The Emergence of AR and VR
The emergence of augmented reality and virtual reality has been enormous over the past decade. From the Oculus Rift to Pokemon Go, this kind of technology has swept consumers and technophiles off their feet. Statista says 15% of people owned a virtual reality computing device in 2019 and is set to be a $160 billion market by 2023.
AR and VR both use mainly sight and, more often than not, hearing and movement to create an immersive experience for the user. Although AR and VR technologies bleed into each other, they are not the same. In fact, augmented and virtual reality are two very different concepts and attract different audiences.
What is Virtual Reality?
Virtual reality often uses headsets which block out the real world to immerse you into a digital world. VR takes over your vision to give you an impression that you are somewhere else. LCD or OLED technology completely fills your field of vision to whatever game or video you are playing.
Virtual reality also knows where you are. The headsets don’t just detect the direction in which you are facing, but any movement you make in the certain direction. You can also control your hand movements with 6DOF controllers. You are able to pick up things and press buttons with your virtual hands in your virtual reality.
There is a ton of possibilities surrounding VR. Users can be taken to anywhere in the world and even to worlds that only exist in the realms of the internet. Replacing everything around you with something completely different but still being able to physically walk around and interact is extremely immersive. With more development, VR is set to become even more mind blowing!
What is Augmented Reality?
Remember Pokemon Go in 2016/7? Well, this was one of the most popularised games involving AR in the past decade. Augmented Reality allows you to see everything in front of you but projects a digital image on top to change it. AR can be in many different forms such as phone apps and digital glasses.
There are limitless opportunities within AR technology. It involves data overlay on real life objects. For example, time could be shown in your vision or floating holograms can be part of an interactive game. Smart glasses are set to be the next big thing such as the Microsoft Hololens and other enterprise-level smart glasses.
AR headsets let you virtually place different apps around you, giving you an instantly modular multiple monitor digital setup. Augmented reality is expected to have huge potential for mass consumption in the next couple of years. Watch out for new AR glasses in the tech market.
Samsung AR Glasses Lite Leak
A Twitter account recently leaked the plans for Samsung’s new AR glasses called Samsung Glasses Lite. The glasses are shown to project a large virtual screen in the viewer’s field of vision like a computer screen. Integrated smartwatch control and automatic sunglasses mode are some potential extra features of the device.
The glasses can be used for work, play, and using glasses as a first-person-view. Although at first glance the glasses could seem chunky, these are much more discreet than other AR glasses of this spec that are one the market today.
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