known for its innovative gadget design, and with the release of the iPhone today, it continues to live up to its hype. But while people are fawning over features like the smart, multitouch screen and the advanced Web browser, there is important technology under the hood that will likely go underappreciated. The iPhone has tiny, powerful sensors--an accelerometer, an ambient light sensor, and an infrared sensor--that are able to pick up cues from the environment and adjust the phone's functions accordingly. Apple has decided to use these sensors for detecting when to convert the screen view from portrait to landscape, for adjusting the brightness of the screen based on the brightness of the environment, and for disabling the touch screen when a person holds the phone to her ear.
Of course, Apple isn't the first to put sensors such as accelerometers in phones. Nokia, for example, has a sports phone (called the 5500) that uses an accelerometer as a pedometer. When a person takes the phone jogging, the accelerometer logs the rate of vibrations and sends that data to software that determines speed and distance. The 5500 also offers an accelerometer-based game in which a user tilts the device to navigate a ball through a maze. In addition, Nokia offers a developers' kit so that people can make their own accelerometer-based games, potentially mimicking the style of those played with Nintendo's popular Wii controller.
These functions, while useful and entertaining, are still pretty mundane, says Nathan Eagle, a research scientist at MIT. "These are trivial uses for what has the potential to provide a whole slew of new features and functionality," he says. Separate research taking place at MIT, Intel, and other companies suggests that, with the right software, built-in hardware such as accelerometers, light sensors, a GPS, and the phone's own microphone could provide contextual clues about people's activities and behaviors. A sensor-enabled phone could feasibly help monitor your exercise habits, keep track of an elderly relative's activities, and let your friends and family know if you're available for a call or instant-messaging conversation. It could even provide insight into social networks.
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