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The Aquila tablet scans our world in 3D to help build better virtual ones
Your tablet can fire off emails and help you rotate beautiful, Escherian worlds, but can it capture the world around you in glorious 3D? Probably not, but the newly revealed (and Android-powered) Aquila from Mantis Vision and Flextronics can. Most of its spec sheet reads like any other top-flight tablet's would -- it's got a 8-inch screen running at 1900 x 1200 and a punchy Snapdragon 801 chipset ticking away in there -- but the telltale dual image sensors 'round the back make it clear this isn't your average Android slate. By capturing regular color footage and infrared depth data, the Aquila can put together an awfully detailed spatial representation of your surroundings.
Project Tango tablet teardown reveals its custom 3D mapping gear
If you've been wondering just what parts let Google's Project Tango tablet work its 3D mapping magic, iFixit is more than happy to show you. The DIY repair outlet has torn down the experimental Android slate to reveal a truly unique sensor array. While it resembles a Kinect at first, Google notes that it had Mantis Vision build a custom infrared projector (which bathes the world in a light grid) that works in tandem with the 4-megapixel IR camera; there's no way you'd replace either with off-the-shelf parts. The big, dual-cell 2,480mAh battery was also made to order, since the ATAP team wanted to let developers draw as much power as necessary for their 3D-savvy apps. The Tango tablet is undoubtedly a very clever design, then, but you'll have to handle it with kid gloves if you ever try it -- you probably won't get another one if it breaks.
