Augmented reality: iPhone 3G S killer app?

Layar running on Android, but the iPhone 3G S could up the augmented ante.

(Credit: SPRXmobile.com)

While video recording, more storage space, faster processor speeds, and better games have been the main calling cards for the iPhone 3G S, the biggest reason to upgrade may be yet to come--and it has to do with the seemingly most innocuous feature of all, the magnetometer.

Imagine a browser in which you view the real world through a camera lens and a heads-up display picks out interest points amid the living cityscape. This type of augmented reality has been the stuff of science fiction, but the cell phone browser Layar by Dutch software developer SPRXmobile claims to make it real. See the video for yourself.

Layar takes the sort of GPS POI data in current map-based apps, like ATMs, houses for sale, or nearby hotspots, and displays them overlaid on the landscape as seen through the camera lens.

It's debuting later this month for Android phones in the Netherlands--not exactly a huge starting demographic, but if it works, this could be the start of something big. Development is also planned for the iPhone 3G S, and SPRXmobile plans to take Layar to the U.S. eventually. But here's the kick: GPS alone isn't enough for this type of augmented reality to work. A magnetometer, used to power Apple's compass app and future turn-by-turn navigation software in the 3G S, would also be necessary (Android phones have compasses already).

So apps like these can only be released for the iPhone 3G S, not the 3G.

Considering that the iPhone 3G S also has a beefed-up camera, it seems like a perfect marriage. In fact, maybe, just maybe, that new camera wasn't just for pictures and video recording. Certainly, Apple has been paying attention to augmented reality projects on their own devices.

If augmented-reality navigation apps can progress at the same feverish development pace as the rest of the App Store, the new iPhone could soon be capable of location-based feats that approach tricorder capabilities, scanning the environment in real-time for data. We'd all be holding our phones in front of our faces like spyglasses, but what a wild near-future that would be.

(Via Engadget)

[fleurya]

This is a little off topic from the atricle, but does turn-by-turn direction need a magnetometer? Is that hardware in current GPA devices? I thought that GPS devices determine your direction by comparing where you are with where you just were and making that line your heading.

It certainly seemed like turn-by-turn nagivation would be possible on the 3G based on the the timing of its predentation during the WWDC keynote. All 3G-compatable features were announced before the 3GS announcement, and all 3GS only features were announced after.

[fleurya]

And on topic, this really is a killer app! Imagine traveling to to a different city or country and finding a good restaurant nearby or the history of some random monument just by pointing your phone at it. You could even virtually see through walls to businesses and location the next street over or qo blocks ahead of you.

We could get even more sci-fi and apply this to some kind of lens display on glasses. People wouldn't even need to put up tangible signs any more and change their information in an instant. Plus you could more than a simple sign, like services, menus, related articles and reviews. Down-side, wall-towall virtual advertisements cluttering up all of the good info.

[rotimiwaddy]

Wow! You offer up some really interesting points on where this technology could really take us! It sounds to me like this technology is not that far away from being potentially mass introduced! That would really be exciting, however, as much as I love Apple products (I'm typing on a Macbook right now as I write this!) and I own a Ipod Touch 2G, and another Macbook, I still HATE the fact that I would have to switch over to AT&T from Verizon in order to get an Iphone! This is actually the reason why I honestly love my Ipod Touch. All Apps work on both platforms, the only things missing is the camera/vid camera, 3G/Edge connectivity, and a high priced 2 year contract agreement! No thank you. Can wait though to see what happens with this technology. I plan to check out the Android based devices that will also be compatible.

[DragonStab]

If those Trojan Condoms are as HUGE as the ads I keep seeing, I can use one to protect my iPhone........

[bshoryer]

Completely offtopic: This is the most funny thing I heard this week!

[ebpda9]

Awesome.

[oldgottie]

I wonder if it'll protect your iPhone from a trojan virus.

[Harlan879]

That's pretty cool! It assumes you have a pretty perfect GPS location, alas. If you're off by 15 meters, it'll give you information on the wrong house! It'd be better if it could use the camera image to improve the uncertainty in the GPS signal. Maybe in 5 years...!

[Aanon]

I can imagine trekking in the mountains with this technology, every hill and creek being named on-screen.

But then I might just as well take the walk while sitting on my couch.

Am I the only one not interested in this way of seeing Riyadh?

