In a future where people were AR glasses regularly, would widgets such as these become popular? I do think all the widgets have the potential to be used. The date and time widgets in particular could be used anywhere a clock or calendar would be used right now. However, one has to think about the advantages and disadvantages of using digital AR versions over the physical versions. AR has the advantage of only being there when you want it to be. Additionally, you can easily change the look of these widgets. You don’t have to go out and buy a new version. Similarly, in the future when these widgets are placed everywhere, your
I think the wind widget in particular is quite useful. Being able to visualize the direction of the wind is quite helpful. If given just a direction, one has to figure out how that relates to their current position. This wind widget immediately gives you the direction the wind is blowing. This is definitely an advantage over traditional weather telling methods. While the temperature and humidity widgets are also useful, they don’t have the same impact as seeing the wind direction on a compass. You still have to read the number to understand the temperature reading. Therefore, I don’t see it as having much advantage over a traditional digital thermometer.
The disadvantage of using AR widgets, however, is the necessity of AR lenses. If you want to quickly check the date or time, you must be already wearing your AR glasses. As someone who constantly wears glasses every day, this is something I’m used to. However, it seems unreasonable to assume everyone would always be wearing them. While AR glasses could become popular, I doubt they will have the wide adoption that smartphones have.
There is also concerns about privacy. These AR glasses would require the person to be wearing a camera at all times. One would have to assure the user that this data is secure and not used for anything other than the widgets. Furthermore, while the application may not be unsecure, you would have to guarantee the absolute security of it from outside actors. I would say privacy concerns are the biggest hurdle for AR glasses to be widely adopted. When and if these concerns are addressed, AR glasses could be adopted widely.