Peter Cohen of The Loop explains what the iPhone 4 gyroscope is all about and why you should care.
iPhone 4 adds a gyroscope – a device that measures orientation, rather than just velocity. Gyroscopes are commonly used in aircraft to measure pitch, roll and yaw, and the iPhone’s gyro is no different in this regard…
When the output of the iPhone’s gyroscope is paired with the output from the accelerometer, iPhone developers will now be able to create applications that can sense motion on six axes – up/down, left/right, forward/backward, combined with rotation around three perpendicular axes – pitch, yaw, and roll.
This will put iPhone 4 well ahead of the capabilities of other smartphones when it comes to playing games, as well as the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP (Nintendo’s forthcoming 3D handheld system purportedly has similar features, though Nintendo has not, as of yet, formally introduced the device).
Gaming on the iPhone is about to be taken to a whole another level.
June 10th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
“iPhone 4 adds a gyroscope – a device that measures orientation, rather than just velocity. Gyroscopes are commonly used in aircraft to measure pitch, roll and yaw, and the iPhone’s gyro is no different in this regard…”
This statement is false. Gyroscopes measure rotational velocity. Integrating the output of a gyroscope can be used to measure changes in the orientation. Without some sort of external absolute direction measuring sensor, it is impossible to determine your orientation. On the other hand, accelerometers can be used to determine the direction of “down,” which equates to the direction of the force of gravity, if the device’s velocity is not changing.
If you do not believe these statements, I recommend that you read a good textbook on physics and, in particular, the chapters on classical (i.e., Newtonian) mechanics.
June 11th, 2010 at 9:03 am
Might want to correct the headline spelling of “gryroscope”