Google breaks into Augmented Reality world
AR Games and Advertising expected to emerge in 2013 and beyond.
A source has leaked Google's Augmented Reality Glasses project to the New York Times, indicating that Google may have the biggest new product since the iPad ready for Christmas of 2012. The glasses, supposedly based on an Android platform and with 3G and 4G capabilities, would enable the wearer to see information overlaid on objects, people, and in open spaces. Similar to Virtual Reality, which creates an artificial 3D world viewable through a helmet-like setup, Augmented Reality gives the viewer information on top of real-time imagery.
Augmented reality was first visible on TV sports broadcasts, where a virtual first-down line is shown for football games, or graphics are seamlessly superimposed into live broadcasts. Smartphones also have augmented reality functions, so you can see information projected onto your screen that changes when you move the phone and different items come into the field of view. Nintendo's 3DS also has augmented reality games which show you elements that appear to be on your tabletop when viewed through the screen.
Augmented Reality Glasses from Google may allow for real-time interactive gameplay, where only the glasses wearer sees game elements. Similar to the Microsoft Kinect for Xbox, the augmented reality system can also react to position and location, so the wearer could play games (personally or interactively) that would make an observer wonder what the wearer is doing. Google's glasses, expected to cost between $250a nd $600, will have a built in low-resolution camera designed to see what the viewer is seeing so Google can overlay information related to the user's point of view. It appears that the current configuration of these glasses only overlays information for one eye, so there would not be true 3-d augmented reality, which may be available in other glasses designs.
Notes and Special Information
Special note: Because this snippet is about an upcoming product launch, all dates can change, and usually new products may have issues that delays their implementation.