ARCore – Google’s Answer to Apple’s Augmented Reality for Mobile

After Apple announced its venture into augmented reality (AR) for mobile with the ARKit, it’s Google’s turn.

Will ARCore trickle down to affordable Android devices?

(Photo Courtesy: Google)

After Apple announced its venture into augmented reality (AR) for mobile with the ARKit recently, it’s Google’s turn to come up with a dedicated AR tool.

The search-engine giant is busy devising the next set of machine learning tools for its software as well as hardware products, but missing out on AR isn’t worth the risk right now.

Which is why they’ve launched ARCore, catering to a wide array of Android devices, giving them the power to project in 3D.

In AR, for instance, you can get real-world products projected which comes in handy for virtual shopping inside a store. 

ARCore is no different from how Google’s earlier assignment Project Tango worked, something which has been experienced with devices like Asus Zenfone AR. But what changes with ARCore is that you don’t need additional hardware support to run AR-enabled operations.

Also Read: With Asus Zenfone AR, Experience Handheld Virtual Reality

How ARCore Works:

• Motion tracking
• Environmental understanding
• Light estimation
  

These three elements combine to offer augmented reality on mobile devices, tracking the position of the mobile device as it moves and building its own understanding of the real world.

ARCore’s motion tracking technology uses the phone’s camera to identify subjects and track its movement. Motion tracking means that you can move around and view these objects from any angle.

<a href="https://developers.google.com/ar/discover/">Google ARCore</a>

AR is expected to be a big feature on the iPhone 8 this year, when Apple showcases the enhanced capability of iOS 11 in detail.

Google’s timing of ARCore announcement shows you the excitement in this space, something which experts feel has more potential than virtual reality ever had.

Also Read: AR vs VR: Where Does India Stand in the Race for AR Mastery?

So, which devices support ARCore? The list is confined to high-end devices like Google Pixel, Pixel XL and Samsung Galaxy S8 for now, but we’re hopeful that more Android devices will get inbuilt AR very soon.

ARCore will be supported by devices that are running on Android 7.0 Nougat or later. 

Reports suggest that Google is working with manufacturers like Samsung, Huawei, LG, ASUS and other major smartphone makers for quality and performance checks.

Last year’s DayDream project has failed to trickle down to mid-range devices till now, but Google’s got to make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself with ARCore, especially when they’re going head-to-head with Apple this time.

Having said that, Google’s open-sourced direction with Android (which has led to wide array of fragmentation) is likely to disrupt the movement of ARCore to affordable, low-powered mobile devices.