Historically, other universes have dominated both truth and fiction. These substitute realities have frequently assisted humans in functioning better or coping with the harsh realities of the actual world, from the usage of augmented and virtual realities in air combat training to sci-fi fiction and novelistic tales of peering into a crystal ball.
Looking into the future, we may observe how augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology are permeating our daily lives. From 2021 to 2028, the market for AR and VR headsets is anticipated to increase tenfold. In the not-too-distant future, AR may even displace the one device on which we rely so heavily: our smartphones.
It’s true that the development of the internet and how it affects our lives won’t go in a straight line. However, the incredible misuse of trendy terms (such as “the metaverse”) is a reflection of the increased interest in immersive experiences. We no longer get the same buzz from staring at screens, and instead, we want to enjoy and comprehend our environment via the extension of reality. This need to either enhance our current reality or escape into one that is more pleasant can be satisfied by technologies like AR and VR.
Why (AR) is superior to virtual reality as a smartphone replacement
Virtual reality experiences are significantly more immersive and transport us into a completely different world, even though AR and VR both influence our eyes and mind in comparable ways. As it distances us from reality, this exposure might initially be thrilling but gradually turn into something that is alienating. Furthermore, prolonged usage of VR might make users queasy since VR experiences entirely block out our real reality and confuse our senses.
The gap between reality and a continuous VR experience is filled through augmented reality, though. As the name implies, augmented reality just enhances our perception of the real world by adding new information that may not be immediately accessible. In doing so, we are able to expand our imagination without losing touch with the world we really inhabit.
Our smartphones and tablets can already be used to explore our surroundings. For instance, we may use apps like Google Lens to aim our smartphone cameras at menus or traffic signs in other languages and interpret them. We may also learn about the neighbouring buildings and streets, or obtain step-by-step directions with Google Maps or Apple Maps.
Even while both VR and AR have the potential to be as interesting, useful, or amazing, AR seems like a more likely candidate to replace our smartphones in the future. Here are a few more arguments in favour of this claim.
The Ease Of Usage
As it just enhances some parts of the real world rather than needing to construct a completely new virtual environment, an AR headset is portable and simple to use. Second, because we still view the actual world in all its grandeur, the quality of visuals from an AR headset is not especially constrained in terms of the display’s resolution. An AR headset’s display may rely on less processing-intensive hardware (or even a smartphone) since it has fewer elements to generate and process. As a result, the majority of AR headsets are offered as a pair of glasses.
In fact, businesses like Oppo and Qualcomm envision AR headsets as smartphone extensions. Even if we’re still a few years away from that occurring, putting AR headsets in our lives in place of smartphones seems to be the more logical route of progression.
Familiarity
According to the Eyesight Council of America, about 200 million Americans alone wear glasses to correct their vision, out of a total global usage of over two billion. These facts demonstrate that humans and glasses have a close association that dates back many years.
People generally gravitate toward goods that they are acquainted with, and the popularity of glasses may be significantly influenced by this familiarity. In contrast, VR is still mostly restricted to fans and experts who use it for learning, gaming, and exploring the universe. According to reports, there were over 1.5 times as many AR users as VR users as of 2020, and the difference is anticipated to widen during the following years.
Filters on social media applications like Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, etc. are one of the most important factors in the usage of augmented reality, even without specialised AR glasses. We may anticipate that the usage of AR will considerably improve our social interactions as we go toward a future when it is more widely used.
What fun would it be to hear someone’s name just once in a social environment and not forget it because your AR glasses remember it and flash it in front of your eyes without the other person even knowing? This might be made possible by the transition from smartphones to AR glasses.
Amplified Versions Of Your Normal Environment
Along with the development of technologies like AR and VR, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (A.I.) will also likely evolve during the next several years. Computer vision is only anticipated to get better in the near future, supposing artificial intelligence does not become sentient and take over the world. With this development, there is a very strong probability that A.I. will analyse the world for us as we look at it via our AR glasses.
Computer vision commonly referred to as video intelligence, may be used to recognise objects, people, gestures, attitudes, and the overall optical flow, according to Nvidia. Cloud computing with computer vision can make computer vision broadly accessible and relatively affordable for businesses to use in their augmented reality (AR) glasses.
Just picture being able to see the world as Iron Man does! Humanity will acquire a capability with the advent of AR spectacles that phones may never be able to match.
Growing Big Tech Interest in AR
There is evidence to support the claim that practically everything Apple touches turns to gold. Apple’s reported AR headgear is slated to launch in “late 2024,” but the company’s interest in the technology may change the course of the whole smartphone market. Apple even intends to replace the iPhone with augmented reality glasses over the next 10 years, according to renowned Apple analyst Ming Chi-Kuo. That seems very likely considering the development of technology.
Even before Apple, less well-known companies like Oppo showed how AR glasses might be used as smartphone extensions. We should be able to create a standalone augmented reality headgear that is designed to bind you to a walled garden if we just replace the smartphone with cloud processing.
Likewise, Meta’s augmented reality glasses may be available months before Apple. The success of the firm with augmented reality and metaverse experiences is all but certain given that it already has a very strong portfolio of Oculus VR devices.
The companies’ expertise in computer vision will enable them to offer augmented reality (AR) experiences that are integrated with the most popular operating systems in the world — Android and Windows — despite the fact that Google Glass and Microsoft HoloLens may have been early adopters of the market.
Issues That AR Glasses Can’t Fix
Future AR will probably significantly influence our social and personal life, but issues with smartphones now may equally affect new technology. The same “dopamine surge” that phones are reported to produce may be anticipated and felt by people. While escaping from a truly objective world could be more difficult than just pushing the power button on our devices, zoning out or selectively ignoring particular portions of reality might be easier.
At the same time, developers working on the development of tried-and-true AR glasses face formidable obstacles. It may be necessary to build a sizable sensor network and wireless infrastructure in order to accurately map and calibrate AR. Establishing an extensive machine-to-machine (M2M) mesh network where every gadget communicates with every other gadget will be the greatest solution to this issue. Not only that, but every physical thing in the world will need to have sensors added to it, including buildings and even natural components. Instead of requiring the AR glasses to detect and recognise items in their surroundings, every gadget will broadcast its information in this manner. That will be a huge effort in and of itself. We don’t have time to explore security and privacy issues, which brings up yet another bag of worms.
Last but not least, one of the major problems that engineers will have to solve is reducing biases in A.I. Computers do not naturally know or experience emotions, in contrast to humans. It will be difficult to teach them how to discern and, more significantly, how to respect human values.
