Last week we commented that the motion sensor of the iPhone 5s is poorly calibrated and that, therefore, the device has a significant gap. Behold, Eagle Jones (PhD and CEO of RealityCap) brought a possible explanation for this. I already advance that the subject is highly technical for the most knowledgeable of the subject, I suggest reading the complete post of Jones to capture all the details.
Image credit: US Gizmodo.
In short, the fault of the accelerometer. In iPhones of past generations, Apple used a sensor from STMicroelectronics (LIS331DLH); now, on the iPhone 5s, the company has switched to one from Bosch-Sensortech (BMA220). According to Jones, two things matter in this piece of hardware: noise density (noise density) and vis (bias). The noise density of the Bosch sensor is very similar to that of STMicroelectronics; already vis, no.
Jones explains that the typical measurement of the STMicroelectronics accelerometer view is +/- 20mg (milli-g, or a thousandth of standard gravity), while that of the Bosch sensor of +/- 95mg. All of this was confirmed by tests carried out by him translating, +/- 20mg represents a difference of -1 degree of accuracy in detecting the slope, then +/- 95mg matches the -5 degrees of inclination found by many consumers.
The good news that developers can compensate for this gap by incorporating a calibration process within their apps, RealityCap is working on a code to make things easier. In addition, Apple would also be able to fix this through a software update that we hope will happen in the not too distant future.
(via Gizmodo US)
