Snap has announced new features and functionality for its fifth-generation Spectacles and second version featuring AR capabilities. The latest update includes the use of GPS data for simple navigation, multiplayer gaming, and other experiences. Lenses can now utilize location data, including GPS, GNSS, and compass headings to provide users with more accurate directions.
The updated AR Spectacles also feature an improved hand tracking system, allowing for a virtual keyboard that enables text entry without pulling out a connected smartphone. This new keyboard features a “full and numeric layout” and takes advantage of refinements made to hand tracking to improve targeting intent while reducing false positives.
Additionally, Snap has showcased demos of Lenses using the new capabilities, including Utopia Labs’ NavigatAR, which creates arrows pointing in the direction users should be headed en route to a specific destination. Another lens, Path Pioneer, allows developers to create AR walking courses with waypoints that guide users along a specific path.
The update also enables multiplayer gaming capabilities through Niantic’s Peridot Beyond game, allowing users to see and interact with AR versions of their own Dot characters as well as friends’ in the same session. Developers can now add leaderboards to AR games to help draw players back to set a new high score.
However, Snap did not announce a version of its AR Spectacles for general consumers, instead keeping the fifth-gen model exclusive to developers who have applied through the company’s Lens Studio desktop tool. The current pricing remains $99 per month, with a commitment period of at least one year.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/news/631242