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The article seems to point out Apple's advantages, however, using a dedicated global shutter fisheye camera, in the case of tango makes it much more suitable fo

The article seems to point out Apple's advantages, however, using a dedicated global shutter fisheye camera, in the case of tango makes it much more suitable for large scale AR apps, imo, which would make it much more suitable for games etc. Also, ASUS already released phones with tango hardware [1]. [1] https://www.asus.com/Phone/ZenFone-AR-ZS571KL/ https://www.asus.com/Phone/ZenFone-AR-ZS571KL/

scarface74 9y ago
Which do you think will get more developer support - Apple's solution that runs on every phone shipped since 2013 or a solution that only runs on a relatively few Android phones?
- raghavkhanna 9y ago
  Apple's offering is currently further reaching, but I won't be surprised, if in the coming years, most high end smartphones start shipping with tango-like hardware, especially if AR's appeals broadens. ARKit should certainly be a contributor to that.
  - astrodust 9y ago
    Android's at a huge disadvantage here. If it requires special hardware and a special version of the OS it's going to take half a decade to ripple through that ecosystem and take hold. Meanwhile Apple's preparing to ship it as standard in iOS 11.
    - bitmapbrother 9y ago
      What exactly is the iPhone doing that any Android flagship phone can't do? Android flagships have already had the better camera's for a couple of years and I don't see that crown reverting back to the iPhone anytime soon.
      - function_seven 9y ago
        1) They're getting their devices updated. 2) Only a small portion of Android phones are "flagship". The rest aren't. The crazy fragmentation of the Android ecosystem makes the real marketshare for something like this small and a long way away. Android phones are still at the mercy of carriers and OEMs. Google doesn't have the ability to push out the latest OS like Apple does.
        bitmapbrother 9y ago
        >They're getting their devices updated. I was looking for a technical answer instead of the same old rhetoric. Adding this additional functionality to Google Play Services and to the Support Library would make it available to all devices using GMS. >Only a small portion of Android phones are "flagship" This is a ridiculous statement. Do you have any numbers to back up your claim that only a small portion of Android phones are flagships? Any phone with an SnapDragon 8 series SoC, Exynos 8 series SoC, Kirin 9 series SoC would easily be able to handle this.
        function_seven 9y ago
        Fair enough. As far as I know, Android handsets should be able to do this as well. I’m mostly a layperson, so I don’t know what technical specifics separate the chipsets on each device. My interpretation of “flagship” is the Pixel or (formerly) the Nexus lines. What Google considers the flagships. I could also be interpreting that incorrectly. I’m just used to Samsung, LG, and Moto having some level of control and obstruction on when their phones get OS-level updates. Not sure if the Play store apps have enough system-level permissions to implement whatever core services would be needed to support an SDK for other apps to use. “Same old rhetoric” seems a bit unfair. It’s been my observation for a while now that you can’t rely on any given Android phone to have the latest OS installed. They usually don’t. (EDIT: And that usually means features can’t be relied upon for app developers, which is why it’s relevant here.)
        bitmapbrother 9y ago
  - scarface74 9y ago
    If you are a developer, still which one is more appealing? iOS ARKit requirements - any phone that runs iOS 11. Android Tango requirements - a) the latest Android OS -- judging by history a year out it will only get around 10% penetration (https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html) b) a high end Android device - with the average selling price of an Android phone hovering around $220 (http://fortune.com/2016/02/15/apple-android-asps/ http://fortune.com/2016/02/15/apple-android-asps/), there aren't that many high end Android phones being sold.
    - sjwright 9y ago
      To be fair, requirement (b) implies (a)... Except when it doesn't. Yay, Android ecosystem.
  - Tanegashima 9y ago
    Android will never have this. Quid dreaming.
- vacri 9y ago
  Does it really run on every phone since 2013, or merely 'run' (= not usefully) on every phone since 2013? The folks in my office complain that newer iOS makes older iphones slow to the point of near unusability.
  - scarface74 9y ago
    iOS 11 only runs on 64 bit devices. The 5S should be able to run it pretty well.
    - MBCook 9y ago
      From what I've been watching on Twitter it loses some accuracy on the older devices (I think it's 3 degrees of freedom tracking instead of six) but it's still there. It will be interesting to see the reviews/tests on older hardware.
    - HammadB 9y ago
      The 6DOF tracking only works on the 6S and up. On older devices you get 3DOF
- bhouston 9y ago
  You are correct that Google has to shift its AR strategy to run on all Andriod devices. It shouldn't be an impossible shift.
  - scarface74 9y ago
    What strategy could they have to force carriers and vendors to update the OS or force users to buy high end phones?
    - bhouston 9y ago
      If Android adopted software only at rather than relying on tango he, then they could have a use base of more than 25% of phones that are high end, more than apple. Google has to move on the software only AR side and now.
    - mendeza 9y ago
      It would be favorable for google to have AR capabilities on their Pixel phone. They would sell their own phones more and release novel tech.
      - coralreef 9y ago
        But you need developers putting apps in the app store, that's the real power behind platforms in terms of generating utility for users.
    - pjmlp 9y ago
      Legal enforcement. No updates in place, no access to the Play Store. They already have to sign a contract with a set of requirements, providing updates is just yet another clause.
QML 9y ago
I think the bigger issue here is with battery capacity. You probably can't use AR for more than an hour before draining half your battery—this was the case when Pokémon Go came out (although that may or may not be an optimization issue with the app itself).

