Up close with Google and Qualcomm’s new Project Tango smartphone platform [VIDEO]
Out of all the Google projects, Project Tango is probably the one that gets the least amount of attention around the blogosphere. That probably has something to do with the fact that it’s so developer focused and its real world applications aren’t so easily visualized when it comes to consumer devices.
What is Project Tango, you ask? Well, according to Larry Yang, Project Tango’s lead product manager, it’s as a computer vision-based platform that gives mobile devices the ability to, not only sense their location within a space, but identify objects around them as well. This gives devices the ability to navigate around indoors purely by sight. No WiFi, GPS, or Bluetooth beacons necessary.
During this year’s Google I/O, Google announced a new smartphone reference platform for Project Tango. The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 and equipped with a 3D depth sensing camera. It’s not for the everyday man, but meant to give developers the tools they need to start building exciting new applications and products.
While real-world use cases can be anything from furniture modeling to extremely accurate and advanced augmented reality. But probably the most interesting application is in gaming, where all these things come into play. In fact, Yang showed us toy gun built by Hasbro that tracks the players location and movement, mirroring that in the virtual world.
Google says they’ve sold around 3,000 units of their NVIDIA powered tablet which recently went on sale in the Google Store earlier this week for $512. With the lower price tag, removal of the invitation restrictions, and the new smartphone platform launching this summer, we should see more developer interest in Project Tango. We’re definitely curious to see where Tango ends up in the future.
