Google shows off Project Tango for Developers

Since its announcement a few months back, Google's Project Tango has been a really fascinating curiosity, but not much else. Hot on the heels of Computex, the tech giant unveiled a new tablet that has the same 3D mapping capabilities we all saw in their promotional video.

The tablet will cost $1024, and will come with an SDK and all the tools developers will need. Those attending the I/O conference later this month will be the first to have the chance to purchase the tablet.

This comes as another in a long line of decisions that tech companies have made to invest early in 3D mapping and Virtual Reality. In March, Facebook purchased Oculus for $2 billion, and Apple picked up PrimeSense in November.

Tango is the product of Google's Advanced Technology and Projects group, a division of Google that was rolled in after the purchase of Motorola Mobility back in 2012. The project is remarkably ambitious, and aims to give mobile devices a form of spatial intelligence. The potential applications are absolutely staggering, running the gamut from accessibility tech to a quick way to set up a Virtual Reality space. Regardless, this is definitely a big step towards getting these devices into the hands of developers. Someday soon that might well translate into a revolution for end-users, but that's still a good ways off.