Augmented Reality's something of a buzzword right now. Available only on selected phones - you need the mix of a GPS enabled phone with a compass, which in the Australian market largely means either an Android phone or the iPhone 3GS - it uses downloaded data overlaid over whatever the camera's looking at to provide you with a HUD-style display of the real world.
It's one of those tech tricks that looks quite cool in concept, but are the apps any good? Here are our favourites.
UrbanSpoon
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| UrbanSpoon gives you eating choices, distances and approval ratings. Now all we have to do is decide what we want to eat... |
If you're feeling hungry, UrbanSpoon's app (Free) gives you nearby restaurants with only a shake of your iPhone. Switch to Scope mode, and it'll use Augmented Reality to show you nearby restaurants and ratings.
Sun Seeker
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| That big shiny thing in the sky? That's the sun, that is. At last, there's App for that. |
It might seem a little spurious, bute Sun Seeker ($3.99) uses AR to show you the position of the Sun. Yeah, at first we didn't get that either. Isn't it usually that big glowing thing in the sky?
The point with Sun Seeker is that it'll show you the position of the sun throughout the day and through the summer and winter months, allowing you to accommodate for light for photography, work out where best to plant your garden or even whether a house you might rent could be dark or overly bright.
Wikitude
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| Acer Arena's a fair trek away through those trees. |
Probably the best known AR app, Wikitude (Android/iPhone) (Free) matches up the supposed smarts of Wikipedia with a real world view. Launch the App and it'll give you pointers to any nearby Wikipedia points of interest that have been geotagged.
Cyclopedia
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| Little Wobby is out there -- somewhere. Behind those trees, presumably. |
If you'd like a slightly snazzier interface, Cyclopedia (iPhone) ($2.49) uses the same Wikipedia information that Wikitude does, but in a shinier wrapper. We suspect the value's a bit relative there.
Layar
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| The Wikipedia Layar. Or is it the Death Star? |
But wait! In the tradition of the best dodgy TV fitness equipment ads, there's more! Our pick for the best AR app to leverage Wikipedia would have to be Layar (Android/iPhone) (Free). Not only do you get Wikipedia, but also a host of other data sources, from Flickr to Twitter and plenty more besides. Layar describes itself as a "reality browser" which means they're mixing their buzzwords pretty painfully. There's also an odd mix of browsing types that flat out don't work locally -- but it's not as though Layar itself costs you money.
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| The choice of AR Layars is impressive, although actual results vary a lot. |
Fairy Trails
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| Did you know there were half-naked fairies at the bottom of your garden? It certainly surprised us... |
And finally, if you're feeling a bit silly, there's Fairy Trails ($2.49). It bills itself as an Augmented Reality game, in which you catch hidden fairies and butterflies by tapping on the screen, although it's really only using the accelerometer and camera functions of the iPhone -- swiftly moving the phone around reveals no GPS lock at all, and it will work on older iPhones and iPod Touch models.
Also in this series, Amazing apps for your phone:
Part 8: Tick Tock, Tick Tock - Ten Time Telling Apps
Part 7: Score a shopping bargain
Part 6: Photography apps
Part 5: Get from A to B on public transport
Part 4: What's the weather like out there?
Part 3: Top 3 twitter clients for iPhone
Part 2: Here's how to get cheap iPhone apps
Part 1: How to make the most out of your iPhone's GPS
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