Augmented reality has the power to transform everyday life

A look at AR in a 5G world by Simone Clow, Co-founder and head of production at Virtual Immersive.

The next generation mobile network will provide ubiquitous connection speeds, low latency and significantly improved capacity, which will help drive new advancements in the interactive technology space.

Augmented and virtual reality are certainly not new or emerging technologies, but 5G will prove instrumental to these platforms finally hitting the mainstream, and consumers are going to see huge benefits as a result. 

AR has the power to transform everyday life for consumers. Whether that be aiding navigation through virtual directions, viewing 3D furniture in your own living room, trying on virtual clothes and make-up, or taking a glimpse into the future. Rich, visual experiences that are delivered to consumers seamlessly and are integrated into the real world, will provide huge value both from a utility and entertainment perspective.

 To create truly impactful and purposeful AR experiences, we need powerful processors, hardware and advanced software. We also need to render the data in real time in order to create immersive experiences that will engage consumers and provide utility in their everyday life. This currently requires powerful mobile devices, and the existing 4G networks restrict how far we can push the overall experience.

With 5G, the opportunity to offload heavy real time camera processing to a powerful server over the network, will help to make interactive technologies accessible to more and more people with less powerful mobile devices. This will also allow us to push the boundaries of what is possible, taking AR to the next level.

An estimated 1 billion people will have an AR experience via their own mobile device in 2020, and Statista estimates that the value of the global AR market will have risen from $5.91 billion in 2018 to $198.17 billion in 2025. The rollout of 5G networks is undoubtedly one of the major catalysts for this exponential growth.

To demonstrate the power of 5G we developed a historical digital recreation of George Street, which streams HD graphics and heavy video content to the Optus 5G enabled device in real time. This content is then displayed in augmented reality, making it available to users instantly. 

Using the Samsung S20 phone, users can scan an onscreen marker to see George Street brought to life as it was in 1900, complete with horse and cart and old-fashioned trams. Alternatively, users can view our interpretation of what George Street may look like in 2030 as an eco-friendlier city, providing a glimpse of the future.

The Samsung S20 is a perfect showcase for Google's AR-Core technology. The new range of powerful mobile devices, combined with 5G, allow users to view high fidelity digital content experiences that are truly integrated into the real world.

Looking further forwards, most of the major tech companies, including Samsung, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple, are rumoured to be developing AR glasses. This new generation of wearables will eventually replace mobile devices and it is widely accepted that these products will start to be available for consumers in the next 2-5 years. At this point AR experiences will be an essential part of everyday life.

In the meantime, 2020 is set to be a breakout year for augmented reality as its mainstream acceptance gathers pace. Interactive technologies are entering the ‘grown-up’ phase and 5G is the enabler of this revolution.

About Virtual Immersive

Virtual Immersive is an award-winning creative technology studio that builds technology to solve real world problems, bringing the craft of feature film visual effects into interactive technologies. Experts in experience design, visual effects and software development, the team at Virtual Immersive build engaging and interactive experiences with the highest level of visual fidelity, to deliver the very best user experience with quantifiable results. This approach has led Virtual Immersive to become an internationally recognised company renowned for its commitment to developing purposeful experiences using the latest real-time technologies, development engines and hardware. The Virtual Immersive team create a variety of interactive experiences and publish them through some of the world’s largest social platforms. The company’s portfolio of work includes award-winning campaigns with some of the world’s biggest agencies and brands, including Optus, Woolworths, Grey Goose, Adidas, Salesforce, Tramsheds, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and World Square.

Co-founder and Head of Production Simone Clow is a seasoned experiential, design and visual effects producer with over 25 years’ experience working in New York, London and Sydney.  She has produced a variety of content including global channel rebrands, bespoke large format content and feature films and whilst Head of Production at Cutting Edge in Sydney, she built and managed the VFX department, producing visual effects for TV commercials and feature films. Simone is passionate about building purposeful technology in all its forms, and utilising her visual effects expertise to bring the craft of feature film visual effects into real-time technologies