Lenovo announced on Thursday the development of the first consumer mobile device with Project Tango in collaboration with Google, at the CES 2016.
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Google Inc. and Lenovo have made a decision to jointly create a next-gen smartphone based on Project Tango – a fancy name for 3D augmented reality technology.
So far, we don’t know much about the specs of this Lenovo device, but we’re expecting it to be less than 6.5 inches on the diagonal, according to Lenovo spokespersons. As for the developers, they have been given an opportunity to submit their Project Tango application ideas to Google until 15 of February 2016.
The Tango phone, set for worldwide release in mid-year, will also mark the first major entry into the United States smartphone market for the Chinese electronics giant. Project Tango devices can use visual cues to help recognize the world around them. With the capabilities brought to the table by Project Tango, we’re expecting a completely new era of AR and VR that actively infuses digitally created models with actual physical realities.
Google Project Tango’s head of development, Johnny Lee, used a special 7-in. tablet developed by Google to show off how Tango will work. The Project Tango was started a couple of years ago and was foreseen by the Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects Group which would for the first time implement a previously unseen level of vision processing on a phone.
There wasn’t any physical module on display, but Lenovo shared some pictures of prototypes on which it is working for this phone.
Along with the announcement, Lenovo and Google have also requested app developers to step forward and create apps that would utilise the functionality provided through Project Tango hardware and software.
“We don’t believe this technology is one that has a short lifespan”, said Lenovo tablet boss Jeff Meredith.
Project Tango is an ongoing effort by Google to allow a mobile device like a smartphone to measure spaces and provide information to a user that can be useful for navigating indoor locations.
Say hello to Project Tango! This is the project that uses a combination of cameras and sensors placed on mobile devices to produce 3D mapping.
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As part of the partnership, we’re also inviting developers to help grow the budding Project Tango app ecosystem.
