When Facebook launched its first hardware products last year, the Portal and Portal+ smart displays, the company mostly touted its video-calling features as it faced off against Amazon and its Echo Show. But Facebook also had an interesting feature that mostly flew under the ...more
Picture it: you wake up in the middle of the night and check your phone. Maybe you want to check the time (your phone is your alarm clock, after all) or see if that person ever replied to your message. You double-tap or lift to wake it, and the screen lights up. You flinch at ...more
The Halloween season is the perfect time for telling scary stories, but augmented reality is here to bring the tradition of frightening children to the modern age. On Thursday, app developer Within released "Willowcrest Manor," the sixth story for its Wonderscope mobile AR ap ...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
When you're going somewhere for the first time, it's nice to know what the destination will look like. Street View in Google Maps is the perfect tool for that, though it's always been a little awkward to access. But now, Google added a new overlay that will put Street View con ...more
Editing photos on a phone, while not as good as editing on a desktop, is getting better and better with powerful tools to whip photos into shape. But sometimes you just want a simple edit, like making a color photo black and white. Instead of downloading a separate app to fine ...more
iPhones with Face ID all retail for at least $999, which many still believe is just too much for a smartphone. But that's okay, because Apple just introduced the iPhone 11 for roughly $700. It's not necessarily the best value, though, because the iPhone 11 already has some sti ...more
Apple's annual iPhone launch is set for Sept. 10 and iOS 13 is expected to be released soon thereafter, but it appears that the likelihood of a "one more thing" reveal just got a big boost. Documentation of the latest internal build of iOS 13 reportedly includes references to ...more
Emoji are, without a doubt, an integral part of messaging on smartphones. Whether you're team iPhone or Android, chances are you send emoji daily. However, years after their introduction, emoji remain static in most cases, even with animated stickers and GIFs supported on almo ...more
In 2019, the Raspberry Pi 4 was released with specs including either 1 GB, 2 GB, or 4 GB of memory, a Broadcom BCM2711B0 quad-core A72 SoC, a USB Type-C power supply, and dual Micro-HDMI outputs. Performance and hardware changes aside, the Pi 4 Model B runs Kali Linux just as ...more
We've already shown you our favorite new action games that have come out this year, but now it's time to share our all-time top ten list. These games are available for both Android and iPhone, they don't have intrusive ads or freemium schemes, and most importantly, they're all ...more
The PlayStation 4 has been around since 2013 and has brought with it countless game releases since then. One thing that hasn't changed, though, is the strict device restrictions on the PS4 Remote Play feature for streaming your games. The capability has always been there, but ...more
The fifth annual Amazon Prime Day is upon us. Starting July 15, Amazon will offer thousands of deals on products across its site, kicking off at 3 a.m. EDT. This year, it will only run for 48 hours, so you have even less time to act. To save you some of that time, we made a li ...more
Here at Next Reality, our typical approach to all things augmented reality involves vision combined with remote control, either via a handheld device, gaze control, or hand/finger tracking. But a new dynamic takes the notion of interaction with virtual content into a new real ...more
With iOS 13 and Android 10 adding built-in dark modes, app developers are working tirelessly to make their apps match the rest of your phone. Several are ahead of the curve, such as IMDb, who already offers a dark theme in their app. However, unlike other apps, the default th ...more
In Telegram — as with all instant-messaging apps — threads and conversations can pile up quickly. But you don't need to stare at all of your open chats on the main screen of the Android and iOS app. Instead, you can archive any conversation you like, keeping your main chats vi ...more
With all the talk about returning to the moon via SpaceX, NASA, and international agencies, some have forgotten some of the magic surrounding the original Apollo 11 mission. To remind us about just how monumental the first landing was, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation h ...more
Dark mode is one of the most requested features these days, but it's even more important with a navigation app. If you're using Google Maps for directions while driving at night, the default white background will shock your eyes and make it harder to see the road in front of y ...more
If you find yourself emailing the same email over and over again with just a few changes such as new addressees, or if you're constantly replying to messages with the same response, typing it out every time is, well, a waste of time. Spark, a third-party email client for mobil ...more
In 2019, Sony is mixing up its design, attempting to stand out among the sea of familiarity. Instead of emulating Samsung with punch hole cameras, they decided to target a rare section of the market, content consumers. There's the Xperia 1 for those who want the best, and the ...more
