Tinkerers tack third-party motion sensor onto the Toshiba TG01

All accelerometers are not created equal. Some are more sensitive than others, while some are capable of working alongside other hardware. When Usuda Research Institute and Systems Corp started dabbling with the accelerometer in the TG01, it just wasn’t enough for their needs. What were they to do? Yell at Toshiba? Tuck tail and give up?

Nonsense. Rather than bothering with the built in accelerometer, they went ahead and tacked on their own. See, the TG01 allows for input by way of the MicroUSB port, paving the way for 3rd-party hardware expansion. Combine that with the 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, and you’ve got some damn near absurd room for expandability. By piping the output of a MEMS-based accelerometer (like that of the G1 and the iPhone) through to the handset, they’ve managed to build what seems like a super-sensitive motion controller for augmented reality uses.

Is it pretty? Nope. Is it very practical? Not really. But whenever someone takes a handset and makes it do something it’s not built to do, we think it’s worth mentioning.

Click through to WMPowerUser for videos of it in action.

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Tinkerers tack third-party motion sensor onto the Toshiba TG01