iPhone 6 May Include Temperature, Pressure and Humidity Sensors

[jacobsheehy]

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

I'm building a hyper-local weather forecast using that data right now. The idea is that with such a high density of live atmosphere data (ESPECIALLY pressure) we can build a really local model. Something on the scale of city blocks; sometimes severe weather is extremely localized and the current weather forecast can't predict this because they don't have enough granular data.

This is useful to know if it's going to rain at work (but maybe not at home) for an app user. But the implications are much bigger than that - better weather forecasts can help agriculture, wind energy, transportation, etc.

Yes the data will be noisy but there's about a million times more of it than there is traditional weather data, so the noise will be filtered out and we'll build some very high resolution weather forecasts soon.

 

[kdarling]

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

Crowd sourced pressure in buildings would allow indoor navigation applications (i.e. where GPS is not available) to be very accurate as to which floor you're on.

Besides use in places like multifloor office or apartment buildings, a mall directory would know which level to show you.

 

[KdParker]

I'm actually pretty excited about all these features for the iPhone 6

Just waiting for some parts leaks. Would be awesome if this comes out early (jun/July) but is highly unlikely..

 

[GoCubsGo]

Just waiting for some parts leaks. Would be awesome if this comes out early (jun/July) but is highly unlikely..

Agreed. But yeah, I think we're looking at October again.

 

[KdParker]

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.

Sure...why not.

But the big brother types will have issues with this kind of tracking.

 

[jonnysods]

What would be handy is letting us know how many mm of rain or cm of snow is going to come down through the day.

 

[iChrist]

I'm actually pretty excited about all these features for the iPhone 6

Yes, I always wanted to know the temp and humidity of my crotch when my phone is in my pocket.

 

[mdelvecchio]

I really don't care about those sensors. I am not the weather channel. How about we just do this.
...
4k Recording

dont hold your breath for 4k -- it's far too early. many of us just got 1080p and have no plans to upgrade to 4k just...because. its a niche for pro-gear, not pictures of kids and cats.

 

[MacNut]

Weather sensors that are accurate are expensive, something in a phone will not give you a truly accurate reading. This will be strictly novelty.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Because when you go for hikes, you need to know about bad weather, PLENTY of places where you can go for a hike and they are far from civilization so it helps to know what the weather is doing. But the people that do that use watches like the Suunto range. Also mariners use them.

Hmmm... You might want to read what I wrote before commenting.

 

[kdarling]

Weather sensors that are accurate are expensive, something in a phone will not give you a truly accurate reading. This will be strictly novelty.

Actually, the accuracy of the sensors used in devices like the Galaxy series is pretty darned good:

• temperature - +/- 0.3 C
• humidity - +/- 3% RH
• pressure - 0.02 mbar

The big deal would be to compensate for local device conditions that might affect the readings.

The humidity is almost as good as "professional" weather stations (2% RH) sold to hobby meteorologists.

The temperature output would probably have to be correlated with the device temperature to figure out the true ambient temperature.

The pressure output would likewise require compensation for temperature.

 

[Datalinks]

what about a better battery..

 

[IJ Reilly]

Think fitness instead of weather. Barometric pressure sensors are a great way to get accurate readings of elevation (change).

As a cyclist I would love to have reliable elevation statistics of my rides. Barometric pressure is basically the only way to get this data, GPS is not good enough for this.

Correct. Altimeters in aircraft are basically barometers adjusted to a Mean Sea Level baseline (pressure altitude). GPS is not designed to report altitude, and even if it was, the global model it uses is not the same. BTW, pressure altitude + temperature is called density altitude, another important aviation number.

So the point is, this might also prove useful for aviation applications.

 

[PracticalMac]

$0.25 worth of sensors is a great investment to add perceived value.

BUT what I really want is a battery with 16 hours of battery life!!!

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Correct. Altimeters in aircraft are basically barometers adjusted to a Mean Sea Level baseline (pressure altitude). GPS is not designed to report altitude, and even if it was, the global model it uses is not the same. BTW, pressure altitude + temperature is called density altitude, another important aviation number.

So the point is, this might also prove useful for aviation applications.

IF its an unpressurized aircraft!

BUT I can see thousands of Light Sport aircraft being made with no instruments, only a hole in panel for an iPhone 6

 

[Tech198]

Better battery....

Soon our mobile devices will be a walking toolbox with sensors galore...

Only Apple can do this.

 

[IJ Reilly]

IF its an unpressurized aircraft!

BUT I can see thousands of Light Sport aircraft being made with no instruments, only a hole in panel for an iPhone 6

You make the leetle joke, but the truth is I'd rather have an iPad in my panel than some of the TSO'd instruments I've bought and used. It's already a better GPS than the one mounted in my panel. Now if somebody could come up with a pitot-static interface...

 

[AppleScruff1]

At least Apple won't be loading the phone up with all of those gimmicks like Samsung.

 

[Martin1337]

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Electronics analyst Sun Chang Xu reports on her Weibo account that the next iPhone may add a pressure, temperature and humidity sensor.

G for Games relayed the report and points out that the "pressure" in this context is certainly atmospheric, not blood pressure:This same analyst previously reported that Apple may use "optical sensors" to measure heart rate and oxygen levels in the rumored iWatch. The addition of these atmospheric sensors would bring it up in line with Samsung's S4 which included similar atmospheric sensors.

The addition of more sensors to the iPhone 6 seems a natural progression with all the recent reports that Apple has been aggressively hiring individuals in the area of health sensors. iOS 8 is said to include a Healthbook app which reports on many health related sensors.

Article Link: iPhone 6 May Include Temperature, Pressure and Humidity Sensors

I'm really excited to see what they will come up with. Not long before we'll know.

 

[Cole Slaw]

At least Apple won't be loading the phone up with all of those gimmicks like Samsung.

That's the way it goes on Macrumors forums.
If Apple does it it's "Magical".
If others do it it's just a gimmick.