New Types of Sensors In Future Mobile Phones: Altitude, Emotion and More
The New York Times' Nick Bilton spoke with Benedetto Vigna, general manager of the MEMS division of STMicroelectronics, about what kinds of sensors we might be seeing in the next generation of mobile phones.
The iPhone presently uses a number of sensors such as GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, and digital compass. These sensors have found to be quite useful in various social applications and games.
The next generation of sensors could include additional location providing ones, such as an altimeter:
Mr. Vigna said the next smartphones would have altimeter sensors that would be able to detect your elevation. “These sensors will tell people what floor they are on in a building, or could be used to more precisely determine where you are in relation to your friends on a location-based service,” he said.
Other possibilities include heart monitors, perspiration/mood sensors, and temperature/humidity sensors. The new sensors could even be used in games to determine excitement or emotion during gameplay.
Meanwhile, a combination of factors (phone position, and other patterns) could be used to identify the user for security purposes.
After you use a new phone for a short period of time, it will start to learn your patterns and automatically lock or unlock the phone accordingly. This could be used for more secure banking too.
Related Stories
We've seen a lot of teasers about the Beats Studio Buds over the past month since they first showed up in Apple's beta software updates, and today they're finally official. The Beats Studio Buds are available to order today in red, white, and black ahead of a June 24 ship date, and they're priced at $149.99.
The Studio Buds are the first Beats-branded earbuds to truly compete with AirPods...
Google has rolled out picture-in-picture support as an "experimental" feature for YouTube premium subscribers, allowing them to watch video in a small window when the app is closed.
If you're a premium YouTube subscriber looking to try out picture-in-picture, follow these steps: Launch a web browser and sign into your YouTube account at YouTube.com.
Navigate to www.youtube.com/new.
Scroll...
The upcoming 14-inch MacBook Pro is set to be more expensive than the current 13-inch MacBook Pro and both the 14 and 16-inch models will offer the same performance, according to the leaker known as "Dylandkt."
The leaker shared the information on Twitter, explaining that both of the upcoming MacBook Pro models, expected to come in 14 and 16-inch sizes, will feature the same performance due...
YouTube is planning to stop supporting its YouTube app on the third-generation Apple TV models, where YouTube has long been available as a channel option.
A 9to5Mac reader received a message about the upcoming app discontinuation, which is set to take place in March.Starting early March, the YouTube app will no longer be available on Apple TV (3rd generation). You can still watch YouTube on...
Apple today released iOS 13.1.3 and iPadOS 13.1.3, minor updates to the iOS 13.1.2 software that was released two weeks ago. This is the fourth update to the iOS 13 operating system that came out in September.
The iOS and iPadOS 13.1.3 updates are available on all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the updates, go to Settings > General > Software Update....
The finish line is in sight! Apple's annual iPhone event is likely just a week or so away and all eyes will be on the company as it unveils the next version of its most popular product line. With any luck, we'll also see the next-generation Apple Watch and perhaps even some new AirPods.
Other news this week saw Apple making some more changes to its App Store policies in response to a...
Serif today announced across-the-board updates for its popular suite of Affinity creative apps, including Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and the Apple award-winning Affinity Publisher for Mac, all of which were among the first professional creative suites to be optimized for Apple's new M1 chip.
"After another year which saw record numbers of people switching to Affinity, it's exciting to...
The iPhone 13 will feature low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication connectivity to allow users to make calls and send messages in areas without 4G or 5G coverage, according to the reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
In a note to investors, seen by MacRumors, Kuo explained that the iPhone 13 lineup will feature hardware that is able to connect to LEO satellites. If enabled with the relevant...
As is tradition, Apple executives Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak joined Daring Fireball's John Gruber in an episode of The Talk Show to discuss several announcements that Apple made over this weeks WWDC, including iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, and a large focus around privacy.
Federighi kicks off the conversation discussing the common architecture, now thanks to Apple silicon, across all of...
Apple today seeded the third betas of new iOS and iPadOS 14.6 updates to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the second iOS and iPadOS 14.6 updates.
iOS and iPadOS 14.6 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or iPad.
iOS and iPadOS 14.6 appear to be more minor changes focusing on...
iPhone teardown image from Viaforensics
Top Rated Comments
Well there is a few people on MR that I would like to take their Android phones and...:)
But seriously, think about it. Detecting emotions/mood. How cool. So when the Mrs is feeling bitchy, her phone sends you an alert and you know to put in some OT at the office.
in a non pressurized cabin, such as a cesna or helicopter, yes, on a commercial flight, no... it would read somewhere around 7000 ft the whole time.
the one area where my Garmin Rino still beats my iphone 4 is the fact that it has an altimeter... for detailed tracking of a day skiing, or hiking in the mountains that sensor is necessary as GPS isnt great for measuring precise small changes in elevation/altitude
An electronic sensor, being able to detect changes of two feet, is far more accurate than most mechanical altimeters.
They could of course be easily calibrated in software.
However, yes, it would take time to get certified.
The FAA requires altimeters to be bench-certified as accurate within 20 feet up to a thousand feet. See Appendix E 14 CFR 43.
It certainly has more computational horse power than was imagined back then. However it comes up short in a number of ways. For one no gas analyst, or radiation hazard detection. Nothing like a spectrometer either.
However some of this stuff is not far off in being pocketable. There are a number of lab on a chip techniques being worked on right now. So 75% is not far off at all.
Your point is well taken, as some one that was a big fan of star treck I marvel at how far we have come in many ways. Certainly the cell phone has now eclipsed the communicator and has adopted many tricoder features. The future looks bright as far as this reality goes. Now if we could only get an administration in Washington that has a clue about space technology. It has been at least 15 years since we have had a rational plan for space coming out of washington. Really pathetic when you think about it.