MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Google's Project Tango is ready for prime time.
Conceived back in 2012 as a way to enable our devices to see like we do, Tango has evolved from prototype to prototype, and now is on the verge of its first real-deal release. Lenovo will unveil the world's first Tango-enabled device on June 9.
It's a big milestone for the computer vision project, which aims to give smartphones and tablets sensor-enabled superpowers. A Tango phone will be able to, among other things, take precise measurements of rooms, "remember" environments and track how objects have moved, and even create moving, virtual characters that can interact with the real world. It's one of the most complete examples of augmented reality in tech right now.
But on the heels of all the announcements Google made at its I/O developer conference, Tango's imminent coming-out party feels a bit anticlimactic. Google has been developing Tango in plain sight for a couple of years -- the developer kit, which includes a tablet with Tango sensors, has been available for some time -- and the impending Lenovo release feels more like punctuation than a statement. Tellingly, Tango was barely mentioned at all in the I/O keynote.
What's more, Tango appears to have been overshadowed by other projects at Google, in particular Daydream, Google's platform for properly bridging VR with Android. Daydream includes a new spec for Android phones to rate them as VR-ready, meaning they'll be able to create virtual worlds and objects that users will be able to interact with, with minimal latency.
Virtual worlds colliding
Wait a sec… virtual objects? Interactivity? Rigorous hardware and software specs for manufacturers to ensure a smooth user experience? That sounds a lot like a certain augmented reality project that rhymes with "mango."
Certainly, Daydream and Tango have a lot in common, and not just broadly. The motion tracking that's endemic to Tango would seem to be directly applicable to the VR experiences of Daydream. It feels like a no-brainer to combine these two technologies, perhaps creating a Tango-powered headset that provides a 360-degree augmented reality experience instead of a full virtual environment -- like Microsoft HoloLens, but smartphone-powered.
Don't hold your breath for such a device. Even though Google VR chief Clay Bavor strongly hinted at a similar device (virtually the only mention of Tango in Wednesday's keynote), Tango leader Johnny Lee told Mashable that comparing Tango and Daydream is apples and oranges -- at least for now.
Tango was in development years before Daydream, Lee said, and the spec is entirely different. Whereas Tango is mainly about positional tracking, Daydream prioritizes visual performance. The Lenovo Tango device doesn't meet the Daydream requirements -- in particular the display, latency and sensors. Not to mention Daydream phones will need specific headsets built for them, and there's no planned controller or headset for the Lenovo device, Lee said.
Could Daydream-ready phones also be Tango devices?
Okay, but what about going the other way: Could Daydream-ready phones also be Tango devices? It's possible, certainly, although Lee told us none of the Daydream phones currently in development has the required sensor hardware to enable Tango-powered experiences.
So it seems these two related technologies will stand apart for now, even if -- as Bavor hinted with his keynote comments and cameo appearance at a Tango session at I/O -- they will inevitably someday be married. With Microsoft taking a strong early lead with HoloLens, and Facebook's stated plans to get into the augmented reality business, Google has to be thinking along the same lines.
A second crack at Glass
A Daydream Tango device might not even resemble a smartphone, tablet or VR-style headset. Augmented reality tends to work better with the actual real world in the field of view, not a screen. Logically, then, the right device to deliver a Tango-Daydream experience is a pair of smart glasses.
Whoa, Nelly. If Google is working on that, they have good reason not to talk about it. You may remember a little gadget called Google Glass. While that wasn't true augmented reality, it nonetheless certainly seared Google (and the public) on smart glasses. If Google is working on such a headset, it has good reason not to talk about it, at least for now.
Until then, each of these technologies needs to prove themselves on their own. When Tango arrives, its practical abilities will likely be appealing to parts of the enterprise, but it's unclear it there's an audience beyond that. Daydream, however, is aiming higher -- its goal is no less than to give mobile VR a mass consumer audience.
If Daydream succeeds, Google will have all the tools in place to take augmented reality mainstream, perhaps finally creating a device that delivers on the promise of that first concept video for Glass. The only question then will be: Will we actually want to wear it?
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