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BMW Introduces Free Application For The iPhone

K keshy
Posted onJan 5, 2010 at 9:17 PM
Updated onUpdated on Jan 6, 2010 at 5:18 AM

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The Apple iPhone is more of a fashion accessory than a gadget now, ever noticed the number of people who own one? And that’s just the people around you, imagine the number of people using an iPhone around the world. It is no wonder then that iPhone applications are being released faster than users care to take note of, except for petrolheads of course because what we’re about to introduce next is every petrolheads need.

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Because the iPhone has a built in accelerometer that rather accurately detects even the slightest of motions, software developers have been quick to capitalise on the phone’s hardware by developing programs that detect even the slightest g-force and accurate 0-100 times from the iPhone. But these programs don’t come cheap, till now.

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BMW has came up with a free program called the M Power Meter and it does almost everything the paid applications can do and it’s also very easy to use. Download the program from the application store (click here), place the phone in your cars cup holder or lay it flat towards the direction you intend to drive, thumb start on the phone, accept the terms and go. The guys at AutoBlog tested the program and found that it worked really well for a free program.

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So now, if you have an iPhone and a car (whatever it is), you can test it out by simply downloading the program, it’s free, so it wouldn’t hurt if you just tried it.

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Source: AutoBlog

Post Views: 342
M
Crazy stuff..
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    Golden Nuggets
  • Jan 6, 2010
this is nice...will try it..
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    PocketRocket
  • Jan 6, 2010
link rosak.....
K
u sure ?? just checked and it works fine..
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    A1Diablo
  • Jan 6, 2010
This is really cool. I think it must also be using its GPS function to calculate acceleration times. As far as I know accelerometers can only give you the 'g' loadings. Amazing nonetheless
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    samso
  • Jan 6, 2010
Whoa U diablo dude seems to be everywhere and knows everything. U r the automotive god. All hail the diablo guy!
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    A1Diablo
  • Jan 7, 2010
Thanks samso but thats not necessary. No one thinks that I am an 'automotive god' and I am certain that no one else in zth thinks I'm worth 'hailing to' but you :) Cheers
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    td
  • Jan 8, 2010
A1 Diablo, r u sure it uses the GPS module to calculate the travelling speed? I thought everything was done with its built it accelerometer? Just a curious question.
K
downloaded and tested it. i shall say sometime its accurate. sometime not. speed below 50kmh is most of the time accurate. however its goes nuts most of the time when speed reach above 60kmh. no idea y.
A
td,

I'm not saying definitively that it is. I'm no expert on latest phone devices but based on my understanding of 'accelerometers', they're devices that just measure shock loadings, in other words 'g-forces' and thus not able to measure velocity (speed).

In layman terms accelerometers cannot tell the difference if you're constantly travelling at 100 km/h, 20 km/h or that you're just standing still. It can only tell you that you just experienced a 'shock' (accelerative force) of 1g, 4g, 2.5g etc etc.. The're widely used in all kinds of machinery including in your car to tell the car when to trigger the airbags for example and to also tell stability programs like ESP that the car is about to go out of control

External car speed/acceleration measuring devices like VBOX Racelogic (used by car mags and road testers) which are accurate at measuring 0-100, top speed etc etc use GPS to track velocity in combination with accelerometers.

GPS gives the device a 'reference position' to then calculate velocity which then can be used to measure 0-100 km/h times. You don't even need 'accelerometers' to measure those figures but you need them to measure 'g forces' which is just a cool thing to know.

Before the advent of GPS road testers used rolling wheels mounted outside the car to measure speed or some other alternative, maybe doppler radar system or laser device pointed to the road surface etc etc.

An even much older technology but just as important and just as hi tech today that is able to provide reference points is an internal "Inertial Guidance System", essentially involving a 'gyroscope' it is used in planes, rockets, spacecraft, ships and even some road vehicles etc where measuring position externally is a problem but I think its more as a device to tell the craft where it is at any time during the journey.

Gyroscopes traditionally are bulky with motorized bulky spinning discs. There are probably 'solid state' gyroscopes these days and thus solid state inertial guidance systems may be small enough to fit in the ipod?? I don't know.

Otherwise it would be easier for the phone to rely on GPS feature, common in phones today to track velocity and thus 0-100 times.
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