Now anyone can buy one of Google's $512 Project Tango tablets
Last month Google slashed the price of its Project Tango Developers kit from $1,024 to a more affordable $512. However, at that time, only developers with an invite were able to buy one of the tablets, although Google said it would soon open up sales to a broader audience.
According to reports, Google did just that on Wednesday, when it began selling the device on its US Store for $512, no invite required.
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Google unveiled the tablet ahead of its I/O conference last year to encourage developers to start thinking outside of the flat frame of touchscreen apps and towards 3D applications instead. To support this, it fitted the seven-inch display Tango with Nvidia's Tegra K1 processor, and additional sensors such as a 180 degree motion tracking camera and depth-sensing capabilities.
Google of course will be talking Project Tango at I/O, with a session focussing on mobile 3D tracking and perception, led by former Xbox Kinect programmer Johnny Lee. Google hopes developers will build applications for indoor navigation, measurement, object identification, and more immersive 3D gaming.
Project Tango has emerged alongside Google's other virtual and augmented reality projects and investments, such as Glass, its Google Cardboard VR viewer, and a significant investment in Magic Leap - the company with augmented reality tech that it claims is safer and superior to Microsoft's new Hololens.
Project Tango developer kit devices are only available in the US currently, but Google intends to launch international sales later this year.
While the devices can be bought by average consumers now, it remains a developer's tool, with known issues that may make it unsuitable as a consumer device. Non-developers may be better off waiting for LG to deliver a consumer edition of the tablet.
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