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Galaxy S4 Sensor Array: Barometer, Humidity, Temperature...!

The Galaxy S4 has so many amazing sensors! Magnetometer, Proximity, Ambient light, Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Barometer, Thermostat, Humidistat, Infrared!
The barometer is the most exciting to me because I build pressureNET, a global network of Android phones reporting atmospheric pressure and current weather. This project is open source and we're hoping to grow large enough to get meteorlogically significant data, which should allow us to improve thunderstorm forecasting significantly. We're collaborating with atmospheric scientists at University of Washington who are currently receiving a livestream of or data. We're currently receiving about 11,000 measurements per hour. Check out our blog at cumulonimbus.ca.
What other ideas do you have? This is Star Trek right here. What else can we build with this incredible sensor array?

This thread deserve a bump.

Seems like a lot of extra stuff taking clock cycles due to polling. Any way to turn some of that stuff off if you want?

rushless said:
Seems like a lot of extra stuff taking clock cycles due to polling. Any way to turn some of that stuff off if you want?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you find this information? I haven't seen anything like that so far.

I also am interested in how the temperature and humidity sensors will be used. I hope developers can figure out interesting applications.
I downloaded a few barometer apps for my Note a year back but they didn't seem that useful. I will definitely try out the pressureNet app; it sounds quite interesting.

I made a Weather Station app that utilizes these sensors a while ago and is available at Google Play for free:
Weather Station
In regards to the OP, globally collecting information from these new sensors I think has minimal value. First of all the sensors are not stationary, second they reside inside of pant pockets most of time. Atmospheric pressure may have some value but it is not useful unless you adjust for elevation (which my app does).

I for one and curious how the humidity and temperature sensors will function in practice.
How exactly will they compensate for being in my pocket, hand, etc?
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2

Shammyh said:
I for one and curious how the humidity and temperature sensors will function in practice.
How exactly will they compensate for being in my pocket, hand, etc?
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simple answer, it won't.
Look at this video and go straight to 13:40 where the reviewer both shows and mentions the inacuracy as a a temperature gauge.
http://youtu.be/diLD42QafIo

Beards said:
Simple answer, it won't.
Look at this video and go straight to 13:40 where the reviewer both shows and mentions the inacuracy as a a temperature gauge.
http://youtu.be/diLD42QafIo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could have been a bad case of early-softwareism.

Toss3 said:
Could have been a bad case of early-softwareism.
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Click to collapse
Possibly but it's my guess this is a pretty standard if not crude gauge. I doubt it has the capacity to offer variables or degrees (pun intended) in working out temperatures from pockets to real room, let alone being a bog-standard gauge.

Beards said:
Possibly but it's my guess this is a pretty standard if not crude gauge. I doubt it has the capacity to offer variables or degrees (pun intended) in working out temperatures from pockets to real room, let alone being a bog-standard gauge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's more likely that it's reading Celsius and the developer didn't convert it to Fahrenheit. It is that high b/c of her hand (body temperature is about 36-37 Celsius) and if she left it alone on a table it would probably register close to room temperature.
The idea of compensating for a hand or pocket is impossible. Therefore, the quality of the temperature sensor can be based only really on how long it takes to register temperature changes.

jsstp24n5 said:
It's more likely that it's reading Celsius and the developer didn't convert it to Fahrenheit. It is that high b/c of her hand (body temperature is about 36-37 Celsius) and if she left it alone on a table it would probably register close to room temperature.
The idea of compensating for a hand or pocket is impossible. Therefore, the quality of the temperature sensor can be based only really on how long it takes to register temperature changes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree, not even sophisticated temperature gauges have an ability to ascertain heat outside of it's own source. It would require a sensor to be placed directly where it needed to relay the information back to.

If you want to see an app that utilising the baro sensor and gps, check out xcsoar flight software, where altitudes have to be barometric for airspace levels.

Problem in thermo hygrometer Sensor in S4 I9500-Please help
jsstp24n5 said:
I made a Weather Station app that utilizes these sensors a while ago and is available at Google Play for free:
Weather Station
In regards to the OP, globally collecting information from these new sensors I think has minimal value. First of all the sensors are not stationary, second they reside inside of pant pockets most of time. Atmospheric pressure may have some value but it is not useful unless you adjust for elevation (which my app does).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sir I have installed some custom ROM.
After that I lost my Thermo hygrometer sensor on S4
The readings are like this after running HWModuleTest:
ACC RAW COMP
0 34.48 0
Before installing rom the readings were
ACC RAW COMP
3 34.48 16.7888
This means that something happens to thermo sensor.
Please help How can I correct that.
From where I can get back these ACC and COMP values.
Please help me soon.

