Google and Qualcomm are making Snapdragon chips Tango ready

Manufacturers can make their devices Tango compatible simply by equipping them with Qualcomm's new and upcoming Snapdragon 800 and 600 SoCs. According to Ars Technica, the chipmaker has been working with Google for the past year-and-a-half to make its products ready for the tech titan's augmented reality technology. See, when the big G showed off its Project Tango (as it was called back then) prototype, it had an extra computer vision chip. But the first Tango phone, Lenovo's Phab2 Pro, doesn't have one at all.

Phab2 Pro relies on its quad-core Snapdragon 652 processor to run Tango's AR capabilities. Qualcomm even says that since its processors are optimized for the technology, Tango ends up using less processing power than a normal app and consumes less than two watts. By removing the need for extra hardware besides a depth sensor and a motion tracking camera, the partners are making it easy for phonemakers to adopt the AR tech. Tango, if you'll recall, can superimpose images over the real world through a device's camera. One of its applications is helping you visualize what your house would look like before you even start renovating or replacing your furniture.