Pokemon Go was the craziest phone based augmented reality we have ever seen when it was at its peak of popularity. Now you are starting to this same feature in Snapchat and YouTube. You also have virtual reality which seems to be solely focused on gaming but can be seen at film festivals and arcades as well. That leaves augmented reality glasses which are easily the most exciting and scary of these three technologies. They are still wanted by many but are still a rare sight in everyday life.
AR glasses were supposed to just read what we are thinking and google search with the blink of an eye but more importantly, untether us from our increasingly hated phones. Google cofounder Sergery Brin once said that smartphones were an “emasculating” and isolating “nervous habit” while the Google Glass headset offered the promise of freedom and connection. Since the first announcement of the Google Glass, they have held an outsized place in our imagination.
Some people are already not the biggest fans of AR coming into the real world. The relatively new Facebook-built AR glasses could produce aggressive advertising being overlaid on every inch of your line of sight which could be dangerous. Needless to say, AR headsets haven’t made the jump to consumers but they are still a huge industry. If you actually have a reason to use AR glasses then they are great. They are just nowhere close to replacing our phones – yet.