The ambient light sensor in a smart phone is what measures how bright the light is. It’s the phones software that adjusts the brightness in the display screen. Your phone detects when the light is plentiful, the screens light is pumped up and when its dark, the display is dimmed. This is to help save battery life.

When you place the phone 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. This is done to help save battery life. 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.

A-GPS is an acronym for Assisted Global Positioning System. It addresses signal and network problems by using assistance from other services. Such technology in your cell phone can help you in various ways like tracking your current location, receiving turn-by-turn direction instructions, location based tracking.

The gyroscope is a sensor that can provide orientation information with great precision. This can tell how much a phone has been rotated and in which direction, so the screen picture is also rotated.

An accelerometer is a sensor that measures the tilting motion and orientation of a mobile phone. The smartphone accelerometer contains circuit having 'Seismic mass' (made up of Silicon) and it goes on changing its position according to the orientation change attached to the device's circuit.

All phones have a microphone, the reason for this is because the microphone is the thing that makes calls possible, without it they wouldn’t be able to be done. The microphone is the thing that picks up all the sounds and noises.

Most smartphones have an in-built sensor that detects the Earth’s magnetic field and can find North like a compass. This, when combined with the GPS receiver, helps to tell you where you are on a map and which direction you’re facing. As well as pinpointing your whereabouts, some apps turn your smartphone’s magnetometer into a metal detector. This could be useful in finding metal wiring behind a wall or even lost objects behind a sofa.

The Phone uses a steel ring that surrounds home button to tell the scanner to get ready. A square touch sensor then reads a fingerprint just by touch alone, negating the need for a swipe gesture and, as mentioned, means it is far more convenient than swipe scanners. It is split into two parts. One section is positioned under the screen about an inch above the home button, while the main sensor is under the home button. It appears that the top sensor registers that a fingerprint needs to be scanned and activates the scanner.

Bluetooth silently connects so many of our gadgets together, it’s easy to forget it’s a pretty impressive piece of technology on its own. It helps us listen to music, talk on our phones, and play video games, all without being frustrated by miles of cables strewn around the place.

Wi-Fi is a high-speed Internet and network connection without the use of cables or wires. The technology uses radio waves to transmit data between your computer and a router. A device called a wireless transmitter receives information from the internet via your broadband connection. The transmitter converts the information into a radio signal and sends it.

Eye-tracking uses the camera to lock onto the motion of the users eye, following wherever they move. If your eyes have reached the bottom of a page, eye-tracking software could automatically scroll you down the following paragraphs of text. This eye sensor can do many thing, such as: zooming in or out, pausing a video by looking away from a screen, playing games.

The Thermometer is based on a standard four-pole audio plug, but it also contains a temperature sensor. An audio signal is sent through that sensor depending on the temperature surrounding the phone. This is very useful for older people as it will tell them the temperature of the room for them to stay warm in the winter.