Top 5 differences between Augmented and Virtual Reality

Technological revolutions are changing the way we perceive reality in the world around us by adding layers of digital information over it. Now even though some of it might see it is a hindrance to the real world, these technologies are only making information more accessible and our interactions with the world more personal.

You might have guessed till now that we are talking about AR and VR technology here. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are a fast-growing industry which is changing the way we interact with our physical world. Since both the technologies have the word ‘reality’ in them, often people are confused between them and are not able to differentiate between the applications of either of them.

The AR/VR industry is expected to become a billion dollar industry by 2020. One must understand the differences between both of these to be able to better understand their applicability and scope in the future.

Augmented Reality (AR) – adds a layer of digital information on top of our real world.

Virtual reality (VR) – creates an entirely different virtual world by manipulating our senses.

To better understand the difference between the two, here are 5 key differences between Augmented and Virtual Reality –

1.   Infrastructure/Instrumental requirement – AR and VR both need to develop using a complex set of software. But AR can be accessed through a commonly available device (mobile phones) while VR requires the use of heavy equipment to experience the virtual reality (e.g. – Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift, and Microsoft Hololens etc.)

2.   Cost of production – While the software development costs are almost equal on either of these technologies, AR can be used on a wider scale at a given point of time, making its scalability easier than VR and hence bringing its cost of production down by a huge margin.  

3.   Differentiation of reality– In an AR-based application/game it is quite easy to differentiate the augmented part from the real part easily, while the boundaries between reality and virtual world fade in a VR based technology.

4.   Applicability – AR has a wide field of applications ranging from manufacturing, production, marketing, advertising, education, retail, tourism, and other similar fields. While VR has a limited number of applications in similar fields because of its cost of production and implementation.

5.   Field of View – The field of view in either of them can be a 360-degree view, but VR provides an immersive 360-degree viewing experience. While AR only provides a similar field of view using planar surfaces and objects, hence limiting the immersive experience.  

Now that you know the difference between the two kinds of Reality technologies, AugRay will help you provide a complete solution to your company’s needs in your projects using a combination of both AR and VR technologies.