Phone guide

Sensor Thermometer thermometer for measuring ambient temperature. However, there's a thermometer in pretty much any smartphone, and some handsets might have more than one of them. The difference is that they're used to monitor the temperature inside the device and its battery. If a component is detected to be overheating, the system shuts itself down to prevent damage. And speaking of the Galaxy S4, it pioneered the use of an air humidity sensor in a smartphone. Data provided by it was used in the S Health application to tell whether or not the user was in their Comfort Zone, one with optimal air temperature and humidity.

Some phones have the temperature on so that you can tell what the temperature is so if it gets too cold it will make a sound and it will be able too tell you if it gets too cold or too warm.

Gyroscope The gyroscope is a sensor that can provide orientation information as well, but with greater precision. Thanks to this particular sensor, Android's Photo Sphere camera feature can tell how much a phone has been rotated and in which direction. It is also used by Google's Sky Map for telling what constellation you're pointing a phone at.

Sensors proximity Next up we have the proximity sensor, which is comprised of an infrared LED and an IR light detector. It is placed near the earpiece of a phone, and for a good reason – when you place the handset up to your ear, the sensor lets the system know that you're most probably in a call and that the screen has to be turned off. The sensor works by shining a beam of invisible to humans infrared light which is reflected from a nearby object and picked up by the IR detector.

Heart rate monitor This list would be incomplete if we do not mention the heart rate monitor on the Galaxy S5. As you can tell, it is made to measure one's pulse, and it does that by detecting the minute pulsations of the blood vessels inside one's finger.

Sensors fingerprint We must also mention the fingerprint sensors built into a number of smartphones, including the iPhone 5s, the Samsung Galaxy S5, and the HTC One Max. Of these, the 5s has the sensor most convenient to use as it does not require swiping in order to read fingerprint data. Fingerprint scanners are most often used as an extra layer of security – as a substitute for a lock screen password.iPhone 5sSamsung Galaxy S5 HTC One Max

Sensors magnetometer. Another sensor that most (if not all) smartphones now have is the magnetometer. Yup, it is able to detect magnetic fields. The magnetometer is one of the sensors that compass applications use to point at the planet's north pole. Apps made to detect metal use this sensor as well.

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi plays a big part of our lives we use it a lot, pretty much for everything.