Review: Lenovo's Phab 2 Pro Augmented-Reality Smartphone Could Be A Game-Changer For Professionals

During CES 2017, Lenovo allocated a whole wing of its demo area just to show off a smartphone.

Yes, a Lenovo-branded smartphone. And yes, this device needed a lot more space than a typical phone would require showing its capabilities.

That's because this phone, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, is all about interacting with the world around you—modeling it, measuring it, and even changing it (on the screen, at least).

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[Related: Lenovo Partners Intrigued By Augmented-Reality Smartphone From Lenovo, Google]

Released in early November, the Phab 2 Pro is the first device to leverage Google's augmented-reality technology, Tango, which features sensors for depth perception and motion tracking.

The months since its release have seen a flurry of Tango-specific apps hit the Google Play Store. In our tryout of the Phab 2 Pro, the one thing that's most clear is that the device—and Tango technology in general—will succeed or fail on the apps that are developed for it.

So far, though, we're impressed with the apps that have come out, and we think the Phab 2 Pro could be a worthwhile investment for professionals that focus on interior spaces.

The case for consumers is less clear. While there are some cool Tango games available—Fury of the Gods and Ghostly Mansion were two that we liked—the Phab 2 Pro is potentially an embarrassingly large consumer phone with a display of 6.4 inches.

But as a device for professionals, who will likely appreciate the large screen size, the Phab 2 Pro makes a lot of sense. Perhaps the next generation of the device ought to come in two sizes—a large size aimed at professionals and a smaller version for gaming-oriented consumers.

The specs are solid for a phone priced at $500—4GB of RAM, a speedy octa-core Snapdragon 652 processor, a huge battery—all of which are needed to support the Tango AR technology.

In our tryout, the technology itself mostly worked smoothly—surprisingly well, actually, for the first crack at a brand-new type of device.

In our view, the standout app for professionals so far is Matterport's Scenes, an app for 3D capture of objects and rooms.

With the app you can relatively quickly create a 3D model of an entire room just by moving the phone around—a major feat for a free smartphone app.

You can then view the room from all angles and take measurements within the saved file of the model.

Construction contractors and interior designers, for instance, may stand to save a lot of time and effort with the Scenes app.

Some other Tango apps are also available for measuring room interiors and objects, as are apps for virtually placing furniture or redecorating a room (including apps from Wayfair and Lowe's).

As Lenovo and Google are no doubt expecting, the Phab 2 Pro is mostly appropriate for early adopters, whether they be gaming and gadget-loving consumers or interior-oriented professionals.

The modest $500 price of the phone, however, would seem to open it up to many businesses that are looking to experiment with tapping AR and 3D for their work.