A compass for the iPhone?
Ever since Apple (AAPL) shipped the first beta version of iPhone 3.0, the new firmware scheduled for release this summer, developers have been mining it for evidence of any new hardware features that might appear in the next iPhone — widely expected to ship around the same time.
The latest discovery, via The Boy Genius Report: controls for a digital compass.
The first hints that Apple might be planning to add a magnetometer to the next-generation iPhone were reported in April by MacRumors. But this evidence is a lot stronger: a pair of screen shots with toggle switches for "Show in Compass" and "Log Compass."
What could you do with a compass-equipped iPhone? MacRumors offered several suggestions last April, including a couple prototype "augmented reality" games that combined real-world backgrounds with computer-generated characters.
But the killer app may be the one that was featured so prominently at the unveiling last September of HTC's G1, the first mobile phone to run on Google's (GOOG) Android operating system. The highlight of the press conference was the demo of a G1 running Google Maps Street View in Compass Mode.
Street View, which didn't appear on the iPhone for another two months, allows you to scroll through thousands of 360-degree panoramic street-level photographs of locations in the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan.
But the G1, which has had a built-in magnetometer from Day 1, took Street View one step further. Rather than having to drag or click to navigate the images of a particular street corner, you could just swing the phone up, down, left or right. The image on the screen shifted as the phone did, creating an effect not unlike the one you would get through a built-in camera if you were actually standing on that street corner, rather than just visiting it in cyberspace. YouTube video of an early demo is pasted below the fold.
It's pretty cool. It's been available on the G1 since that phone's October 2008 release. If the hints and rumors prove true, it could come to the iPhone this summer.
Whoa, lot of ignorance about what an internal magnetic compass gets you. For most people in places where they use phones, a compass is probably going to give you the wrong direction–cars have large magnetic fields that vary over short distances, and buildings often have steel frames. (as for the poster who thinks their car GPS has a built in compass, try putting the car in reverse and see if the display knows which is the front end of the car–maybe a couple use a compass but none that I've seen). It will help in some situations, especially if low precision is adequate, but probably not a real game changer.
Instead, what the compass really gets you is a way to know if the phone has been turned about a vertical axis (so long as you stay away from the magnetic poles). Take Google Earth on the iPhone–tilt the phone up and down and the view changes accordingly. But move it side to side (rotate about a vertical axis) and nothing changes. Why? Because the phone doesn't know side-to-side. WIth an internal compass, you can now sense that rotation. That changes the info an app can get. This feature is more apt to change games than navigation (imagine a first-person shooter where you have to actually spin about to look behind you and you'll get the idea).
who said there was no use for an ipod in the military? not me. it plays music great…
there is a difference between having a mobile english to X language translator and putting in a useless feature that can tell a soldier (approximately) which way is north. the military has that figured out many many decades ago and they probably want more precise readings. stop your sheep like following of apple for a second with your knee jerk defense of all thinks mac and think for yourself for a second.
you are very welcome for my insights…
To Tom from Irvine,
The military is already testing the iPhone in combat operations.
Thank you for your valuable insights.
Tom,
actually the army is indeed starting to use the iPhone in Iraq: http://www.newsweek.com/id/194623
If adding this feature helps convince the army to make it standard issue, that alone would make it worth it to Apple.
The ultimate goal would be an instrument to detect the orientation of the device. An embedded magnetometer gives magnetic north, not true north. By knowing the lat lon you can correct for that but a gravitometer would have to be added to find vertical. A tiny plumb bob perhaps?
why a magetometer? pretty obvious really — all car GPS units have them and it is very handy for directions
aside from streetview, this is so that turn by turn nav can be had on the iPhone
expect to see it soon
the most useless feature ever…i guess it was a slow tech news day that this needed to be written up.
a built in compass would be great for…ummmm…NOBODY
the only real app mentioned in the article. streetview maps. great…just what we all need. apple pushing a feature that would make a bunch of people swing their phone around in public like idiots. what a great marketing vehicle.
and John, put the punch down…you've had one too many. hikers would take a real compass…the one that doesn't need batteries…you know…just in case. truck delivery folks have this cool thing called GPS. all your other govt and military folks in your feable example will either will rely on…yes, tried and true battery-less compass or another military/government grade piece of equipment/gear and NOT their iPhone. firefighters and police? really? surveyors? they don't have more precise equipment to use?
i can see it now. SEALs are stuck in a tight spot in Fallujah. They got to call in a targeted strike to get them out of a jam. Master Sgt. calls for the coordinates for the airstrike. His teammate calls out the coordinates. Master Sgt. asks what he used. Teammate replies…huh? the Suunto X9Mi issued by the Navy to all SEALs. Master Sgt. screams "WHAT?!?!?!?! USE YOUR DAMN iPHONE like my wife would do!!!!! Do you want to die??!?!?!?"
Randy B,
The fact of the matter is, iPhone is revolutionary.
The other phone manufacturers are playing catchup.
But you have a point, there's too much buzz around it.
@joe.
Ya ya ya, grats htc – how was your last quarter? WinMo working out well? oh you're switching to android? Way to go!
