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Analog Devices, which manufactures accelerometers – the motion-sensing technology used in Nintendo’s Wii video game – believes the market is set for rapid growth as the technology is increasingly employed in cell phones.
The company expects more and more devices to start using motion sensors, particularly MEM (microelectromechanical) accelerometers.
The technology will be used in Apple’s iPhone, to detect when the device is rotated. It can then choose to display screen images in either portrait or landscape format.
The phone can also can detect when it is lifted to the ear, and respond by turning off the display light to save power and prevent changes to the display image due to unplanned contact with the touch-sensitive screen.
The screen is reactivated when the iPhone is moved away from the ear.
The technology will be enhanced by combining it on a single chip with a gyroscope. It will then be able to measure rotational speed and provide even finer sensory control.
Gyroscopes are important for providing stabilisation and can be used to stabilise cameras and significantly improve picture quality, particularly on cameras with 3 or more magapixels.
With 700 million camera phones sold each year the technology looks set for a successful future.
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