Google and Intel bring RealSense to phones with Project Tango dev kit
It was only a matter of time until Intel's RealSense 3D camera got a chance to dance with Google's 3D-mapping initiative, Project Tango. Today at Intel's Developer Forum, the two companies revealed that they're working together on a Project Tango developer kit for smartphones using RealSense. From what we can tell, it looks like a fairly standard smartphone with a 6-inch screen, except it has a slew of cameras on the rear. The news follows Intel's unveiling of a smartphone-friendly RealSense sensor back in April -- up until then it was mainly something we saw on laptops and all-in-one PCs -- as well as a Project Tango phone concept from Qualcomm. Along with the Project Tango tablet dev kit Google unveiled last year, the RealSense-powered kit should give developers a better idea of how to create 3D-mapping apps. We're still in the early stages of depth-sensing technology, but it has the potential to improve the way we handle things like indoor mapping, scanning environments or creating VR spaces. Intel says the dev kits will be sent out to Android developers at the end of the year.
