What is augmented reality?
Augmented reality (AR) is the integration of digital information with the user's environment in real time. AR users experience a real-world environment with generated perceptual information overlaid on top of it.
Augmented reality is used to either visually change natural environments in some way or to provide additional information to users. The primary benefit of AR is that it manages to blend digital and three-dimensional (3D) components with an individual's perception of the real world. AR has a variety of uses, from helping in decision-making to entertainment.
Augmented reality can be delivered in a variety of formats, including within smartphones, tablets and glasses. AR delivered through contact lenses is also being developed. The technology requires hardware components, such as a processor, sensors, a display and input devices. Mobile devices already typically have this hardware available, with sensors including cameras, accelerometers like that.
VR is a virtual environment created with software and presented to users in such a way that their brain suspends belief long enough to accept a virtual world as a real environment. Virtual reality is primarily experienced through a headset with sight and sound.
AR is uses the existing real-world environment and puts virtual information on top of it to create a sort of mixed reality.
- Apple Measure app
- Snapchat
- Pokemon Go
- Google Glass
AR technology continues to grow as the popularity and familiarization of apps and games like Pokemon Go or retail store AR apps increase. The expansion of 5G networks may make it easier to support cloud-based augmented reality experiences, for example, by providing AR applications with higher data speeds and lower latency.