 Augmented reality has been a dream for smartphones for years. It offers the promise of putting futuristic technology on a device that billions of people already own. But it's only recently that reality has started catching up, with companies like Apple, Facebook, and lots more on board. Now one of the biggest players here is Google, and today it's introducing a new Android-based augmented reality platform that it calls ARCore. Now wait a minute, doesn't Google already have an augmented reality platform? Well, yes. In 2014, it revealed Tango, which maps the world with depth sensing and motion tracking cameras. But Tango is only on a few devices, and ARCore's appeal is that it doesn't need special components. It's launching on the existing Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy S8, and Google promises support for 100 million Android devices by this winter. ARCore can't do everything that dedicated Tango hardware can, but it's supposed to offer a lot of Tango-like experiences to a much broader audience. ARCore is built around three basic capabilities. There's environmental detection, which looks for flat surfaces or other recognizable features. There's motion tracking, so you can pin an object to one place and walk around it. And there's scale and lighting estimation, which makes objects more realistically match their environments. ARCore isn't magic. Things pop out of place if, say, you lower your phone and walk around a big room. But it nails the core experience of putting down a digital object and keeping it in place while you look at it from any angle or distance, without drifting or jittering. You also get some basic environmental awareness, like shadows falling in the right direction or virtual characters reacting to the lights going out. Google is trying to attract ARCore developers who may not think of themselves as dedicated 3D app creators. People can import models made with its simple Blocks VR design tool. And there's an experimental version of Chromium with ARCore, so you can use augmented reality features in ordinary websites. It's trying to make Google AR development easy in a way that, until now, it hasn't been. The flip side is that you can't use every Tango app in ARCore, either. That dedicated depth sensor, for instance, can capture more detail than an ordinary camera. Right now, though, ARCore's real competition isn't Tango. It's Apple's ARKit. We couldn't directly compare ARKit and ARCore in Google's offices, but they offer similar experiences. While Google hasn't shown anything that would massively outshine ARKit, that's not really the point. Apple has shown that people will try fun experiments for augmented reality if it's easy to access. If Google can let Android users get in on that fun, it makes AR as a whole a lot more attractive for developers on both platforms. Of course, that's the big question. Will ARCore be common enough that people take it for granted? Ubiquity was supposed to be a big selling point for Google's Daydream VR, but a year after launch, it's still pretty niche. ARCore has some advantages here. It's launching on a popular existing phone, runs with both Android O and Android N, and doesn't require extra hardware like a headset. Google says it's working with Huawei, LG, Asus, and other manufacturers to put ARCore on new and existing phones. Given how much Android has suffered from fragmentation, though, it's still a valid concern. Google has a roadmap to a world of ubiquitous, high-quality augmented reality, but it also has a long way to go. Over the next months, we'll be watching to see if Google can make ARCore feel like a real part of Android, not just a special feature on certain phones. If it does, that's great news for Android users, augmented reality fans, and really, anybody with a phone.
 Augmented reality has been a dream for smartphones for years.
 It offers the promise of putting futuristic technology on a device that billions of people already own.
 But it's only recently that reality has started catching up, with companies like Apple, Facebook, and lots more on board.
 Now one of the biggest players here is Google, and today it's introducing a new Android-based augmented reality platform that it calls ARCore.
 Now wait a minute, doesn't Google already have an augmented reality platform? Well, yes.
 In 2014, it revealed Tango, which maps the world with depth sensing and motion tracking cameras.
 But Tango is only on a few devices, and ARCore's appeal is that it doesn't need special components.
 It's launching on the existing Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy S8,
 and Google promises support for 100 million Android devices by this winter.
 ARCore can't do everything that dedicated Tango hardware can,
 but it's supposed to offer a lot of Tango-like experiences to a much broader audience.
 ARCore is built around three basic capabilities.
 There's environmental detection, which looks for flat surfaces or other recognizable features.
 There's motion tracking, so you can pin an object to one place and walk around it.
 And there's scale and lighting estimation, which makes objects more realistically match their environments.
 ARCore isn't magic. Things pop out of place if, say, you lower your phone and walk around a big room.
 But it nails the core experience of putting down a digital object
 and keeping it in place while you look at it from any angle or distance, without drifting or jittering.
 You also get some basic environmental awareness, like shadows falling in the right direction
 or virtual characters reacting to the lights going out.
 Google is trying to attract ARCore developers who may not think of themselves as dedicated 3D app creators.
 People can import models made with its simple Blocks VR design tool.
 And there's an experimental version of Chromium with ARCore,
 so you can use augmented reality features in ordinary websites.
 It's trying to make Google AR development easy in a way that, until now, it hasn't been.
 The flip side is that you can't use every Tango app in ARCore, either.
 That dedicated depth sensor, for instance, can capture more detail than an ordinary camera.
 Right now, though, ARCore's real competition isn't Tango. It's Apple's ARKit.
 We couldn't directly compare ARKit and ARCore in Google's offices, but they offer similar experiences.
 While Google hasn't shown anything that would massively outshine ARKit, that's not really the point.
 Apple has shown that people will try fun experiments for augmented reality if it's easy to access.
 If Google can let Android users get in on that fun, it makes AR as a whole a lot more attractive for developers on both platforms.
 Of course, that's the big question. Will ARCore be common enough that people take it for granted?
 Ubiquity was supposed to be a big selling point for Google's Daydream VR, but a year after launch, it's still pretty niche.
 ARCore has some advantages here. It's launching on a popular existing phone, runs with both Android O and Android N,
 and doesn't require extra hardware like a headset. Google says it's working with Huawei, LG, Asus, and other manufacturers
 to put ARCore on new and existing phones. Given how much Android has suffered from fragmentation, though, it's still a valid concern.
 Google has a roadmap to a world of ubiquitous, high-quality augmented reality, but it also has a long way to go.
 Over the next months, we'll be watching to see if Google can make ARCore feel like a real part of Android, not just a special feature on certain phones.
 If it does, that's great news for Android users, augmented reality fans, and really, anybody with a phone.