Google reveals exciting details about its 3D-sensing tablet

Google has released the specs of its new prototype: a 7-inch tablet that has 128 GB of internal storage, 4 GB of RAM, and runs Android 4.4 KitKat, powered by a NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor. More importantly, it also comes with 3D sensors and a motion-tracking camera, allowing it to create realistic models of its immediate environment.

It’s part of the company’s Project Tango initiative, which aims to bring 3D to mobile. Google’s experimental Advanced Technology and Projects group announced its first Project Tango device, a 3D sensor-enabled smartphone, back in February and the first prototypes were distributed to 200 developers hand-picked by Google.

Now they’re taking applications from developers who want to splash out $1,024 on the tablet development kit, which will include the hardware and all the software they need to design apps for the new device. Google hopes coders will be inspired to create applications that make use of 3D tracking and motion sensors, which could be used to improve navigation, interior design, accessibility for disabled people, and gaming. (For starters.)

No timescale yet as to when the tablet might make its way into customers’ excited little hands, but we’re expecting to see a demonstration of its capabilities at the Google I/O developer conference, which takes place in San Francisco on June 25-26th.