Metaio Junaio app is trying to bring augmented reality to your smartphone in a big way and its latest app brings cool, new experiences to your Apple iPhone 4 or 3GS.
The company has updated its Junaio augmented reality platform for iOS 4 and this takes advantage of the new developer tools for interactive experiences that utilize image recognition and object tracking. Do a quick search for “Junaio” in the App Store, install the program and then point the phone at the image above. You should see the image pop out in a 3D-like experience.
“With Apple’s inclusion of access to the live camera data, we can now utilize our mobile SDK to allow developers and brands to take full advantage of augmented reality experiences on the iPhone,” says Peter Meier, CTO of metaio, in a prepared statement.
So, this is just a cool little demonstration about the app but the image recognition could be a big boon for augmented reality. Until now, many of these programs would rely on just location data associated with the GPS. This works fairly well, but if you combine that with good image recognition, you have the makings of a really powerful platform.
Junaio is hoping that many developers will use its augmented reality platform, as it already has apps for Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile. This is quickly becoming a crowded space, as companies like Layar and Qualcomm are also making a big push for augmented reality.
I still think that the big gorilla in the augmented reality space is Google and its Google Goggles app. While this visual search engine doesn’t always work well, the search giant is quickly improving it and will eventually turn it into a platform. Once it’s mature, I’d expect it to be fully integrated into the Android operating system.
What do you think is the best augmented reality app? While you’re chewing on that questions, check out a demo of the Junaio app below.