For well over a year, Google has been working hard on one of their more creative smartphone ideas, and now it looks like Lenovo plans to partner with them to make it a reality. Project Tango is the innovative endeavor and its purpose is to bring enhanced augmented reality to a smartphone. The two companies already have a working prototype, so the future looks bright for this technology to come to a mass retail market.
Johnny Lee, a member of the Tango team at Google, had this to say about the augmented reality features of the new Project Tango-equipped phone, "We can use the room around us to play games, and hide behind the furniture. Project Tango creates a magical window.” Jeff Meredith, vice president at Lenovo, shared at the CES unveiling, “We locked arms with Google to bring out a consumer device based on Tango.” Meredith elaborated that their goal was to create a mainstream retail device.
It turns out that Google and Lenovo aren't the only big players collaborating on this device. Qualcomm worked directly with the two tech giants to make sure the new Snapdragon CPU will be able to handle the augmented reality functionality of the phone.
A few other details were shared about the phone (along with the fancy pictures of the prototype). Besides the Snapdragon processor, (of which the model was not shared), we know that the device will definitely be "phablet-sized" but will be less than 6.5-inches. They are targeting a sub $500 price-point, and they already have over 5,000 developers working on apps for the phone. The device is expected to launch globally and in the US in the summer of this year.
From the description it sounds like the AR features of the device will make a big impression on games, but will also have an even greater range of practical applications as well. One example given was a Project Tango app from Lowe's home improvement, which uses the phone's environmental 3D sensing capabilities to help you determine if that new fridge you are considering will actually fit in your kitchen.
In fact, a surprising number of fully complete apps are already on the Google Play Store for Project Tango. Here's a link so you can check them out (obviously, just to see the examples since they are without their functionality on a regular device): Featured Apps - Android Apps on Google Play
Industry analysts believe that Augmented Reality will quickly grow to be a $120 Billion industry. What do you folks think? Is it a gimmick or a gimme now!
Be sure to drop by our brand new section for further discussions regarding the Project Tango phone: Project Tango by Lenovo & Google | Android Forum at DroidForums.net
Source: SlashGear
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