The future of Mobile technology or rather the future of human kind, proposing to change the way we look at things and at the world at large is this technology named augmented reality. Now your third eye would become your unsuspected mobile phone which would serve as a Kaleidoscope of myriad real time information beyond the possibilities of vision.

Gone are the days when you would tediously scout for information on a search engine using your mobile. Now is the beginning of the AR era, the mantra of the mobile world and an amrit for users of high technology. The concept of augmented reality has its roots in Astrophysics which evolved into virtual reality and now with a merger with real time experience is augmented reality of the current day.

It is real time experience enhanced by the virtual world. A simple day to day example of AR is the boundary line used in American football. This boundary line looks like a ray of light, which is actually a computer generated line which aids decisions on fouls and penalties, with its statistics and info on every movement across the line. This has become an inherent part of football that Fans can’t do away with.

AR has become more active in the mobile sphere because mobility is the essence of augmented reality. The recent past has seen three applications of augmented reality available with the Apple i-phone 3GS.The Applications available in the i-tunes store are the London bus application and Paris subway application. In both these API’s when you point your video cam in the direction of a building, say at its roof top restaurant, for instance. It would display details and specifications that the building was built by a czar in the 1930’s and the restaurant serves Mediterranean food. If we point it across a street say, then it would display the directions and the nearby shopping malls and restaurants and so on.
Click here to watch the youtube video for AR

The built in compass, Global positioning system and video cam make it possible for augmented reality along with the Wikis and real-time social media. The cost free API for Apple Iphone 3GS is a surprise Easter egg to users. It was found that shaking the phone thrice would reveal a Yelp’s monocle and Abracadabra; this leads you to the augmented reality application. This API is also similar to the other two except that you got to hold the camera very still to get the real experience.

We have spoken so much on iphone now lets explore as to what Google and Nokia are upto in the AR market. Nokia’s research centre is all boastful of their MARA, the mobile augmented reality application. When all that iphone would do is show the specifications of the restaurant but Nokia will be able to give the reservation and vacancy status of the restaurant.

Google’s Android is not far behind, they are ready with the Wikitude AR travel guide developed by Mobilizy with location based Wikipedia and Qype content. This comes in handy while planning a trip as it can recall 3, 50,000 world points with a list view, map view and augmented reality view.

Layar, the augmented reality browser could be very intrusive, because the same GPS, cam, web and compass would be able to locate you and provide information on your environment. A recent news article read that the same technology has annoyed none other than Hollywood celebrity Brad Pitt, when he was spied on his whereabouts.

The ongoing debate in the future of mobile technology is whether the content for augmented reality should be user driven or developer driven. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. User driven content will fall short in accuracy while developer driven content will fall short in interactivity, fun and thus popularity.

AR could tackle either routes, but as predicted by some technology experts it should take the user route along with content filters. Whatever the future of AR, we in India have to wait for 3G, hoping we don’t get outdated. With 3G on its way and M-Governance being discussed, augmented reality will reach only the elite few whilst the Nation is struggling to get good bandwidth for internet connections and a good mobile connectivity range for its mobile phones.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 1:43 am and is filed under Mobile. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.