G-sensor: great toy and a powerful device control

G-sensor technology

The G-sensor measures the acceleration and gravity forces it detects. The most obvious uses for the G-sensor are numerous fun and game applications. One of the most practical applications of the G-sensor is toggling between portrait and landscape screen layout. Most people are familiar with Coke or beer applications for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch. As the manufacturers of mobile devices, such as HTC, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, increasingly equip their devices with G-sensors, numerous opportunities open up for utilization of this new technology.

Most current applications supporting the G-sensor technology have one thing in common - the "fun and gamesomeness". We at Resco are convinced that this playfulness could be used in business solutions too. It has enormous potential to serve as substitute control interface in mobile devices.

The Resco Tech Ed 2008 Survey is considered a pioneering business application. The nature of the survey is the same as with any conventional survey - questions with multiple-choice answers. However, the way in which the answers are selected is significantly different. When completing a conventional survey on a mobile device you can either use a stylus (mobile devices equipped with touch screen functionality) or a keyboard. Filling in a survey with G-sensor technology support ads a game-like dimension to business applications.

Introductory screen shows the options to either perform the survey or to calibrate the G-sensor.

The Resco Tech Ed 2008 Survey works as a simplified labyrinth game. Moving a little ball through corridors just by tilting the device back and forth allows the user to select the right answer easily. Such an application could well be used by in-field business representatives.

By tilting the device back and forth the ball is moved in the corridor of possible answers.

By tilting the device to the right the correct answer is confirmed.

The Tech Ed 2008 Survey was first showcased at the Microsoft Tech Ed 2008 EMEA for Developers in Barcelona in November 2008. Resco representatives observed enormous interest in this application.

The whole application was created in the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and is optimized for .NET CF 3.5 utilizing the Resco AdvancedList for .NET CF control which is part of a powerful suite of controls and libraries designed specifically for mobile devices called Resco MobileFormsToolkit. As the support for G-sensor technology is already embedded into the AdvancedList control, all the developer has to do in order to implement this feature in his/her solution, is a simple property setup in Visual Studio Designer.

Here is a short video presenting the Tech Ed 2008 Survey on HTC Touch Diamond: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRK5MihAZ3U

The Tech Ed 2008 Survey application can be found here for testing: http://www.resco.net/developer/downloads/mobileformstoolkit/techedsurveysetup.zip

Resco supplies the Tech Ed 2008 Survey with source codes. Anyone can use it and adjust according to his/her needs: http://www.resco.net/developer/downloads/mobileformstoolkit/techedsurveysource.zip

The Resco team have plans to implement the G-sensor technology in a wide range of Resco MobileForms Toolkit controls. Therefore, Resco would be very pleased to receive feedback from users having a G-sensor equipped mobile device, on what their ideas of business utilization of the G-sensor are.

The full support of the G-sensor in Resco MobileForms Toolkit is scheduled for 2009 when a new version of MobileForms Toolkit will be released.

More information about Resco MobileForms Toolkit can be found at http://www.resco.net/developer/mobileformstoolkit/default.aspx

About Resco

Resco is a developer of a wide range of mobile software products for Windows Mobile. Besides the best selling end-user mobile applications, Resco offers also powerful developer controls and tools as well as business mobile solutions.

For more information, visit http://www.resco.net/developer/default.aspx.