Six iPhones tested, and they can't agree on magnetic north
Apple’s iPhone 5s is already getting bad press for bugs and errors, with recent complaints focusing on an unreliable gyroscope/accelerometer. Some outlets are speculating that the problem is tied to Apple’s decision to change the manufacturing source of its accelerometers for the 5s and 5c, but TechHive believes that the compass-accuracy problems extend beyond Apple’s two latest smartphones.
On Thursday we ran a series of tests and discovered that the Compass app in both iOS 6 and iOS 7 reported screwy results across a wide range of iPhones—from the iPhone 4 to the 5s and 5c. We recalibrated each phone multiple times, and often found that the results changed wildly from one test to the next.
The inconsistencies occurred in multiple locations around our office, and continued when we took our testing outside. Apple’s support docs warn that environmental factors can affect the phones’ digital compasses, which is why we tested the phones in several different locations and made sure to recalibrate each phone after moving it around or picking it up.
Left to right: the iPhone 5s, the iPhone 5, and the iPhone 5c. Click the photo for a close-up look at the inconsistent readings.
We first noticed that something was amiss while trying to replicate Gizmodo’s findings that the iPhone 5s has inferior sensors to the ones in the iPhone 5. Unlike Gizmodo, we didn’t see anything wrong with the leveling capabilities of the multiple iPhones we had lying around. We did, however, find that their sense of direction was completely unreliable, with readings across different phones disagreeing wildly. Worse yet, the problem persisted even after we recalibrated the phones eight different times.
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