Who Expected AR?
“AI, VR, and AR are all almost different things with the difference between real things, fake things, and the thing that makes up the two” (TechTarget, 2022). We’ve all heard of AI, artificial intelligence, and VR, virtual reality, but have you ever heard of AR? Augmented reality can be used with physical equipment to feel as if you are in the winter/summer. AR is the enhanced version of the visual/physical world using the five senses, thanks to the new technology in 2023. These two amazing tech pieces together, easily beat out the Oculus Gen 3, the newest console/headset they made and released in 2023!Â
AR is an acronym for “Augmented Reality,” and was first developed by the U.S. Air Forces in the early 1990s. But now when you hear AR, people don’t think about training for war, they think about gaming. According to Apple and other popular Youtubers, “AR has changed the world,” literally. But AR isn’t just gaming, there is a lack of privacy, and viewing, and is mainly for seeing the real world while staying in your seat. If you were to jailbreak it, however, I bet you could play games on it, just like a calculator with the right files. Speaking of files, this piece of tech uses a lot of files, which uses a lot of battery power. The AR headset charges with two ports, both for USB-C, with a charging rate of 3,640 mAh, which means it takes two hours to fully charge.Â
The reason people say it’s worth the wait so much is because it compacts a lot of power, from using equipment on it, smelling some scents, and even hearing where things are in AR, to making websites, speaking in conferences, and designing buildings and architecture. Here, think of it this way, you're sitting at your desk, and you want to play a quick game real fast. You boot up the AR headset and start playing, but now you have a full immersive body suit that can help you feel what is going on in the game around you, you can hear people talk, feel your movement, and maybe even smell coffee or the wilderness. It’s a ready-player one coming right at you!Â
For a high price of $3,500, this amazing experience comes with many features. It comes with a futuristic look with the frame being an almost upside-down triangle with blue LED lights surrounding the inside. The frame wraps around your head without touching your ears, making it slap onto your head. One minor flaw about the AR headset is that the back is a lot heavier than the front only because of the many chords hanging out the back, but it’s lightweight. It’s so lightweight that it comes at 450g, and to put it into perspective, an Oculus headset weighs 503g. Apple stated that it will come in “glasses, with better technology [and] will be wireless eventually.” Apple may not be so big in gaming/designing, but the gamers should really check this out, but maybe with a credit card.
For the high price of $3,500, an amazing piece of tech can be all yours, used for seeing the real world right from your home. Although it needs more software updates, the futuristic headset, barely beating out the Oculus, is an amazing geo-guesser system from Apple. Apple made VR and AR almost two completely different things, VR being a fake place full of games, and AR being practically a training course for the U.S. Army. Apple handed us Augmented Reality, basically handing us the future.
-Charles Youngblood and Noah Voskuil 10/18/23