The GY-9960-3.3 APDS-9960 Gesture Sensor Module provides a gesture sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor and RGB color sensor all in a small package with I2C interface.

Features:

• Gesture recognition using reflected IR
• Digital proximity sensing using reflected IR
• Separate Red/Green/Blue light intensity sensors
• Ambient (clear) light intensity sensor
• IR light blocking filter
• Interrupt output available
• I2C interface with good library support
• 3.3V operation

The APDS-9960 sensor was used in Samsung Galaxy phones to provide a number of functions. The primary application is gesture recognition for swiping UP, DOWN, LEFT, or RIGHT. It can also provide proximity sensing which was used to detect when the phone was placed near the ear. It also has ambient light and RGB color detection. These last two were used to adjust the brightness and color balance of the backlight depending on lighting conditions.

Though these are fairly complicated little devices, excellent library support makes them easy to use.