Lenovo Phab2 Pro

Developer	Lenovo
Manufacturer	Lenovo
Operating System	Android OS v6.0 (Marshmallow)
CPU	Octa-core (4x1.8 GHz Cortex-A72 & 4x1.4 GHz Cortex-A53)
GPU	Adreno 510
Display	6.4-inch Quad HD (2560x1440) IPS display
Resolution	1440 x 2560 pixels
Image
Optics
Camera	16 MP, phase detection autofocus
Power	Non-removable Li-Ion 4050 mAh battery
Sensors	depth & motion tracking sensors
Input	IPS capacitive touchscreen
Size	6.4 inches

The Lenovo Phab2 Pro is a smartphone from Lenovo. It was jointly developed with Google to work as a phone as part of the Project Tango platform.

It was announced during the Lenovo Tech World 2016 event in San Francisco by Yang Yuanging (Chairman and CEO of Lenovo). It is the first consumer facing product with Google’s Tango included. It is one of three new Lenovo Phab phones that will arrive to the US in 2016, complementing the Lenovo Phab 2 and the Lenovo Phab 2 Plus .

According to Yang Yuanging, the smartphone is intended to make “AR and VR as pervasive as GPS”, augmenting the world we already live in. To achieve this it will utilize Tango, and make use of an array of cameras, sensors and software to map spaces in three dimensions. Even though it is the first consumer product that will have Tango, it is not the first gadget that comes with it. The first Tango gadget was a reference design tablet made by Google for developers. The companies worked together in order to give the Phab 2 Pro a smaller design than a tablet but still able to accommodate all the technology necessary for Tango to function, such as the sensors, cameras and other hardware. The result is a smartphone with a 6.4-inch Quad HD screen. It can be describe as a phablet since it is almost a small tablet in terms of size .

It has to be noted that the smart camera technology isn’t exclusive to Tango. There’s Intel’s 3D RealSense cameras that can also track depth and Microsoft´s positional-tracking technology in the Kinect and HoloLens, for example. Smarter cameras could be doorways into a new future, allowing face and object recognition, auto-navigation, and advanced augmented reality (AR) applications .

The global release date is scheduled for September, and it is expected to start shipping from online stores in August with a Champagne Gold version, and a Gunmetal Grey edition coming later . Lenovo’s Phab 2 Pro will cost $499 in the US. Currently there is no UK or AU pricing. In the US it will be available in Best Buy stores and Lowe’s hardware stores. It is considered to be reasonably priced, considering its specifications .

Google Tango

Tango has been in development for several years, as a way to not only measure distances in 3D space but also map building interiors – including the location of doors and windows - and create augmented reality, superimposing virtual elements into real space. Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, besides being the first ready-to-buy Tango phone, is also the first Lenovo phone to be sold in the US, where the company is best known for selling laptops . Viewing the surroundings from the onboard camera of the Phab 2 Pro, there will be inserted a myriad of virtual elements like dinosaurs, dominoes, or appliances into the physical space, depending on the specific nature of the app. These can be interacted with through the phone’s screen . During the development of Tango, when it was in a developer kit tablet, it was used to test various experimental ideas. Its main skills are depth-sensing, location-mapping, and placing virtual objects into reality with a better sense of accuracy . To create the AR experience, the smartphone relies mainly on motion tracking, depth perception and area learning .

Tango can be considered a crucial step in the new frontier of AR, being able to create internal maps of homes and offices on the fly, without Google needing to build a previous mapping database, like Google Maps or Street View. With Tango being integrated in a gadget that normally people have with them all the time – without the need of wearing a headset - it could become pervasive, although the capacities of this technology have raised concerns about privacy . Google hopes to have several other partners during the next years that will included Tango .

Augmented reality and applications

The plan is to have 25 specific apps for Tango available in the Play Store at the launch of the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro. At the end of the year this number should increase to 100. The unit has been demoed and some apps were available, like a furniture trial app, a dinosaur education app, and two game apps .

The Lowes home improvement app will help the customer to choose the furniture, flooring or appliances that fits bets in his home. This app projects them into the physical space, allowing the user to have a preview in AR environment without the need to buy anything. It could be a useful app for interior designers, construction crews, and DIYers. Another application, similar to the Intel RealSense 3D imaging technology used on the Venue 7000 series tablets made by Dell, is the measuring app. This allows the user to measure anything in two or three dimensions . There is also other possibilities for the combination of the Phab 2 Pro hardware with the Tango software and retail stores: navigation to a certain item in a store, leading the client directly into the products desired. Retail companies could develop several apps that provide this service while also providing advertisement to the user when they are near a particular brand .

There is also an app where the Tango camera generates a 3D photo mapped model of the surroundings, allowing for the mapping of interior spaces in full 3D. Tango measures and learns about the shape of the area, sensing the beginning and end of the objects, and the location of walls and doorways. Google envisions using this technology for mapping interior locations with an equivalent accuracy of the outdoor maps .

At Lenovo Tech World event it was shown an app called Dinosaurs Among Us. It inserts dinosaurs into the environment with which the user can interact, having potential as an educational tool. Another possibility explored with the technology and its applications is to have an app that provides the user information about a specific piece of artwork while visiting a museum, for example, guiding the person through a charted course like a tour .

Besides these type of applications, two games have been show. One in which the player shoots at virtual aliens that show up around the real location of the user – not unlike other augmented reality games already in existence – and a game of virtual dominoes where the player sets the virtual pieces over the image of real objects or space and then watches them being knocked down one by one .

Phone specifications

The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro has a 6.4- inch Quad HD display with a specially made Tango Edition Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor and 4 GB of RAM to enable the high-level processing that is needed for the Tango mapping abilities. In terms of storage, there is 64 GB available with the possibility of a microSD up to 128 GB. The phone has three cameras on the back, including a 16MP standard RGB camera, a fisheye camera, and an infrared camera for depth. On the front, there is an 8MP fixed-focus camera. There are Dolby Amos speakers on the bottom and a fingerprint sensor on the back. Finally, it has a 4.050mAh battery with fast charging .

Concerns about smartphone adoption

There have been concerns about the level of adoption for this new smartphone. One of the main arguments is that it is a niche product, lacking the apps to attract the general consumer. Later iterations of the product can make it smaller and with applications attractive and necessary enough for the general masses adoption. Another concern is that the Tango compatible apps tested were not stable, but this is expected to be solved by the time the smartphone is launched .