“Apple Maps may sometimes send clueless drivers off the beaten path and even onto active airstrips, but the company may be facing a far deeper problem with its new flagship iPhone 5S’ directional capabilities,” Nick Statt reports for CNET. “Widespread reports are claiming that the new device’s motion sensors are highly error-prone, and the problem could be on the software side or a calibration error built into the handset itself.”
“The staff over at Gizmodo took the iPhone 5S to task in multiple tests, finding the iPhone 5S’ motion sensors giving readouts that are wildly different than those of the iPhone 5,” Statt reports. “The app most affected is Apple’s native compass. In displaying direction, it shows discrepancies on average of 8 to 10 degrees compared with the iPhone 5 with both running iOS 7.”
“Gaming is also affected as the accelerometer is used to maneuver in many driving and physics-based games that rely on the tilting of the screen to achieve in-game motion,” Statt reports. “The iPhone 5S’ directional faults aren’t the only issues with the the compass app. The new inclinometer and gyroscope, available in iOS 7, are opened by swiping left on the compass’ first screen and are, again, showing faulty information when compared with the iPhone 5.”
Statt reports, “The problem could in fact be a hardware issue given the iPhone 5 and 5S running the same software display different readouts. Apple has not confirmed the issue nor has it publicly acknowledged it in any way. In the case that it is hardware, there’s little users could do to remedy the issue save for turning in their iPhone for a new one. However, some users have reported the same issues cropping up with replacement units, suggesting the motion sensor malfunctioning could be a widespread problem.”
Read more in the full article here.
“It’s hard to believe that Apple would mess up so momentously, but it seems that the gyroscope, compass, and accelerometer are all faulty on the iPhone 5S,” Sebastian Anthony reports for ExtremeTech. “It isn’t clear if the sensors themselves are broken or poorly calibrated, but the result is the same: You should not use your iPhone 5S for anything that relies on these sensors, such as playing games, checking the level of your latest DIY efforts, or navigating dense woodland.”
“Apple, of course, will be desperately trying to avoid a product recall. It hasn’t yet issued an official response, but following the high-profile coverage from Gizmodo and other tech blogs, it’s probably only a matter of time,” Anthony reports. “Ultimately, it will probably come down to whether sensors being off by a few percent is actually a serious issue. For gaming, it might be irksome, but it probably isn’t a deal breaker. If someone gets lost in the wilderness and dies/breaks a leg/suffers from PTSD due to a faulty iPhone 5S compass, though, then Sensorgate could blow up in a big way.”
Read more in the full article here.
I don’t think the hardware is an issue it must be the software ios 7 governing the hardware. It will be fixed with the next update of ios. Apple tried to do a lot more in a lot little time with iOS 7.
Absoultly bogus report. Fud by competition and losers!
I ha e iphone 5s …. My wife has iphone 5.. Both running ios7
We also have 2 ipad 3 s… Running ios 6…
Compared them all.. They all show identical results..
Unbelievable how the competition has to resort to such lowlife measures to compete.
I tested my phone yesterday. Set it on a table next to a level. The bubble on the level was almost centered, and the phone showed -1 degree. I’m OK with that.
Then this morning I tested again. Phone was showing -13 degrees! (And no, I had not centered it by tapping the screen.) While I was watching it, after about 10 seconds the display wiggled around or something and then it showed -1 degree. Weird. Doesn’t prove that it’s software or hardware, but it does indicate it may be intermittent.
All I can say.
It happens on my 5s and does NOT happen on my 5
Tim Cook needs to realize that people are out to ruin Apple and so the products need to be better than perfect in order to offset a media frenzy about even minor problems. I suppose as long as Apple is in the hardware business the company is going to be attacked now that there’s nobody of any power on Apple’s side. A couple of words from Steve Jobs would shut everyone up but probably if Tim Cook said anything it would be like pour gasoline on fire. Apple needs some sort of a dynamic front-man to put back the company back into good graces with the news media and Wall Street and maybe it wouldn’t be such a target of hate all the time.
“Better than perfect”? Bless you for that coinage.
Still, it really doesn’t matter to the stock market if the products are imperfect, perfect, or better than perfect. They just don’t see the sustainable business model that would ground a rational valuation. They have been told what the model is, they just can’t comprehend how it can hold up year after year. Apple operates like a perpetual startup, and its stock price reflects that, just as IPOs can experience wild swings. With a product line as thin as Apple’s, every rollout seems like a roll of the dice, turning brokers into nervous nellies.
In any case, your “better than perfect” coinage succinctly captures the Apple formula for success. What’s perfect?—a product that fulfills every expectation of every consumer, investor, and analyst. The only thing better than that is to make insanely great products that nobody expected but suddenly consumers find themselves wanting, inspiring competitors to imitate them, tectonically shifting global markets, fundamentally changing social behaviour.
