Google managed to turn a lot of heads with its Project Tango initiative last year which was coupled with a tablet introduced as the test-bed for the project. The tablet has always been touted as a developer oriented gadget and was only available to buy through an invitation. This has now changed, as the Mountain View-based company releases the mysterious device for anyone willing to pay for it.
The powerhouse of a tablet has walked out of the invitation stage and has arrived straight into the Google Store while its retail price remains cut by almost fifty percent. Earlier, Google had brought down the price to $512 to all invitees, and that very price tag has been carried over to the store units as well. Meanwhile, the tablet continues to carry some of the best hardware specs money can buy, with the NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor at the heart of the machine, which despite being older than the Tegra X1, still packs a mean punch. 4GB of RAM is rather enviable for existing Android fans, and 128GB of onboard storage is simply plentiful. The display? A 7-inch 1080p panel.
However, what sets this apart from the rest of the tablets around right now is that 4MP camera with a massive module coupled with a motion and depth sensor giving the tablet a “human’s perspective” of the 3D world around it. The tablet is no consumer device by a long shot, and even through its much broader availability, the machine is pegged as a Tablet Development Kit. “These tablets are designed to enable software professionals to develop for the platform. The tablet has known issues and will receive regular updates which may modify the device’s functionality as the platform evolves. By purchasing this device, you acknowledge you understand this risk,” says the Android giant.
Interestingly, Google did not say a word about the tablet’s availability a day later at the Google I/O 2015 event, despite it announcing at the 2014 event that it was looking to team up with LG for a consumer tablet to be released in 2015.
Here’s our hands-on with Project Tango tablet from I/O 2014.
If you want to grab yourself a Project Tango developer tablet, then simply head over to this link.
You can follow us on Twitter, add us to your circle on Google+ or like our Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google, Apple and the Web.
