Google News: Project Tango To Shut Down; Tech Giant To Focus Efforts on ARCore
In a recently released statement, Google has revealed that they will be shutting down their first ever augmented reality project, which was dubbed Tango. Instead, the search engine giant will be shifting their focus on developing the ARCore.
"We're turning down support for Tango on March 1, 2018. Thank you to our incredible community of developers who made such progress with Tango over the last three years. We look forward to continuing the journey with you on ARCore," Google said in a statement posted on the official Twitter account for Project Tango.
Google's Tango achieved a lot of success since its conception, but the technology came with a lot of hardware that made the devices that supported it all the more expensive. In the most recent version of the augmented reality technology, Google has managed to add support for the devices to allow it to see in 3D. The first Project Tango device was the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro followed by the Asus ZenFone AR. Both devices suffered from poor battery life and problematic processing power.
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Further reports reveal that Tango's successor, the ARCore, cannot see in 3D but it offers the bigger benefit of losing a lot of hardware. Currently, it is only compatible to Google's own flagship smartphone, the Pixel, and Samsung's Galaxy S8. However, the tech giant expects to have the ARCore more accessible following the release of the first version, which is scheduled sometime this winter. Furthermore, it seems that much of the technology that was developed in Tango will still be available in ARCore. As such, the loss of Tango should not impact the community as much and is instead, expected to help developers pour in more efforts for the ARCore.
The latest release of the ARCore called the Developer Preview 2 was just recently released a few hours after the announcement of Tango's demise. For the rest of the fans, Google's efforts in augmented reality can be accessed through the AR Stickers mode of the Google Pixel phones' cameras. Project Tango will officially be shut down by March 1.
