Lenovo has launched Phab 2 Pro – the world’s first smartphone with Google Tango, for augmented reality experience. Another Phab 2 Plus with 13MP dual-camera and a more standard Lenovo Phab 2 with a 13MP camera were also announced.
Unlike any other phone, the Phab 2 Pro, powered by Tango technology – a set of sensors and software from Google that senses and maps its surroundings –makes a host of cutting-edge smartphone augmented reality (AR) experiences possible. For example, using AR apps, students can place true-to-scale virtual dinosaurs in their classrooms and enhance their learning through AR data overlays that appear while they walk around the creatures.
AR gaming experiences let you play virtual dominos on your kitchen table, raise a digital pet in your bedroom and fight back swarms of aliens invading your house. With Tango technology the Phab 2 Pro can even begin to change the way people think about mapping indoor spaces to create new experiences like future augmented reality museum tours via the GuidiGO app. With Tango, the Phab 2 Pro offers unprecedented experiences on a smartphone that will continually learn and improve.
Related: Lenovo Phab 2, Pro and Plus, Full Specifications
Lenovo Phab 2 Pro will be an affordable smartphone
“Put simply, we wanted to take what was an amazing concept and transform it into a commercially viable mobile device,” – said Jeff Meredith, vice president and general manager of Android and Chrome Computing, Lenovo. “From the moment we saw Tango, we knew it could become pervasive, just like GPS. However, to truly make the Phab 2 Pro a game-changer, we developed it at an affordable price for mainstream consumers, delivering not just a bleeding-edge phone, but an all-around fantastic phone that’s first to market.”
“Tango enables our devices to sense physical motion and space and, as a result, has the power to change how we interact with our surroundings. We believe that devices with positional tracking functionality will be pervasive and are happy that the Phab 2 Pro will introduce these new capabilities, making your phone even more useful,” – said Johnny Lee, Engineering Director at Google.
Lenovo Phab 2 Pro packs with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor and comes with 4GB of RAM along with 64GB of internal storage.
“Lenovo needed a highly robust and dependable platform for Tango and we are extremely pleased they chose the Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor for its advanced technology and comprehensive design,” – said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “The close collaboration between Lenovo, Google and Qualcomm Technologies allowed this new and innovative user experience to be implemented completely in software on the Snapdragon 652, allowing us to meet Lenovo’s aggressive deployment schedule without needing a separate co-processor or requiring hardware re-certification.”
Home owners can also now use their Phab 2 Pro to remodel their homes by visualizing real home furnishings in their living rooms and kitchens. Home improvement company Lowe’s is one of the first partners to develop a Tango-enabled application, Lowe’s Vision.The app empowers customers by leveraging Tango technology to measure spaces and visualize how products like appliances and décor, or materials like counter tops or back splash tile will all look and fit together in a room. With Lowe’s Vision, customers will be able to control a new generation of augmented reality tools with a mere tap of the finger.
“Tango technology will allow customers to see how their home improvement visions translate into reality like never before,” said Richard Maltsbarger, Lowe’s Chief Development Officer. “By bringing the Phab 2 Pro to Lowe’s, we want to empower customers with a tool to help them design, start and complete their home improvement projects with confidence.”
The Tango Technology
Three core technologies bring Tango experiences to life: motion tracking, depth perception and area learning. Through motion tracking, the Phab 2 Pro’s “eye” sees its own location in 3D. Area learning tells the smartphone its location. Depth perception lets the device analyze the shape of the world around it by detecting surfaces and obstacles. And now for the first time ever, your smartphone can visualize and understand its surrounding objects and environment via sensors that capture more than 250,000 measurements a second.
Lenovo Phab 2 Pro Features
While Tango makes the Phab 2 Pro unique, the device stands on its own as a premium smartphone. It is powered by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 652 processor, which brings efficient hardware integration and processing, leading 4G LTE connectivity, and cutting-edge time stamping and camera and sensor processing capabilities. Demanding computer vision processing is performed by a single, integrated and highly efficient Snapdragon processor with a tightly integrated suite of key modules including a DSP, ISP and integrated sensor hub. The Snapdragon heterogeneous computing platform is optimally balanced for a Tango workload and is designed for all-day use. The Snapdragon 652 processor also quickly processes and time stamps all the rich sensor data simultaneously received from multiple camera sensors, gyro and accelerometer, resulting in a fast, smooth augmented reality experience, where 3D AR graphic overlays track more naturally to the physical surroundings.
The Phab 2 Pro features Dolby Audio™ Capture 5.1 with Dolby Atmos® playback capabilities to help capture life’s moments on video with great quality audio. With Dolby Audio Capture 5.1, you can use crystal-clear 5.1-channel surround sound to record and share the full panorama of your life, adding amazing richness, clarity and depth to your special moments.
Making this possible are three microphones, spatial capture with noise reduction, along with an on board 16MP camera that supports crisp video recording. Also, when you watch Dolby Atmos content over headphones, you’ll feel like you’re in the middle of the action on screen with immersive, moving audio. The 6.4-inch Phab 2 Pro boasts an intelligent Assertive Display with a pin-sharp QHD (2,560 x 1,440) resolution, capable of optimizing image quality based on ambient lighting and content.
Price of the smartphone has not yet been revealed however it will be available in Champagne Gold and Gunmetal Grey colors in September 2016.
