Where Google demonstrates ARCore usually with a smartphone, Apple does that with an iPad. Therefore my question, considering user experience as the most important thing, what is the best device (phone or tablet), to use an AR app.
The answer(s) to this question might become opinionated very quickly, but I hope to find a good, objective answer(s) here or to start an interesting discussion on this subject.
The best AR demo device is no doubt the F35 pilot's helmet. I hope the modest price tag of $400K will not deter you.
Microsoft HoloLens and MagicLeap glasses are also nice, but not available for consumers on the date I am writing this.
For demo, you can actually use Oculus or cheaper VR sets, if you want only to show pre-recorded AR experience.
As an opinion, based on some hands-on experience, I'd say currently, the iPhone X, running 1OS 12, and using ARKit 2 compiled with XCode 10. The main reason for this is the True Depth front facing camera; I have been able to do eye tracking with it.
Some Open Source projects that have eye tracking or otherwise use the True Depth camera (I got started from these):
Apple Developer: Creating Face-Based AR Experiences
Apple Developer: Streaming Depth Data from the TrueDepth Camera
GitHub: virakri/eye-tracking-ios-prototype
Github: andrewzimmer906/HeatMapEyeTracking
I have a Magic Leap device, but have not yet gone beyond the hello world stage. And I can carry an iPhone X around, and use it without stares or comments, but the ML device is likely to be about as well received as Google Glass in bar.
Considering user AR experience, the best device for Augmented Reality is the one that has well-calibrated Accelerometer and Gyroscope sensors, and high-quality RGB back camera.
All Apple phones and tablets with A9 chipset and higher, have well-calibrated sensors:
iPhones – SE / 6s / 7 / 8 / X / Xs / Xr / 11 / 11 Pro
iPads – 2017 /2017 Pro / 2018 / 2018 Pro / 2019
The best ones that tailored for a robust AR experience are, of course, iPhones of X-series and iPads Pro-series (they have more powerful CPU/GPU, neural engines and TrueDepth front camera).
Android flagmans, such as Google, Huawei, or Samsung, also have well-calibrated IMUs, but the majority of low-end Android phones have no gyroscope at all. So many Android users can't build a robust AR experience or have no AR experience at all.
Related
With new phones (Huawei P30 Pro, Oppo RX17 Pro, Galaxy S10,etc) now having rear ToF, will Google relaunch Tango or build the ToF (structured light) capabilities into ARCore. I used Tango to develop for the Asus Zenfone AR and loved what you could do with it, but Tango was shelved soon afterwards. With rear ToF coming back around (and hopefully hear to stay), when will Google re-release their ToF SDK so to be able to develop for ToF again?
This is very interesting question. Two years ago, Google might feel disappointed that few manufacturers were willing to integrate depth camera. However today, the trend seems to that more and more high-end phones are going to integrate structure light for front-face camera and ToF for rear-face camera. First because of the hard competition among Android phones, second, rumors says the next generation iPhone will do so as well. As long as the hardware manufactures are willing to integrate it, there is no reason for Google NOT to relaunch Tango, or let's say re-enable those Tango feature in the next version of ARCore.
Exist the possibility to support more devices? For example, I have a Huawei Nova Plus, I think this phone fit with all the hardware and software capabilities to support applications developed with ARCore.
Exist the possibility to support more devices?
Yes
But probably only new ones.
Support ARCore is not about how new or old your device is, but if it has gyroscopes, cameras, accelerometers, miniaturized high-resolution displays.
And if it pass for some tests before get launched.
So even maybe new devices will not be support.
You don't need to instal it manualy if you instal an AR-optional app it will be downloaded automaticly. Click down below to get what i mean:
https://developers.google.com/ar/develop/java/enable-arcore
Tbh I guess its possible, the Huawei Nova 2 Plus has a gyroscope, a accelerometer, and a camera, I even contacted google about this, because I wish my phone (a Huawei nova 2 Plus) can run ARcore :)
Google provides the AR developers with Tango platform.
There are two smart phones supporting Tango, ZenFone AR and Lenovo Phab 2 Pro.
If you are a AR developer then which one you gonna choose?
One of them isn't even out yet (Q2 2017) and couldn't be tested by anyone since there were no Tango apps installed when they showed it at CES, so how should one compare? The hardware seems to be stronger, it will be smaller, but the price is still unknown.
I'd like to go about creating a mobile app that works as a remote control. Nothing too complex. Just something, for example, to control the system's volume.
However, I have no idea on how to go about making such an app as not only would it require me to develop for the phone platform but also for the PC/Mac platform. Any inputs, on where I should start looking or go about making such an app, would be appreciated.
FYI: I'm interested in making an iOS app using Swift that works with Mac/PC. I'm currently taking a course to learn iOS app development in Swift.
Thanks
You need an IR led to do this, and the iPhone don't have it. Try with something different, if you want to use sensors here is a list of sensors available on the iPhone for developers:
iphone 5, 5S, 5C
- Proximity sensor
- Accelerometer
- Magnetometer
- Gyroscope
- Touch Screen
- Camera
iphone 6
Barometer
Edit:
If you know enough about electronics, you can control an IR led with the headphone output. (Analog) I'm sure theres more information about doing this in google.
I am trying to construct an up to date device matrix for our dev teams that lists the mobile devices that we should target.
This is a question that I see come up over an over again. I appreciate that there is no ideal device matrix as each project will have its own requirements, but I think that it could be easy to say that the most popular devices and OS' such as iPhone 5 and iOS 7 would be included as they are a market leading device and OS combo.
Other devices such as iPhone 3Gs would have fallen off the list because now it is just not a significant device in the market.
Ideally the matrix should include Android and iOS phones and tablets.
In general I am looking for one that captures the majority of the market but excludes those that are not worth testing for.
Are there any resources that present this in an up to date clear consumable format?
For iOS devices, take a look at the iOS Support Matrix.
Well, if you are interested in market shares of Android, then go to the play developer console, create an app and take a look at the statistics. It will show you which versions of android are most used in the category that you set for your app. To get an idea of what phones are most used, take a look at this chart http://www.appbrain.com/stats/top-android-phones Testing on some of these and some lower end phones should be satisfying.
In case of iOS for graphics performance, test on a iPhone 4. That has retina display but not very good GPU. If that performs well, then it will do well everywhere.
Otherwise, regarding any mobile stuff, test on any device that satisfies the requirements of your application. Test for screen size and performance if that is crucial.
i* resolutions: http://www.iosres.com/
Android resolutions: don't suppose anything, plan for flexibility
Once you are Ok with what you see on your device and in the simulator, then go ahead and start a private beta with TestFlight, Hockey App or any other platform.
In general, everything depends on your app. Whether it has hardware needs or should work on any device, or only with OS versions above some level... The definitive answer depends on your exact requirements. There is no holy grail and you should rather plan the way you'll handle any issues.