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Also it looks like Google is retiring the "Tango" brand [1]. https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/29/google-retires-the-tango-brand-as-its-smartphone-ar-ambitions-mo

by rsp1984 9y ago

Also it looks like Google is retiring the "Tango" brand [1]. https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/29/google-retires-the-tango-brand-as-its-smartphone-ar-ambitions-move-wider/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/29/google-retires-the-tango-b...

EddieRingle 9y ago
The package name of the arcore-preview.apk is 'com.google.tango', so that would seem to be the case.
bhouston 9y ago
Tango has technically been a failure in terms of the specific AR hardware. No adoption and no real software support. Apple's purchase of MetaIO and its focus on just SLAM is really the right way to go. Maybe improve it a bit via specialized hardware when available (progressive enhancement in a way), but at least start with SLAM. Google didn't have to be behind on AR at this point in time if they had ditched the focus on Tango hardware and instead focused on SLAM. But that is water under the bridge, Google is now on the right track after being forced to do so by Apple.
- cromwellian 9y ago
  I think ARKit-style SLAM will turn out to be a fad, they'll be a lot of interesting toy apps, but AR without environmental understanding or persistence I don't think offers much beyond that. The basic ARKit demos we've seen are the same stuff we've been seeing for a while now demoed with third party libraries. Including depth sensing HW was the right solution, but Google doesn't have its own popular smartphone as a forcing function. I predict eventually Apple will include a depth camera, or they'll use dual-cameras to try and synthesize it, and once that happens, then all Android manufacturers will follow suite. If AR is to be useful, it's got to be a lot better at tracking and drift, at making sense of the world, of supporting occlusion and mapping.
  - MBCook 9y ago
    ARKit seems like the near term future. It's useful and no longer requires as much expertise since is available in the OS and is well documented. For a software library it's surprisingly accurate. The Tango model of using extra hardware is probably much better, but seems further ahead. The software model works today on existing devices and lets people see how this is useful. Once you have that convincing people it's with the money to have the hardware added to the phone becomes easier. Given how many Android phones are lower cost than the flagship was Tango ever going to be very popular? Apple could have forced the issue (like Lightning or the headphone jack) but people could always switch Android OEMs to get something cheaper if they don't see the value.
    - cromwellian 9y ago
      Tango's extra hardware was for depth sensing, and low-energy feature tracking, but the basic technique of plane detection from what I understand, is the same technique ARKit uses, which came from Flyby according to one article I read. In 2014 when Tango was released, even Apple HW wasn't powerful enough to run the tracking in software alone. I have a feeling the end game of this is going to be that Tango-like devices are used for mapping the world, and ARKit like libraries consume the geometry. That is, not everyone has to own a device with depth sensing. For example, if Streetview-like services using LIDAR, or if self driving cars with LIDAR, map point clouds of most outside areas, and merchants and vendors map into areas with specialized Tango-like HW, then most of the benefits of depth sensing AR can be had for people without depth sensors. It would be a mostly static 3D map of the world, not frequently updated, but probably good enough to enable a large number of apps.
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      > but people could always switch Android OEMs to get something cheaper if they don't see the value. The kind of people that buy flagship Android phones would probably either see the value or be price insensitive enough not to switch over it. OTOH, “works ok now” is often more important than “works better later”, so getting something out that will work with today's flagships has value even if Tango would be practical down the road.

EddieRingle 9y ago

The package name of the arcore-preview.apk is 'com.google.tango', so that would seem to be the case.

bhouston 9y ago

Tango has technically been a failure in terms of the specific AR hardware. No adoption and no real software support. Apple's purchase of MetaIO and its focus on just SLAM is really the right way to go. Maybe improve it a bit via specialized hardware when available (progressive enhancement in a way), but at least start with SLAM. Google didn't have to be behind on AR at this point in time if they had ditched the focus on Tango hardware and instead focused on SLAM. But that is water under the bridge, Google is now on the right track after being forced to do so by Apple.

cromwellian 9y ago
I think ARKit-style SLAM will turn out to be a fad, they'll be a lot of interesting toy apps, but AR without environmental understanding or persistence I don't think offers much beyond that. The basic ARKit demos we've seen are the same stuff we've been seeing for a while now demoed with third party libraries. Including depth sensing HW was the right solution, but Google doesn't have its own popular smartphone as a forcing function. I predict eventually Apple will include a depth camera, or they'll use dual-cameras to try and synthesize it, and once that happens, then all Android manufacturers will follow suite. If AR is to be useful, it's got to be a lot better at tracking and drift, at making sense of the world, of supporting occlusion and mapping.
- MBCook 9y ago
  ARKit seems like the near term future. It's useful and no longer requires as much expertise since is available in the OS and is well documented. For a software library it's surprisingly accurate. The Tango model of using extra hardware is probably much better, but seems further ahead. The software model works today on existing devices and lets people see how this is useful. Once you have that convincing people it's with the money to have the hardware added to the phone becomes easier. Given how many Android phones are lower cost than the flagship was Tango ever going to be very popular? Apple could have forced the issue (like Lightning or the headphone jack) but people could always switch Android OEMs to get something cheaper if they don't see the value.
  - cromwellian 9y ago
    Tango's extra hardware was for depth sensing, and low-energy feature tracking, but the basic technique of plane detection from what I understand, is the same technique ARKit uses, which came from Flyby according to one article I read. In 2014 when Tango was released, even Apple HW wasn't powerful enough to run the tracking in software alone. I have a feeling the end game of this is going to be that Tango-like devices are used for mapping the world, and ARKit like libraries consume the geometry. That is, not everyone has to own a device with depth sensing. For example, if Streetview-like services using LIDAR, or if self driving cars with LIDAR, map point clouds of most outside areas, and merchants and vendors map into areas with specialized Tango-like HW, then most of the benefits of depth sensing AR can be had for people without depth sensors. It would be a mostly static 3D map of the world, not frequently updated, but probably good enough to enable a large number of apps.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > but people could always switch Android OEMs to get something cheaper if they don't see the value. The kind of people that buy flagship Android phones would probably either see the value or be price insensitive enough not to switch over it. OTOH, “works ok now” is often more important than “works better later”, so getting something out that will work with today's flagships has value even if Tango would be practical down the road.