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More Accelerometer Goodness

By The Guru on November 11, 2007

Wow, since the N95′s Accelerometer API was discovered by developers, there’s been quite alot of activity around it. First up was RotateMe2.0, which, by the way, there’s an update do that coming soon.

Mark Guim at the Nokia Blog found a video of the N95 with an app allowing it to control the music player, which is pretty cool. Another great app is NokMote, which allows you to use the accelerometer to navigate the UI.

Then of course there’s the Lightsaber app I highlighted yesterday.

Anyone else got anything? More importantly, what do you think this should be used for? What do you think are the real, practical uses of the accelerometer? Obviously the lightsaber app is cool, but as some have noted, it’s merely a toy. A novelty app (though Graham surely has some killer plans for it. It’s only the first version, after all).

Personally, I’m not sure what I’d like the accelerometer to do. I mean, it’s such a cool feature, but I’m not really sure what the *practical* uses are just yet. What do you think?

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The Guru

The Guru, aka Ricky Cadden, started Symbian-Guru.com in November 2006, out of his excitement for the S60 3rd Edition version of Symella. The Guru has used Symbian devices since the Nokia 6620, and is known for his perspective as a power user. You can follow The Guru on Twitter at @Rcadden

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  • malaeum

    There are plenty of uses to be had for this feature. Its just a matter of coming up with them and implementing them. The interesting part of this is that its almost a paradigm shift for UI development. Sure its not part of the GUI, but it definitely is part of the UI. It’ll take a bit of imagination to come up with good uses for it, but I have faith in the community.

    Just a few ideas I am coming up with off of the top of my head…
    Well there is the silencing of alarms and/or calls (as in the S60 TouchUI video)
    NokMote’s gallery browsing looked interesting
    If we can tweak the sensitivity, it’d be great for scrolling around webpages
    I’d imagine a pedometer could be developed (step counter)
    A horsepower calculator… (knowing the weight of your car and the acceleration allows you to calculate the force applied to it)
    G-Force Meter (once again, I’m thinking about my auto-crossing, could be useful for a few of us)
    Perhaps integrate an automatic switch into FlightMode when you are decending for a specified interval of time (not sure if that’d effect the force acting on you, but I’d think it does)

    That took me 10 minutes. While none of them are killer apps I would love to play with any of those things. I’d really enjoy taking my N95 auto-crossing and being able to measure forces applied, perhaps even have it write to a log file I could examine on my PC.

  • malaeum

    There are plenty of uses to be had for this feature. Its just a matter of coming up with them and implementing them. The interesting part of this is that its almost a paradigm shift for UI development. Sure its not part of the GUI, but it definitely is part of the UI. It’ll take a bit of imagination to come up with good uses for it, but I have faith in the community.

    Just a few ideas I am coming up with off of the top of my head…
    Well there is the silencing of alarms and/or calls (as in the S60 TouchUI video)
    NokMote’s gallery browsing looked interesting
    If we can tweak the sensitivity, it’d be great for scrolling around webpages
    I’d imagine a pedometer could be developed (step counter)
    A horsepower calculator… (knowing the weight of your car and the acceleration allows you to calculate the force applied to it)
    G-Force Meter (once again, I’m thinking about my auto-crossing, could be useful for a few of us)
    Perhaps integrate an automatic switch into FlightMode when you are decending for a specified interval of time (not sure if that’d effect the force acting on you, but I’d think it does)

    That took me 10 minutes. While none of them are killer apps I would love to play with any of those things. I’d really enjoy taking my N95 auto-crossing and being able to measure forces applied, perhaps even have it write to a log file I could examine on my PC.

  • http://www.simplysymbian.com/ Dario Soltani

    Hey Ricky, check the Dasher video on the bottom of this post and you’ll understand the power of accelerometers.

    http://www.simplysymbian.com/2007/11/02/n95-accelerometer-video-dasher-text-input/

  • http://www.simplysymbian.com Dario Soltani

    Hey Ricky, check the Dasher video on the bottom of this post and you’ll understand the power of accelerometers.

    http://www.simplysymbian.com/2007/11/02/n95-accelerometer-video-dasher-text-input/

  • Rola95d

    Hi there,

    4 starters… love U work!

