Lenovo Phab 2 Pro - the first phone with Google Tango - is available for purchase today

posted by Joe M. / Nov 01, 2016, 12:15 PM

Lenovo Phab 2 Pro - the first phone with Google Tango - is available for purchase today

Lenovo sure has had a pretty eventful year. Along with releasing the incredibly unique Yoga Book, the company has also spent a great deal of time kicking out a heap of Moto products. The new Moto Z line that was introduced a few months ago brought Moto Mods to the market and created for the best modular smartphone approach that's currently available to consumers. However, Lenovo is far from done when it comes to releasing innovative and unique gadgets. Today is the day that Lenovo's Phab 2 Pro goes up for sale, and it's packing some seriously cool tech.

First of all, let's get some of the big specs out of the way. The Phab 2 Pro is home to a massive 6.4-inch 2560 x 1440 display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor, 4GB of RAM for speedy multitasking, and 64GB of internal storage to ensure that running out of space is never a concern for you. The phone runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box, and while those specs are certainly fine on their own right, the real star of the show with the Phab 2 Pro has to do with its camera system. The backside of the Phab 2 Pro features a 16MP camera, and along with having a respectable megapixel count, that camera is the first one on a smartphone that's fully-featured with Google's Tango augmented reality technology.

With the Tango-enabled camera, the Phab 2 Pro is capable of a lot of stuff that you're not going to find on any old smartphone. The Tango platform and the included camera allows the Phab 2 Pro to understand the surroundings that the phone sees through the camera lens, and it can then create a map for itself of the real world that it can then use for a host of various applications. There are currently more than 35 apps in the Google Play Store that can take advantage of the Tango cameras, and while a lot of them are augmented reality games, things like the Lowes Vision application allows you to measure rooms in your home to see how new appliances or furniture would fit in it. There's certainly a lot of room left to grow for Tango as a whole, but the available apps and games are already very promising to what could be a very bright future.

The available apps and games are already very promising to what could be a very bright future.

The Phab 2 Pro is currently available from Lenovo's official website as an unlocked smartphone for the price of $499.99. Current shipping estimates report that it will likely be between four or five weeks before the Phab 2 Pro actually arrives at your doorstep from the date that you buy it, so getting your order placed sooner rather than later is likely going to be your best bet if you want to get your hands on it as soon as possible.

source: Google via Android Authority

Options

12 Comments

1. Martineverest

Posts: 521; Member since: Oct 27, 2015

i dont see this competing with hololens,vive,oculus and microsoft upcoming vr devices.....i fear another monoply from windows

posted on Nov 01, 2016, 12:22 PM 1

4. Dr.Phil

Posts: 2427; Member since: Feb 14, 2011

First of all, the devices you listed are virtual reality, not augmented reality. Secondly, all of the devices you listed are either more expensive than this device and/or require other expensive equipment in order to run. For example, the Vive and Oculus Rift both require a computer with certain specifications in order to run. So, while a Vive or Oculus may cost $600-$800, you have to buy a computer that has at least $600 worth of internals in order to run them. The Hololens costs $3000. By offering a consumer device at $500, it opens the market up for developers to come in and start creating more programs for it so that by next year when more devices have Tango capability there will be hundreds of applications that will use the technology.

posted on Nov 01, 2016, 1:16 PM 1

5. RebelwithoutaClue unregistered

Hololens isn't VR but AR.

posted on Nov 01, 2016, 1:29 PM 0

7. Dr.Phil

Yes, the Hololens is the one exception to my statement that the devices listed were VR, but every other one he listed was VR. Still, it is worth noting that the Hololens costs $3000 for an AR device. EDIT: And it's also worth noting that next year we will see devices that will combine Google Daydream with Tango so you will have something similar (note I'm saying similar but not saying it will be the same) to what the Hololens offers.

posted on Nov 01, 2016, 2:33 PM 0

2. Kil4thril

Posts: 80; Member since: Oct 05, 2016

If T-Mobile carried this, I'd jump today. Sadly, not going to happen

posted on Nov 01, 2016, 1:07 PM 0

10. hwb01

Posts: 355; Member since: Apr 17, 2014

Unlocked GSM phones work on Tmobile

posted on Nov 01, 2016, 9:28 PM 0

3. StopTalking

Posts: 69; Member since: Mar 14, 2016

Way to copy the Verge's formatting style, PhoneArena...now that they have a redesign.

posted on Nov 01, 2016, 1:08 PM 0

6. jsjammu77

Posts: 24; Member since: Oct 19, 2014

Does this have access to Google Play and can be used as a regular Android device and plus it has the AR features or is it totally focused on AR and a watered down Android experience?

posted on Nov 01, 2016, 1:38 PM 0

8. Marslander

Posts: 160; Member since: Jan 08, 2015

It's a fully functional Android device.

posted on Nov 01, 2016, 2:54 PM 0

9. Marslander

I'm just annoyed it's not shipping for at least another month. I wanted to see some reviews and opinions on it sooner than that.

posted on Nov 01, 2016, 2:58 PM 0

12. isprobi

Posts: 797; Member since: May 30, 2011

I ordered one (bottom of page Add to Cart) and chose 1-3 days expedited delivery expected to ship 11/10/16.http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/smartphones/phab-series/phab2-pro/

posted on Nov 02, 2016, 10:44 AM 0

11. Lotus16

Posts: 2; Member since: Nov 02, 2016

Lenovo Z1 is known as Zuk-1.Lenovo Z1 is very famous in Indian sub-continental. At the beginning time of launched Z1 ordered by facebook fan page. Some of the lucky persons get the chance buy this mobile. It’s a very smart looking Smartphone. It's bring a lot of feature in a short amount of money.