Image via CrunchBaseIsrael-based developers of Tawkon, who have already released their app for the Android market last year were keen to exploit the iPhone 4 death grip issue by releasing an iOS version of their radiation detection software. However, Apple immediately blocked the application from appearing in an official capacity so the company has gone underground and released it on the Cydia store instead.Apple must have been pretty serious about blocking Tawkon as it is believed that Steve Jobs himself put a stop to is with two small words “No Interest”.
In the past Apple’s iPhone 4 has suffered the so called death grip issue which dampens the signal strength of the phone. What most people don’t know is that when the phone is in this state it is emitting higher levels of radiation as it attempts to re-acquire a signal. Tawkon is supposed to detect these levels. The video below shows this in action, as you can see the presenter holds the iPhone 4 normally and the app shows a safe level of radiation, she then switches her hand position to the death grip and at this point you can see the radiation levels starting to rise to red.
I’m not completely sure how they measure the radiation levels, but it’s something to do with the RF parameters that are extracted from the device. So it measures the proximity of the phone in relation to the user’s hold on the phone, and if he places it next to his ear or on his lap. This apparently then allows them to determine the exposure level.
Mind you, as we mentioned earlier the condition is also known about on Android phones and the company even has a Blackberry app that can measure the radiation, so its not just a problem with Apple’s phone.
Still, the company feel so strongly that users need to know what levels of radiation they are being exposed to that they have set up a public petition to force Apple to make their app appear in iTunes.
Source:geek.com
