Virtual Reality is finally threatening to be the next big thing in the tech industry, and after many false dawns it really is about time. Still not strictly with a killer use case except perhaps gaming, VR is one of those things that seems like a brilliant idea and makes for a cool tech demo. Whether it will ever make a real, popular product is anyone’s guess.
Google is doing as much as anyone to try and give virtual reality a shot in the arm, and its new Android app won’t hurt one bit in this regard. Dubbed Cardboard Camera, the app is only available for Android devices at present but we can only imagine that it’s just a matter of time before the app makes the jump across to the world of iOS.
The app, free to download, is kind of like a normal camera app in that it lets you take images, but it’s what it does with those images that makes it interesting. In a nutshell, Cardboard Camera will take your surroundings and turn them into a virtual world. All using nothing but your Android phone and Google’s Cardboard headset.
Cardboard Camera turns the smartphone in your pocket into a virtual reality (VR) camera. It’s simple to take a photo: just hold out your phone and move it around you in a circle. Later, when you place your phone inside a Google Cardboard viewer, you’ll get to experience something new: a VR photo.
Take in a similar way to a large panorama, those using Cardboard Camera will need to turn around in a circle while using the app in order for it to create the world in which you will roam, but if you can get past that inevitable feeling of looking a bit silly, the results can be very promising indeed. Cardboard Camera records slightly different images for the left and right eyes, meaning the whole thing works just spiffily when viewed back in Google’s Cardboard. It’s virtual reality, based on the reality that’s around you.
If you have a supported device and Cardboard, then the Cardboard Camera app is a no-brainer. Download it today.
(Download: Cardboard Camera app for Android on Google Play)
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