scarface74 9y ago

Which do you think will get more developer support - Apple's solution that runs on every phone shipped since 2013 or a solution that only runs on a relatively few Android phones?

raghavkhanna 9y ago
Apple's offering is currently further reaching, but I won't be surprised, if in the coming years, most high end smartphones start shipping with tango-like hardware, especially if AR's appeals broadens. ARKit should certainly be a contributor to that.
- astrodust 9y ago
  Android's at a huge disadvantage here. If it requires special hardware and a special version of the OS it's going to take half a decade to ripple through that ecosystem and take hold. Meanwhile Apple's preparing to ship it as standard in iOS 11.
  - bitmapbrother 9y ago
    What exactly is the iPhone doing that any Android flagship phone can't do? Android flagships have already had the better camera's for a couple of years and I don't see that crown reverting back to the iPhone anytime soon.
    - function_seven 9y ago
      1) They're getting their devices updated. 2) Only a small portion of Android phones are "flagship". The rest aren't. The crazy fragmentation of the Android ecosystem makes the real marketshare for something like this small and a long way away. Android phones are still at the mercy of carriers and OEMs. Google doesn't have the ability to push out the latest OS like Apple does.
      - bitmapbrother 9y ago
        >They're getting their devices updated. I was looking for a technical answer instead of the same old rhetoric. Adding this additional functionality to Google Play Services and to the Support Library would make it available to all devices using GMS. >Only a small portion of Android phones are "flagship" This is a ridiculous statement. Do you have any numbers to back up your claim that only a small portion of Android phones are flagships? Any phone with an SnapDragon 8 series SoC, Exynos 8 series SoC, Kirin 9 series SoC would easily be able to handle this.
        function_seven 9y ago
        Fair enough. As far as I know, Android handsets should be able to do this as well. I’m mostly a layperson, so I don’t know what technical specifics separate the chipsets on each device. My interpretation of “flagship” is the Pixel or (formerly) the Nexus lines. What Google considers the flagships. I could also be interpreting that incorrectly. I’m just used to Samsung, LG, and Moto having some level of control and obstruction on when their phones get OS-level updates. Not sure if the Play store apps have enough system-level permissions to implement whatever core services would be needed to support an SDK for other apps to use. “Same old rhetoric” seems a bit unfair. It’s been my observation for a while now that you can’t rely on any given Android phone to have the latest OS installed. They usually don’t. (EDIT: And that usually means features can’t be relied upon for app developers, which is why it’s relevant here.)
        bitmapbrother 9y ago
- scarface74 9y ago
  If you are a developer, still which one is more appealing? iOS ARKit requirements - any phone that runs iOS 11. Android Tango requirements - a) the latest Android OS -- judging by history a year out it will only get around 10% penetration (https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html) b) a high end Android device - with the average selling price of an Android phone hovering around $220 (http://fortune.com/2016/02/15/apple-android-asps/ http://fortune.com/2016/02/15/apple-android-asps/), there aren't that many high end Android phones being sold.
  - sjwright 9y ago
    To be fair, requirement (b) implies (a)... Except when it doesn't. Yay, Android ecosystem.
- Tanegashima 9y ago
  Android will never have this. Quid dreaming.
vacri 9y ago
Does it really run on every phone since 2013, or merely 'run' (= not usefully) on every phone since 2013? The folks in my office complain that newer iOS makes older iphones slow to the point of near unusability.
- scarface74 9y ago
  iOS 11 only runs on 64 bit devices. The 5S should be able to run it pretty well.
  - MBCook 9y ago
    From what I've been watching on Twitter it loses some accuracy on the older devices (I think it's 3 degrees of freedom tracking instead of six) but it's still there. It will be interesting to see the reviews/tests on older hardware.
  - HammadB 9y ago
    The 6DOF tracking only works on the 6S and up. On older devices you get 3DOF
bhouston 9y ago
You are correct that Google has to shift its AR strategy to run on all Andriod devices. It shouldn't be an impossible shift.
- scarface74 9y ago
  What strategy could they have to force carriers and vendors to update the OS or force users to buy high end phones?
  - bhouston 9y ago
    If Android adopted software only at rather than relying on tango he, then they could have a use base of more than 25% of phones that are high end, more than apple. Google has to move on the software only AR side and now.
  - mendeza 9y ago
    It would be favorable for google to have AR capabilities on their Pixel phone. They would sell their own phones more and release novel tech.
    - coralreef 9y ago
      But you need developers putting apps in the app store, that's the real power behind platforms in terms of generating utility for users.
  - pjmlp 9y ago
    Legal enforcement. No updates in place, no access to the Play Store. They already have to sign a contract with a set of requirements, providing updates is just yet another clause.

QML 9y ago

I think the bigger issue here is with battery capacity. You probably can't use AR for more than an hour before draining half your battery—this was the case when Pokémon Go came out (although that may or may not be an optimization issue with the app itself).