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Best augmented reality apps

Mad Mac Maniac

Mad Mac Maniac

macrumors 601
Original poster
Oct 4, 2007
4,807
2,110
A little bit of here and a little bit of there.
So I remember a year ago when the 3GS came out there was a big deal about augmented reality, but I haven't heard much about it lately. I went from a 3G to iP4 and now I wanna see what some of these best apps are. I've been looking but there doesn't seem to be much.

What is the best out there in terms of utility and "wow" factor. Free is nice too :)

I know yelp is supposed to do it, but I don't know how...
 
I've been really disappointed with the lack of augmented reality apps. I could see ALL KINDS of potential for these applications mixed with navigation apps, restaurant review and finder apps, Geocache apps, etc etc.

So far we have a rather flimsy put together Layar app and that's it.
 
ericfelt said:
Golfscape is pretty sweet if you're a golfer.
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As an avid golfer I was eyeing Golfscape. Looks pretty cool, but how does it work on the course? I have golfshot gps on my iphone and love it, but i only really use it for recording scores and stats. I primarily use my garmin g5 on course for distances, however i play on courses with "blind" shots either off the tee or even approaches to the green and i can definitely see how golfscape could be useful for such situations. However, i wished they had made golfscape an in app purchase for gofshot gps and integrated the two into the one app (how cool would it be if you could toggle between the one screen with distances, google maps view, and golfscape). I really really hate how the same company comes out with a gazillion apps with the same general purpose but creates a whole new app.

BTW, i find visibility of the iphone in direct sunlight on the course to be very lacking so golfscape, might be difficult to see?
 
msduncan said:
I've been really disappointed with the lack of augmented reality apps. I could see ALL KINDS of potential for these applications mixed with navigation apps, restaurant review and finder apps, Geocache apps, etc etc.

So far we have a rather flimsy put together Layar app and that's it.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I'm realizing... I've been looking at things and everything seems to just be crap. I think AR was like a huge craze for like a month and then everybody forgot about it so nothing good was developed. It's a shame...

diesel said:
BTW, i find visibility of the iphone in direct sunlight on the course to be very lacking so golfscape, might be difficult to see?
Click to expand...

The iphone is actually pretty good in sunlight. You might want to check your brightness level. I once thought the same thing as you, but then realized that I had turned my brightness down to 20-25%. Should be fine with the default 50%, or you can turn it all the way up to 100% (just for while golfing because it does lower battery life) and then you shouldn't have any issues.
 
I upgraded from a ARless iPhone 3G to my iPhone 4 and expected there to be a wealth of apps. Sadly I too found a dearth. It's strange and annoying.

Particularly with the gyroscope, and camera, I'd imagine plenty would be possible. It probably is; I wonder why developers see no incentive.
 
NewGenAdam said:
I upgraded from a ARless iPhone 3G to my iPhone 4 and expected there to be a wealth of apps. Sadly I too found a dearth. It's strange and annoying.

Particularly with the gyroscope, and camera, I'd imagine plenty would be possible. It probably is; I wonder why developers see no incentive.
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psh I dunno..... We should become developers and make tons of great AR apps!! :p

The best one I've found is acrossair, but it's not really all that fantastic.

Car Finder is pretty handy too
 
Urbanspoon has an augmented reality section. I was playing with it this evening and it seemed to at least be fairly accurate. Could be good if you wanted to find something to eat in an area you didn't know so well.
 
DirtySocks85 said:
Urbanspoon has an augmented reality section. I was playing with it this evening and it seemed to at least be fairly accurate. Could be good if you wanted to find something to eat in an area you didn't know so well.
Click to expand...

yes I noticed that too. But the more I think about it most of these AR apps, at least in their current state, seem very gimmicky to me. There really isn't any added functionality, in fact it's much less functional than just looking at the locations on a map and then using the compass feature to face the map in the right direction.

There is potential to do more with it I think, but it's not there yet.
 
Mad Mac Maniac said:
yes I noticed that too. But the more I think about it most of these AR apps, at least in their current state, seem very gimmicky to me. There really isn't any added functionality, in fact it's much less functional than just looking at the locations on a map and then using the compass feature to face the map in the right direction.

There is potential to do more with it I think, but it's not there yet.
Click to expand...

I agree, I'd like to see this applied for geocaching.
 
+1 on geocaching!

I feel that the gyroscope could make a tangible difference to responsiveness, which is the biggest problem in my experience. You turn the phone and the icons hang. I also think the two cameras could be used to deduce movement.

Perhaps Apple should release some form of generic 'movement/orientation' API. Perhaps they already have.
 
I like the acrossair browser plus it's FREE. It seems to hang a little on 3G but works great on WiFi.

AroundMe is still a favorite and works great. I wish the AR would be in Portrait mode tho. The only way to enable augmented reality is landscape mode

Layer was just so disappointing.
 
Acrossair is pretty neat (the YouTube channel for instance) and it proves how much the gyroscope helps: MUCH less “floaty” AR! I hope every AR app (and tilt apps in general) gain gyro support soon.

And Spyglass seems pretty useful (for hiking and other purposes)—plus it supports retina display even though the description doesn’t mention that. Looks really nice.

Also, although AR gaming can be a little goofy, I’ve enjoyed the simplistic (but nicely-drawn) RPG game AR Monsters. I guess it’s just the idea of finding and “collecting” all the different monsters. When you die, just wait and you’ll come back—so I see no need to buy the in-app-purchase upgrades. Just ignore the in-game Store. The style of it reminded me of ElementalMonster TD (in a good way)... and now I realize they’re from the same people (not the same monsters though).

(Ghost Bastards also seems promising—it’s an AR tap-shooter—but I think it really needs gyro support.)
 
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