From high-quality cameras to large-screen displays, there is a proliferation of features that you can find on your modern-day smartphone. Besides these features, there are myriad of sensors that come with the latest smartphones. In simple terms, a sensor refers to the component that can be felt by the chip such as light, brightness, distance, pressure, and temperature. Currently, mobile sensors are now getting smaller in size and their performance has doubled. Thankfully, their cost has now been reduced significantly, just like their electronic counterparts. Typically, these sensors are linked to movement and work hand-in-hand with the various mobile apps in order to execute different tasks on your device. In this article, we shall take a closer look at the various sensors that you can find in your phone so that you can know them better:
Types of Sensor Find on My Phone
To start with, different phones come with different sensors. Besides this, the number of sensors varies depending on the model that you choose to settle for. Some of the common sensors you can find in most phone models include:
1. Ambient light sensor
From outside, this light sensor resembles the eyeballs of a smartphone. Typically, the human eye is known to regulate the amount of light that can get into it. The same applies to this sensor. With this sensor in place, your phone is able to detect the degree of ambient light and alter the screen brightness appropriately.
Remember that your phone’s screen is one of the main components that rains your battery’s charge. Thankfully, the light sensors help to regulate its brightness and thus make your battery to last longer. Besides this, if you activate the inadvertent touch, this sensor will work with other sensors in order to establish whether the phone’s screen is covered or not.
2. Accelerometer
Besides the ambient light sensor, your smartphone comes with an accelerometer sensor. Unlike other sensors, this one mainly deals with axis-based motions. In most cases, you are likely to find it in fitness trackers. Thankfully, it is also found in modern-day smartphones. With this sensor in place, you will be able to track your footsteps whenever you are walking or even hiking.
As the name suggests, this sensor measures the acceleration and deceleration whenever you are in motion. Therefore, you can even use it whenever you are driving. When driving it will be able to measure the speed at which your handset is moving and the direction that it is heading to.
Apart from driving, this sensor can play a key role when playing mobile games as it offers unique commands every now and then. Lastly, this sensor is used in other applications such as switching on and off the mute option on your phone or shaking tunes.
3. Proximity sensor
The above-mentioned sensor is usually situated near your phone’s earpiece. It is imperative to note that it is made of an infrared LED light and light detector that helps to detect any infrared radiation. This sensor mainly comes into use whenever you are using your phone to make calls.
Here, it will switch off the screen to prevent the keypad from being pressed when the call is going on. Since the screen will be off, your phone is able to conserve more charge as battery consumption will be relatively low.
4. Gyroscope
With this sensor in place, the accelerometer is able to know the direction your device is oriented to. In fact, this sensor is commonly used during gaming sessions. When playing a racing game, you just need to tilt your phone a little bit in order to control the car in motion. Once you tilt your phone, this sensor is able to detect that execute those moves on the car in motion.
It is imperative that these sensors are not only a preserve of smartphones as they are also found inside the airplane. Here, they mainly help to establish the position and altitude of the plane.
5. GPS position sensor
As we speak, there are 24 GPS satellites that orbit the earth. With these satellites in place, they are able to tell the exact location of an object or an individual in real time. This sensor is mostly used during the navigation process. A good example is when you are in a remote place and you can hardly tell your current location.
All you need to do is to enable the Location feature on your phone and the GPS sensors will get a ping from the space satellites. This way you will know where you are located, the surrounding features and so forth.
The good news is that these sensors do not use essentially use data and thus can still work even when your phone’s signal is weak. Therefore, they can help you navigate seamlessly when you are in a strange place or town.
6. Fingerprint sensor
As the name suggests, these sensors are used to recognize and even authenticate your fingerprint whenever you are using your mobile device. Ideally, they offer the much-needed protection as you are the only one who can be able to access your phone at a given time.
Depending on your phone’s settings, you can activate these sensors to open a mobile app or even authenticate certain mobile payments. All you need to do is to place your finger on the display of your phone and be able to okay the entire process.
