To think that we placed Motorola’s XOOM tablet in our favourites list, before learning it’s got a barometer. A FRIGGIN’ BAROMETER. Oh, so your widdle iPad has thousands of apps? But can it measure the atmospheric pressure, huh? HUH?
Apparently Android 2.3 (aka, Gingerbread) is the first version of Android with barometer-support, which Motorola has taken advantage of along with the usuals: accelerometer, ambient light sensor, magnetometer, gyroscope…
So why a barometer? It’ll be handy not only for ultra-accurate weather conditions (particularly for those outdoors-inclined), but could also lend some appeal to lacklustre developers’ tools, with rafts of new apps using the barometer for the greater good. At the very least, it’ll be useful for meteorologists and pirates (of the “arrrr!” kind).
Or maybe it’s just one of those “because I could”-type additions. Time will tell. [Motorola via PhoneArena via Engadget]