Augmented Reality was a concept that went through many trails to become a reality. The first form of AR tech introduced in mobile phones was too taxing on both hardware and software. Devices simply lacked the power to sustain AR experiences. Google Tango is an example of how the tech failed to get a grip in those years. However, post-2016, we have been seeing huge advancements in the field of Augmented Reality.
Smartphones have become powerful and the modern AR software platforms are optimized very well, resulting in them being able to work flawlessly even on devices that have just one camera.
And the upgrades and advancements are expected to continue in coming years, making AR easily accessible and most importantly, believable. Let’s have a look the Augmented Reality trends to watch in 2019.
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1. AR on Mobile Devices
There is no doubt that more and more people are preferring mobile phones over desktops for media consumption. Smartphones are the reason why AR amassed such popularity. Tech giants like Google and Apple have recognized this and have been pouring resources into creating a stable ecosystem for AR developers, empowering them to do more.
And in 2019, we will see more emphasis on mobile AR experiences, like AR games and AR apps for productivity.
2. AR and AI
AR or Augmented Reality is all about overlaying graphical elements onto real-world environments. And the effectiveness of AR depends on the quality of the graphical elements, and how acutely these graphic elements are placed on the real word surface. And Artificial Intelligence can help in doing so.
AR elements should be responsive to the movement of the user. So, if the users were to move around, the digital elements should respond accordingly. AI will be used more and more in AR to further improve the effectiveness of the whole experience.
Another facet where AI is being incorporated into the AR is in the developmental phase. AI can help developers to code faster and avoid errors by real-time compiling. the recent announcement by Unity and IBM working together to incorporate AI to coding is an example of how companies are coming are using AI and AR together,
3. AR in Industries
AR is not all about games, other industries are also eyeing the use of AR and how it can benefit them. Now we see companies using AR in shopping apps, advertising campaigns, and other interesting activities.
The healthcare industry is now using AR technology to help students in their training programs. Another implementation is creating AR models out of scan results so that the doctor can evaluate and call for an accurate diagnosis.
The education field uses AR to help students better visualize different topics by rendering their models in AR. It makes it easier for students to learn and gives them a platform to interact with the AR object, helping them to grasp the concepts quickly and easily.
4. AR Navigation
We already have navigation apps on our phone, so why would AR bring something new to it? The current navigation systems of ours are in 2D. And, this is a problem in cities or crowded streets where there are adjacent roads to each other, which makes it confusing for the user on which turn to take.
By using AR, the user can just point the camera at the road, and the graphical overlay of arrows will be overlayed on the imagery, helping the user to know precisely which route to take.
Google has already started rolling out Google Maps with AR assistance. It is easy to see why more companies will soon follow because it is intuitive and powerful.
5. Collaboration Experiences with AR
Our current model of AR is based on a single user experience, but that is slowly changing. Shared AR experiences are slowly gaining traction and the technology for facilitating the same are making vast improvements.
With AR shared experiences, uses can be a part of the same AR experience even though they are not in the same room. Users can be at their respective homes, participating in conferences in shared AR experiences, fully capable of seeing everyone and every presentation in their AR form.
The demonstration from Spatial shows how this technology can be implemented, and the speed of advancement of the technology.
6. Powerful Immersive Experience
If you were to point out a shortcoming of current AR experiences, then you would probably point to poor visual quality. The reason for such a drawback can be attributed to the lack of hardware that can properly drive the AR experience.
With a powerful system, consisting of a capable graphics card and speedy processor, the AR element can have lifelike image quality, but that would deeply hinder its accessibility.
However, strides of advancements are made in the field of AR every single day, enabling AR on less powerful systems with respectable quality.
Our devices are also getting more powerful than ever before. Most modern smartphones are running on multicore processors with an equally powerful graphics processing unit. It won’t be long before we see realistic AR renderings driven just by the power of our smartphones.
7. The Rise of XR
XR is a term used to encapsulate experiences created by AR, VR, MR. Augmented Reality isn’t the only technology that is getting better and more accessible. VR and MR are also rising in their popularity and adoption. This will create a complete ecosystem of computer-generated experiences called XR or Extended Reality.
In 2019, XR will less likely to be a term that will be used in the consumer side of things, but in the developmental areas of both AR and VR.
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Conclusion
2019 is certainly a year to be excited about tech. With modern industries showing an active interest in adopting and implementing the technology, we can safely assure that AR is here to stay.
2019 is going to be the year where the technology will reach a sense of stability, where developers and hardware manufacturers actively participate in creating powerful AR ecosystems for the rest of the world to enjoy.