When Google bought Motorola, they got most of their teams and when they let go, they made sure they kept the ATAP(Advanced Technology And Projects) group. Now, Google has announced their latest Project Tango which is a smartphone that can measure dimensions of the surroundings. Project Tango is an ambitious project from Google and is now currently a 5inch Android running smartphone that comes with specialized software and hardware to map the world around it.
The prototype phone comes with sensors allow the phone to make over a quarter million 3D measurements every second, updating its position and orientation in real-time, combining that data into a single 3D model of the space around you.The device runs on Android and supports development APIs to provide position, orientation, and depth data to standard Android applications written in Java, C/C++, as well as the Unity Game Engine. According to Google, these early prototypes, algorithms, and APIs are still in active development.
Google is currently inviting developers to try out their new Project Tango device and they have only 200 dev kits. They want developers to build applications that make use of indoor navigation/mapping, single/multiplayer games that use physical space, and new algorithms for processing sensor data.