Ronald

Once phones with MP3 players and cameras were considered high end. Then, not so long ago, phones with GPS and accelerometers were considered to be “smart” phones. Today, these features are increasingly becoming more familiar and a feature that is now creating a lot of buzz in popular high-end mobile handsets is - surprisingly something that has been around for more than 2000 years – the compass.

You see, the magnetometer (more commonly known as the digital compass) in a mobile device not only tells you what direction you’re facing. Combined with your phone’s camera, GPS and accelerometer it suddenly opens up a whole new world to you. Or more accurately – an augmented view of your reality.
According to Wikipedia, Augmented Reality (AR) is a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time.

In the mobile phone environment, your handset now knows where you are (based on your GPS co-ordinates). It knows the direction you’re facing (based on the digital compass reading) and it can even determine the angle of your vision (whether you’re looking up or down) based on the accelerometer. Combine that with relevant, accurate and real-time data from ‘the cloud’ and suddenly your mobile phone is transformed into a powerful and personal HUD (heads-up display) device that any fighter pilot would be proud of.

This week saw the launch of the “world’s first mobile augmented reality browser” – Layar. Running on Android, the free application shows you what is around you by displaying real time digital information on top of reality through the camera of your mobile phone. Click on the video below:

There have been a number of augmented reality apps released for Android devices such as Wikitude , Enkin and ING. Now that the latest Apple iPhone – the 3G S – also comes with an magnetometer included, we can expect a whole lot more apps – and augmented reality is already being called the killer app of the iPhone 3G S

Interesting Links
5 things you need to know about augmented reality - Stuff.tv
IBM launches new smartphone apps for Wimbledon - The Guardian
The Killer app for iPhone 3GS – BumbleBee Labs