It looks like we're one step closer to making 3D camera smartphones the new norm: Intel and Google have joined forces to create a 3D smartphone reference prototype.
While Intel is technically a competitor of Google in this particular market — their own human-computer interactive Intel RealSense has been around since 2015 — the corporation announced today at their Intel Developer Conference that they have teamed up with Google to create a technical blueprint for a smartphone complete with 3D cam capabilities.
Here is an image of the Google-Intel collaborative design, courtesy of Gizmodo:
Introduced in February 2014, Project Tango was more or less a beautifully-compelling abstraction; or, as Gizmodo's Mario Aguilar recounted before trying Tango software himself, "I didn't really understand why I, human person, would actually care about the technology beyond an abstract appreciation of the ideas behind it ... I never really believed Tango could be more than just a concept."
Marketed as an "experimental android" (of the smartphone, not humanoid variety), 200 prototypes were doled out to selected developers. The phones included customized hardware and software (including a 4 MP camera, integrated depth sensing and a motion-tracking camera, all for real-time 3D tracking usage), as well as a GPS tracker and mapping software.
The purpose of giving these phones and dev kits away? For developers to come up with more ideas.
"Our goal is to give mobile devices a human-scale understanding of space and motion," said Johnny Chung Lee, project lead at Google Advanced Technology and Products (ATAP), in their introductory video.
Check out the aforementioned Project Tango video below.
Via: Gizmodo
