Finally a reason to get an Iphone

Turn your IPhone into a GTech for $13

No idea how well it works, just something I saw on another board and I thought it may interest some of the folks here...

Huh? You can do that?

That makes it not totally worthless to me then. I might be more hip on the iphone if it weren't an Apple product and if it didn't require an expensive monthly plan.

But, I don't really like cell phones much. I consider them an evil I have to live with.

I just bought GMeter for $9.

It seems like it would be easier to turn a Wii Remote into a G-meter by attaching it to an old PDA.

By easier I mean cheaper. Someone would have to program the software obviously.

Does the built in accelerometer have any other intended purpose? I never knew iPhones had those.

captainzib wrote: Does the built in accelerometer have any other intended purpose? I never knew iPhones had those.

Maybe it screams "Ouch" when you drop it??

At the most basic level, the accelllerometer is what tells the iphone/ipod touch that you've rotated it, so it rotates the screen accordingly.

given that third-party developers have only been able to get at the thing for a very short period, they're doing some neat stuff. Here's a racing game: http://gizmodo.com/388688/raging-thunder-iphone-racing-game-shows-tons-of-potential

And hocrest, I'm not sure, but I think it does sense when it's being dropped and take steps to try to protect itself. I know macbooks do.

Does the iPod touch have an accellerometer also?

Yes, that's how it knows to flip pictures.

that makes it almost worth it

i have this on my ipod touch, its pretty cool. you do need to calibrate it pretty much every time before you use it, and have it mounted where it can't slide around.

Can you use it to get any useful information out of an autocross run? For $13 I'd be happy if it gave me accurate max lateral and braking g's. I doubt it can data log, but that would be sweet.

captainzib wrote: It seems like it would be easier to turn a Wii Remote into a G-meter by attaching it to an old PDA. By easier I mean cheaper. Someone would have to program the software obviously. Does the built in accelerometer have any other intended purpose? I never knew iPhones had those.

Ask and you shall receive...

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3362586

Osterkraut wrote: Ask and you shall receive... http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3362586

Thanks for posting that. I will have to look into doing something like this.

Stargazer wrote: Can you use it to get any useful information out of an autocross run? For $13 I'd be happy if it gave me accurate max lateral and braking g's. I doubt it can data log, but that would be sweet.

it has a skidpad feature, that will show you max accelleration, braking and turning

jikelly wrote: Huh? You can do that? That makes it not totally worthless to me then. I might be more hip on the iphone if it weren't an Apple product and if it didn't require an expensive monthly plan. But, I don't really like cell phones much. I consider them an evil I have to live with.

Just looked at this. It DOESN'T require a special plan. It does require a data plan, which is $30 more. You'll need a data plan for any product that uses data or accesses the internet.

Actually, the cheap way out, especially if you don't need a phone, is to just get an iPod Touch. They rock.

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/08/01/dynolicious-vs-v-box-and-dynojet/

sooo accurate.

ignorant wrote: http://www.autoblog.com/2008/08/01/dynolicious-vs-v-box-and-dynojet/ sooo accurate.

Can't read at work...what does it say?

It says the ten-buck iphone app isn't as accurate as a full-on dyno.

Im hoping for something that uses the accelerometer and the GPS a-la Traqmate. That would make the Iphone a must have for me.

dang it!!! now I NEED an iphone. I have an htc mogul that I really like and got just a couple of months before the new iphone came out. I had been trying to figure out a way to use the built in GPS and an external accelerometer as a sorta datalogger but I hate programming and the GPS apps out for window mobile are pitiful...

hmm the iphone also has a camera built in, I wonder if the next generation of software could tie in the GPS data, video from the camera, and data from the accelerometer...

That would be truly awesome.

Tim Baxter wrote: It says the ten-buck iphone app isn't as accurate as a full-on dyno.

It was within 6% right? Not bad for the price I'd say. I'd be interested in the repeatability across several different cars to see if it is a consistent 5-6% high.

it works with the itouch aswell, I think

Works with the itouch, but you need to upgrade to the 2.0 iphone platform for 10 bucks. 5-6% is not bad at all considering the g-tech is not any more accurate than that. I'd like to see a comparison in lateral and braking g accuracy to an expensive data logger. If it was only 5-6% off in that department, and you could somehow "record" a 60 second run I would buy a touch if i didn't already own one...

5-6% error doesn't matter. That just affects the penis number. What's important is how consistent it is. That'll involve some care on the part of the user, of course (like any dyno), but if it's reasonably consistent it would be useful for tuning.