    Nokmote is more than that. Guess U didn’t watch the whole video…
    It controles everyting (check out the snake game)…
    I just paid the creator 2 help him out and I will receive the beta very soon

  • Rola95d

    Hi there,

    4 starters… love U work!

    Nokmote is more than that. Guess U didn’t watch the whole video…
    It controles everyting (check out the snake game)…
    I just paid the creator 2 help him out and I will receive the beta very soon

  • nameless

    The n95 accelerometer could be used as a plummet.

  • nameless

    The n95 accelerometer could be used as a plummet.

  • http://www.simplysymbian.com/ Dario Soltani

    a plummet..?

  • http://www.simplysymbian.com Dario Soltani

    a plummet..?

  • Helge

    It could be used to access short cuts. F.eks. if in the “home” screen one could hold say *-button then nudge it to the left to lauch one application, * + right-nudge a different application and so on…

    Answer phone calls by moving the phone quickly down and up, even though the keys are locked. (in moving ball this would make the ball become tiny then large).

    Since the accelerometer is so sensitive, it can be implimentated all over the place, without one looking like a moron throwing ur mobile all over the place…

  • Helge

    It could be used to access short cuts. F.eks. if in the “home” screen one could hold say *-button then nudge it to the left to lauch one application, * + right-nudge a different application and so on…

    Answer phone calls by moving the phone quickly down and up, even though the keys are locked. (in moving ball this would make the ball become tiny then large).

    Since the accelerometer is so sensitive, it can be implimentated all over the place, without one looking like a moron throwing ur mobile all over the place…

  • RIcky

    I’d like to see an app that lets you slam the phone on someone if you really pi**ed off at them. You can do a virtual conventional slam/hang up :-)

  • RIcky

    I’d like to see an app that lets you slam the phone on someone if you really pi**ed off at them. You can do a virtual conventional slam/hang up :-)

  • Brian

    A wrist snap could provide the Treck communicator sound….

  • Brian

    A wrist snap could provide the Treck communicator sound….

  • Brian

    Oops, Trek. – 2 Geek Points for PBKAC

  • Brian

    Oops, Trek. – 2 Geek Points for PBKAC

  • jo60

    Hey!
    A very simple useful thing would be a spirit level which is used to determine if a surface is flat.
    Cheers!

  • jo60

    Hey!
    A very simple useful thing would be a spirit level which is used to determine if a surface is flat.
    Cheers!

  • jamie moulding

    a spirit level would be wicked.

    is there not a way we can download nokmote thats awesome

  • jamie moulding

    a spirit level would be wicked.

    is there not a way we can download nokmote thats awesome

  • Thomas
  • Thomas
  • http://www.symbian-guru.com/welcome/2008/02/keynetiks-rocknscroll-ready-for-testers.html KEYnetik’s Rock’n’Scroll Ready For Testers

    [...] application basically does the same thing as NokMote, from Samir, which we have covered here on Symbian-Guru.com previously. However, as Samir has several projects going, NokMote has not received much attention [...]

  • negrek

    Hi all,

    this reply is for malaeum, whi seemed really excited with the accelerometer,

    it seems, if i have undertood properly, the maximun value the acceleroemter provides is 1G :( so, is this correct? if so, it will no be posible to do your horsepower calculator, as the maximun acceleration the “chip” can give you in 9.8 m/s2

    am i right??

    my email: negrek@hotmail.com

  • negrek

    Hi all,

    this reply is for malaeum, whi seemed really excited with the accelerometer,

    it seems, if i have undertood properly, the maximun value the acceleroemter provides is 1G :( so, is this correct? if so, it will no be posible to do your horsepower calculator, as the maximun acceleration the “chip” can give you in 9.8 m/s2

    am i right??

    my email: negrek@hotmail.com

  • mae

    i cant install. it says expired certificate, i did what you told me to but still cant install it. what should i do???

  • http://www.symbian-guru.com khouryrt

    Change the date on ur phone back to the date of the post, install it, then change the date back to today. Should work.

  • mae

    thanks khouryrt! it worked!!! hahaha woooh!

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