For 2019, Sony is trying to shake its failures of the past and start fresh. Following the unsuccessful Xperia XZ series, Sony is changing the name of their flagship to a single number: Xperia 1. With the name change comes a few upgrades, one of which is its new look. Secondly, ...more
With Apple releasing the iPhone XR, it appears Samsung is looking to challenge this "budget flagship" option head-on. They brought their usual two phone releases this year, but also threw in another three for a total of five phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S10e. And for m ...more
If there's one company that is a fan of the TrueDepth camera on Apple's iPhone X devices, it's the popular eyeglasses retailer Warby Parker. Last year, the company introduced the ability to measure customers' faces using the depth-sensing front-facing sensor on the original i ...more
Facebook has a new dark mode for Messenger, and it's a true OLED black theme. It's was hidden away in earlier versions and you needed to either run a root hack or send a moon emoji to activate it — but now, you can enable dark mode by toggling a simple switch in Facebook Messe ...more
Group chats in WhatsApp are great for communicating with multiple people at once, but that can be a blessing and a curse — any message you send will be seen by everyone, and that's not always ideal. Thankfully, there's a new feature that lets you respond to group messages priv ...more
Creating GIFs of your own burst images has been possible for a while with third-party iOS apps, some of which cost money or include in-app purchases to utilize the full potential. Fortunately, with Shortcuts, Apple's automation workflow app, there's finally a native way to ach ...more
In iOS 13 and later, Spotify supports Siri commands, something we've wanted ever since Siri and Spotify were things. But if you're on iOS 12 still, you're missing out. All you can do is open the Spotify app, then pause and skip tracks with Siri after you start playing a song m ...more
It's that time of year again. No, not Thanksgiving. Black Friday. There are a lot deals available this holiday weekend, many of which include flagship Android devices. Whether you are thinking of buying a phone for yourself or looking for a gift for someone else, you can find ...more
In a previous tutorial, we were able to measure vertical surfaces such as walls, books, and monitors using ARKit 1.5. With the advent of vertical plane anchors, we can now also attach objects onto these vertical walls. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to make your augmented ...more
While many are familiar with Samsung, I'm pretty sure most Americans couldn't name the second-largest smartphone OEM. It's actually Huawei, and they recently released a spec-sheet dream of a phone in the Mate 20 Pro. So naturally, we wanted to see how it compared to the larges ...more
Over the last few years, the only thing teased by Magic Leap more than the Magic Leap One itself has been the company's flagship gaming title Dr. Grordbort's Invaders. The game, developed by New Zealand studio Weta Workshop, finally got its debut last week during the L.E.A.P. ...more
With the arrival of iOS 12, Do Not Disturb has received long-overdue enhancements to make the feature more user-friendly. Among these changes is a subtle but incredibly convenient feature that helps ensure you remain undisturbed for short periods of time to more focus on your ...more
If you've upgraded your phone to Android 9.0 Pie, you might notice some intermittent problems with your internet connection. That's because "Turn On Wi-Fi Automatically," while available with Android Oreo on select phones, is now enabled by default on all phones running Androi ...more
The hype train that left the station years ago has reached its first stop, and now we finally have access to the Magic Leap One, the device many have claimed would revolutionize the augmented reality space at launch. But is that really true? On Wednesday morning, as Next Real ...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
After getting confirmation from Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, we now know Fortnite Battle Royale will not be available on the Play Store when it's finally released for Android. Instead, users will have to download the APK directly from Epic Games' website — and quite frankly ...more
While 3D motion capture via iPhone X is coming soon from Unity, software maker Reallusion offers similar functionality to 3D model animation producers today. With CrazyTalk Animator 3, users can now add animation to virtually any image, bringing it to life with motion effects ...more
Has this ever happened to you: You're singing a song in your head and want to look it up on Apple Music but you just can't think of its name or even who recorded it? In iOS 12, if you can sing it, you can search for it, as the update lets you find songs in Apple Music by lyric ...more
Have you been noticing SpaceX and its launches lately? Ever imagined how it would feel to launch your own rocket into the sky? Well, imagine no longer! In this tutorial, you'll learn how to make a simple augmented reality app for iPads and iPhones by using ARKit. Specifically ...more
Outside of a few headlining features, Apple focused on polishing things up in iOS 12. Instead of revamping functionality left and right and running the risk of releasing a buggy mess like iOS 11, this year's feature additions are smaller. Case in point, you can now show favico ...more
