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Get ready for Android N, VR and more at Google I/O 2016
It's that time of year again -- Google's about to give developers a serious show at I/O 2016, which this year is at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California (also known as Google's backyard). We'll be there throughout the week bringing you thoughtful, up-to-the-moment coverage of Google's future looks like, but until then, here's what we expect (and hope) to see starting tomorrow morning.
Exploring Barcelona's greatest museum with Project Tango
Lenovo and Google are hard at work on the first consumer-friendly Project Tango smartphone, but actually building the thing isn't the only hurdle that needs clearing. The bigger problem is an existential one: How do these huge companies convince people that spatial-sensing smartphones are worth buying over another shiny flagship? The key is building fun, useful experiences that are possible only with the fine-grained location data Tango devices can capture, and I got to play with a couple on a field trip to Barcelona's gorgeous Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.
Here's what you missed on day four at CES
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-913972{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-913972, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-913972{width:100%;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-913972").style.display="none";}catch(e){} Day four of CES 2016 was less about consumer products, and more about pie-in-the sky ideas. A company that one day plans to mine asteroids 3D-printed an object out of asteroid dust, just to show how humans might build objects on remote planets. We also got our first look at the KATIA robot arm, a surprisingly affordable device that could help you do light manufacturing or, say, build Lego. Finally, we got a look at two smartphones that use Google's vaunted Project Tango tech that will let you 3D scan all the things. For those and the other stories, watch our Editor-in-Chief Michael Gorman's take on the day (above) or check the gallery below.
Google and Lenovo's 3D-scanning smartphone costs less than $500
Google and Lenovo have partnered to create a smartphone that uses the Project Tango platform, meaning your little handheld computer will be able to read the physical world to overlay digital information and objects on it. The phone will launch in summer 2016, and while the industrial design isn't finalized, it'll be under 6.5 inches. What you're seeing here probably won't be what you'll see later this year.
Intel's RealSense phone with Project Tango up for pre-order
We heard back in August that Intel was creating a Project Tango developer kit, which also happened to be the first phone to include its RealSense 3D cameras. Now, it's available for pre-order for $399 on Intel's website. The RealSense Smartphone Developer Kit, as its officially called, packs in a 6-inch screen, Atom X7-Z8700 processor and 2 gigabytes of RAM. But its real unique feature is its array of 3D cameras, which can be used to detect objects, gestures and map space in three dimensions. There's no telling when Intel will start shipping out the dev kits, and right now it's only offering them in the United States.
Google app contest winners show what Project Tango can do
Sure, Google and crew can put together some nice tech demos for Project Tango's advanced depth sensing and motion tracking, but what happens when everyday developers take a crack at it? You're about to find out. Google has announced the winners of its Project Tango App Contest, and most of them aren't what you'd expect given the technology. The overall winner is HeroicArcade's WeR Cubed Tango, a 3D puzzler that relies more on motion than the usual screen taps.
Intel and Google want your phone to see in 3D
Intel's RealSense camera tech can sense and scan three-dimensional objects, while Google's Project Tango sensors are adept at motion tracking and 3D-mapping. It just makes sense for the two to come together, which is exactly what was announced today at Intel's Developer Forum. The two have developed a smartphone and software kit that integrates both RealSense and Project Tango technologies, as can be seen in the hardware prototype seen here. While this handset is strictly for developers at the moment, it offers a pretty good early look at what could potentially be in consumer phones later on.
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.
Google and Qualcomm squeezed Project Tango tech into a smartphone
It seems like a decent of chunk of Google's big news today deals with its partnerships. The search giant is already teaming up with Levi's to explore the realm of smart Jacquard clothes, and now Google has confirmed that it's been working with Qualcomm to build its Project Tango world-sensing cameras into the chipmaker's reference phone designs. Those Tango-phones will be seeded developers and devices makers for now, and thanks to the arcane decisions that ultimately define a company's device-making strategy, we might not ever actually see a consumer-ready Tango phone. Still, Google's long-term ambitions are pretty clear: It'd like to get these Tango devices into our pockets en masse, and a closer relationship with one of the world's biggest mobile chipmakers is a great way to do it.
Google's experimental 3D-scanning tablet goes on public sale for $512
If you're fascinated (or baffled) by Google's spatially aware, three-dimensionally scanning Project Tango tablet, you can now buy and try one yourself. The in-development tablet is now (still?) $512, invite-free at the Google Store. While the device is no longer a conceptual toy, it's still expressly aimed at developers, as Google looks to them to add functionality -- and ideas as to what to do with those spatial sensors built inside. Perhaps the most unusual part is that this wider retail release was dropped a mere day before Google I/O kicks off. Don't get too aggrieved if Project Tango 2 suddenly appears.
