The first Project Tango smartphone in the world, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, is all set to be revealed to the masses this November. This comes hot off the heels of new flagship Android 7.0 Nougat-powered smartphones from Google -- the Pixel and Pixel XL, which should arrive on store shelves before October calls it quits and November comes a-knockin’. This would give some breathing space for the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, although some might adopt a wait-and-see attitude before picking it up after comparing it against the Pixel brothers.
The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro had a summer release date at first, but it looks like Lenovo decided to delay the rollout, and from there there were several other delays -- skipping even the purported September release date, and now we are stuck with November. So far, it does seem as though November is pretty concrete for the Project Tango-powered smartphone’s launch.
The Pixel launch event also saw Google's head of Virtual Reality, Clay Bavor, make a confirmation that the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro smartphone can be purchased by the masses from the beginning of November onward, according to CNET. In the US, it will retail for a far more affordable $499 compared to the Pixel devices, where it will not be a Verizon-exclusive, but rather, remain an unlocked device. That should warm some folks up to it somewhat, since you need not switch mobile carriers to get a new handset. Chances are the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro will go through traditional sales routes via the likes of Best Buy, Lowe and other authorized retailers.
Interestingly enough, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro will not play nice with Google's new Daydream VR headset. This is partly due to the fact that the Phab 2 Pro does not have a compatible AMOLED screen to go with the rest of the hardware. Rather, it will sport a gargantuan 6.4-inch LCD QHD (2560 x 1440 resolution) display, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 chipset running at the heart of things, accompanied by 4GB of RAM. Lenovo has also thrown in a GPU that has been specially developed to cater for Tango functionality, in addition to Infineon's Time-of-Flight sensor.
The Phab 2 Pro claims to be the first smartphone in the world which can capture 360-degree sound of live recording through Dolby Audio 5.1 sound capture, Dolby Atmos and a 3-microphone array with noise cancellation. At the back lies a 16MP RGB shooter which does 4K video recording without breaking into a sweat. There is also a depth-sensing infrared camera with an imager and emitter, a motion tracking camera, and an 8MP selfie shooter. This makes the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro come with a quartet of cameras underneath the hood -- a first in the industry too, I believe.
Project Tango intends to deliver smartphones and devices which can recognize a room or an environment where another similar device used to be. By sensing how the world is around us, we should be able to see new boundaries broken in smartphone use in everyday life. Surely the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro will have its fair share of fans.
