  A rigorous lower bound is obtained for the average resolution of any estimate
of a shift parameter, such as an optical phase shift or a spatial translation.
The bound has the asymptotic form k_I/<2|G|> where G is the generator of the
shift (with an arbitrary discrete or continuous spectrum), and hence
establishes a universally applicable bound of the same form as the usual
Heisenberg limit. The scaling constant k_I depends on prior information about
the shift parameter. For example, in phase sensing regimes, where the phase
shift is confined to some small interval of length L, the relative resolution
\delta\hat{\Phi}/L has the strict lower bound (2\pi e^3)^{-1/2}/<2m| G_1 |+1>,
where m is the number of probes, each with generator G_1, and entangling joint
measurements are permitted. Generalisations using other resource measures and
including noise are briefly discussed. The results rely on the derivation of
general entropic uncertainty relations for continuous observables, which are of
interest in their own right.