I'm not the person you quoted, but the simple answer is to go back to stock, if you haven't already done so. Your custom ROM possibly doesn't support the sensors.

Few questions for the real users of Gear s2

Hello everybody,
can somebody kindly answer the following questions?
1. I read there is no auto brightness setting on the S2. does the ambient light sensor adjust the brightness of the screen based on the level we choose? and if so, how?
2. has anybody used the watch in a swimming pool or beach? on the reviews I read they always talk about taking a shower or immerging it in a tank, which is not very useful in my opinion. how about swimming with it?
3. I read on this forum the setting for returning to previous screen after waking is gone. Are you serious? this was an incredible useful feature, at lest for me (I have the Gear S) when I work out at the gym.
4. is it possible to street navigate with something else than Here? I ride 2 wheels very often and it would be very useful. When I tried Here on the S it just gave me the walking option, which is way to slow to use while driving. I read the here on the 2 has also the option to drive, but how good is it? anybody tried?
thank you all in advance. I like my gear S a lot, but the screen just died and the warranty is expired, so I am torn between fixing it or just buy the S2, also because I am planning to use it with a non Samsung phone, eventually. I like it a lot, but I keep reading things that are putting me off.

1. I read there is no auto brightness setting on the S2. does the ambient light sensor adjust the brightness of the screen based on the level we choose? and if so, how?
- No auto brightness, but yes it does have ambient light sensor. Under a bright environment, your screen will be brighter. In dark environment, it will not dim your screen.
2. has anybody used the watch in a swimming pool or beach? on the reviews I read they always talk about taking a shower or immerging it in a tank, which is not very useful in my opinion. how about swimming with it?
- Hell no. It is water resistant but not built for swimming or any sort of water activity.
3. I read on this forum the setting for returning to previous screen after waking is gone. Are you serious? this was an incredible useful feature, at lest for me (I have the Gear S) when I work out at the gym.
- There is no setting for it yet. After screen timeout, it defaults back to watch face. However, if you start an app like S-Health, it will return back to that app screen after timeout, so you don't have to worry about switching the screen when you work out.
4. is it possible to street navigate with something else than Here? I ride 2 wheels very often and it would be very useful. When I tried Here on the S it just gave me the walking option, which is way to slow to use while driving. I read the here on the 2 has also the option to drive, but how good is it? anybody tried?
- Here is the only option. I never tried the drive option sorry but it is available. Edit: there is a paid app available for google maps but I haven't tried it.

The watch is water resistant deep 1m50 never even tried to scared to break it

I recently went on holiday to Sri Lanka, swam everyday in pool> 1.5m and also in the sea. Also shower with it everyday.

So many poor watchfaces.

Why are there so many lame watch faces on the gear app store! I don't want much, just a simple watch face with all black background and a decent ambient mode. Most are over complicated trash. There are a few good ones out there there but the ambient mode is the standard got and minute hand.
I had a go at the watch face maker application on a Mac but I haven't got time to pay around with it.
I like the modern utility face from Samsung but wish the ambient mode had the hour markets at least.
I'm sticking with tuner military face

Look at "Nice Gear S2" in the store - more than 10,000 users (Apr.16) can not be wrong ...

crustyeyez said:
Why are there so many lame watch faces on the gear app store! I don't want much, just a simple watch face with all black background and a decent ambient mode. Most are over complicated trash. There are a few good ones out there there but the ambient mode is the standard got and minute hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to agree with you. It surprises me how bad so many of them are. Fortunately you case use Gear Watch Designer to make you own, including ambient mode.

Check out "Blue Stealth 12hr" on the app store. It's the one I use. But yes, so many poorly designed faces out there.

If you like modern utility, check out "My Classic Gear S2 (plus is paid version)
This is ambient mode:
Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

45Wheelgun said:
If you like modern utility, check out "My Classic Gear S2 (plus is paid version)
This is ambient mode:
View attachment 3674389
Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used this (Paid version) and love it.
But the background colors are so bad. I just wanna simple black background.
At least another color is white.
The blue.. red... etc make the watch looks so cheap. So bad....
Sent from my SM-N910H using Tapatalk

If you can, do what i do and resort to making your own watch faces. Its a bit of fun and rewarding too.

