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It seems very odd that this comes out and seemingly replaces Tango. Google spent a lot of time going over new stuff with Tango in the latest Google I/O keynote
by eco 9y ago
It seems very odd that this comes out and seemingly replaces Tango. Google spent a lot of time going over new stuff with Tango in the latest Google I/O keynote and Google Lens, which was featured quite a bit, seems like it relies on Tango and its depth sensing hardware for their "VPS" stuff.
Also, when Clay Bavor was talking about Tango supported devices he remarked that the devices were getting smaller and smaller then implied it was coming to smaller, more traditional devices. I took this to mean they were close to getting the sensors ready for wide deployment but I suppose this could have just meant they were ditching the sensors because they felt the software was good enough.
I'm kind of disappointed. I'd hoped that he was saying that Tango sensors would show up on Pixel 2 (which was a long shot, from the leaked photos not really showing the many sensors you see on current Tango devices). Instead we have what feels like a rushed out me-too to match ARKit.
- iainmerrick 9y agoAn interesting thing about this is that it could actually benefit ARKit by making it less risky. If you develop an ARKit app now, you can be pretty sure you'll be able to port it to Android in a year or two as ARCore rolls out.
- briandear 9y agoWhy would it be risky anyway? Are app developers really counting on device parity between iOS and Android? Are developers not going to release something great because there is a potential Android wouldn’t support it? If feels to me that there is more risk in developing to the lowest common denominator — not creating something useful because of the potentrial it won’t work on Android.
- davidmurdoch 9y agoIt's risky in that you'd be developing a product that can't be "sold" to both markets. If you have two seemingly viable ideas for an app, and one can reach both platforms, while the other only one, you'll likely choose the former.
- iainmerrick 9y agoARKit could be a flash in the pan, I'm thinking. But a) Google is taking it seriously, and b) Android will have something very similar soon. Edit to add: I think a good comparison would be building an app around iOS force touch, or Macs with the touch bar. Those seem riskier.
- izacus 9y agoI'd guess that getting OEMs to install Tango sensors to their phones has proven to be more difficult as they imagined it and that having an AR library that only works on a specialized phones would not be a good idea. Hence why they're probably switching to the software-only approach where device support can be added more easily.
- dragonwriter 9y agoAlso, if software-only AR proves out the use cases and builds consumer demand, OEMs may be more easily persuaded to adopt new hardware for better AR experience.
- Grazester 9y agoGoogle is getting rid of Tango branding http://www.androidauthority.com/google-tango-branding-retired-arcore-796485/ http://www.androidauthority.com/google-tango-branding-retire...
- MBCook 9y agoMakes sense, I always assumed the Tango was sort of a codename. But if they're changing everything over to ARCore then as a consumer how am I supposed to differentiate the phone that supports the software approach from a phone that supports the extra hardware sensors without digging into the specs? There doesn't seem to be a specific label for that.
- pjmlp 9y agoIt was just yet another set of tech presented at IO that ended up not turning into reality. There were quite a few of them already.
- randyrand 9y agoThis does not replace tango, at least not technically. Tango has a depth camera which is not replaced here. The depth camera is useful for a variety of applications. I hope tango will be continued to be developed. It is more robust for position tracking, and can do 3d scanning, etc.
- DiThi 9y ago> and can do 3d scanning Very badly. I'm very disappointed by Tango in this regard.