[Aanon]

What's useful about this, is you do not need the local people anymore. So let us just get rid of them?

[forever4now]

IBM also released an augmented reality Android app called Seer for Wimbledon. The YouTube video demonstrating it is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VZoDmqcZ34

[zenwaves]

Reminds me of Vernor Vinge's "Rainbows End"

[dracoaffectus]

Shouldn't the title of this article note that Android phones are gonna have this "killer app" as well, and actually first before the iPhone according to the article.

[BritCrit]

Android has had Wikitude AR Travel Guide since shortly after launch. While I'm excited for Layar to come to android (and iPhone) Wikitude is available now and is very similar to Layar.

Watch here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EA8xlicmT8

[cbaisa]

agreed. i'd just like to read my tech blogs without everything being compared to the iPhone every third sentence. it's embarrassing how on apple's nuts the tech industry has become. can we please talk about something else? can android finally show up like it was supposed to over a year ago?

[Devil Bunnies]

The cool part about this is that in addition to showing you what is there, it could also show you what's not there. Imagine going to Gettysburg and seeing the battlefield with troop positions marked. This would be great for historic sites to show what has been altered, or to place past events on the modern landscape.

[forever4now]

That would be awesome, for the Roman Ruins, etc.

This might be getting a little too ambitious, but perhaps there could even be different views of an area, for different time periods.

[AndroidProgrammer]

The misleading thing is that while 3rd party developers can easily program these kind of VR apps for Android, they will not be able to do that for the iPhone, S or not. The iPhone's development system is very closed and restricted. For example, Android programs can query the camera and get live updates. For the iPhone, the app can request a picture, which then opens the iPhone camera app to take a picture. In other words the app can't get a live stream from the iPhone, making real VR apps basically impossible.

That's why Android is that much better. My 2 cents.

[deh1963]

So let me get this straight.

There's this new killer ANDROID app that's been developed that will augment the existing StreetView function in Android phones and will work on a G1 phone out of the box. However, you felt compelled to spin this as a new killer "IPhone app" even though:

a) it is currently only rumored to be in development for the IPhone and
b) it will not work on any existing IPhones and users will have to upgrade if they want to use the app.

Pardon me, but I'm struggling to understand why the IPhone was even mentioned in this article at all.

Here's an idea. How about covering new killer Android apps as "new killer Android apps" and let Apple play catch up on their own.

[nickbarron]

Awesome technology. Layar can definitely help businesses make money. [CNET editors' note: URL removed.]

[balabanovic]

If anyone is interested in this kind of thing we've created an app for the iPhone 3GS called nru ("near you") that shows you nearby things to do (such as restaurants or bars) in an augmented reality-style interaction, although we've chosen not to superimpose things on top of a video view to keep it cleaner-looking. It's been submitted to the app store but in the meantime there's a video here http://www.vimeo.com/5436595. We did the same app for Android at the start of the year (http://labs.lastminute.com/nru), although the iPhone one is slicker. Would be interested to hear feedback as we're always working on new apps and improvements! Thanks, Marko (from lastminute.com)

[roadhunter]

"It will only be available for Europe though, because this is where we have most of our content." Not sure what you mean by "content", but the US is a huge market. What would you need to be able to deploy it here? Email me privately if you like at roadhunter AT cox dot net.

[Special4ce]

the glasses fleurya mentioned are supposed to be available this fall. It sounds like these will work nicely with this kind of app. Check these out. http://www.vuzix.com/iwear/products_wrap920av.html

[loerchner]

I have started a facebook group petitioning Apple to open the API for video augmentation. This will allow agmented reality apps in the store! Please join and pass it on:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105162007611

[augmentality]

Interesting technology ... I just hope it deals well with registration errors: http://blog.augmentality.org/?p=126

[winterwanter]

Here's an Augmented Reality App (pending Apple's approval) for the iPhone that uses live Video... Pretty amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH6r2tIaRXU&eur

[roadhunter]

Bad link.

[jonathan_bennion]

The advertising aspect is off the hook - note to executives of social networking sites a la facebook: connect Layar with groups and live status updates to watch your ad revenue skyrocket!

[jonathan_bennion]

The advertising aspect is off the hook - note to executives of social networking sites a la facebook: connect Layar with groups and live status updates to watch your ad revenue skyrocket!