A few weeks ago Lenovo Phab 2 Pro hit the market as the first ever Google Tango-enabled smartphone. With exclusive augmented reality features, the device offers a glimpse into what the future might hold for this technology.

What is Tango

For those unfamiliar, Google Tango is a new technology platform for augmented reality that has been developed by the infamous tech giant. Using computer vision, Tango enables different devices to detect the exact position of an object in the three-dimensional world around them by using a combination of sensors and signals, including GPS, gyroscopes and photographic analysis. The end result is software capabilities that are extremely similar to what the Microsoft HoloLens presents us with. However, they come at a cheaper cost and can be more easily implemented by device manufacturers. What’s more, the technology provides software and game developers with ease and simplicity in the development of AR experiences.

The end result is software capabilities that are extremely similar to what the Microsoft HoloLens presents us with. However, they come at a cheaper cost and can be more easily implemented by device manufacturers. What’s more, the technology provides software and game developers with ease and simplicity in the development of AR experiences.

The capabilities of Google Tango

Creator and main engineer on the Google Tango project, Johnny Lee discussed the technology as being similar to what GPS was for global positioning. “Being able to know how we move in space around us is fundamentally important. When our devices are given the same sense of spatial reasoning, a whole new suite of experiences are possible.”

Current owners of the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro can try out a range of different applications that scratch the surface of what the technology could be used for in the future. For example, Domino Rally lets users place dominos around the house and knock them down. The software remembers the exact positioning of the dominos relatively to the floor, so the application knows where the dominos are at all times. Another application, Measure, lets people measure real-life objects and distances with extreme accuracy. A third one, lets you take epic selfies with dinosaurs.

However, despite the current applications available for Google Tango, what the technology presents developers with is truly what matters. It is now possible to turn any object in your surrounding area into a different 3D object within the augmented world. This opens the doors for new amazing games and experiences.

What does Google Tango mean for AR and VR Fitness?

You might have disregarded mobile virtual reality, but the fact of the matter is that the combined power of smartphone VR and Google Tango-enabled smartphones could bring a whole new array of experiences related to VR Fitness. Just imagine turning your dumbbells into swords with which to slay virtual enemies. This is just one strong example of what the two technologies can offer.

Currently, it’s only up to the developers and their creativity to turn Google Tango and mobile VR into a truly immersive VR Fitness experience. We can only hope that the integration of Google Tango will become more widespread within smartphones in the near future, which should spark a bigger interest from developers to put out new exciting apps that use this technology.