The Gear S suffered from the same lack of watch faces. My biggest problem is with the ambient mode, which is utter garbage. When I moved over to the LG Urbane I realized how much I was missing (hundreds of full color ambient faces that lasts almost 2 days). I really hope Samsung will start making android wear watches again.

ozaghloul said:
The Gear S suffered from the same lack of watch faces. My biggest problem is with the ambient mode, which is utter garbage. When I moved over to the LG Urbane I realized how much I was missing (hundreds of full color ambient faces that lasts almost 2 days). I really hope Samsung will start making android wear watches again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Spoken like someone that doesn't own an S2. Lack of watchfaces on the S2? Please.

supersoulfly said:
Spoken like someone that doesn't own an S2. Lack of watchfaces on the S2? Please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was very specific. Lack of full display color ambient watch faces is my problem. I know there are hundreds of great watch faces for the S2, but they all look absolutely horrible in ambient. My bigger gripe is that this is a stupid software issue that should have been corrected since the S1.

crustyeyez said:
Why are there so many lame watch faces on the gear app store! I don't want much, just a simple watch face with all black background and a decent ambient mode. Most are over complicated trash. There are a few good ones out there there but the ambient mode is the standard got and minute hand.
I had a go at the watch face maker application on a Mac but I haven't got time to pay around with it.
I like the modern utility face from Samsung but wish the ambient mode had the hour markets at least.
I'm sticking with tuner military face
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The new version of the Modern Utility face has a better ambient mode, with hour markers, as does the new Special Edition face. (This is after the recent Samsung update. Don't know about the carrier branded versions.)

Nickdeck said:
The new version of the Modern Utility face has a better ambient mode, with hour markers, as does the new Special Edition face. (This is after the recent Samsung update. Don't know about the carrier branded versions.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in UK, so no update yet, but thanks.

s2mishappy said:
I used this (Paid version) and love it.
But the background colors are so bad. I just wanna simple black background.
At least another color is white.
The blue.. red... etc make the watch looks so cheap. So bad....
Sent from my SM-N910H using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The face just got updated today. I had requested he make it harder to "accidentally" change the color of the face. Now it isn't as easy to end up with a hot pink background when you just wanted black. At least the author is responsive.
Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

crustyeyez said:
Why are there so many lame watch faces on the gear app store! I don't want much, just a simple watch face with all black background and a decent ambient mode. Most are over complicated trash. There are a few good ones out there there but the ambient mode is the standard got and minute hand.
I had a go at the watch face maker application on a Mac but I haven't got time to pay around with it.
I like the modern utility face from Samsung but wish the ambient mode had the hour markets at least.
I'm sticking with tuner military face
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same desire and found "Mercan: Muti-Functional Watch" yesterday. I am quite liking it. Battery level, steps, and calendar all have shortcuts to the appropriate places. Very bright and easy to read. To my way of thinking the ambient mode is good as well though I don't use it. I have attached a pic.
Also, at this point it is free.
Hope that helps.
Fred

s2mishappy said:
I used this (Paid version) and love it.
But the background colors are so bad. I just wanna simple black background.
At least another color is white.
The blue.. red... etc make the watch looks so cheap. So bad....
Sent from my SM-N910H using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The background colours were added cause users asked for it. But you can choose the colour you like! Black is default, so no problem for you right?

ffarber said:
I have the same desire and found "Mercan: Muti-Functional Watch" yesterday. I am quite liking it. Battery level, steps, and calendar all have shortcuts to the appropriate places. Very bright and easy to read. To my way of thinking the ambient mode is good as well though I don't use it. I have attached a pic.
Also, at this point it is free.
Hope that helps.
Fred
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers! Ambient mode looks good. Will see how it goes.

I've found a decent one at last.

45Wheelgun said:
The face just got updated today. I had requested he make it harder to "accidentally" change the color of the face. Now it isn't as easy to end up with a hot pink background when you just wanted black. At least the author is responsive.
Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
In next update I will try to improve background colours also.

What I am mainly concerned about is all the copyright and trademark infringements going on in the market. You can't put Family Guy on a watch face, slap a digital clock on it, call it your own, and sell it for $2. You have to own the rights. Also, no one can use official Superhero logos and profit unless you own the rights to them as well.
This will hurt the Gear S2. When the companies who own the trademarks complain, the faces will be stripped from the market. Consumers who purchased them will no longer be able to download and install them. They will get angry at Samsung and Gear Apps as a whole, hurting sales... A market in its infancy like this should be more careful. By individuals releasing faces on the market like this they are also smacking other designers and developers in the face... Smacking down the integrity of whole "design process" really...

Is there an app for Gear S2 watch faces similar to Android Wear watchmaker. It is the only app I use on my Moto 360 gen 1. Just ordered refurbished Gear S2 for $140 via BB on Ebay offer.
Looking forward to it to complement my Moto 360 and Note 5.
Ian B

Altimeter accuracy?

