Project Tango
Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects(ATAP) group overnight advised they would be releasing a new Project Tango device later this year.

Project Tango is Google’s way of using sensors in hardware to map the world around us. The original announcement of Project Tango, called for interested developers to sign up to be given a phone with an array of advanced visual sensors to map environments to build 3D models of loactions. The new device which Google has announced is a tablet.

Project Tango tablet

The tablet will be available to purchase to devlopers whom Google will chose for US$1024. The elevated price though will include almost desktop level specs including an NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor wit 4GB of RAM, there’s also 128GB of storage and an array of sensors and cameras on both front and back including a 120° Front facing camera and 4MP 2.0µm Pixel Camera and Motion Tracking Camera on the rear. You’ll also get an Integrated Depth Sensor.

There will be Bluetooth Low-Energy(Bluetooth 4.0) and Wifi of course, as well as 4G LTE connectivity, but with limitations on carriers, so it’s possible that only US carriers will be supported. You can check out the launch video for the tablet below and if you’re interested sign-up for the opportunity to purchase a Tango Tablet later this year

rens, the high profile project from the

Source: Project Tango.
Via: 9to5Google.
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    Matt

    I just started imagining use cases for this tablet. Imagine (hah) walking through a building and being able to hold up the tablet and see the placement of utilities in the walls and flooring.. power, water, data, etc.. that’d be cool.

    Fred

    Makes me think it’s even more likely that the Nexus 8 will have a 32bit Tegra K1 chip in it.

    We know ‘flounder’ has a Tegra chip, and we’ve seen reference to 32bit and 64bit in the codebase. That would tie in with the K1, and the Project Tango team choosing to base their dev kit on something they know will have support. 64bit K1 is due later in the year (once 20nm is up and running) and it would make a great Christmas kicker for the Nexus 8 as it transitions to Silver.

    JeniSkunk

    In almost every area, the specs of that tablet are thorough killer, compared to what is currently available.
    Only thing I could think of that might need a beefing up is the rear cam. 4 mega pixel seems a bit low.
    Recalling the sticker shock at the price of the SGN Pro 12.2, I dread to think what the street RRP of a tablet like the Tango would be.

    kjmci

    This isn’t a consumer product, Jeni – it’s a developer tool. It has a very specific use case, and if that use can be met with a 4MP camera it will be.

    It’s not for taking happy snaps at Christmas, there’s no need for a high-resolution camera.

    JeniSkunk

    I know it’s not a consumer product.
    Since it’s planned use is in the area of mobile 3D sensing, I thought that a 4 mega pixel camera was somewhat low res for the task.

    kjmci

    Based on what experience? The HTC One M8’s depth sensing camera is only 2.1MP. It’s only taking depth information, not detailed photographic data.

    There is no need for a massive megapixel count.

    JeniSkunk

    From the article, we only know what the mega pixel count for its main camera is.

    quote:
    and an array of sensors and cameras on both front and back including a
    120° Front facing camera and 4MP 2.0µm Pixel Camera and Motion Tracking
    Camera on the rear. You’ll also get an Integrated Depth Sensor.
    endquote

    Reading that quoted part, there looks to be three cameras on the rear.

    kjmci

    Thank you for proving my point, Jeni. The device is for mapping objects in 3D space. That a camera exists is for taking reference photos – it doesn’t need to make out individual details.

    Tell me why, in your opinion, 4MP “seems a bit low” for a device which is designed to map objects in 3D space. I’m all ears.