Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo CEO, unveils the new PHAB2 Pro, the world's first Tango-powered smartphone at Lenovo Tech World (Photo : GettyImages/Kelly Sullivan)
Lenovo has finally announced their first consumer-grade Project Tango smartphone in the form of the PHAB2 Pro with a Snapdragon 625 SoC from Qualcomm that would handle all of the special AR techniques.
There was no Movidius computer vision chip inside the PHAB2 Pro. However, it uses the Qualcomm chip instead with their "Snapdragon Heterogeneous Processing Architecture."
In a simpler explanation, the Project Tango AR processes are processed using the Snapdragon chip's Image Signal Processor (ISP), sensor hub and the Digital Signal Processor (DSP). Qualcomm also said that they are using their new "Hexagon DSP" for the Tango algorithms.
There are also other things that make the Lenovo PHAB2 Pro work with the Project Tango features. The smartphone comes with a main rear camera and a second camera with all the sensors needed for AR capabilities, PhoneRadar has learned.
The second camera comes with the accelerometer, gyroscope, a depth-sensing camera and fisheye lens. Qualcomm also claims that their future 600 and 800 processors will be compatible with the Project Tango features.
Qualcomm unveiled that they have been collaborating with Google's team for Project Tango within the past 18 months in order to make the new features possible with their chipsets, Ars Technica reported. Project Tango does not require more complicated setups as the only additional hardware needed is the motion tracking camera and an extra depth sensor.
VP Of Product Management at Qualcomm Seshu Madhavapeddy told Ars: "We are committed to Tango and we believe in this technology. We see broad adoption of this technology as forthcoming and we would like to support that."
Some applications for the Project Tango Lenovo PHAB2 Pro smartphone is trying out new furniture before it can be bought. The virtual 3D model of the product can be placed virtually inside a user's room using the Tango AR capabilities through the screen and camera of the smartphone.
Lenovo will be selling their PHAB2 Pro starting in September for select markets with a price tag of $499. Some users are already disappointed that it will only be a mid-end smartphone but high-end Project Tango smartphones could be expected to roll out in the near future.
