ARCore is Google’s second foray into augmented reality. It’s the replacement program for Project Tango which was the first ambitious project by Google into AR. You may recall that ASUS was part of the Project Tango push by Google and launched the highly touted ZenFone AR. The ZenFone AR was both Google Daydream and Google Project Tango enabled which was quite a feat for ASUS at the time. With ARCore coming to the ZenFone 6 should you be sweating with excitement?
Google ultimately wants more devices to be AR ready and ARCore is a platform to help make that happen. Rather than creating hardware barriers, Google is trying to remove the hardware barriers and increase the user base of AR. Because of the limited yet growing compatibility list, there isn’t a rich supply of AR experiences just yet. As the user base grows, more apps will come and AR will become far more mainstream.
Our headline has slightly jumped the gun. Officially the ZenFone 6 hasn’t been added to the Google ARCore compatible list, but the experts at XDA Developers sideloaded the most recent ARCore APK into the ZenFone 6 and it worked flawlessly. We can trust XDA Developers on this one. It certainly wouldn’t make sense for Google to snub ASUS on ARCore compatibility given their history together with Project Tango and the ZenFone AR.
If you aren’t overly familiar with ARCore, it can be a somewhat confusing concept. It’s a Google platform that can turn a phone into an AR capable device. This in turn makes it easier for app developers to bring AR experiences into their apps thanks to the ARCore platform and technology.
Augmented reality is interesting, but it’s not yet fully realized. You will be able to find some AR experiences and apps worth your time, but you are limited by a small screen. A mobile phone is not going to bring an amazing AR experience like a headset on eyewear. Having said that, you can still enjoy the growing AR shopping experiences. AR enables you to see products in a more realistic way and place things like furniture in your home to see how it might look before making a purchase.
ARCore coming to the ZenFone 6 isn’t the most earth shattering event, but it’s noteworthy. Rather than needing specialized hardware, it’s good to know that as AR evolves over the next year or two, your ZenFone 6 will be able to run those applications which may end up being quite useful in the near future. The mobile phone AR experience is evolving so just keep that in mind in terms of expectations.
[source: XDA Developers]