The reliance on tech has extended the smartphone’s role in our lives. It feels less like a machine and more like a companion. I don’t look at my lawn mower the same way I look at my phone. Still, a phone is as much of a machine as a robot lawn mower, but it’s smarter. It’s laden with tiny chips, intricate circuitry, and many sensors.
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Phones have featured sensors for a while (GPS is a sensor), and there have been additions over the years. The inexhaustive list is still growing, though not at a swift pace. The items on the list are getting smarter, smaller, and faster. Let’s go over the popular ones.
In addition to adding more sensors to your phone, the existing ones are being upgraded. While two phones may sport GPS, the GPS sensor might be different.
Accelerometer
Have you ever wondered how your phone calculates the number of steps you climb in a day? Or how it knows when it’s been switched to landscape mode? The accelerometer is the sensor handling all of this (and more). It’s one of the most important sensors on any modern smartphone.
An accelerometer measures the acceleration of your phone. It does that on three axes: horizontal, vertical, and forward/backward. It also senses vibration, tilt, and free fall. Being able to calculate acceleration in several directions makes the sensor suitable for VR apps and games.
This sensor works by employing little springs inside that help move multiple plates to cause a change in what’s known as capacitance. The capacitance is converted to an electric signal, which is then translated to “motion data.”
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Gyroscope
The role of a gyroscope is closely related to that of an accelerometer. It enhances the accelerometer’s job by adding precision to it. A gyroscope can accurately sense a device’s position and movement, especially angular acceleration. It knows how much a device has tilted and how fast. Like an accelerometer, a gyroscope also contributes to rotating your phone’s orientation and is a major player in VR games.
It works by utilizing a spinning wheel on a fixed mount. The wheel responds to changes in its movement but keeps its axis of rotation fixed so it can accurately detect how much it has moved and in what direction.
Proximity sensor
A proximity sensor makes your screen go dark as you hold it against your ear for a phone call. It senses when your ear is near it and responds by shutting off your display, thus avoiding accidental taps.
This sensor works by sending out a beam of infrared light and waiting for an object to bounce it back. If the beam is bounced back, it concludes that an object is nearby and takes the appropriate actions to respond to it.
GPS
GPS is also a sensor. It relies on satellite data to let you know where you are, except when weather conditions make it difficult. A GPS usually uses data from multiple satellites and uses all of that intel to output the most precise estimate of a user’s location.
A device needs radio signals from at least four satellites to make an informed guess. After collecting data from several satellite towers, it uses a math concept known as trilateration to pinpoint one precise location for the user.
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Ambient light sensor
An ambient light sensor measures the amount of light in your surroundings and tweaks your phone’s brightness based on that (if it’s set to automatic brightness). This sensor employs a photodetector that measures the amount of light around you. It converts that info into an electric signal that turns your phone’s brightness up and down accordingly.
Honorable mentions
A couple of sensors deserve a mention. An NFC sensor lets me conveniently pay my fruit seller by tapping my display against theirs. It sends the required info from one phone to another during the tap.
The new LiDAR, short for light detection and ranging, sensor sends out a laser light to measure the physical distance in a room. It uses this laser to map the exact dimensions of any physical space.
The magnet is also somewhat of a sensor or used in an important sensor known as the magnetometer. This one tells you which way is North and is incredible when used on phone maps.
