Snap’s subscription-based AR glasses have additional capabilities for developers to use in making new kinds of experiences.
Software running on Snap’s Spectacles can now detect a held phone as well as use GPS and compass headings. The latest version of the glasses released six months ago with a $100 per month subscription program for developers (and now $50 for educators), and lens-makers have shown interesting ideas for the 5th generation eyewear, like Peridot virtual pets and a piano learning app.
Snap’s latest updates for the device include a sample project called NavigatAR from Utopia Labs that demonstrates how the new features can be used for navigation software. Meanwhile, Peridot is beginning to add promised multiplayer features which allow glasses owners to get their pet together with a friend’s pet in the same session.
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“This update also connects Spectacles and the Peridot mobile game, allowing progression within the AR glasses experience to reward you on mobile,” Snap announced.
Other new features include an AR keyboard for text input, leaderboards, the recognition of a grab gesture and “refinements to targeting intent to reduce false positives while typing.”
Snap calls apps for the glasses lenses, and a new one called Doggo Quest from Wabisabi “gamifies the dog walking experience, using SnapML to recognize your pup and overlay visual effects.”
Snap also revealed it would be teaming with a group called Lenslist to distribute “over” $20,000 monthly to the developers of “10 different projects, including the top 5 new Lenses, top 5 updated Lenses, and top open source Lens.” Snap says developers can submit starting in April for May prizes, with winners announced on the first business day following the 15th of each month.
Snap & Niantic Spatial
Last week, the maker of Peridot separated from the development group behind Pokemon Go. The newly formed Niantic Spatial is owned by existing investors and led by John Hanke with $250 million in startup funds, and they’re also the group now developing Peridot. Essentially, the separation frees Niantic Spatial to focus on adding new features to the tiny creatures as a “best-in-class” application for limited field of view AR glasses, built on top of the group’s spatial technology, which includes a “proprietary database of 30 billion posed images”.
I called the creatures a “perfect fit” for the Spectacles at release because I could imagine an entire operating system growing out of peridots and your interactions with them. Imagine, for instance, telling your tiny friend on the ground where you want to go next and then just following him to his destination.
Meta continues to hit the accelerator on technology to pack into socially acceptable AR glasses. Meanwhile, Snap and partners like Niantic Spatial continue to develop complementary ideas toward the same end goal, with today’s latest updates illustrating steady progress.
