Lenovo Phab 2 Pro review: first Google Tango phone shows promise with small yet compelling AR app library but is mediocre for day-to-day tasks
I just spent 15 minutes wandering around the office, trying to shoot ghouls in the face with lightning. Before that, I dropped a virtual rococo sofa …
Context & Ripple Effects
The Phab 2 Pro's arc was fast by phone standards: Lenovo announced it as the first consumer Google Tango device at $499 in June, then started shipping in early November — and Engadget's verdict lands within weeks of retail availability. The review confirms the bet Lenovo made on being first: the AR demos (virtual furniture, office shooter games) work as promised, but the phone itself is only mediocre outside AR.
First-order effects
- Early $499 buyers are paying flagship money for a handset that is compelling only inside its small AR app library, which makes the purchase decision hinge almost entirely on Tango content that barely exists yet.
- Google gets its first real-world readout on Tango beyond dev kits: the depth-sensing hardware works well enough for room-scale AR, but the day-to-day experience drags the overall product down.
Second-order effects
- Asus pressed ahead anyway with the Tango-powered ZenFone AR, and a year later reviewers hit the same wall — good camera and screen, but what Android Police called a pathetically small number of apps (ZenFone AR review) — suggesting the second OEM inherited the first-mover's software gap, not just its tech.
- With both launch devices dinged on fundamentals (battery, everyday performance), Tango's fate shifts from a hardware question to an ecosystem question: developers have little incentive to build for two niche phones with thin install bases.
Third-order effects
- If this pattern holds across both Tango handsets, dedicated AR-first phones stall as a category until a platform owner can guarantee software volume — pushing AR toward integration into mainstream flagship lines rather than standalone specialist devices.
- Reviews consistently separating 'great AR sensor package' from 'mediocre phone' set the template for how the industry judges spatial-computing hardware: sensors alone no longer sell a device.
The trend: Dedicated AR smartphones are shipping ahead of their software ecosystems, and the recurring gap between impressive sensing hardware and a thin app library is becoming the defining constraint on mobile AR.