Google unveiled ARCore in August - which was a huge step forward for AR on Android, requiring no additional hardware, just like Apple's ARKit and to bring full AR capabilities to millions of Android devices.
While the erstwhile related Google's Tango augmented reality platform, to date, is known to be functional in only very few devices. As getting phone manufacturers to build the rather expensive functionality into their devices to support Tango was most probably the reason it suffered a low adoption. And Google only succeeded in getting the Tango platform running on a few devices over the course of three years.
Now, the company has set the deadline of March 1, 2018 to end support for its Tango augmented reality platform, shifting full focus to ARCore, in order to expand ARCore products reach to more Android devices.
According to the official Twitter account for Tango which announced the shutdown earlier today:
We’re turning down support for Tango on March 1, 2018. Thank you to our incredible community of developers who made such progress with Tango over the last three years. We look forward to continuing the journey with you on ARCore. https://t.co/aYiSUkgyieTango (@projecttango) December 15, 2017
The ARKCore SDK works with Java/OpenGL, Unity and Unreal; while focusing on three core areas: motion tracking, environmental understanding, and light estimation.
Google ease out the process by focusing on plane detection rather than building a 3D mesh of the space, allowing ARCore functionality to run on popular phones like the Galaxy S8 and Pixel without crazy built-in multi-camera IR setups.
Tango shutdown became necessary since there’s no logic in having a fractured development process for a tool that’s remarkably so difficult to align with a single AR platform.
