Exactly, and if there is some smart processing on their side which tracks the changes as they approach your current location, you could get earlier and more precise warnings for weather events based on either your current location, or where you are headed based on maps, frequent locations etc. the possibilities are numerous and, for me at least, much more exciting than replacing my NFC card with my phone.
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iPhone 6 'Phosphorus' Component Likely a Barometric Pressure Sensor, Not Next-Generation M7
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Exactly, and if there is some smart processing on their side which tracks the changes as they approach your current location, you could get earlier and more precise warnings for weather events based on either your current location, or where you are headed based on maps, frequent locations etc. the possibilities are numerous and, for me at least, much more exciting than replacing my NFC card with my phone.
With all the additional sensors etc. added to the iPhone, it's starting to sound like it's morphing into a Star Trek Tricorder-like device! Now if you could just wave it over your body and have it diagnose your medical problem ...
Jim
But then Siri would be telling you, "damnit Jim, i'm an iPhone, not a medical device"
Yeah, it let me capitalize it when I was typing. But soon as I hit Submit Reply, it changed it all to lower case. A Jayhawk must have written the software.
Weather is a side attraction.
Besides eventual indoor location purposes, it'll probably immediately use the sensor to calculate if you're running uphill, or climbing stairs, as part of its fitness info.
Leave it to the MR forums!!
Seriously though... with all the available tech (NFC, wireless charging) we're getting a barometric pressure sensor?!? I would hope this is for the iWatch and not the iPhone.
I'll wait until Sept. 9th and hope to be wow'd, but right now I'm sitting here shaking my head. Give me something I give a crap about.
NFC is never, ever, going to be on an iPhone. NFC, first of all, sucks, but most importantly, Apple has already brought out a much better technology themselves, called iBeacon, piggybacking on Bluetooth 4.0 LE which is a far more widespread technology on devices and cheaper to implement in locations. I don't know of anyone who has ever used NFC for anything, but I've personally used iBeacons and know lots of other people who have as well. I hear about iBeacon rollouts all the time, and it's been less than a year since Apple officially brought out the technology. In a few years it'll be everywhere.
Why would Apple settle for an inferior technology that is never going to catch on, when they're pushing their own standard that's being rapidly adopted?
You're absolutely right, lack of NFC integration is a design choice, and the right one at that.
As for adding new sensors, I'm always for it even if I can't personally think of a good use for it myself (though, like you, I can think of uses for a barometric sensor). Any time somebody says they think a new sensor is useless, I just have to laugh and shake my head. The same thing has been said about basically every sensor Apple has added to date, and yet, developers keep coming up with innovative new apps using that sensor data. More sensors mean more new apps using those sensors, making your phone more useful in ways you haven't dreamed of yet.
Eventually, our iPhones are going to be like tricorders. This is not a future we should be fighting.
Yes, I agree with you. NFC and the iPhone are doubtful.
I guess when I said NFC I meant some type of wireless-phone-payment solution. Don't care what tech is used, because businesses will adopt the Apple tech in no time.
I own to barometers which also provide a temperature reading. One can put into a pocket or worn around the neck on a 'built-in' string. Even having it hang around you neck, outside of a jacket, its reading is too high. Take it off and hang it, eg, on a branch of a tree and the reported temperature will go down a couple of degrees. The best one can do is to hang it on the back of a backpack.
The other barometer is a Suunto Core (a 'sports watch'). Right now I'm wearing it and am sitting in a 21ºC warm room and it reads 28ºC.