Raj Soy
Raj Soy
Sep 4, 2018 · 4 min read

Experiencing Augmented Reality

With the popularity of Pokémon Go and Ingress apps, the AR and VR technology has opened up gates for interactive experience of a whole new world. In just a span of 2 to 3 years, we are creating, updating immersive tools in various platforms for gathering information very rapidly. What previously I used to do with Google Translate is typing or using voice to set text for translation. With the Google lens augment feature now I can just hover the lens on point of interest keeping the portrait view. On correctly aligning with the content the instruction “Align Text” disappears giving user the feedback and the translation in real time. It gets converted into the language I prefer just like that. It’s actually automating the whole translating process. It does this in exact font size, color and spacing.

I’ve used it on my handwritten notes and it showed its best translation but it cannot identify cursive writings which will be different with every user. Some of the translated words were out of context. It is not good for entire passage translation since the text changes frequently leading to poor readability. It’s fine for signboard, menu or where word translation is in small requirement.

Google lens is very useful AR app but it’s not compatible with old versions of android. I had to use smart phones one plus 5T and MI A1. Google lens is a separate app but it’s also comes in Google photos and Google assistant. In Google photos when you tap the icon for scanning it responds with white dots blinking giving user a sense of image analyzation.

In Google lens app the flying white dots give a sensation of real time scan anticipation. The image recognition works well for animals, plants, books, products and landmarks. I tried using it on my breakfast and it was able to identify partly, simple bread as toast and yoghurt as some beverage. Lens has smart text selection, style match and it can detect contact numbers, barcodes and QR codes. In Google lens there is an assistant too but I didn’t find it very contextual to the point of interest. When using style match I focused the lens to a traveling bag and then a blue dot overlay appeared detecting some object placed in front. The dot becomes fixed and tapping on it give similar kind of bags as a result. The most intriguing and useful feature is the smart text selection which copies from real time and places it on the clipboard.

I used these apps, some of them have useful features that are helping the user achieve their goals. Google lens has become the future seeker of information and it’s going to be omnipresent.

Google Translate augments translation in real time with its word lens. Not perfect thou but its potential to provide instant accurate translations including huge amount of text is massive. These innovations are driving the AR and VR technology built solutions in a direction where immersive environment will be the future.

Currently the Augmented reality applications use handheld devices and HUD but in future there would be contact lens, virtual retinal display which are in their initial stage of development. Since the handheld devices are the most used device because of its affordability and availability the usage of the AR apps will increase. Now the IT companies would be competing to provide best user experience to its customers.

VR technology which provides a virtual space by stimulating the environment has become the hottest technology buzzword its usage is mainly in entertainment and military training applications

Virtual conferences will save time and energy of its users. Just mount your VR headsets that are linked to a real time feed and you are at that conference in New York, where you can explore and interact with people just as if they where there.

Instead of flying to Switzerland, the VR technology can simulate same environment for travelers who would not spend on holidays due to lack of time, expenditure involved or for other reasons.

Creating a virtual home prior to building the actual place could make users tour explore and interact with that home.

Now the possibility of turning these ideas into realties depends upon how the technology has been applied. Since the area has not been fully explored there are guidelines to be followed while designing such applications.

Environmental design, interaction design, color and text, weight and presence empathy should be considered very thoroughly in order to provide best user experience. The application should be designed in such a way that it minimize in cognitive load on the users, decreasing switching attention and interaction cost.

The more we invest time and energy and intelligence to this technology, the better experience it will provide.

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