Pokemon species Psyduck is seen in the Pokemon Go game in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, where it was launched on July 25, 2016. (Photo : Getty Images/Lam Yik Fei )
Pokémon Go's unparalleled success has introduced augmented reality (AR) technology to a wide range of mobile users. People are now having an idea what the future holds for AR gaming and what might potentially be the atmosphere and environment for gamers in the future. This is only just the start.
Soon enough, Silicon Valley will be taking over, according to an article from The Guardian. AR technology, which allows one to be able to see characters from the game in real world through the mobile's camera, is a groundbreaking advancement. But in reality, AR technology isn't relatively new, and there exist a good amount of applications that support it.
Listed and elaborated below are five AR-technology supported applications for smart phones. Some of these are for educational purposes as well and can be very useful for children.
Google Translate
One of the most interesting applications that make use of AR technology - and is probably underused - is Google Translate. Google Translate provides the user the ability to instantly translate text using a smartphone's camera. For example, hovering the camera over a road sign in French will translate it into the language preferred. This is quite useful for foreign travellers visiting countries with different languages, and despite its accuracy not being 100 percent, it still helps a lot when encountering simple traffic phrases and such.
Star Walk 2
Another interesting app is Star Walk 2, which is perfect for people who are passionate about astronomy. By pointing the smartphone's camera toward the sky, the app will display 3D models of celestial objects like constellations, planets, stars, comets, satellites, and more.
Blippar
For educational purposes, Blippar is an interesting choice. By pointing the phone to day to day objects such as pencils and scissors, it will attempt to recognize them and provide detailed information about the objects.
Crayola Color Alive
As for younger children, Crayola Color Alive is the perfect AR tech-supported app. Basically, children would simply have to color anything, such as their favorite superhero and cartoon character, and by holding up the phone to the kid's creation, it will come out alive from the paper and move around the room. The user can choose to save the emerging character as a photo.
Yelp's Monocle
Yelp's Monocle may seem underrated at first, but its usefulness is practically a quick and awesome solution to problems encountered everyday by various people. Making use of the camera, the application will display labels for various restaurants around the block including street addresses, reviews, and even menus of those restaurants. For people who often have a hard time immediately choosing where to eat, this application is beyond helpful.
With a lot of AR-supported apps on the rise, the possibilities in the future are endless, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It might be able to go beyond mobile phones and be available in various useful objects, such as headsets and glasses.
The video below is a nice portrayal of what AR technology could look like in the future.
