Nowadays smartphones can take amazing pictures. But, that's not all their high-quality cameras are capable of doing. A startup has repurposed the sensor suite in major Android smartphones to measure air quality, smoke levels, and more. With this, users will know how safe the area around them is.
A startup called MobilePhysics has announced its new air-monitoring technology. It is supported Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which was announced by Qualcomm earlier this year. Phonemakers can choose to implement mobile physics technology. If this happens, this app will be pre-loaded.
Chairman and Nobel laureate Roger Kornberg told CNET over email that the MobilePhysics company is focused on making this function available to as many people as possible. Its technology can passively measure PM2.5 pollutant particles (smaller than 2.5 microns) while you use the phone, Kornberg said. Which can be helpful for most of the people living on Earth. 99% of the world's population breathes more polluted air than the standards set by the World Health Organization.
PM2.5 is more dangerous
Kornberg said, more people die from exposure to PM2.5 than any other cause of death such as cancer, COPD, or heart disease. It affects every human cell, tissue, and organ in ways we do not yet understand.
Just like Apple has used Apple Watch sensors to measure new health metrics like blood oxygen. Similarly, mobile physics uses smartphone sensors and cameras to determine air quality, smoke levels, ultraviolet exposure, temperature, and other ambient environmental factors. This works even when the phone is in the pocket.
Mobile Physics does this scan in the background when people check e-mail etc. on the phone. This app alerts users as soon as the surrounding environment becomes dangerous. The app will ask users to cover up if they are continuously exposed to sunlight to run an air purifier or open a window if the air quality is poor. Smoke monitors can also be set to run overnight to detect danger while you sleep.
At present there is no information about Mobile Physics being preloaded in any phone. However, the company has tested it with phones like Google Pixel 8 and Xiaomi 11 Ultra. Both have basic sensors from STMicroelectronics and the specialized VL53L8 time-of-flight sensor required to operate the air-scanning technology.
PC Social media
