We’ve seen this CONCEPT before but this will be the first application of its kind to find its way on the Android Market… or any Market/Store/Catalog/World as far as I know. A company called SPRXmobile has developed a product called Layar that uses your phone’s camera as a viewfinder, showing you information real-time about the objects you are pointing towards:
You know what I think when I see this? What the heck happened to ENKIN?!?!?? The company FLEW onto the Android scene WAY before the first Android Phone had even launched and looking at the video below, you can see they promised a very similar service:
I’m sure ENKIN wasn’t the only company working on something like this. I think these types of Applications will become more prevalent. If you think about it, Google Skymap is a kind of Augmented Reality Browser too… but it is focused on stars:
Most recently, Thomas Ricker from Engadget (via IntoMobile) took some time with the creators of Layar and got a demonstration. The demo is kind of… not misleading…. just not as cool because it takes place in a living room while they’re trying to locate objects out in public.
I’ll be excited when this hits Android Market although I think it may be a little more practical to just use Google Maps and/or Places to find this kind of stuff. Very cool though and I think if an application used this to primarily help tourists find landmarks and tell them more about it… THAT would be sweet.
Hopefully we’ll see this hit Android Market soon!