Major App Developers Show Off ARKit Apps Ahead of iOS 11 Launch

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

For my iPhone 5s and my 32 bit games apps, this is the end of the line.

Sorry, you've been sent to Apple's arbitrary graveyard, never to be seen again.

Even if I buy a new iPhone, I have little interest in this kid's toy ARKIT or IOS 11.

The world just got a little bit dumber while excited about this.

 

[Cmd-Z]

Perfect AR app idea; it's called "The Good Ol' Days". The app covers up all the decaying buildings, homeless people, garbage piled up in the streets, and burned out cars, so you can walk around pretending the world is still as it was "in the good ol' days". Whaduyathink? It's a winner, right??

Might be a hit with the MAGA crowd /s

 

[macduke]

Pretty impressive considering this is the first implementation. It will only get better over time.

Does anyone know if ARKit disables optical image stabilization? Watching that video full screen on my 5K iMac nearly made me sick with the subtle jitters that looks like it's probably no OIS. I'm sure it looks acceptable on a small device.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

In related news, Google is in full panic mode, trashing Project Tango and all the related OEM investments to slavishly follow ARKit with... (drumroll) ARCore!

Which is vaporware with a vague "next winter" release date.

Vaporware? You're kidding right? Let me clue you in.

Just because ARKit is at all iOS devices does not = PWN/RULEZ/TOTAL DOMINATION. Not everyone will be using AR.

Google nor anyone is panicking at all. They already KNEW Apple was getting into AR which is a open secret. Please. Tim Cook opened his mouth too early and is not a very good liar. And if you think it has potential, just watch Apple drop the ball on this one just like they did with Apple TV or iTunes, dragging it out without making any improvements.

 

[TouchedByAl]

I think this stuff is neat and am excited about its future. I just hope these apps aren't going to be major battery drains which is precisely why I've never used augmented reality apps. I can't use them if I have to plug my phone into a charger after 15 minutes of use.

 

[Michael Scrip]

In related news, Google is in full panic mode, trashing Project Tango and all the related OEM investments to slavishly follow ARKit with... (drumroll) ARCore!

Which is vaporware with a vague "next winter" release date.

Panic mode?

Do you think Google cooked up ARCore in the 2 months since Apple announced ARKit at WWDC 2017?

Let's not forget that Google has been publicly working on AR-related tech for the last 3 years. Who knows how long it was in the lab before that.

I would imagine ARCore was in the works for a while. And today we got to see a glimpse of it.

 

[stevet]

I can say with certainty that you'll be eating those words in the next few years. AR might not be the game changer they think it will be, but it stands a chance of making a lot of everyday things a lot easier, once more businesses get on board.

I'd love to hear your examples...

 

[macTW]

I don’t really see any value in a phone base AR, now glasses (that don’t look ridiculous) could really benefit from something like this.

We spend so much time looking at our phone and through our phone's camera... it's the perfect environment for AR.

100% beats glasses. Phone can be put down or turned off, or even looked around, while glasses take your entire view and you're stuck with either on or off.
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Worse gimmick than 3d TV. Believe me, I know a gimmick when I see one. I have a fairly good understanding of the world and how it's run on marketing.

This is another one of those "we need something new, lets see if THIS works" type of ideas

Yes. We trust random guy on internet more than billions of dollars of research and decades of proficient market analysis by top companies.

I would say let's hope you don't get hired by Apple, but you wouldn't with your misconception of what features will succeed and which won't.

 

[Macaholic868]

Meanwhile, I'm still working on AdaptAR, an app that uses AR to overlay the cables, dongles, and captors required to connect two Apple devices.

Touché! Dongle, Dongle!!!
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As much as this has the potential be an amazing serious tool in so many fields like medicine, education, industry... it's kind of comforting to see it being used for cakes, zombies and caterpillar stories so early on.

LOL!!! It reminds me of the early days of the App Store itself. Flashlight apps, banner apps and fart noise making apps ruled the day.

