AR
(Augmented Reality)
Technology that inserts digital images into the real-world, live scene in front of you.
A basic version of AR uses a phone's camera and display. Software displays a live image from the camera on the display, and inserts digital images into the scene. The phone's motion sensors are used to allow the digital images to sync with the motion of the phone, so the added content moves with the room as you move the phone. An example would be a game that overlays game pieces and/or characters on the real table in front of you, or a shopping app that can show you what a new chair would look like in your actual living room.
More advanced phone-based AR employs a depth sensor to create an accurate 3D map of the area the camera is pointed at. The enables AR experiences that are more complex and accurate.
Even more advanced versions of AR have a headset with special optics and display technology in front of your eyes. It can make interactive, 3D virtual objects appear to be in the space in front of you.
Last updated Oct 27, 2017 by Rich Brome
Editor in Chief Rich became fascinated with cell phones in 1999, creating mobile web sites for phones with tiny black-and-white displays and obsessing over new phone models. Realizing a need for better info about phones, he started Phone Scoop in 2001, and has been helming the site ever since. Rich has spent two decades researching and covering every detail of the phone industry, traveling the world to tour factories, interview CEOs, and get every last spec and photo Phone Scoop readers have come to expect. As an industry veteran, Rich is a respected voice on phone technology of the past, present, and future.
