Lenovo’s Phab 2 Pro has been touted to be world’s first-ever smartphone integrated with Google’s supercool Tango technology, that helps you map your three-dimensional surroundings. The Phab 2 Pro was expected to be available to the public this summer, but Lenovo seems to have hit a sudden roadblock as launch timing on the website has now been moved to Fall(i.e until Decemeber), this year.
The store page of the Phab 2 Pro is still up and displays the price tag of $449 for the unlocked model. This and the availability of a ‘Notify Me’ button on the website reinforces my hopes for the destined release of the smartphone. The good news is that Lenovo is not completely abandoning the project(unlike Project Ara), but taking just a little while longer to deliver the device to you. The underquote, written in finer print, has been quietly replaced with ‘Coming in Fall’ as compared to the previous ‘Summer’ one.
Proving all the constant leaks and rumors right, the Phab 2 Pro was unveiled over a couple months ago at Lenovo’s Tech World keynote event. The Tango-enabled smartphone packs in a multitude of depth sensing cameras and sensors to enable the underlying depth-sensing technology to work. In addition to this, the smartphone comes equipped with a 6.4-inch QHD display, Snapdragon 652 processor(optimized for Tango), 4 gigs of RAM, 64 GB of on-board storage, and a humongous 4,050 mAh battery pack. It also packs in a 16-megapixel rear shooter(required for telematics), and a front-facing 8-megapixel camera for selfie needs. It’s a smartphone afterall..!!
If you’re familiar with Microsoft’s Holo Lens, then you would understand that the Phab 2 Pro emulates a similar augmented reality experience. There is only a basic difference in dynamics, where-in you wear the Holo Lens on your head while the Phab 2 Pro is a hand-held device.
Google first announced the Tango Project three years back, with the aim to use depth-sensing cameras to sense their surrounding and create and accurate 3D-models, thus, bring Augmented Reality to the masses in the form of a tablet or phone. The tech giant had previously also supplied a select group of customers with developers kits(including a modified tablet) to try the tech, and develop applications for the same. Lenovo is also expecting developers to soon get their hands on the Phab 2 Pro, and grow the app collection to a decent 100 by the end of this year.
