Following the presentation ofARkit at WWDC, Google decided to change its strategy completely by abandoning the TANGO to a new platform called ARCore. Available by the end of the year, it becomes the new platform for democratising augmented reality on Android smartphones and tablets. 
Movement in augmented reality
The augmented reality sector is in full swing in this3rd quarter of 2017. Indeed, at the beginning of last June, Apple took advantage of its Keynote to present its new ARKit tool. A real revolution for augmented reality, this system offers a stable and fluid technology that allows you to display 3D and 2D elements superimposed on the real thing without the need for any visual marker and leaving you free to move around. But its main strength is elsewhere: this tool will be available on all Apple devices since the IPhone 5S. The technology is therefore within reach of several million users. We are therefore only a few weeks away from seeing a multitude of applications flourish using this new way of integrating augmented reality.
credit: http://mashable.com/2017/06/05/ar-kit-apple-wwdc
Google's response
Faced with this demonstration of strength, Google was banking on TANGO, a less powerful system developed several years ago. However, this technology requires a multitude of sensors and is therefore only available on certain very specific high-end models, limiting its development for the general public. This is therefore the black spot that marks the beginning of the break with this technology, which is too limited in volume. The change of strategy on the part of Google was therefore inevitable in order not to lose the mobile augmented reality race altogether. The objective for the Mountain View giant is therefore to offer a technology that is simpler to set up, notably by using the existing photo sensors on Android smartphones. In short, a simple software update available on a maximum number of smartphones and tablets.
ARCore is already showing itself!
Despite the very recent announcement of this change of direction by Google, previews are already available on a dedicated website to see the first possibilities of this technology. For the time being, it is unfortunately only available for the Google Pixel and Galaxy S8 smartphones. The company is counting on 100 million compatible smartphones in the long term, in particular by working in collaboration with various manufacturers such as LG, Samsung, Huawei and Asus.
credit: Google
According to Google, ARCore technology works on the basis of three elements:
- Motion tracking" which allows the smartphone to understand and track its own position in space.
- Environmental understanding that allows the phone to detect the size and location of horizontal surfaces.
- The light calculation that allows the smartphone to estimate the ambient light in order to perfectly integrate the 3D elements in the real world.
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