The first Tango phone is here.
Let's find out why you would care.
Tango is a technology platform developed by Google now showing up in smartphones that allow the phone to do more than just see with a camera which they've had for years To now sense the physical world around it.
That means they can detect the shape of an object.
The dimensions are size of that object.
And the relationship in space between objects in the world around you.
What is good for in the real world is just being hammered up.
Because the first smart film to have this technology It's now in the market, it's from Lenovo.
It's called the Phab Pro 2, it's a nitch device.
It's not even positive by them as being their main line flagship phone.
But it's fascinating in terms of what it could do in the future.
Some of the earliest apps you'll find on it, allow it to measure things without you being at the object.
Non contact measurement as well as spaces between other items It can do augmented reality.
To visualize, let's say, new furnishings in a room you're standing in.
AR Gaming becomes very realistic when the augmentation of the reality is the reality you're actually standing in right now.
And, of course, it can place dinosaurs on specific spots in the room.
A trick that seemingly every AR device has to do.
[SOUND] For some reason.
And then there's a whole lot of collaborative or crowdsourced benefits of having these devices out there.
For all of us who have a phone that does this it can be mapping shared public spaces to be used by other people whether it's a mall, a stadium, a large office building.
You could also see where retailers get excited about this to try and bring a large unfamiliar store to life.
To a person maybe who's never been there or not been there since the layout changed, the flow changed, the placement of products changed, and this could be an exceptional way to make that clear the minute you walk in the door.
Now, since Lenovo's Phab Pro 2 arrived, it's been followed by Asus ZenFone.
Which also have the tango spacial technology but also certified to work with Google's daydream headmount to creat a substantial VR device it's the interesting crossover.
Another note about both this phones.
It is doing augmented reality but it's not using glasses.
I believe that it gives it a very good leg up.
We'd continue to see consumer resistance to augmented and virtual reality once you get down to the head gear and having to wear something on your face.
Being able to message the AR as possible to a hand held screen of a device you all ready own.
I think it's an important benefit.
Know what's next at CNET.com/NextBigThing.
I'm Brian Cooley.
