The Lenovo Phab2 Pro, Google's First Project Tango Phone, To Go On Sale Next Month For $499

Google has announced that its first Project Tango phone, the Lenovo Phab2 Pro, will finally be available to purchase in November. The smartphone will sell for $499 unlocked in the United States the same month when the Pixel and Pixel XL are expected to start shipping.

Project Tango has been under development since 2014 under Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects division. The software is a form of augmented reality technology that will allow mobile devices, a smartphone for instance, to be spatially aware. Simply put, Project Tango applications will be able to map out a room’s dimensions using a device’s set of cameras and sensors. The technology is also applicable to tablets and virtual reality headsets.

The Lenovo Phab2 Pro, which was first announced back in June, will be the first ever commercially available smartphone that will come with Project Tango support. The handset itself comes with a large 6.4-inch display with a quad-HD 1440p screen resolution, a Snapdragon 652 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and a 4,050 mAh battery.

The most important feature of the Phab2 Pro is its set of cameras and sensors which will allow Project Tango’s technology to work. The handset comes with a standard 16-megapixel camera which is accompanied by the Tango wide-angle and depth-sensing camera above it, according to The Verge. The standard 16-megapixel camera is also able to record video in QHD at 30fps. The device also comes with an 8-megapixel front-facing camera capable of 1080p full HD video recording.

The Lenovo Phab2 Pro was originally supposed to be released this past summer, but was then pushed back for a September release. Google confirmed the November release date with CNET.

Google just recently unveiled the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones earlier this week, with pre-orders available now. The new smartphones will also be available in stores in November, which means that users will have some decision-making on which Google smartphone to buy next month.

The Pixel smartphones are compatible with Google’s Daydream VR headset, but the Phab2 Pro isn’t. The Phab2 Pro doesn’t come with an AMOLED display and Android Nougat OS out of the box. Meanwhile, the Pixel smartphones don’t come with the required sensors and cameras to support Project Tango.