51Degrees.mobi, the leading provider of device detection and web optimization solutions, has announced a breakthrough in mobile device detection.
The company's technology already enables mobile phones and tablets to be identified when they visit a website. Consumers can then be shown a mobile web site that's tailor-made for the specific device they're using.
However, this new development takes device detection into a completely new dimension.
By using the built-in accelerometers on modern smartphones, together with the CPU temperature monitoring that's standard on most mobile devices, 51Degrees.mobi can now determine whether a mobile phone is being held in a user's left hand or right hand.
It means web pages can be automatically reformatted to move images and place buttons exactly where the customer's fingertips will be.
Thomas Holmes, a left-handed mobile developer, applauded the move. “Now I don't need to reach over to the ‘wrong' side of the screen when selecting links and buttons”, he explained.
“This is what we've called our ‘Flair Loop' tool”, said 51Degrees.mobi CEO James Rosewell. “We're now working to integrate GPS sensors within the service, which will let us calculate how far a smartphone is from the floor, enabling us to determine a user's height. In the future, this could even be combined with temperature and motion sensors to estimate the user's age and gender.”
51Degrees.mobi promises more product announcements tomorrow, 2nd April 2012.
UPDATE: please note that this news story was first published on the morning of 1st April.