Question

I want to programatically get a Sensor‘s name. Say the name of the ambient light sensor.

How can I get its name?

Answer 1

First you have to obtain an instance of the SensorManager, then get the desired service instance from the manager.

String sm = Context.SENSOR_SERVICE;
SensorManager sensorManager = (SensorManager) getSystemService(sm);

/*
 * We get the light sensor in this example.
 */
Sensor someSensor = sensorManager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_LIGHT);

/*
 * Always perform a null check on sensors since your device
 * may not have that sensor.
 */
if (null != someSensor) {
    String sensorName = someSensor.getName();
}

You get the name using the Sensor’s getName() method.