You’ve heard us talk about the idea of Sense, Understand and Adapt, so I wanted to introduce you to a team at BlackBerry that’s taking this to the next level.
Malmö is the home of BlackBerry Sweden, and they are continuously thinking about the way developers and users can take advantage of the various sensors baked into BlackBerry 10 devices.
Developers can take tap into motion sensors such as the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass with APIs and use this data to determine a lot of information about the device, and in the case of Gary Klassen’s “Magic of Mobile” demo, whether the BlackBerry is held or positioned on a table. In his session at BlackBerry Jam Asia, Gary gave two demonstrations to show not only how a user interface can change depending on how a BlackBerry is positioned, but why that matters to the user.
Here’s an example: people often put their smartphones face down on a table when talking to their friends or colleagues, which indicates that they are focusing on the conversation and not the phone. Occasionally, they might want to check some information that is important to them, such as missed messages, sport results or other updates. When they tilt their device, they can sneak a peek at an application that renders that information in a way that they can glance at information quickly. View more about this concept in the following video:
We’ve opened up some of the code and encourage you to take a look at the github sample to learn and get inspired.
How could your customers benefit from these ideas if you added them to your application? Here are some suggestions to get you started:
Public Transit: When is the next bus leaving?
Nearby friends: Are there close friends nearby? When will they arrive?
Weather: Is there a storm coming?
Add your suggestion in the comments below!