I am currently working with Android Sensor API and accelerometer data. Though the internal components should support high acceleration (even +-16g), I tried some recent smar
I'm facing the same problem as yours. DISCLAIMER: I just discovered what I'm writing, so I haven't tested it at all... but I think it's in the right direction.
Checking what range is functional is quite simple: Sensor.getMaximumRange() http://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/Sensor.html#getMaximumRange%28%29
Now, as you know, setting the appropriate value is a much more involved thing. I believe it has to do with Android's so-called "Hardware Abstraction Layer" https://source.android.com/devices/reference/files.html
I've found this document by STMicroelectronics, who are the manufacturers of the accelerometers embedded in Samsung Galaxy SIII and S4 http://www.st.com/st-web-ui/static/active/en/resource/technical/document/application_note/DM00063297.pdf
If I'm getting it right, you need to #define ACCEL_MAX_RANGE in configuration.h (page 5 of the document) as 8 or 16*GRAVITY_EARTH. There are plenty of instructions following, which I'm still trying to understand, but I think one would need to root the smartphone and compile Android from its source.
Hope this helps! If you manage to solve it, please let me know so that we can help each other.
Regards