You can already get a compass for the iPhone. Didn't anyone see the commercial? http://agiledimension.com/compassgo/
ex ped: You can get compass-like functions. This would be a real magnetometer.
Ability to detect magnetic heading would be of invaluable use to several consumer (hikers, truck delivery, ), civil government (firefighters, police, surveyors, rescue personnel), and military segments (soldiers in hostile territory, soldiers lost).
"but it’s growth in a short two years left most of the handset industry scrambling to catch up"
Except for HTC, which has been doing everything the Iphone has and more even before the Iphone was introduced. Case in point – look who's only just adding Compass now (well, that's if they even are).
"I don’t understand the fascination with the iPhone… It’s a phone that can also play games, get over it"
Actually, its a pocket netbook, that lets you make calls. Big difference mate.
Obviously, Randy is someone that didn't buy AAPL when it was cheap and now his portfolio is down 75% while those of us that got on board with AAPL are enjoying a nice profit. Also, like another reader said, if you don't have the phone and haven't had any experience with it except for what you read than you really have no idea.
Oh, wow! You clicked on an iPhone headline and it was about…. the iPhone. Will wonders never cease?
Why do you people even bother to click on an article that has iPhone in it? Whenever I see WinMo or Symbian headlines, I quickly skip over them to save myself from aggravation. A few months later they'll have similar features to what the iPhone OS has, so why read old news.
If it wasn't for the iPhone, you'd probably still be walking around with some crappy brick-sized clamshell with a 1.5 inch screen, a stylus and pulldown menus. The smartphone market was basically stagnating in the hands of a small user base until the iPhone moved it to a much larger user base. Even many of the major smartphone companies acknowledge that much. Sure, maybe the iPhone isn't God's gift to mankind, but it's growth in a short two years left most of the handset industry scrambling to catch up. Have you ever heard of a WinMo killer or BlackBerry killer? I seriously doubt it.
I guess it's unfair to the Palm and WinMo fanboys who loved the old-school hardware and OSs, but time moves on and Apple is moving slightly ahead of it.
No matter how hardware-retarded and OS-crappy you say the iPhone is, most of the iPhone competitors know better than that and they're going to keep trying to improve their own products to match or better the iPhone. Most of you should be thankful to the iPhone for at least that much.
That is something that you said that – I think the same thing. It is all PALM PALM – i-PHONE i-PHONE – and the stocks are just typical up / down floating, and their P/E ratios are thru the roof. Even Palm keeps pushing back the intro date – but it's true. It is boring.
Where is Sprint? Nextel direct connect? comments on Verizon service, or the AT&T service? Where is Blackberry?
If they are going to saturate us – they should be fair about it.
It's the coolest and hottest smart phone in the marketplace for almost 3 years running… name another device that even comes close! Apple hits a homerun no matter what they do… I_Phone, App store, I_Pod, ITouch… you name it and I_does_it!
Clearly, Randy from Florida has never owned or used an iPhone. Now that I have one, I couldn't live without it. I welcome the iPhone articles. Now that I have one, I understand the hype.
To Randy B in Boca Raton
If the iPhone was a fascination the first week then why after 2 1/2 years since it's first release are they still writing about it? Why is everyone smartphone that is or will be released supposed to be the "next iPhone killer"?
You get over it. If it doesn't interest you then don't click on anything that has the word "iPhone" on the title.
By the way if you don't have it then you don't know.
I kind of agree. I enjoy hearing about things with the phone, if they really have some substance. But geez, it's almost like they insert iPhone in anything to get a hit now a days. It's almost like, hey yeah I have a Web 2.0 app I wrote(iphone), and it's pretty slick(iphone), to bad it doesn't run on IE(iphone).
I have had both iphones and love everything about it(except battery life) but come on guys.
>> I don’t understand the fascination with the iPhone?
To understand it, you have to move out of your little box called "now" and consider "then". The iPhone (and other devices like it to come) have and will continue to totally change the way we all use computing. Something like the way laptops using wi-fi freed us, but exponentionally more so.
No offense, Randy, but the iPhone can do so much more than games that it's ridiculous. Some things it doesn't do well, but other things it does amazingly. If you don't want to read about it, just tune it out, friend.
The reason the interest in the iPhone continues to be high — and the reason the media continues to report on it — is that it keeps adding more and more capabilities! The secret sauce in the iPhone is the software and the tens of thousands of apps that do great things with it. So when Apple adds new hardware capabilities that are accessible by software apps, that IS a big deal! It opens up a lot of interesting — and new — situations!!
I don't understand the fascination with the iPhone? I don't mean using the phone or owning the phone, I mean the perpetual articles on the thing. Why do tech writers find it necessary to write about the iPhone over and over and over again? It's a phone that can also play games, get over it. Find something else to bore us with, I've developed a distaste for the phone as someone would when you endlessly hear about someones pet or your little sister's wonderful boyfriend. Get over it, it was fascinating for about a week when it first came out, its old news…
The best use for a compass in an iPhone is for geo-tagging photos. It's nice to have Long + Lat on a photo, but direction is also useful.
Imagine having hundreds of geo-tagged photos around the Eiffel Tower – compass information would tell you how many of those shots were actually taken in the direction of the tower.