Does anyone know how accurate the altimeter is?
Every time a do a manual calibration, the new value is way off from the old value. Several dozen feet sometimes.
Has anyone tested it for accuracy?

I got the same problem too
And I'm in the same situation as you, I'm searching if anyone tested the accuracy of the altimeter :/

I havent found anything yet man. If you do, please post. Thanks!

When I refresh the altitude at home, I get 130ft. Checking my elevation against a geological survey source, I get 136ft.
When I'm at my vacation home on the coast (of Maine), I get 10ft.
Good enough for me

Reality test
I was skydiving yesterday and tested my Gear S3 Classic along with 2 specialised altimeters: Barigo and Neoxs.
Tried 2 apps: native baro-altimeter and Skydive altimeter metric by Jean-David Hsu.
Manual calibration and altitude set to 0 beforehand.
Below is the link to the video
https://youtu.be/Sofblyrn2FQ

So it is off at times? It is hard to see the reading in the watch in the video

reviad said:
So it is off at times?
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Click to collapse
No, the app keeps the screen alive all the time. The hand on the watch face is visible all through the jump. I put some magnifying screen shots in for better perception. Try watch the vid on PC. Must be OK.

Ljusalfheim said:
No, the app keeps the screen alive all the time. The hand on the watch face is visible all through the jump. I put some magnifying screen shots in for better perception. Try watch the vid on PC. Must be OK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, what I meant by "it is off at times" is that it is not always accurate? I could see that the watch was on, but it was hard to tell if was the same reading as the "real" altimeter.

reviad said:
Sorry, what I meant by "it is off at times" is that it is not always accurate? I could see that the watch was on, but it was hard to tell if was the same reading as the "real" altimeter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should say it IS accurate! In most cases Gear S3 performed better than Neoxs (professional skydiving altimeter). Screen shots show that the difference between Barigo and Gear is minuscule and Neoxs is approximately 100 meters wrong at times.
So, I was pleasantly surprised. The watch rocks and no mistake!

I live 200M from the coast. Setting up the Gear was easy at sea level from then on mine has been as accurate as can be expected for this type of device.
I have owned nearly every smart watch available being a watch nut and can say to date the S3 is my favorite of this type of watch. Very well made and in general a quality advanced piece of micro engineering. One to be proud of.
Ryland

The altimeter on the S3 is a fake, same as barometer. To prove it, just disconnect the watch from your phone and prevent internet access. Data will then be totally inaccurate with huge variation during the day even if staying at exact same spot.
Samsung is just using the GPS data location to get more accurate values, but wht is inside the S3 is dumb

fastmike said:
The altimeter on the S3 is a fake,
Samsung is just using the GPS data location to get more accurate values, but wht is inside the S3 is dumb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry but you are totally and entirely wrong. See my video (link is above). There was no phone and Internet in the sky with me.

I recommend app Altimeter & Barometer. I use it in mountain from year. Accuracy is better than stock devices.

Ljusalfheim said:
Sorry but you are totally and entirely wrong. See my video (link is above). There was no phone and Internet in the sky with me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No link I am assuming you where jumping it could I use this insted of a digital. I am jumping a analog and if this will work I would rather buy this .

kidhines said:
No link I am assuming you where jumping .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The link is below:
https://youtu.be/Sofblyrn2FQ

Ljusalfheim said:
The link is below:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you trust your life with this only ?

kidhines said:
Would you trust your life with this only ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course not. Never trust in one single device (even professional). I use at least 3 simultaneously.

Disppointed with the Barometer/Altimeter App

I am very disappointed with the Samsung Barometer/Altimeter app, The barometer only registers in whole inches of mercury. All watches I had in the past, register in hundredths of inches of mercury. I wonder who else feels the same and would like Samsung to fix this error or maybe a developer could create a replacement app.
Edit: They finally updated the app and it shows the barometric pressure in 100th of a inch of mercury. Big thumbs up

dhonzik said:
I am very disappointed with the Samsung Barometer/Altimeter app, The barometer only registers in whole inches of mercury. All watches I had in the past, register in hundredths of inches of mercury. I wonder who else feels the same and would like Samsung to fix this error or maybe a developer could create a replacement app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. Hopefully Samsung does address it. Meanwhile I found a free app called "FBarometer." Just search/install via Gear app. Seems pretty accurate, doesn't register in hundredths but does do tenths so a step up from wholes inches at least.

