Augmented Reality: The Greatest Thing Since...Regular Reality?
Imagine a world where you wake up in the morning, (I probably lost a few people already with that concept) and the first thing you do is put on your very own pair of iGlasses. Like an iPhone, only…you wear them, obviously. So instead of a techno infused universe at your fingertips, that universe envelops you completely. Instead of one that you can turn off and put in your pocket, this one is forever before you…saves time right?
As you draw the bedroom blinds, you are presented with information regarding the weather for the coming day; relative humidity, chance of rain, wind speed etc. However, this information isn’t just blandly listed out for you. Instead, it dynamically interacts with the images that you see naturally. The temperature being displayed inside the actual sun; the humidty/altitude changing as you look up, then down. All of this working together to create a sort of Iron Man-ish heads up display of the world around you.
Walking from the bedroom, you overview your daily task list which is presented as an upward scrolling font reminiscient of Star Wars-with the Imperial March accompaniment optional. You arrive in the kitchen for breakfast, and are shown the calories, fat content, and sugar for all the foods you are about to consume….you consume them anyway.
All the while you are playing Rolando 5, which interacts seamlessly with your hands splayed out in front of you. To an onlooker (and you thought they looked at you funny before for playing in public) it would appear you are swatting frantically at invisible spider webs, but inside your augmented reality world you are controlling, manipulating, and interacting with those delightfully annular protagonists.
This is the world of augmented reality. Rather… that’s the pitch.
The reality of it so far, is decidedly less impressive…and more buggy. But this does seem to be the way technology is trying to go.
In the meantime we are left with apps that show fairies flying in your field of vision…or the field of vision of your iPhone window. And, if reviews are to be believed, then the tech has quite a long way to go-but the idea is certainly attracting a lot of attention.
In fact, so strong was the romantic appeal of the concept on myself that I actually considered purchasing the new iPhone 3Gs at full (no upgrade) price!! Just so I could try out this new way of looking at the world. Sad, I know. That’s not to say the concept of augmented reality is not entirely without its quirks.
If your walking down the street one day and your looking at all the buildings surrounding you, and the iPhone shows you the names and numbers of the tenants in bright little pop-up bubbles…then that’s just dandy. But the fact remains that you have to be standing in sightline of the building to get any information on it. Clearly the concept is not meant for extensive research. Nor, I think, was it meant to. No, augmented reality is meant to engage that part of our brain that finds more pleasure in pizzazz than utility. More pleasure in flicking and pinching photos than in merely pressing ‘next.’ Yes, it is that very part of our brains that Steve Jobs seems to have had a hand in creating.
So sure there will be lots of vacant looking expressions, inadvertent collisions on the sidewalk, and more than a few of those awkwardly misplaced waves you give when you think someone is looking at you but it turns out they really aren’t…but think of the benefits!
If we play our cards right, then one day…we could see an augmented reality app that simulates x-ray vision…on clothes!! Sure it would have to be simulated, but who would know the difference? Err…no I totally would.
