“Besides a larger display and redesigned metal body, details regarding which features the next-generation iPhone models will pack have been light,” Mark Gurman reports for 9to5Mac. “However, it appears that the new models could include a new sensor: a barometer.”
“A barometer sensor could be used by hikers, mountain climbers, bike riders, and enthusiasts who want accurate knowledge into their current altitude,” Gurman reports. “Barometers, via air pressure data, also measure temperature and weather information.”
“The information regarding the next-generation iPhone likely including this sensor comes via Xcode 6 and iOS 8, the latest iPhone software development kit and operating system,” Gurman reports. “The software includes updated CoreMotion APIs that clearly reference the new altitude measuring capabilities.”
Much more in the full article here.
This won’t be a gimmick like on Android phones. It is likely that Apple is using this data to help determine a users location within a multistory building. I see this to bolster the claim that Apple is going to be doing something with indoor location tracking very soon.
So when you are sitting on the can and can’t remember what floor you got off of the elevator on, your phone can tell you.
*Now* I get it.
Forget the multistory building idea; air pressure won’t tell you a thing about altitude in an artificial environment. A typical office building could even have varying pressure from room to room.
NICE
Location sensors would suffice to acquire that data as *reported*.
However I suspect there’s a global business reason for considering mass collection of that kind of data (improving weather reports for example with immediately acquirable reports). Phones are everywhere but measuring stations are not.
+1
My Casio watch already does that. As for iWatch, I’ve already done sleep monitors, heart rate and blood pressure monitors, pedometers… And they are all in a drawer somewhere, generally forgotten about.
My 7 year old Casio ProTrek sensor has finally cratered. I was holding out for Apple to do something like this because I used the altimeter and barometer frequently. Now I can get a lighter watch to bang into doorways with.
Next someone will say it’ll detect and analyze farts and give you the caloric value of the food you ate.
urine analysis sensors.. that’s the ticket, next iPhone, 6…
That’s more for Android fans, they like to piss on everything
Mark must have slept through his science classes. Barometers don’t measure temperature.
Mark is still right, whole barometers don’t measure temperature, barometer chips do, they need temperature for internal calibration so they come with a built-in temperature sensor
And another thing, barometers can only indicate altitude if they have recently been calibrated to current barometric pressure. For example, if recently calibrated and it accurately tells you you’re on the 10th floor in the morning, by afternoon you could be on the 20th.
Again, digital sensors use software to do sensor “fusion” from multiple sources and self-calibrate for example using GPS
That self-calibration goes haywire if the satellites are all near the horizon or you’re in a canyon. A really smart program would factor out GPS correction in such cases, but I don’t know of one
Being the conspiracy type, I suspect this is a plot by all the global warning fanatics to “prove” global warming is occurring. They’ll get all the measurements from cities (which tend to be warmer) to “prove” that we’re warming up. 🙂
Seriously, though, is a barometric sensor going to do *me* much good? Sure, it can help predict local weather, but the Weather Channel (and Yahoo Weather) along with all the Weather radar maps I can consult on my phone are going to be a lot more accurate.
If this rumor is true (who knows?) it will be interesting to see to what use this will be put.
It may also have a clock chip to “prove” that the world is more than 8000 years old, an astronomy app to “prove” the earth revolves around the sun, and a level to “prove” the world isn’t flat. Damn liberals!
PV=nRT