Intel’s Smartphone: RealSense/Project Tango Dev Kit Shipping Q1

[scolaner]

The Intel RealSense/Project Tango prototype smartphone is done -- as a dev kit -- and is available for preorder now for $399.

Intel’s Smartphone: RealSense/Project Tango Dev Kit Shipping Q1 : Read more

 

[alextheblue]

You say that the R200 camera has been "replaced" by the ZR300, but under the full specs list the ZR300 seems to just be a package name for the various components including the RealSense R200. So not replaced, or typo, or what? Very unclear.

Anyway I bet that Atom drinks lithium battery sauce like a lush at an open bar. I mean that is the same chipset that is in the Surface 3 (non-Pro). Well, it's just a dev kit I guess.

 

[scolaner]

You say that the R200 camera has been "replaced" by the ZR300, but under the full specs list the ZR300 seems to just be a package name for the various components including the RealSense R200. So not replaced, or typo, or what? Very unclear.

You are correct--that point was delivered to me in a confusing way. I figured it out, but I forgot to change it in the body of the text.

Anyway I bet that Atom drinks lithium battery sauce like a lush at an open bar. I mean that is the same chipset that is in the Surface 3 (non-Pro). Well, it's just a dev kit I guess.

Lol. Smartphone as lush.

 

[bit_user]

Anyway I bet that Atom drinks lithium battery sauce like a lush at an open bar. I mean that is the same chipset that is in the Surface 3 (non-Pro). Well, it's just a dev kit I guess.

The SDP is 2W. They were probably desperate to pack as much horsepower as possible. It's surely a gating factor, in many AR applications. As you say, battery life should be less critical in a dev kit, but I sure hope they put some decent capacity in there.

By comparison, Google's 7" Tango tablet had a both a Tegra K1 SoC and a Movidius processor. The CPU was quad-core A15 @ up to 2.3 GHz. I don't know how the K1's GPU compares to the HD Graphics incarnation in that SoC, but I think Intel might be coming up a bit short.

 

[bit_user]

The final version has some new guts: It now runs on an Intel Atom x7-Z8700 (Cherry Trail) SoC instead of the Atom x5-Z8500 (Cherry Trail).

Indeed, the x7-Z8700 is their only Phone SoC with 16 shader pipelines. I'm guessing 33% more GPU horsepower than the x5 was the driving factor, more than the 7% CPU clock speed advantage.

I find the screen resolution a bit odd. If the GPU is already taxed by AR, then why add such a high-res screen? 1920x1080 would have been fine. That's what the 7" tablet had, and I didn't feel it was an issue.

 

[scolaner]

The final version has some new guts: It now runs on an Intel Atom x7-Z8700 (Cherry Trail) SoC instead of the Atom x5-Z8500 (Cherry Trail).

Indeed, the x7-Z8700 is their only Phone SoC with 16 shader pipelines. I'm guessing 33% more GPU horsepower than the x5 was the driving factor, more than the 7% CPU clock speed advantage.

I find the screen resolution a bit odd. If the GPU is already taxed by AR, then why add such a high-res screen? 1920x1080 would have been fine. That's what the 7" tablet had, and I didn't feel it was an issue.

Have to agree with you on the screen res. Maybe it's my no-longer-young eyes (and nearsightedness), but I don't get 2560x1440 on a small screen. I mean, it looks great, but...to my eyes, only marginally moreso that FHD. And on a device like this with high demands, it seems a waste of resources. But maybe there's something we don't know or understand yet.

 

[mebalzer]

I look forward to receiving my developer kit to compare it to the NEODiVR solution for the iPhone 6s Plus/Occipital Structure sensor that allows for eAVR (environmental Awareness Virtual Reality) that I have designed the NEODiVR for to allow you walk, sit, crouch, and even lie down in the VR environment. With my new NEODiVR "Lopue" for 5.5" I have also decided to design a version specifically for the Intel and Lenovo Project Tango phones.

Battery I am not too concerned with since adding a external battery pack is an easy solution. So my concern would be with overheating like the Samsung phones. Something I don't have to worry about with the iPhone.

Also, UHD or higher screen resolution allows for it to be used as VR device, which is why it was made to be Project Tango compatible with high performance IMU.

 

[scolaner]

I look forward to receiving my developer kit to compare it to the NEODiVR solution for the iPhone 6s Plus/Occipital Structure sensor that allows for eAVR (environmental Awareness Virtual Reality) that I have designed the NEODiVR for to allow you walk, sit, crouch, and even lie down in the VR environment. With my new NEODiVR "Lopue" for 5.5" I have also decided to design a version specifically for the Intel and Lenovo Project Tango phones.

Battery I am not too concerned with since adding a external battery pack is an easy solution. So my concern would be with overheating like the Samsung phones. Something I don't have to worry about with the iPhone.

Also, UHD or higher screen resolution allows for it to be used as VR device, which is why it was made to be Project Tango compatible with high performance IMU.

Hmm, interesting point...maybe they're future-proofing so the phone can maybe be used with a mobile HMD. But as far as anything I've seen or discussed, Project Tango is fundamentally about AR, not VR.

 

[RedJaron]

Wait a minute here. They finally made a phone with an x86 CPU, and a decent one at that, but then all they did was put Android on it? Surely you can make a phone application for Windows, Linux, or whatever other OS you could run on this.