What the barometer in the Galaxy Nexus is used for

One of the features that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is featuring is a barometer, which for those who aren’t familiar, is used to measure things such as air pressure, which seems like an odd feature to have for a phone, right?

Well a Google engineer recently came forward and spoke up about the use of the barometer in the Galaxy Nexus, and as it turns out the barometer is used to determine altitude which in turns helps to speed up the process of getting a GPS lock. Previously phones required the help of cellphone towers to determine the altitude, which makes the process longer, so with the help of the barometer GPS locks on the Galaxy Nexus should prove to be a speedier affair.

This isn’t exactly new technology as it was previously found on the Motorola Xoom tablet, although this will make the Galaxy Nexus the first Android handset to feature that technology.