Moto Z 'Likely' to Receive Tango Functionality via Moto Mod, Says Lenovo SVP

Lenovo's Phab 2 Pro smartphone may be one of the first smartphones to be Tango-ready right out-of-the-box. The company however has plans to roll out the Tango augmented reality functionality to the Moto Z (Review) as well.

At an event in Chicago, Aymar de Lencquesaing, Chairman and President - Motorola, and SVP, Lenovo Mobile Business, has confirmed that the Moto Z may soon receive Tango functionality. Lencquesaing added that the company will likely launch a Tango module to enable the Moto Z to have Tango functionality.

"The tablet folks did a phablet and worked with Google, the Tango team, to come out with a Tango phablet. Going forward, we'll have to address as a group how do we reconcile the products that are at the fringe? We're likely to have a Tango module to basically enable the Z to have Tango functionality," Lencquesaing was quoted saying at the event.

Unfortunately, Lencquesaing didn't announce a timeline for the availability of the Tango module for the Moto Z.

To recall, Google's Project Tango focuses around machine vision which means that a camera and sensor setup provides motion tracking, depth perception, and area learning. The features allow enabling augmented reality (AR) on a device that can make applications like indoor navigation, search, and gaming work. The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro sports a total of four cameras - an 8-megapixel front camera, a 16-megapixel rear RGB camera, a depth-sensing infrared camera with an imager and an emitter, as well as a motion tracking camera.

The Moto Z smartphone launched in India back in October and was priced at Rs. 39,999. The highlight of the smartphone is it supports Moto Mods, which connect to the rear of the smartphones via the 16-dot connector interface.