The developers at Occipital have noticed that Apple has built in Gyroscope features into Mobile Safari with iOS 4.2. It seems like they’re the first to notice it and release a proof of concept using the functionality.
Many super-awesome websites are classifying the functionality as an “augmented reality” breakthrough, but you should probably know that the example from Occipital uses the gyroscope in the iPhone 4 and new iPod touch to navigate around a panoramic photo, and not a live camera view. The example is a proof of concept that shows off the gyroscope, and certainly does not qualify as augmented reality (by modern definitions). But, it is possible to imagine web apps making use of the functionality to create a true augmented reality application in the future. But, doing so would require access to the camera API from Mobile Safari, which as it stands isn’t possible.
So really, the only thing this “finding” sheds light on is that the gyroscope is accessible from Mobile Safari. So, it’s more likely that we’ll see this functionality built into a game, or an application before we see it included in an augmented reality web application.
Just thought we should clear that up.
Article Via The Next Web
December 22, 2010
iPhone