The Galaxy S5's camera is amongst the most capable smartphone shooters on the market. With a 16-megapixel sensor that is capable of recording 1080p video at 120 frames per second, the stat sheet was officially stuffed when Samsung brought this device to market. But it's not a ...more
Just as predicted (but perhaps with less fanfare than usual), Apple has made the move of adding a depth sensor to the rear camera of its latest edition of the iPad Pro. What is surprising is the type of sensor it is, and that plot twist raises the level of intrigue for Apple' ...more
After the success of the Snapdragon 835, Qualcomm now has its eyes set towards the future with the arrival of its next-generation SoC, the Snapdragon 845. Debuting alongside the Samsung Galaxy S9, the 845 is now set to take over the market for flagship Android phones in 2018. ...more
The latest and greatest in Qualcomm's long line of mobile processors, the Snapdragon 845, is now set to touch down along with the Galaxy S9 and S9+. And as gorgeous as Samsung's newest flagships are, the processor that powers them under the hood is just as highly anticipated. ...more
Cable TV network Nickelodeon is looking to break new ground with a new series that will be experienced in virtual and augmented reality. Developed under the working title Meet the Voxels, the series will be one of the first animated shows developed completely within a gaming ...more
People fear virtual reality will isolate us, but the right experience can prove it does the opposite. AltspaceVR is a virtual world you can utilize to chat with others around the world, but that's not all. You can also play card and board games, a game of laser tag, or a song ...more
Now that iOS 13 is in the wild, developers are starting to show off the magical augmented reality powers ARKit 3 can deliver. One shining example comes via the new Meisai AR Filter app, developed by Japan's Kitasenju Design, which is capable of producing visual illusions that ...more
Applicants looking to attend Magic Leap's first annual L.E.A.P. conference next month in Los Angeles have begun receiving their confirmation invitations, and now we have more detail about some of what will happen at the event. In a message sent out by Magic Leap on Friday, th ...more
If you find yourself on the run from the Empire, you no longer need a droid to send a holographic distress message, you just need an iPhone X and the HoloBack app. Now available in the App Store, HoloBack uses the TrueDepth camera on the iPhone X to create instant 3D imagery ...more
With augmented reality comes an infinite realm of possibilities for storytelling. We have seen it through wineries telling their history with interactive AR experiences and through authors that use augmented reality to bring portions of their books to life. However, filmmaker ...more
Apparently, Amazon's new year's resolution is to bulk up its fitness fashion sales by pumping up its augmented reality muscles. Last November, Amazon updated its iPhone and iPad apps with ARKit to display a limited selection of furniture, home decor, electronics, and toys in ...more
Legendary drum-and-bass artist Squarepusher, the Warp records labelmate of fellow electronic music legend Aphex Twin, is back with his fifteenth album called Be Up a Hello, which is set to drop on Feb. 1. To kick off the launch, the artist has just released an amazing new mus ...more
If you've been putting off upgrading your iPhone or iPad, you might want to start shopping for a current-generation device to take advantage of the latest capabilities in ARKit 3. After relegating the reveal of ARKit 3 to the back half of the WWDC keynote on Monday, Apple lef ...more
With the latest version of ARKit and a new set augmented reality development tools set to arrive this Fall with iOS 13, Apple has taken an unprecedented step in recruiting Chinese developers to fill the App Store with mobile AR apps now, likely with an eye to the future. On W ...more
One of the most overlooked components of talking about augmented reality and virtual reality is getting people to actually use the hardware and software associated with these platforms. We're so early in the development of immersive computing that we're still dealing with a f ...more
Beijing- and Seattle-based DataMesh have announced the release of a new enterprise geared mixed reality middleware — MeshExpert. This solution for collaborative interaction with dynamic data is made up of two primary components: MeshExpert Live!, a 4K mixed reality capture sys ...more
OnePlus always seems to offer affordable yet powerful tools for videographers of all kinds. The camera hardware itself is crucial, but what's hardware without good software to highlight its real potential? It doesn't matter which version of the smartphone you have, they're all ...more
Since the very first moment I saw the iPhone X track a human face and display the results in real-time on an Animoji character, I've been waiting for the first great hack of this new iPhone feature. Not only do we now have that first great demonstration, it's so impressive it ...more
Smartglasses from Apple have become the holy grail of augmented reality, and 2020 has been the rumored time horizon for the product's arrival for the past two years. The latest analyst report sheds more light on its potential debut next year. In the present day, though, Sony ...more
With Android 10 hitting the streets (at least for those mobile devices that get quick updates) and the public release of iOS 13 dropping on Sept. 19, Google is releasing an update on Thursday to ARCore that adds some fantastic new benefits to its cross-platform capabilities. ...more
