Project Tango

The first Google Tango phone for consumers has been revealed - Lenovo PHAB2 Pro - and today we're having our first hands-on experience. This device is very similar to the other two models of the PHAB2 being revealed by Lenovo this week, both with 6.4-inch displays and relatively similar bodies - but here we've got 2K resolution (2560 x 1440) and an aluminum alloy around the edges and back of the phone. Then there's the array of cameras and sensors around the back. So many sensors and cameras.

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Google's Project Tango isn't just a big focus as the skunkworks team aims to map the world, it's a full-fledged component of Android N. The company isn't spilling the beans on Lenovo's upcoming Tango smartphone - details on that will have to wait until Lenovo's own event on June 9 - but it is talking about how it has paved the way for a whole range of Tango-capable devices in future.

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While the prospect of creating a piece of hardware that'd supplant the since-the-beginning biggest tablet ever iPad, Google's next device might be able to do the trick. Google is currently placing itself in a position in which it becomes more singular. The Google Play suite of apps has adopted a more visually standard look. Google's Play return program has become more active in the recent past. But what's that got to do with a tablet? Could Google finally be making a play for the space they've never dominated with a device that's just as powerful as the opposition? If the past couple generations of Nexus device are any indication, Google's in a prime position to finally make the real anti-iPad.

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Mobile World Congress 2016 is coming to a close, and this year it's been more than just smartphones making their pitch as virtual reality in all shapes and sizes carve out a chunk of the mobile space. Devices and platforms that blur the distinction between what's real and what's digital are finally - with the help of potent processors and innovative hardware - reaching the point where they're convincing enough, not to mention affordable enough, to make a splash in the mass market. Read on for SlashGear's Best of MWC 2016 award winners.

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Lenovo and Google couldn't have picked a more impressive venue to demonstrate the latest iteration of Project Tango at MWC 2016 nor, indeed, one more suited to its indoor mapping capability. The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya isn't short on fine art, and like most museums you could easily imagine getting lost in its various rooms and corridors.

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What Apple did for smartphones, Google will soon be doing for headsets. What you're about to see was born, in part, in the development of Google Glass. It's wearable, but it exists in the virtual realm. Google has begun development of a headset that will be able to map the world around you as you walk through the world. With this headset, you'll enter a second reality, cultivated in Google Cardboard, developed in Project Tango.

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Apple's latest acquisition once again tips their involvement in the virtual reality industry. Apple has been tipped - and essentially confirmed - to have acquired FlyBy Media, a group that has their hand in Indoor Mapping, Automotive (autonomous navigation), Drones (autonomous flight), and both virtual reality and augmented reality. They've worked with Google on Project Tango, a futuristic smartphone-based 3D-mapping system that'll tie in with virtual reality in the near future.

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Lenovo announces a Lenovo Tango device, using Google Tango software and cameras that understand space and motion to create a next-gen phone. Today we're going to have a peek at a variety of ways in which Google's Project Tango is both mind-blowing and revolutionary. Inside this software and hardware combo, you'll see how your smart device (smartphone or tablet) will soon allow you to map your whole world, from the inside to the outside. From there, the fun begins.

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It isn't just Intel who's working on a Tango smartphone after all. Lenovo unexpectedly revealed, right in the middle of CES 2016, how it has been working with Google and Qualcomm for over a year to create its own spin on Project Tango. Powered by a still undisclosed Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, of course, the still unnamed device will launch sometime in summer, depending on how the design and development process turns out, and won't be bigger than 6.5 inches, which seems to be the standard size for a Tango smartphone.

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Intel has decided that this week, amid the masses of information being released on all manner of CES 2016 devices, they'd release a phone too. This device isn't just any phone, of course, it's a developer-aimed device - which means they aren't aiming to sell them in droves, by any means. Instead, Intel's device is meant to be sold to developers who will then use the capabilities of the device to create their own unique applications for the near future, complete with Google Tango action.

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As of Q1 2016, Google will have officially teamed up with Lenovo to bring Project Tango to the public. The how and the when of the project will be revealed at the special event, but for now, we're pumped up about CES. There we'll undoubtedly see more of this collaboration, including word on whether or not this means Google will move forward with Project Tango with Windows or whether Lenovo will integrate Tango technology in to one of their Android devices. If so, where does this leave Motorola?

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Intel's RealSense 3D camera technology always seemed like a natural bedfellow with Google's Project Tango, and sure enough they've met up at IDF 2015. The Android phablet isn't expected to ship for developers until the end of the year, but Intel brought along a handful of prototypes - along with some apps to make use of them - to its annual event, which is where I caught up with the smartphones to see what's new.

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