Google slashes price of Project Tango 3D-mapping tablet
Google's 3D spatial mapping tablet Project Tango is currently only available for purchase by invitation. Today some of those lucky individuals received an email informing them that the price of the tablet was being slashed by 50 percent from $1024 to $512. The email forwarded to Android Police also mentions that Google is "opening sales more broadly," and that this was the last chance for the individual to purchase the device reserved for them. Before you assume "more broadly" means you'll be able to buy one of those tablets in the near future, it seems like it's going to be a developer-only device for at least a little while longer. A Google spokesperson told Engadget, "we are opening sales more broadly because we want to broaden the reach to encourage more developers to join us on this journey." Google might be a tad bit gun shy about opening up devices like Project Tango to the general public after what happened with Google Glass.
Google's 3D-sensing Project Tango is no longer an experiment
Yet another project is graduating from experiment to proper part of Google. Only two weeks ago, Glass left the confines of the Skunk Works-like Google X and became its own division headed up by Nest co-founder Tony Fadell. Now Project Tango, the 3D-sensing and -mapping concept, is moving on from the ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects) labs to become a part of the company proper. Unfortunately what that means for the technology or what products it might eventually end up in isn't exactly clear. Will the next Nexus sport a depth-sensing IR camera? Maybe. Or perhaps they'll be used to build more advanced home automation and home monitoring tools for Nest. All we do know is that Tango will live on, even if the name "Project Tango" eventually fades away.
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.
Yes, Unreal Engine 4 is coming to Samsung Gear VR too
The latest game development toolkit from Epic Games supports Oculus Rift and Sony's Project Morpheus, but what about virtual or augmented reality on mobile devices? That's coming, too -- and apparently pretty soon. Road to VR has noticed that on Epic's publicly-accessible "Unreal Engine 4 Roadmap" task-board two new bits were added to the VR to-do list: Samsung Gear VR and Google Project Tango support. They're labeled as September and October projects, and as Road to VR notes, the VR project category has been empty since Oculus' and Sony's features have been completed. If anything, this yet another example of just how versatile Unreal Engine 4 is when it comes to what the engine's games can run on. Maybe Amazon's Fire phone is up next? After all, there's precedent (sort of).
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.
Weekends with Engadget: DARPA's mad science projects, Google's 3D-mapping tablet and more!
This week, we dove into the history of DARPA, explored the hand-drawn world of Cuphead, took an in-depth look at Google's 3D-mapping tablet and interviewed two people who managed to cut ties with technology. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last seven days. Oh, and be sure to subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!
Two years to Tango: the race to finish Google's 3D-mapping tablet
Speck Design's clientele has ranged from Apple to Samsonite to Fisher-Price in its history, and now it can add Google to the list of high-profile companies. But Google -- or its Advanced Technologies and Projects (ATAP) division, to be more specific -- is no ordinary client. The group is modeled after DARPA, which divides its agency into teams, with each one given a limited time to solve a pressing issue. Nearly a year and half ago, ATAP reached out to Speck, led by industrial designers Jason Stone and Vincent Pascual, with one such task: Build a tablet like no other. The project is known as Tango. Its goal is to create technology that lets you use mobile devices to piece together three-dimensional maps, thanks to a clever array of cameras, depth sensors and fancy algorithms. As if that isn't enough of a challenge, Tango's team only has two full years to make this tech a reality. Those two years will be up in less than five months.
Google Project Tango smartphones heading to space this week
Google is no stranger to having some of its devices up in space, what with the Nexus S and One each taking on different missions in years past. Up next: Project Tango. The search giant's smartphone, which packs 3D sensors that allow it to track and map just about anything around it, has been playing a role in NASA's Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellite program, otherwise known as SPHERES. As Reuters notes, these spherical satellites could one day "take over daily chores for astronauts or even handle risky duties outside of the vessel." Accordingly, on July 11th, NASA and Google are doing good on the promise to launch Project Tango smartphones into orbit, where they will be used as "the brains and eyes" of the bowling ball-sized, hovering robots at the International Space Station.
Swim with the fishes using Project Tango and a head-mounted display
For a few minutes, I saw the Moscone Center -- and everyone inside it -- under water. Sharks and small fish even swam past me as if I wasn't there. And then, all of a sudden, I stood up straight and discovered that I'd poked my head above the waves. This experience, which is a virtual fish tank developed by 360World, was made possible by Google's Project Tango tablet and the Durovis Dive 7, an Oculus Rift-like contraption. It utilizes Tango's cameras, motion detectors and sensors to give you a sense that you are floating around with the fishes -- no snorkel or SCUBA gear required, of course.
LG partners with Google's Project Tango to make consumer product next year
Google's Advanced Technology and Projects division has been hard at work on its 3D-mapping project, known as Tango, since early 2013. In this time, we've seen the team rapidly progress its efforts by introducing a smartphone and tablet specifically for developers to construct their own apps that take advantage of the cameras and sensors inside. That said, we weren't expecting to hear about a consumer-facing Tango product for quite a while, so it came as a surprise when Google announced that it's working with LG on a device that will be available to the public sometime next year. There were no details about whether this product will be a smartphone, tablet or neither, but the partnership is likely still in the early stages.
