iPhone 6 May Include Temperature, Pressure and Humidity Sensors

[x-evil-x]

This is very funny

Why would I want this in my iphone? suppose it's -15°C outside, is it going to tell it's 22°C because I'm inside? haha, at this moment I don't see the use of it.

besides a general weather forecast, the only time I check temperature is when I'm sick and I'm not going to keep my iPhone under my armpits

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I wanna see you do that when it's -15°C (5 F) outside. How many iPhones do you think are 'outside' (not in pockets, coats or vests) and 'correct'?

I believe it could be something like this. The location services can tell the weather where you are and will adjust for being inside once it senses it is hotter than the surrounding area by quite a bit. When you're outside once you pull it out of your pocket it gets the reading before you even unlock your phone. Unless of course the temperature is exactly the same indoors as it is outside it couldn't tell. But that rarely happens.

 

[Ivan0310]

Improved Weather Analytics?

The first thing that popped into my head when reading this was the possibility of crowdsourcing information. I believe that both Apple and Google now use limited user data in order to improve traffic reporting.

Is it possible that they could use user data for weather as well to improve weather reporting in real time? Regardless, they need something--the stock weather app blows as far as being accurate and timely.

 

[Todd B.]

iPhone 6 can't come soon enough. Nothing makes your hate Android more than actually using Android. Ugh, thanks alot T-Mobile for forcing me to use it when I switched to your service. :\

 

[mrxak]

These are actually sensors I've wanted to see on the iPhone for quite some time, now. Unfortunately, I don't think they'll work all that well, in practice. Temperature in particular, simply because the phone itself sometimes gives off a decent amount of heat, may be problematic.

Perhaps, instead, we'll see them on an iWatch?

As for the merit of having more sensors of any type, we don't know yet what developers will end up doing with them. There could be some really interesting uses nobody's invented yet. I'm always in favor of a new sensor, even if it's not something I myself will use, because it's just one more bit of hardware that some genius software developer will invent the next big thing off of.

The original iPhone did not have all the sensors it does today, remember. How many apps today take advantage of the gyroscopic sensor or magnetometer? Before the iPhone came out, I wonder how many people thought an accelerometer made any sense to have in a phone. Probably not many. Let's see what Apple comes up with before we reject the idea of new sensors, even the crazy ones.

 

[Richardgm]

One step closer to that Tricorder.

 

[samcraig]

but but but when Apple does it - it will be done right.

Samsung + gold phone = Copied Apple
Samsung + fingerprint scanner = Copied Apple
Samsung + Smartwatch = Copied Apple Rumor

Apple + temp/pressure/humidity sensors = great additions even if it wasn't used...but it's not copying Samsung. I am sure Apple had plans to include these YEARS ago....

 

[BornAgainMac]

One step closer to that Tricorder.

Yes, they need to have it detect life form readings and energy sources.

I noticed Spock never complained about the screen size was too small or that you had to wear it as a purse.

 

[FirstNTenderbit]

I really hope so! Some Android phones like the Galaxy already has this. If the iPhone has it, it would really help Meteorologists accurately track storms and save more lives.

I showed this comment around the office. Now everyone is laughing. Thanks for brightening our rainy Monday with a clever joke.

 

[woodekm]

Ill just laugh if all of these "updates" occur and they keep the same size/shape of the iPhone 4,4S, 5, 5S, & 5C. In other words "More fluff and puff" to smoke and mirror the fanboys into buying the same phone once again.

 

[carjakester]

don't really see the point when there is a weather app. just another selling point.

 

[kazmac]

I would welcome these...

If these sensors show up on iPhone 6, great.

I a m interested not only from a weather geek perspective, but more importantly, as someone whose health is directly impacted by some of these phenomena. The weather app is okay, but having these on board would be fantastic.

 

[Boatboy24]

More and more useless rumors about what will not be packed in iPhone 6.

There. Fixed it for ya.

 

[samcraig]

iPhone 6 can't come soon enough. Nothing makes your hate Android more than actually using Android. Ugh, thanks alot T-Mobile for forcing me to use it when I switched to your service. :\

I'd love to hear how t-mobile "forced"" you to use anything but the phone you wanted to use.

 

[Orlandoech]

I'd love to hear how t-mobile "forced"" you to use anything but the phone you wanted to use.

I was thinking the same thing lol.

 

[unplugme71]

How accurate could the temperature sensor in a smartphone possibly be? I'm guessing it would usually give you a fairly inaccurate reading, particularly if you just pulled it out of your pocket, or if the CPU is running hot.

Other sensors on the iPhone (possibly from bio-metrics and internal temp sensors) mixed with software to adjust your body temp and cpu temps will create a somewhat accurate reading (+/- 3 degrees).

 

[BenTrovato]

The first thing that popped into my head when reading this was the possibility of crowdsourcing information. I believe that both Apple and Google now use limited user data in order to improve traffic reporting.

Is it possible that they could use user data for weather as well to improve weather reporting in real time? Regardless, they need something--the stock weather app blows as far as being accurate and timely.

Yes absolutely! Apple is picking up on the next big thing - but lots of companies are ramping up on this quickly.