I have a feeling Samsung rushed to get this watch out (obviously, everythings backordered now it seems).
I have a feeling there will be many updates in the near future. At least I hope so.

If you touch the barometer to display the trend look at the outside ring, the barometric pressure is displayed gauge style with a red dash marking the pressure and the units are to the hundreds place. It's still not great but you can at least tell the difference between 28.5 and 29.

I live 77m above sea level and my watch shows -97m, a bit out me thinks.

Barometer and altimeter are useless. I live between - 90 and plus 154 meters, in Amsterdam which is - 3. Consequently also the floor counter is facked up.

dhonzik said:
I am very disappointed with the Samsung Barometer/Altimeter app, The barometer only registers in whole inches of mercury. All watches I had in the past, register in hundredths of inches of mercury. I wonder who else feels the same and would like Samsung to fix this error or maybe a developer could create a replacement app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use another very good app called Barometer & Altimeter. I use it when go mountain. I talked to author this app before download it. It was tested by a few climbers and created with help mathematicians and physicists. The measurement error is < 1%. It is better than my stock altimeter GPS-based. Very good app, absolutely worth buying.

dhonzik said:
I am very disappointed with the Samsung Barometer/Altimeter app, The barometer only registers in whole inches of mercury. All watches I had in the past, register in hundredths of inches of mercury. I wonder who else feels the same and would like Samsung to fix this error or maybe a developer could create a replacement app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally agree! Looks like the sensors that Samsung has choosen are totally pieces of crap.
Altimeter: from my sofa 5m... couple of hours later 35m!!!
Barometer and heart rates are also giving vera random figures compare to 'real' hardware.
Samsung just wanted to show more features and be in line with competition but it does not work.
They better should have left very useful features that were present on previous model likre IR Remote that I had on my Gear 2 Neo!
I will never understand Samsung when they decide to replace features in place of add new features. Mainly when they remove very useful and working gears and replace those with unreliable sensors....

You do realise that the altimeter is air pressure based right?
If the air pressure has changed during the two hours you were on the sofa then the altimeter will show a different reading.
That's the whole point of calibrating it before you set of on a climb or whatever you're up to.

@Lakota
Where is the setting screen, been through settings tried hold the screen nothing.

jb.traveller said:
@Lakota
Where is the setting screen, been through settings tried hold the screen nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tap on the widget and scroll right.

Thanks Stormglider sorted.

Lakota said:
You do realise that the altimeter is air pressure based right?
If the air pressure has changed during the two hours you were on the sofa then the altimeter will show a different reading.
That's the whole point of calibrating it before you set of on a climb or whatever you're up to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it's barometric. And altitude jumps all over the place even when the pressure is constant. Eg walking up the stairs, 2 stories, results in a climb of -12 to +30 meters, should be - 3 to +4. And my daily run which is totally flat at - 3 shows 116 meter hills. It's true and authentic crap and I'm gonna replace for the Fenix 5 as soon as possible!

blackspp said:
Yes it's barometric. And altitude jumps all over the place even when the pressure is constant. Eg walking up the stairs, 2 stories, results in a climb of -12 to +30 meters, should be - 3 to +4. And my daily run which is totally flat at - 3 shows 116 meter hills. It's true and authentic crap and I'm gonna replace for the Fenix 5 as soon as possible!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats why shealth thinks i climbed 10 flights of stairs while just walking about for nine hours.

To those who think that their Gear S3 sensors are any accurate, just try to disconnect your phone Position/GPS or to use the gear S3 alone. You will then see the truth about those very inaccurate sensors that Samsung has put in the Gear!
They are only 'providing' you with accurate figures when position/gps on your phone is on, in other words, the 'accurate' info you are seeing are provided by internet data, and not by the sensors themselves... Shame on Samsung for that!

i have the same issue. at 155 ft above sea level, but watch states between -150 and +435
it also only counts 1/10th of floors climbed

I don't get accurate floor counts but I know for a fact the gps works well without my phone. At least the golf app I use gives me accurate readings in standalone mode.
Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

Same here. I stood outside under a clear sky around 30m above sea level. Tried calibrating thrice but each time it says -7M.

Skydiving
I have used the S3 Frontier when I skydive along with my Viso II Digital Altimeter and they are within 25-50ft of each other. This is without the phone. It is actually pretty accurate. I do not use the built in app. I use one from the store called Skydiver Altimeter. It works great.

Well no clue about others.. but just got mine and comparing with two others one ming Suunto and its like some others pretty darn accurate. Just going up a few feet.. was spot on. I wonder if like the phone you need to reset it at now and again.