iWeigh - How is this possible?!?

[macduke]

I don't even know how this app is possible. Apparently it lets you weigh objects by placing them on your iPhone's screen. This doesn't even make sense because the iPhone is capacitance touch; it can't sense the pressure of your finger on the screen. Link.

From the developer:

This amazing application takes the iphone further than you could ever imagine. Weigh any object by placing it on your iPhone. It could not be any simpler.

Instructions:
1. Place iPhone on anything soft and compressible like a pillow or a cushion.
2. Start the iWeigh application.
2. Lightly place the object on the iphone.
3. Let go of the object.
4. After a few seconds remove the object.
5. The weight will be displayed on the screen.

Warning:
1. Never place heavy objects directly on your iphone.
2. Do not DROP objects onto your iphone. Place objects just touching the iphone and let go.

Who is going to be the first to spend waste 99 cents on this app? Not me...let me know if you do get it to work though. I can't see how it possibly could!

This has to be fake...but how could Apple let it through?

 

[philgilder]

it could be accelerometer based, reads how far it moves due to the weight.. but i won't be buying it

 

[macduke]

it could be accelerometer based, reads how far it moves due to the weight.. but i won't be buying it

I guess I skimmed over the part about putting it onto a pillow. All I could think about was how ridiculous it sounded.

So will pillows of different hardness give different results? How weird.

I didn't realize the accelerometer was able to sense physical movement, just the orientation. I guess if they could measure how quickly it accelerated and how long until it stopped accelerating...

Craziness.

 

[hellomoto4]

All I can say is LOL.

 

[richard.mac]

wow my finger ways 200 kilos! haha

 

[jaseone]

it could be accelerometer based, reads how far it moves due to the weight..

For it to have any chance of doing that accurately it would need to know how much resistance the pillow provided, I guess they could try to deduce that by the speed it bounced back after removing the object but even that wouldn't be close to accurate.

 

[scottwb]

Perhaps it's a before and after thing. It knows how much the iPhone weighs and can then figure out resistance when placed on the pillow. Using the resistance figure combined with the accelerometer it may be able to the judge the weight of an object.

However, I can't think of any time I'd likely to want to use this, the spirit level has been used often, but an iPhone weighing machine, not sure. Perhaps it will be the next Wii fit