The only thing better than perfect is to have a method for changing every rule to benefit yourself—and the patience to wait for that change to kick in.
It all started at the Watergate hotel, right? And now we’ve lived through Antennagate, a couple other wouldBeGates and now we sit on the doorstep of Sensorgate. The common element in all of these is hatred towards some other ideal. So how about this community refrain from gate de jour and immediately rename all future gates to a better describing and longer lasting “HateGate” ? “Hey, have you heard about the latest HateGate against the iPhone?” “No. What is it this time?”
Watergate became a meta synonym for scandal. We all have to live the rest of our lives rolling our eyes every time a zealous young headline writer works this into a story about even a breath of a hint of failure at the top. Such egregious, opportunistic reportorial laziness should be punished with the iron maiden.
I did a quick test comparing my 5s with another 5s. Side by side the compass program readings were off by about 10 degrees. I then checked to see that they were both set to true north (they were). I quit the app on both iPhones and restarted them (and went through a new calibration on each). Again, the readings were off in the same way. Then I noticed that one iPhone was charging so I unplugged the lightening connector and the readings jumped to be identical between the two iPhones.
It might be also good to use another app such as Theodolite to test the readings. I would think that the developers of Theodolite would have noticed a problem if there is one.
And I made another test. I held the iPhone vertically after calibrating the compass app. Then I swiped left to reveal the half-colored leveling screen. Next I turned the phone horizontal and set it on a surface. The high side of the indicator was on the left and the reading was -3 degrees. So then I rotated the iPhone by 180 degrees around a horizontal axis and set it back onto the same surface so that other than the rotation, all was as before. Then the high side of the indicator was on the right and the reading showed -3 degrees. Seems like software in this case. I do note that moving the iPhone around too much seems to make it get really confused about its calibration and it displays nonsensical results in the compass app.
“You’re holding it wrong.”
Amazing, sad, and humorous all at the same time reading all the rationalizations about how Apple is perfect and there can’t possibly be a problem with the new phone. Seems clear – another Tim Cook blunder of either one or two things (1) shipping a phone that doesn’t work or (2) not explaining that all this noise is nothing and that the phone is just fine. Either way, another compelling reason to get the Tim Cook era drifting away in the rear view mirror. AAPL will tank – again.
Yeh. He just isn’t very good compared to…. ummm…. Well, there’s… uhhhhh. And, ANYWAY, all other tech companies produce perfect products all the time and never have any glitches. I read it at Gizmodo.
Where does shamesuck have shamegate ? Copygate ? Cheatergate?? Or rubbishgate ?
I am not a technician but rather an interested but confused iPhone 5s buyer who wants to know if I made the right investment for 900 EUR (here in Germany).
If I buy a technical device/gadget I want to be sure that the new version – is at least – made with the same quality components – if not better ones – than the previous generation (in my case an iPhone 4s).
“Don’t fix if it aint broke!”
So in my research I found this newsletter online:
http://newsletter.spezial.de/home/article/146/digitale-beschleunigungs-sensoren
It is in GERMAN and describes the different motion sensors manufactured by Bosch/Germany.
One of those sensors – the BMA220 (ironically) the cheapest one – gets compared to the others from Bosch.
The BMA220 is presumably the one built into the iPhone 5s and is said to have a resolution of 6bit.
The last sentence made me think (I try to translate as good as I can):
“Sensors with a 6-bit resolution are suited very well for simple tasks like Landscape/Portrait switchings of displays or an upside/down recognition (PLUD) of devices.
-> Due to its high sensitivity the high-resolution sensor BMA180 can also be used as a digital (spirit) level.”
The BMA180 has a resolution of 14bit vs. the 6bit resolution of the BMA220 supposedly used in the iPhone 5s.
In the iPhone 5 they used a motion sensor from a different company that had 16bit resolution.
So I wonder:
Was the BMA220 ever considered to be used as spirit level by the manufacturer ???
Has Apple chosen the BMA220 because it much cheaper BUT also needs less power in order to work with the new M7 ?
I don’t know but maybe that could be the reason why those levels in the iPhone 5s are not as accurate as in the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4s….
Maybe a software update can fix it. I have no idea how it works technically but in my opinion it should not be that hard to tell the software that the readout has to be corrected for a certain amount before it is gonna be displayed in the app. That is what I would call calibration.
BUT I could only accept that when it is corrected SYSTEMWIDE in the iPhone software. It makes no sense to have a calibrated spirit level app when the panorama photo function or games are crooked.
Just my 2 cents…
If they don’t fix it in the next 12 days I am gonna give it back in the return period and wait until it is fixed.
I can wait.
Test 10 physical bubble levels from the hardware store.
1. Put one on flat horizontal surface.
2. Note precise position of bubble.
3. Turn 180 degrees.
4. Note precise position of bubble.
Record how many have the bubble in EXACTLY the same position for 2 and 4.
Repeat for 20 million more bubble levels.