Motorola Mobility CEO Aymar de Lencquesaing stated the Moto Z would likely have a Tango-based Mod. (via Lenovo)
By now, you’ve probably heard of Google’s Tango technology but for those who haven’t, it’s essentially a form of computer vision that allows mobile devices to gain spatial awareness and detect their relative position in any given environment without using external signals. This makes for some great applications such as 3D mapping, VR, indoor navigation and of course, augmented reality.
Since Project Tango’s inception, three devices have been produced to highlight the technology starting with the Peanut phone in early 2014- an Android-based handset outfitted with several cameras including a fish-eye motion lens, RGB-IR lens and infrared. All of which were controlled by Movidius VPUs (Visula Processing Units) and a Qualcomm MSM8974 quad-core processor. Shortly afterward Google released the Yellowstone tablet with similar technology- fish-eye lens, RGB-IR lens but with an IR projector and powered by an Nvidia Tegra K1 quad-core processor.
Surprisingly, you can still get a Yellowstone tablet through Google’s Play store but the Peanut has since been discontinued and replaced by the more powerful Lenovo Phab 2 Pro that debuted back in November-
Lenovo’s Phab 2 Pro is outfitted with a 16MP camera along with a wide-angle and motion sensing/IR lenses.
Lenovo’s Phab 2 Pro comes packed with all of the electronics most flagship smartphones have- including a 6.4-inch Quad HD (2560x1440) IPS display, 4GB RAM/64GB of storage, 4,050mAh battery all packed into a sleek aluminum case. What the other phones don’t have is a rear-facing 16MP camera along with a wide-angle lens and IR/motion-sensing lens with Tango technology. What’s more, the company provided more than 35 apps for the phone upon its release that takes advantage of the platform that includes more than games, such as Measure, which allows to measure just about anything on the fly and WayfairView, the popular home store’s app that lets users place VR furniture around your home.
As it stands right now, the Phab 2 Pro is the only smartphone with Tango technology, however that may not be the case for very long as Motorola’s Moto Z may gain the platform at some point in the near future using an attachable Mod. At a recent press briefing, Motorola Mobility CEO Aymar de Lencquesaing stated that the company ‘is likely to have a Tango module’ but didn’t say that anything was currently in development. He did however continue on stating ‘Augmented reality on a phone is a technology that's likely to stick.’Like any mobile device CEO, he went on to boast that Lenovo would follow or lead the market when it came to Augmented Reality technology. Considering the Motorola is a subsidiary of Lenovo, chances are we will see a Tango Mod sometime in 2017 and why wouldn’t they, it’s a perfect marriage that would let users disconnect the Mod when not needed and replace it with another. Pair it with a large battery to limit its siphoning of the phone’s internal power and it’s a win/win!
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