 

[wedouglas]

Yes. We trust random guy on internet more than billions of dollars of research and decades of proficient market analysis by top companies.

I would say let's hope you don't get hired by Apple, but you wouldn't with your misconception of what features will succeed and which won't.

Well, who was right about 3D TVs? A random guy on the Internet who said it was a gimmick, or "billions of dollars of research and decades of proficient market analysis by top companies."

3D TVs failed even though they were backed by the likes of Samsung and Sony etc. Apple products have failed as well.

As of right now, nothing they've shown has really augmented reality. None of these demos are actually making use of "reality". Does it really matter if these demos are AR or VR? AR should interact with the environment, not just pointlessly track a fixed point so that something "floats" in the middle of the room.

 

[RipsMctits]

I don't need this garbage on a phone. Just giving another reason for people to be holding their phones to their faces. Give me glasses, or nothing. I'll wait through this beta phase until it's a properly-implemented technology that is actually transparent and useful.

 

[Markoth]

I'd love to hear your examples...

Not hard to imagine. Aiming your phone at a business, any business, and having its information displayed on your screen, such as a restaurant and its menu, or a grocery and its current deals. No googling required. Aim your phone at a landmark, and have the phone recognize the landmark, and pull up some information about that too, displaying this all on screen, pointing out areas of interest in realtime as you move the camera over them. I can't imagine how anyone could call this kind of thing a gimmick. Life-changing? Not really, but definitely useful.

 

[futbalguy]

While I am really excited to see this being effectively used in enterprise environments and for professional use, I'm really not enthused about personal. VR excites me a lot more in general, but that's because of the nerd in me.

What I am thinking: Where is the value add? It's the same stuff we can already do in video games, just as an overlay to our environment. Even if this was extended to be incorporated everywhere in everyday use, it's still confined to your personal devices's small screen. I'm not convinced.

The only way I see this changing is in the distant future with glasses, or something similar. That's way far off though. Either I'm missing something, or this is way overblown by most people.

I'm a pretty big skeptic of apps and agree that a lot of these early apps will be a flash in the pan. But I think there will be some game changing apps and use cases in a short while. There are a lot of devs out there and at least a few are going to discover real value add.

 

[Keirasplace]

Panic mode?

Do you think Google cooked up ARCore in the 2 months since Apple announced ARKit at WWDC 2017?

Let's not forget that Google has been publicly working on AR-related tech for the last 3 years. Who knows how long it was in the lab before that.

I would imagine ARCore was in the works for a while. And today we got to see a glimpse of it.

From what I've heard, and its capabilities, it does seem the repackaging is panic mode time.
And considering how little hardware/software combo it will be on, they'll be even deeper in the hole in 2 weeks.
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Well, who was right about 3D TVs? A random guy on the Internet who said it was a gimmick, or "billions of dollars of research and decades of proficient market analysis by top companies."

3D TVs failed even though they were backed by the likes of Samsung and Sony etc. Apple products have failed as well.

As of right now, nothing they've shown has really augmented reality. None of these demos are actually making use of "reality". Does it really matter if these demos are AR or VR? AR should interact with the environment, not just pointlessly track a fixed point so that something "floats" in the middle of the room.

You must be blind then, go look further for the proper examples; and no, I won't do the work for you.

 

[Michael Scrip]

From what I've heard, and its capabilities, it does seem the repackaging is panic mode time.
And considering how little hardware/software combo it will be on, they'll be even deeper in the hole in 2 weeks.

All I'm saying is... we don't know Google's timetable for any of this.

We do know that Google has been working on Project Tango with specific hardware for years.

But I really don't think Google saw WWDC in June and instantly thought "ZOMG we have to make AR work on normal phones!!!"

Again... who knows. Maybe we'll read about it in a book in a decade.

 

[hrishidev]

Panic mode?

Do you think Google cooked up ARCore in the 2 months since Apple announced ARKit at WWDC 2017?

