Google’s Project Tango is technology that helps devices understand space and motion. Now Google and Lenovo plan to bring a smartphone to market that uses features developed through Tango, a first. The new smartphone — equipped with 3D sensors — will bring the opportunity for users to experience augmented reality, which essentially means the device will enhance (or deprecate) real world environments, transforming them into augmented environments experienced through the technology.
Augmented reality overlays information on real world data collected by the device in order to alter and augment the physical, real world environment. Augmented reality differs from virtual reality in that it enhances an actual environment rather than, as in virtual reality, replacing it with a totally simulated environment. The technology can be used in myriad ways for info delivery and gaming possibilities, but very practically speaking you could also use it to see what a red sofa would look like where your brown one is. The Google Lenovo augmented reality smartphone has no launch date. Google shows you how the tech works here. The dev kit is priced at $512.