Discovery TV ran a cool segment where they showed how sensors on cell phones could crowd source a ton of information and pretty much change how we live our lives. If anyone is interested.. I can see Apple buying a company like this in the near future:

http://blog.tstc.org/2014/03/07/crowd-sourced-data-for-crowded-cities/

 

[uknowimright]

I'd love to hear how t-mobile "forced"" you to use anything but the phone you wanted to use.

T-Mobile was even very open about letting customers use unlocked iPhones on their service before they officially carried them

 

[RenoG]

Whatever, its not like I'll ever ever use it so I couldn't care less (ie the stocks app). Isn't this a rumor anyhow, so really we're discussing a bunch of nothingness.

 

[kdarling]

Problem with Android is that some devices have these sensors and some don't. Actually, I think right now only the Galaxy 5S has these sensors, but I could be wrong. So it's up to each device maker to create api's for developers to utilize these sensors. With the iOS platform, the situation is much more clear cut.

Actually, I think the Motorola Xoom was one of the first to have a barometric sensor.

As for the APIs, Android currently supports the following sensor types:

• accelerometer
• gravity
• humidity
• light
• linear acceleration
• magnetic field
• orientation
• proximity
• pressure
• rotation
• temperature (ambient)
• temperature (device)

With a real barometer it could be an emergency backup heads up display in a small plane (altitude, heading, etc). Most of the barometers in android phones are far too insensitive to do that though.

On the contrary, the sensors used in Android devices have a resolution of less than a foot of altitude change, which is way overkill for a backup altimeter.

I'm legitimately curious, what purpose would temperature, pressure, and humidity sensors in a smartphone actually be useful for?

Besides the obvious like weather tracking and hiking altitude purposes, the two main uses for pressure sensors are:

1) Helping GPS lock in quicker, if the sensor can provide altitude info.

2) Indoor navigation. This was supposed to be the biggie. These sensors can easily sense an altitude change between floors of an office building or mall, or even if you went upstairs in your house.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Let's add smoke detector, pH meter, Oscilloscope, alcohol detector, bomb detector, radiation detector, and brain wave monitor.

Smoke detector sounds like a great idea. CO/CO2 detectors would also be great. I always use my iPhone as an alarm clock - it would ensure I always have a functioning smoke and gas detector with me. Radiation is a bit iffy... I'm generally quite aware of radiation sources around me, I think - I can't imagine a nuclear bomb going off nearby while I sleep and me not noticing.

I know people that require their kids to always take smoke alarms with them to slumber parties.

I realize you're being sarcastic on account of how dumb those other sensors are, and I agree that it's unlikely Apple will include a smoke alarm in the iPhone. The value is pretty dubious - most places have functioning smoke alarms already.

As for the actual sensors in this story, I like the idea of these sensors all operating as weather stations for OpenWeatherMap.com or whatever the service is called.

 

[samcraig]

Smoke detector sounds like a great idea. CO/CO2 detectors would also be great. I always use my iPhone as an alarm clock - it would ensure I always have a functioning smoke and gas detector with me. Radiation is a bit iffy... I'm generally quite aware of radiation sources around me, I think - I can't imagine a nuclear bomb going off nearby while I sleep and me not noticing.

I

Radon is something of value to detect as would carbon monoxide.

 

[jacobsheehy]

Hi everyone,

I make a barometer app on Android called PressureNet. We've been crowdsourcing atmospheric pressure data since 2011 and found it to be very very useful in making new weather models that provide high accuracy weather forecasts in the short term. These are models and experiments only so far - we have about 10,000 users now but as we grow, we'll be able to make real weather forecasts tailored just for you.

We're about to build our iOS app now btw, in preparation for these sensors finally arriving. All our code so far is open source, if you want to help out and make the best weather app iOS has ever seen let me know!

http://pressurenet.io/

Jacob

 

[spjonez]

So what your saying is that you think Apple is far better at making a weather app then Samsung are? Hmm well considering how bad Apple Maps turned out I certainly would not state that!

Not sure I understand your comparison. What maps app did Samsung make? Or are you comparing Apple Maps 1.0 with Google Maps 9.0, a product that was purchased in 2005 and in development since? Apple Maps has it's problems but it was a good try for a first release. In my area Apple Maps and Google maps are functionally equivalent.

Or are you implying that no app developer makes a weather app using the S4 sensors and somehow the iPhone would be the only one? Because you are already wrong with that, the S4 had all these sensors and you can get different apps that use them.

What's your point? You seem to confuse Apple with a company that likes to be first and that being first is important. Apple is rarely the first to implement anything. What Apple is good at is knowing when and how to implement a technology to make it useful. In that regard there is really no comparison between Apple and Samsung. Samsung has some great products, but I can't think of a single one (or a feature from one) that's changed the industry like Apple has. Can you?

 

[dannyyankou]

Ummmm, this is not making me regret getting the 5s. I can just open a weather app. Or I could just step outside a see how it feels.

 

[beady]

Can anyone tell me the point of crowd sourcing the temperature of people's pockets and the air pressure in their cars and building?