We are still months away from Google unveiling the new Pixel 3 and 3 XL. As rumors continue to trickle in revealing more about what it will look like and its specs, we've learned an important aspect — who is actually manufacturing them. Since the Nexus One, Google has always ...more
If you have more than two home screen pages on your iPhone, jumping back to the main page can seem like a lot of unnecessary swiping. For example, an eight-page home screen would take seven right-swipes to get back from the last page to the main page — but it doesn't have to t ...more
After delaying its launch by four months, LG revealed its 2018 entry to the flagship market on Wednesday, May 2. After years of an underperforming mobile division, the LG G7 ThinQ is the first product since a shakeup within the division to get things back on track, and it brin ...more
We know Android 9.0 will have the formal designation of Pie, following Google's age-old tradition of naming their OS after items you'd normally find on a dessert menu. And thanks to a slew of new features that centers around your overall security, P could also stand for Privac ...more
With numerous insider reports, patent awards, acquisitions, and hires over the past few years, augmented reality smartglasses from Apple appear to be an inevitability. The latest report, from Taiwan-based Digitimes Research analyst Luke Lin, reveals that Apple has tapped Taiw ...more
Why would Magic Leap, a company preparing to launch its first augmented reality headset this year, need a developer for iPhone and iPad apps? It's not as crazy as it sounds. The company has published a job listing for a senior iOS application developer to "help create the fut ...more
As part of its ARCore push this week, Google has promoted Just a Line from one-time AR experiment to a full-fledged app. Available now in the Play Store, the dead-simple augmented reality drawing app makes the old Microsoft Paint app look like Adobe Illustrator. After the ap ...more
If you finally decide to take the plunge and delete your Facebook, you should know that your Messenger account may also go missing if that's how you log into it using your Facebook account. You can make a new Messenger profile without tying it to a Facebook account, but if you ...more
Apple's TrueDepth camera made its debut in the premium-priced iPhone X late last year, and since then, the reviews have been pretty positive. Now, Apple might be preparing to make the Animoji-friendly sensors available in more iPhones, as well as the iPad Pro, later this year. ...more
The guy who recreated Super Mario Bros. as a first-person obstacle course is back with an augmented reality take on another classic game. While the previous experiment was built for HoloLens, this time the developer, Abhishek Singh, has come up with an AR version of the class ...more
Because augmented reality is still so new to so many people, there are a number of would-be experts opining online, often repeating basic facts anyone with a spare 15 minutes can find on their own. That's why it's important to point out when someone delivers what could be cons ...more
A Swedish digital artist has developed an app for the iPhone X that creates mind-bending 3D illusions that correlate to the user's point of view. The app, called TheParallaxView, uses the TrueDepth camera on the iPhone X to track the user's head movements and generates images ...more
UPDATE: The P20 and its variants are officially available now. However, there's no official North American variant. You can purchase the international version of the P20 Pro or P20 Lite on Amazon, but be aware that it may not work perfectly on US carriers. As we approach the ...more
If there's one augmented reality app idea that should have gone up in smoke, it's probably Tokédex, an app that brings cannabis to the world of AR. As you might guess, the app for iPhones and iPads utilizes ARKit to visualize vape and edible products right in front of you. (F ...more
While the Twitch app for iOS came out way back in 2011, livestreaming iPhone games was a rarity until Apple recently updated its ReplayKit in iOS 11. However, Twitch hasn't jumped on the bandwagon yet, but that doesn't mean you can't livestream your iPhone games to Twitch righ ...more
It seems fitting that Time magazine's first augmented reality cover is an issue guest edited by Bill Gates, since the company he founded is currently leading the AR charge via the HoloLens. There's also a certain irony that the AR experience, which includes narration from Gat ...more
When it comes to making smartglasses that look more like regular eyeglasses and less like sci-fi helmets, Corning International might be among the suppliers to make it happen. In a recently-released concept video, Corning demonstrates how its precision glass wafers and panels ...more
With the release of iOS 11, Apple promised to give us person-to-person transactions by way of iMessages. In the iOS 11.2 update, the new Apple Pay Cash system is now ready for you to send money to family and friends right from your iPhone — and there are multiple ways to get i ...more
Lately, any subject in the realm of politics is a figurative powderkeg primed to explode on the nearest social media channel. Now, one app wants to use your iPhone and AR to strike a match. Released on Tuesday on the App Store, fuse.it gives users the ability place augmented ...more
Just weeks after previewing its smartglasses in a pair of videos, augmented reality hardware maker Vuzix announced on Friday that pre-orders are open for Vuzix Blade developer kits. The hardware and software developer's kit costs $1,997 plus shipping and taxes, with a $495 re ...more