A funny thing happened on the way to the release of the virtual reality epic Ready Player One — augmented reality grabbed a major piece of the spotlight. Specifically, Microsoft's HoloLens. It all started last week when the film's director, Steven Spielberg, was quoted in an ...more
This week, Next Reality published its annual feature on the leaders in the augmented reality industry, the Next Reality 30. So it's no coincidence that the companies represented in the top four spots of the NR30 also made business headlines in AR this week. While Magic Leap i ...more
Live Photos are a great way to relive moments beyond a simple still image since you get up to 1.5 seconds of video before and after the shot. Of course, your iPhone doesn't just capture motion during a Live Photo — it also records audio. And that audio portion may not be somet ...more
It looks like Pokémon GO players may get a surprise gift from the game's developer, Niantic, this holiday season. After teasing the arrival of Buddy Adventure last month, Niantic revealed on Tuesday that the new interactive mode for its blockbuster game will arrive by 2020. A ...more
There's a direct correlation between the proliferation of augmented reality apps and the demand for 3D content, and PTC just quantified that in dollars. On Wednesday, the company committed $470 million to acquire Onshape, makers of computer-aided design (CAD) software that ha ...more
While Apple's smartglasses development reportedly moves forward behind-the-scenes, the company continues to build on its AR software foundation in its mobile ecosystem with further iterations to its ARKit platform and the introduction of new AR development tools. On the other ...more
Sorry, Galaxys S11–19, Samsung's jumping straight to Galaxy S20 this year. They're also going with essentially three base models before accounting for niche variants. Of these three models, it's clear which one's the best: the Galaxy S20 Ultra. We've rounded up all the specs ...more
Sony hit MWC 2017 in full gallop, announcing four different additions to its Xperia lineup on Monday, February 27, 2017: the XZ Premium, XZs, XA1, and XA1 Ultra. Sony's flagship phone for 2017, the XZ Premium, packs some hard-hitting specs that'll give other top-tier handsets ...more
At IFA in Berlin today, Sony introduced the latest models of the Xperia line, with new features in tow that should appeal to creators of augmented and virtual reality content. The Xperia XZ1 and XZ1 Compact both carry the Motion-Eye camera that can capture video at 960 frames ...more
It's finally out. After months of testing, iOS 13 is available to install on your iPhone, which means over 200+ new features you can use right now. The update, released on Sept. 19, can be installed over the air or from a restore image using iTunes in macOS Mojave and older or ...more
Contrary to popular belief, augmented reality apps have been available for a while now. I remember using the Layar app (still available for iOS and Android) to explore nearby businesses and landmarks with varying success via an early-generation Android handset. It would be ha ...more
You've just picked up your new Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra — but wait. After you turn it on and restore your data, there a few apps you should install to get the most out of your updated phone. Installing these eight apps right away will help maximize your experienc ...more
The top five apps of the 2010s were all social media apps of some kind, and the fact that's not surprising to you says a lot. We may use them for other reasons here and there, but our phones are social media machines at their cores. The thing is, some make better machines than ...more
Google's new AI-powered camera, Google Clips, seems to be targeted at parents of young children in its current form, but the idea itself has unique potential. Just set it up somewhere, then you'll never miss a moment trying to capture the moment — you'll have a robot photograp ...more
The days of bad smartphone videos are long gone. Your iPhone or Android phone is a capable video recorder, even offering different frame rate options in the native camera settings. Filmic Pro makes things a little simpler, however, and adds additional controls you wouldn't fin ...more
Google's new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL have a new camera mode called "Motion Photos." As the name implies, it's quite similar to Apple's Live Photos feature or HTC's Zoe before it. For every picture you take, a few seconds of video footage from before and after the shot was taken ...more
If you're a developer in the augmented and mixed reality space, there's a high probability that you're intimately familiar with the 3D application and game engine Unity. In May, at VisionSummit 2017, Microsoft announced that 91% of all HoloLens applications have been made with ...more
The Pixel 2 is a solid upgrade when compared to the 2016 model, but we've reached a point where the latest generation of a smartphone is never leaps and bounds better than the last. It's hard to justify dropping nearly a grand on a phone when it doesn't improve your situation ...more
The cutting-edge iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR have one-upped their Android competitors when it comes to facial recognition. Apple packed these flagships with an array of front-facing sensors to complement its selfie camera, which allows the new device to more accurately analyz ...more
Apple didn't invent the concept of photos with videos embedded (that credit goes to HTC and their Zoe feature), but they sure did popularize this functionality when they came out with Live Photos. If you're jealous of iPhone users, you certainly don't need to be — there are se ...more
