For the first week of classes, we experimented with different demos showcasing three forms of alternate reality technologies: virtual reality, mixed reality, and augmented reality. Each have their own strengths and drawbacks:
Virtual reality- Virtual reality is used to "transport" the user to a completely different world. The user has no way to interact with the physical world around them, and become fully immersed in the virtual world being presented to them. The benefit of this that it gives you the freedom to become fully immersed in a new world. You can create scenarios that are otherwise impossible to experience in our reality. Provided that the experience is well-crafted and the hardware is high quality, this results in the most immersive experience of the three.
On the flip side, there are a number of drawbacks to virtual reality. Firstly, a high quality experience in virtual reality has a high financial barrier of entry. The best consumer headsets available start at nearly $400, which is likely prohibitively expensive for most consumers. Secondly, there are a number of safety concerns for VR. Many people experience nausea, headaches, eye strains, and even anxiety. Beyond these, you must set aside a clear play area to avoid sustaining injuries from bumping into objects in your surroundings.
Augmented reality - AR has the lowest barrier of entry of the three. Anyone with a smartphone camera can download a myriad of (usually free) applications to experience augmented reality. Because of this, it is an extremely portable technology. You can experience AR basically anywhere. Augmented reality can also allow users to "augment" things that would be otherwise impossible to the real world. An example of this would be the mobile game Pokemon Go, which can overlay fictional creatures onto the real world.
There are multiple downsides to AR though. The most significant is that the level of immersion, on average, is significantly lower than virtual reality and mixed reality. Many AR experiences tend to be very shallow. Additionally, augmented reality, in many cases, requires a very defined play area, like the pages used in the demo. Lastly, there are simply not many good AR applications available to consumers.
Mixed Reality - Mixed reality, the most fledgling of the three, attempts to overlay virtual effects onto the physical world, but where it differs from augmented reality is that it allows the user to interact with these virtual effects. In demoing the Microsoft HoloLens, we were able to, using our hand, move around virtual 3D objects, like paintings or models, and manipulate them. Mixed reality can also be very immersive, and applications of mixed reality have shown to be more useful than augmented reality.
Mixed reality, however, is much harder to experience as a consumer. Most headsets are still very early in the design cycle, and are very expensive, if available at all. MR sets out to take the best aspect of virtual and augmented reality and find a happy medium, which is useful in its own right, but the technology has yet to catch up to the dreams.