Incessant Gibbers

An accelerometer is a device used to measure the vibration or acceleration of a structure. It is a micro elctro-mechanical system device available in a wide variety of ranges. For more information about it, refer to Wikipedia’s article on accelerometer.

Recently, it has been used in sports watches, Nintendo Wii and more famously (and pertinent here) in Apple’s iPhone. People have been fascinated by the advertisements of iPhone in which the screen auto-rotates when the user turns the phone by 90 degrees (landscape). This, sensing of rotation, is performed by a small accelerometer embedded in the phone.

Nokia’s N95 has been bundled with one too, however, its use was limited to camera app only to determine whether the user has shot a portrait or a landscape photo. The shrewd ones already knew about the presence of accelerometer, probably. But, it came as a surprise only when applications began pouring out from different directions. So what sort of applications does accelerometer lend itself to? Well, the sky is the limit! Here are some of them, that I’ve come across. Note that all applications require the Nokia N95 Accelerometer Plugin to be installed on the phone to run these applications.

Activity Monitor from Nokia Research Center. “The Nokia Activity Monitor displays charts and statistics, in real-time, about your movements while walking or running. It counts the number of steps, and determines the distance covered and the energy expenditure…..”

Nokmote (set to release soon), is the one I’m looking forward to. It is THE most intriguing display and use of accelerometer that I (and everyone else) have seen. Words, alone, can’t do justice to this one. Check out the video of nokmote in action. Hats off to Samir for pulling this one off.

RotateMe (by Samir, again) replicates the screen auto-rotation feature of iPhone. An unsigned version is available for download at Samir’s website.

ShutUp (it’s Samir again!), isn’t released yet. It helps you to shut your alarm just by turning it upside down. The website says “When the phone is ringing (alarm, call…), silence it simply by physically flipping the phone over.” And a video demo is available here.

Accelerinvadors is a cool and simple game using the accelerometer and shows a lot of promise and potential. It is released at Nokia MOSH. It’s a pretty simple game yet addictive. The motif is to protect the ship from alien attacks (or, sort of). I kept it on my phone just to ward of the times of extreme boredom but I now find myself trying to go past all my high scores. It’s a must have!

Inclinometer for N95 by the famous Dr. Jukka is also available at Nokia MOSH. It is a simple application which can be used in your car to showthe tilt angle as well as hill angle.

pyPoziomica is an application that allows you to use the phone (N95) as a level tool simple by putting it on a surface. It is Python based so it will require the intallation of Python for S60 v3. (scroll down for Python download)

LightSabre, probably inspired by Star Wars and the N95 accelerometer, is a completely pointless application but it’s a cool proof of concept. Not to forget, it’s fun too!

Ball Game (Labyrinth) is a very nice and simple game in which you have to guide a set of balls through a system of complex maze, without losing it down to a hole. It surely reminds us of those early console games. Note that this is also Python based, so it requires installation of Python for S60 as well as Python Script Shell. For more information on how to use it check out the notes on Symbian Freak website here.

Downloads:

• Nokia N95 Accelerometer Plugin
• Python for S60 (v 1.4.1)
• Python Script Shell

I do hope and believe that many more developers will float out their applications freely soon. A word of caution: these applications use accelerometer extensively which apparently drains battery faster than normal, so keep an eye on the power indicator as well. This, however, shouldn’t impede the usage of accelerometer by any means. The power and potential of accelerometer completely outscores the battery problem.

Have fun, and enjoy shaking the N95!