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Moto Z ‘likely’ to get Tango functionality via a new module, Lenovo SVP says

Lenovo launched the Phab2 Pro earlier this year (actually, it just recently started shipping) as the first Android “phone” to have support for Google’s Tango. I say “phone” because the Lenovo Phab2 Pro is basically a 7-inch tablet with cellular radios. Now, however, it looks like Tango might be coming to an actual phone in the form of a new module for the Moto Z…

In a press event today (via PCMag), Senior Lenovo VP and Motorola’s President Aymar de Lencquesaing said that Tango technology will “likely” come to the Moto Z.

“The tablet folks did a phablet and worked with Google, the Tango team, to come out with a Tango phablet,” he said. “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 to have a Tango module to basically enable the Z to have Tango functionality.”

This is good news for fans of the Moto Z (as I am, I reviewed the Moto Z Droid and Moto Z Force Droid earlier this year, and had mostly positive things to say). It means that not only is Lenovo not giving up on the Moto Mods — it’s doubling-down on them. One of my biggest gripes with the Moto Z is that the mods are too expensive and don’t offer enough useful functionality. Perhaps that will change.

Perhaps most excitingly, it sounds like — if this Lenovo VP is to be taken at his word — that Google isn’t quite giving up on Tango —or at least phone-based AR — either. So far Project Tango on the Lenovo Phab2 Pro (our review is coming soon!) has just been a novelty, with many of its apps only useful in niche cases, but perhaps that will change in the coming years. We can only hope.

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Avatar for Stephen Hall Stephen Hall

Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. If you want to get in touch, follow me on Twitter. Or, email at stephen (at) 9to5mac (dot) com, or an encrypted email at hallstephenj (at) protonmail (dot) com.