News & Reviews:   Augmented Reality

If you want us to be honest, augmented reality games are taking a serious hit in 2020. Many things had to be tweaked to enforce social distancing, but Niantic has managed to keep Pokemon GO going strong. Moreover, the Pokemon GO Fest will still happen this year as an online event and details have now been revealed.

We all know Huawei mostly for its phones, but the company also has a hand in a lot of different fields. One of it is the semiconductor industry, with HiSilicon being its chip manufacturing arm. The manufacturer has now unveiled its first XR chip that's capable of decoding 8K and could open the way for improved AR/VR products.

For once, predictions seem to be mixed when it comes to the augmented reality glasses that Apple is developing. A few days ago, it was reported that well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted that the Apple Glasses will arrive in 2022. However, another source now claims that it will be available in 2021 instead.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, companies around the world have been looking into various ways to help in relief efforts. One of those companies is Snapchat, which has come up with a new augmented reality lens that isn't for fun this time. Instead, this new lens is designed to help people to donate to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVID-19 response efforts.

Snap Inc, the creators of Snapchat has announced that they have unveiled the Lens Studio 2.1 which includes up to 6 new templates, 14 new Landmarkers, as well as various new tools. These new additions to the Lens Studio will not only help users create staggering AR Lens for Snapchat, but also help streamline the entire creative process and share with the community.

In a not so surprise move after Apple brought out their ARKit, Google have announced their ARCore SDK for Android developers to create AR (Augmented Reality) experiences on normal smartphones without any special Google Tango hardware. It will be available with Google Pixel and the Samsung Galaxy S8 running Android 7.0 Nougat and above first, but will spread out to other manufacturers like ASUS, Huawei and LG.

The weekend saw the Mountain Dew ‘Dew Challenge 2016’ gave away cash prizes amounting over RM100,000 ringgit for the two gaming events that was held at Berjaya Times Square – DoTA 2 challenge and the Mobile Gaming Challenge. The grand finals for the two events were held in Kuala Lumpur, where the champions were crowned in front of an excited crowd. 

Virtual reality has been promoted here and there this year, you know what it is, as seen in various companies trying to utilise it such as Samsung, HTC, and Sony in Malaysia, but it seems tat VR is starting to slow down according to DigiTimes, with its collection from a few market research firms have noticed that virtual reality and augmented reality products "have been weaker than expected,".

After the reveal of the high-end HTC Vive and Oculus Rift from Valve, many are feeling that VR is something beyond their reach and means, as the entry point for high-end VR seems to be in the realms of high-end gaming machines. However, a new report states that Microsoft’s own Holographic OS may not need something high end – in fact, the PC at your house right now may already be supported for VR.

According to ASUS's CEO Jerry Shen – the company will be showcasing their first Tango-powered smartphone in next year’s edition of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017 in Las Vegas. It will be the company’s first AR-supported phone in their line-up.