Here at NextReality, we talk a lot about the many different ways of controlling holograms in the HoloLens and other augmented and mixed reality devices; New and creative ways are coming more and more every day. Most recently is something called the HoloSuit. In the 25-second c ...more
When it comes to photographing products, models, and other small objects, a good light box makes the process super easy, no matter what your skill level is. However, if you want to create decent 360-degree images, things get tricky really fast. A new product, the Foldio360, ma ...more
Phone specs get better and better each year, and multiplayer mobile games are right there with them. Instead of playing solo, jump into some real-time gameplay with co-op and player vs. player modes, and battle friends, family, and strangers from around the world. But which mu ...more
As the opening act to the grand unveiling of the long-awaited HoloLens 2 at Mobile World Congress Barcelona on Sunday, Microsoft showed off the standalone Azure Kinect time of flight sensor, which also happens to supply the improved human and environmental understanding capabi ...more
"Necessity, not novelty," is a phrase I use often when it comes to HoloLens development. It would be fair to call it my mantra, or mission statement, as I prototype and explore software creation on this new frontier of mixed reality. "What kind of experiences will keep people ...more
In this first part of my series on getting started with Windows Holographic, we are going to cover everything you need to get set up for developing HoloLens apps. There are many pieces coming together to make one single application, but once you get used to them all, you won't ...more
Samsung decided to jump into the foldable category early, announcing the Galaxy Fold in February 2019. After a major hiccup, Samsung released the phone four months later to praise. But Samsung's not finished with foldables, as the new Galaxy Z Flip is just on the horizon. Sam ...more
Now that we've officially seen the HoloLens 2 and Microsoft has shown off the improvements and new superpowers of the augmented reality headset, what about the specs? Luckily, Microsoft has laid bare the full specifications for its next-generation headset. Let's dive in and s ...more
When it comes to added features, no manufacturer out there can hold a candle to Samsung. Whether it's a remote control for all of your electronics, a heart rate and stress level monitor, or a seemingly-magical stylus, Galaxy devices always have as much functionality as possibl ...more
It seems like each day new rumors and leaks come out for Huawei's upcoming P series devices. Everything from its name change to its specs has been leaked, sometimes with contradicting rumors. One of the biggest leaks is the inclusion of triple rear cameras, a first for smartph ...more
One word to sum up this batch of Snapchat lenses: complex. Lens creators like ApocTheLegend and Jinnie the Wew have been at it long enough to start making some really cool stuff, stretching the limit of what's possible using Lens Studio. I'm really looking forward to what they ...more
The camera situation on the all new HTC One is a little daunting. The M8 has not one, not two, but three camera lenses built in. First, there's the 5 megapixel selfie machine up front, then around back, there's the new Duo Camera with a refined UltraPixel sensor. HTC has done ...more
If you're an Android user, you're very likely jealous of your iPhone friends who have access to the wide, wonderful world of augmented reality thanks to ARKit. But while ARCore is still in developer preview and AR Stickers remain an exclusive feature of Pixel smartphones, the ...more
4DViews, the volumetric capture company that films actors and performers in augmented and virtual reality for things like movies, TV series, and applications, has just released the app 4DViews: Raise Virtual to Reality, to demonstrate its technology for smartphones. The mobil ...more
The Galaxy S9's Super Slow-mo feature comes packed with tools that help you tweak your slow motion clips like a pro. Among these is the ability to convert your slow motion videos into GIFs with a user-friendly interface. As a result, it's incredibly easy to go from recording t ...more
Google's new camera app has a highly innovative and unique feature dubbed Lens Blur, and the most interesting thing about it is not necessarily what it does, so much as how it does it. You take a picture, then slide your phone in an upward motion, and the app creates 2 new pi ...more
The S Pen in the Galaxy Note 10 and 10+ has improved to make remote usage even easier. Controlling your phone with just the stylus is no longer a party trick, as you can now move around and take actions in both first-party and third-party apps. One of the best examples of this ...more
The Oscars are fast approaching, which means that all the most talked about films are getting a second dose of heavy promotion in hopes of winning an Academy Award. Along with those promotions, we're also getting new looks at some of the films. The most notable new perspectiv ...more
When you wear a holographic computer on your face, you gain some things and lose others. That's certainly the case when using Skype in Microsoft's HoloLens. Some video chats will work better because your caller can see what you see, rather than your face—but others just feel w ...more
Your iPhone has seen a lot of new features in a very short amount of time. For starters, iOS 13 introduced over 200 of them, including, among many others, system-wide Dark Mode. Before you even had a chance to breathe, however, iOS 13.1 came along and dumped an additional 22 f ...more