About Layar

The Layar Reality Browser displays real time digital information on top of reality in the camera screen of the mobile phone. While looking through the phone’s camera lens, a user can see houses for sale, popular bars and shops, tourist information of the area, play a live game, and may other functionalities

Features of layar

How amazing is it to launch an app, turn in a certain direction, and see a historic landmarks on the virtual screen, then learn more about it. Or see how close others Tweeps are to your vicinity, find a house or play a game. Layar Reality Browser Android App is one of the coolest ideas to hit the Android phone! Augment reality using the phones camera and location-based data to find local businesses, historical facts, Flickr photos, Tweeps, and more.

You can pick the plug in (layers) that suit your needs and start using it. There are lots of layers inside layar, most of them are free and some of them are paid layers, providing you much more specific and details about things you’re looking for.

Likes And Dislikes

Likes :

• Unbelievably cool concept and fun way to find information or interact
• Many 3rd party plugins (layers) to integrate such as: Local search, Wikipedia, Yelp, Tweepsaround, Brightkite, Flickr photos, etc

Dislikes:

• Sometimes it does not find obvious searches
• A bit sluggish on older device, runs perfectly on device with 1 Ghz processor

Final Verdict

4.5/5 (four points five out of five)

Layar is a very nice app, free, easy to use, offers various layers that can be very useful. There’s a small bugs in searching terms that i believe will be fixed soon ,also the low-speed processor bug on older device hopefully will get sorted out soon.

Layar Screenshot

Videos of Layar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkPHDMVxKn0

If you’re wondering what Sayamobile is all about,why is it here,what’s its mission as well as who is the author of Sayamobile, i hope this little piece of information can satisfy you.

As mentioned in the welcome page, Sayamobile is a site that provides information about Augmented Reality,focusing on it’s use within the mobile devices available on the market today. Sayamobile aims to deliver knowledge and latest information about Augmented Reality targetting general public readers as it’s audience. The site provided  guide, basic information , news about implementation and also apps review that can be easily digested by it’s targeted audience. Sayamobile mission is to give people better understanding about the use of Augmented Reality technology in everyday life as well as delivering message that “Technology is helpful, fun, and exciting”

About the author

Rizki, the author of Sayamobile is a technology enthusiast and gadget lover,Masters degree holder in computer science,as well as couple of Cisco and Microsoft certification. He actively published articles and journals related to Information Technology. Couple years ago he decided to focus and specialize in Augmented Reality as he found that this area is highly interesting,fun as well as futuristic and useful. Rizki believes that technology, how advance that might be should be able to be delivered for daily use in daily life by general audience.Rizki is  currently leading a team of developers creating a mobile application on augmented reality.

Discovering the future and learn more and more knowledge by the use of technology. Believe that technology should be useful, helpful, and of course….FUN

Check this video out to experience how technology can be helpful and fun at the same time

WELCOME

Welcome to sayamobile , dear user. Sayamobile is a site dedicated to promote the use of Augmented Reality application in mobile device and everyday life. This site contains information and knowledge designed specifically for general reader rather than a tech-specialist. Sayamobile aims to deliver basic knowledge of Augmented reality and introduce to the public the real implementation of Augmented Reality technology which already available on mobile devices around them.

General readers can easily understand the basic concept of Augmented Reality, Getting knowledge how to use it, The feature and function of each different available mobile apps and contribute on polls and survey to help improve development of the apps. Sayamobile determined on delivering it’s mission statement to the public that technology is helpful,fun,easy,and exciting.

Browsing Through Sayamobile

Our lovely readers can easily read our latest article right below this welcome article, you can also select desired category by clicking on one of the category in categories inside that can be found on the right hand side as well as clicking on the navigation tab above the welcome article. Choosing article based on its tags also made possible by clicking on specific tag,shown also in the right hand side below the Categories inside. Readers can also read on useful links supplied by Sayamobile by clicking on specific links supplied in the useful link section, Sayamobile also presents the latest technology new from guardian technology and wired magazine as RSS feeds that easily clickable by our readers.

Happy reading and enjoy the fun technology has to offer….

This example will guide you to understand the concept, Say that you are in a shopping street like Oxford Street in London or Orchard Road in Singapore, You turn on the Layar apps, pick the Tweeps Around layer, and you will see a profile picture of people that tweets around you, including their approximate distance from where you are. There’s a very good chance that you will meet your twitter friends over the area, then you can maybe call them and make an appointment to see each other, or maybe you can avoid meeting someone you don’t fancy using this apps.

