Over the course of using your smartphone, you’ve probably interacted – and used – with several features that come bundled with the camera and other camera-dependent apps. You know, like those that will let you place a small T-rex on your face (I don’t know why you’d do that but hey… none of my business).
In a nutshell, that is what we refer to as augmented reality (AR) i.e. the interactivity of digital elements in the real world.
It comes in all forms. Besides the exaggerated sticker-like functionality many get to use AR for, it also has handy use cases in other fields. Like in e-commerce where merchants (and many are already doing this) can let customers visualize how certain products they’re selling will look like in their homes.
Knowing what the future holds for augmented reality, Google came up with its own platform for building augmented reality experiences. ARCore is its name
ARCore is Google’s platform for building augmented reality experiences. For us as end-users, this shouldn’t bother us that much since ARCore is simply a software development kit that Google avails to developers so that they can toy around and build rich AR experiences that we’d want to use.
Now, therein comes the catch: for that to be possible, the user’s device needs to support ARCore.
Google maintains a list of devices that support ARCore that it updates from time to time.
This time around, the latest batch of inductees includes a device we have reviewed recently and which is one of the best smartphones you can buy in the country: the Oppo Reno3.
Other smartphones that you can buy locally, at least with the direct blessings of their maker, that have also just made the list are those from Samsung: the Galaxy A31 and the Galaxy A41. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S6 Lite tablet, which started retailing locally for Kshs 55,000 in late April is also part of the list.
Users of the said devices should be able to spot the Google Play Services for AR app from their app listings in the settings app since it is usually quietly installed as soon as ARCore support for a device is confirmed on Google’s end.
