After waiting days on end for the new iOS7, when it did finally come out, I cancelled all my plans for the day and decide to discover it completely. One of the most fascinating features I discovered was the Parallax feature. It was cool to look at, but what really got me wondering was the science behind it. 

Parallax in simple words is when an object looks to be in a new direction every time it’s seen from a new position or angle of view. The icons on the new iPhone iOS are in this form. This technology adds depth to the icons that we perceive on the home screen. 

This principle is usually used by scientists and astronomers to measure the distance to the moon, sun and other stars and planets. Almost every Apple product made today consists of a MEMS Gyroscope inside it. When exposed to an electronic charge, the MEMS Gyroscope vibrates. 

When the phone is rotated it resists the change in it’s original position due to Newton’s First Law Of Motion. The phone is then able to determine the speed and the position it is being rotated to. Further more to increase the accuracy of it’s ability to tell its current location it teams up with a few accelerometers.

According to macworld.com, “Tiny sensors inside the iPhone’s hardware allow iOS to tell when you rotate and move the device in any direction. Coupled with an educated guess about where you tend to keep your phone during use, this makes the parallax illusion possible.”

I had to blog about this technology as I think many people might not even notice it, and just take it for granted thinking the vision is just better and it’s different without realizing what exactly it is. They might not notice that it’s a whole principle that’s been used and Apple has given a lot of attention to detail in their new iOS.

In conclusion, I love this new way of seeing the icons and displays on my phone, the only thing that makes me a little unsure about this technology used in phones is that it’s such a complex feature and I think it might drain my phone a lot faster than usual, what do you think?

I guess time will tell and until then I’m going to enjoy this iOS thoroughly! Apple does it again J