Let's not forget that Google has been publicly working on AR-related tech for the last 3 years. Who knows how long it was in the lab before that.

I would imagine ARCore was in the works for a while. And today we got to see a glimpse of it.

They surely have knowledge base for AR but following blogspot from Google has many similarities to ARKit WWDC video. Google has all ingredients but they are borrowing recipe from Apple

https://developers.google.com/ar/

 

[BvizioN]

Meanwhile, I'm still working on AdaptAR, an app that uses AR to overlay the cables, dongles, and captors required to connect two Apple devices.

Funny. I only ever used one cable on my MacBook 2017.... and did lot of video/photo editing. And by the way, I got that cable for half of it's price from Apple store. But people will cry/moan anyway.Some will even make apps to make fun of it...

 

[KohPhiPhi]

My main concern with AR is the ergonomics: holding up your iphone/ipad in the air for minutes is unconfortable. Glasses-based AR, in the other hand... talk about the future!

 

[Michael Scrip]

My main concern with AR is the ergonomics: holding up your iphone/ipad in the air for minutes is unconfortable.

Glasses-based AR, in the other hand... talk about the future!

Maybe when they can build AR into your normal glasses (especially if you wear glasses full-time)

Otherwise... I don't think people will get too excited for session-based AR glasses.

Will you put on your AR glasses to play a silly games or look at a new IKEA couch in your home? Then take them off for the rest of the day?

Will you carry your AR glasses with you to use them outside the home?

I wear glasses so I would love to have information popping into my view.

But if you don't wear glasses... it'll probably get used as much as VR is now.

 

[grago]

I don't think this technology is any useful other than when your context is relevant (E.g. street signs). Other than that, what use is seeing something, like a piece of cake on a real empty dish, if i can see it better on a picture?

 

[IGI2]

ARCore is less powerful but more accessible.

Still not more accessible than ARKit.

 

[George Bailey]

Worse gimmick than 3d TV. Believe me, I know a gimmick when I see one. I have a fairly good understanding of the world and how it's run on marketing.

This is another one of those "we need something new, lets see if THIS works" type of ideas

So shortsighted. Just because these are demos of games you think AR is a gimmick? It will be enormously empowering in a wide range of applications. Not just from Apple, but at the moment they have the most useful framework.

 

[NightFox]

Ok so why is this new tech not exciting me? Am I getting old? Just plain boring or what?

I think some of us who've been a round a bit get a bit cynical after all the previous new, amazing technologies either didn't live up to the hype or once their novelty wore off, disappeared because no-one had a compelling real world use for them. Sometimes it's the marketers fault, rushing to bring new technologies to market far too early in their development - take VR for example, I think we were all so disillusioned at being able to look at a very flickery red cube that everyone had lost interest by the time the technology started maturing into something beyond a proof of concept.
[doublepost=1504082202][/doublepost]

Not hard to imagine. Aiming your phone at a business, any business, and having its information displayed on your screen, such as a restaurant and its menu, or a grocery and its current deals. No googling required. Aim your phone at a landmark, and have the phone recognize the landmark, and pull up some information about that too, displaying this all on screen, pointing out areas of interest in realtime as you move the camera over them. I can't imagine how anyone could call this kind of thing a gimmick. Life-changing? Not really, but definitely useful.

Haven't apps like that been around for many years on the iPhone? Yet I don't think they've really transformed anything. Once you've got over the 'wow' factor and impressed your mates (at least when AR was a new thing), then I think most people stopped using them.

 

[fairuz]

Ok so why is this new tech not exciting me? Am I getting old? Just plain boring or what?

Edit for spelling

Cause you're only seeing people use it for useless stuff. I'm not excited either, but wait for this to mature more. It'll be very useful some day. Until then, we're gonna have to put up with gimmicky marketing about it.

 

[wedouglas]

Most people here don't seem to understand what AR is supposed to be. They think it's just populating a scene with digital assets. The phone can already do the vast majority of what people are talking about even without AR.