by Elizabeth M Young

Created on: September 08, 2010

Right now, the new sensor that came with the Android 2.2 upgrade (Froyo) simply measures the ambient light and gives the option to have the screen brightness adjust automatically.

To use this feature, go to menu==>display==brightness==>and select "automatic brightness".  If you have a good all-in-one systems management and monitoring app like "Android Systems", you can go to the systems screen, select "sensors" and find out about the make, model and manufacturer for your Android's light sensor.

Now, what else can we do with this new feature? It is up to those hard working and enterprising developers who develop applications for the Android marketplace! It was only a matter of time before photographers, those who want to know the ambient light levels and those who need to test the phone's light sensor accuracy would all come along with applications that tap into the new tool.

Imagine being able to check the light level for healthy reading, for turning off extra lights to save energy or even to prove that the neighbor goes too far with the annual Christmas display! First, applications that pull the data and present the data in easy to understand form need to be developed. 

There is "Light Sensor", which simply tests the phone's light sensor. It also has animations of the sun and moon along with simple text: It gives the Lux Value for indoors and the Lux Value for outdoors.

"Photography Assistant" uses the light sensor to give an auto exposure value. It used to be called "Light Meter" and it also has a tool chest of other photographer's helpers.

"Proximity Sensor" somehow uses the light sensor to help with those "cheek hang ups". These occur when your face is too close to the phone and causes the phone to shut down. Proximity shutdown is a safety mechanism that the government required in order to keep people from getting too much head and facial exposure to perceived electromagnetic hazards of these powerful little devices.

Future dreams and hopes for light sensor based applications:

There are other all-in-one sensor apps that are either already upgraded or that will be upgraded to allow easy user access to data from all of the Android's sensors. But the new data should include ambient lux value in forms that can be understood and related to proper reading and other values. 

One heroic and open source app, the "Tricorder" app will have to be upgraded to give readings for ambient light. The Tricorder app is cool strictly because it works well and it has the Star Treck sounds and appearance of the very same devices that were imagined decades ago when the show was broadcast.

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