With rapidly increasing number of twitter user that mostly share their location, you can bet that this apps will be helpful in some way.

The picture shown above should give you some ideas on how it works. Basically you will need your phone’s camera to identify the person’s face then the software will match the picture to a database, when it found a match it will show you you that person’s social network account, from facebook,twitter, etc.

There’s a debate going on about whether this app can invade your privacy, but you shouldn’t worry about that, cause in their business model TAT shows that people who wants their face matched using this app,should register themselves first on TAT systems. So it’s up to you now… do you want your face easily recognized by others? wait until the final version app comes out for you to try.

Meanwhile, let’s watch videos on how this will actually work

Imagine, you’re studying Local History and looking at the changing architecture and layout of the town centre. You stand on a street, point your phone at a scene and overlayed on the live image are archive photographs of the location spanning the decades. Touch the image and you’re given the option of viewing a Flickr pool, visiting related website, or going to the Wikipedia page and reading up on the history of the building.

AR technology implementation will give you a new learning experience, give you a real interactive experience in learning about history. Check out how AR can bring the famous “Berlin Wall” back to live in the pictures above. History sure ain’t boring anymore,eh?

Splinter Cell is already a famous and sophisticated game title, now the developer has decided to implement it using AR to add more fun in the way you play. Do you want to play Splinter Cell combined with AR technology? I know i do

This is the first time a major game developer like Ubisoft uses AR to launch a new title. With the Layar platform they have created a unique and engaging AR game. The objective is to introduce and promote the launch of the latest release of Spinter Cell for Xbox. Its a prime example of how the capabilities of the Layar platform and the reach of the Layar Browser can be used to create an engaging and fun experience to promote a multi million dollar game.

The Splinter Cell AR game was developed by marketing agency Blutarsky and Layar developer Muzar.org using Layar’s Augmented Reality platform.

How to play
As an agent of the Third Echelon you are in direct contact with HQ. At specific locations in Amsterdam HQ will provide you with instructions. These are your missions. To complete a mission you need to fulfill a task. When a mission is completed successfully the next location is revealed guiding you through town. This is all designed in style of the console game. The game play is in sync with the console version. Its about being smart, waiting for the right moment and solving the puzzles, all within the Layar Browser.

Amsterdam, April 28th 2010. Today Layar introduces a new revenue stream in Augmented Reality. Publishers on the Layar platform now have the possibility to offer priced Augmented Reality experiences on multiple mobile platforms such as iPhone and Android. The content store is seamlessly integrated into the Layar Reality Browser, which is already used on more than 1.6 million mobile devices globally.

layar content store

The Layar Payment Platform is setup to support multiple payment providers and multiple currencies, ready to serve the different local markets. Layar deals with legal, administrative and tax rules enabling the publisher to focus on their core activities: creating valuable experiences. The first payment provider is PayPal, supporting payments to residents of United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. More countries, currencies, payment methods and payment providers will be added regularly.

The first publishers to seize the opportunity include among others:

• Berlitz City Guides: Berlitz helps people experience the city’s highlights: the best attractions, coziest restaurants, most comfortable hotels, coolest places to shop and most fashionable nightlife.
• Mouse Reality for Disney World and Disneyland: Helps find and navigate all attractions, shows, shops, dinning, transportation, and more in Disneyland and Disney World.
• EyeTour: Explore Puerto Rico’s natural beauty and rich cultural heritage through exclusive video content of historical sites, museums, restaurants, parks and more.
• UK sold prices: ‘Sold House Price Data 2010′ – Check the latest UK residential Sold Price information as recorded by the Land Registry while on the move.

*for more info, hit the source link at Layar

*add your comments below after you cast your vote

There are many augmented reality apps available for your phone in the market. Most of them available for two most popular mobile platform, the Google Android and Apple Iphone platform .Development still in progress to make these apps available for other platform including Nokia Symbian, Blackberry OS or Windows mobile platform.

Both Android and Iphone has their own application store inside their platform, Android has Android market and Apple has it’s own iTunes Appstore. You can easily find AR apps by simple browse inside market or appstore and click on the apps you want to install. Both platform allows you to install it directly to your phone without connecting your phone to a computer. It’s relatively simple and no hassle.

After you get it installed, simply open the app and explore the beauty of AR on your phone

*hints : click on the picture above to see awesome collection on AR related picture