While one Improves the quality/likeness of the already existing world as we know it, the other focuses on creating new worlds to be explored. Human creativity over the years has targeted improving not just the quality of life but also the perception of our world as we know it, the business world is actually not left out of this advancements.
Ads at a point were just words, with time sound came in and now we have virtual and augmented vision making advertising more fun and highly relatable.
Investopedia defines augmented reality as an enhanced(extended, modified) version of the real physical world that is achieved through the use of digital visual elements, sound, or other sensory stimuli delivered via technology.
The concept of enhanced/modified means we have an empty hall that is meant to be a ball-room/game-zone, with AR we can take the idea of what we want it to look like, conceptualize and with a tool like Reality Composer built by Apple, build the exact same picture on the already existing structure.
So we have a building we can see and touch, as well as furniture/consoles we can see and hear but can't touch because they are what I'd call refraction of light or projected display.
Virtual Reality on the other hand immerses users in a whole different world (Animated scene, photographed location embedded in a VR app) allowing them take different forms and access different environments, this environment is created and rendered by computers. Users in a virtual reality may change views, look around and move around also by controlling the view with a console, only they cannot physically move as the environment is virtual(unreal).
AR Applications
While this blog post is focused on the difference between AR and VR, I would like to give off a bit more information regarding what areas AR technology has been applied so far.
Quite a number of people saw Pikachu in Pokemon GO, there's as much applications of AR in our daily lives as there are Pikachu, or should I say Pikachus, or Pikachues lol.
- IKEA Place owned by renowned furniture giant IKEA, gives you the ability to see how a piece of furniture will fit in your apartment or space.
- For historical locations, AR allows us see a visualization of those historic events over today's ruins. Take Pompei Italy for example, you could literally see the magma chase you to the end of the city if you're a fast runner, it is not real, it is just an overlay.
- The most popular is VAR used in Football games, offside detection, fouls and all other football related faults can easily be detected thanks to the visualizations.
- Another major application of AR is Snapchat !! No one can get over that, ever.
What's different?
- While AR improves the already existing world (Adding virtual containers to improve/enhance experience), VR creates a whole different world
- AR is limited by physical structures, while VR has endless possibilities (You could literally build new structures for yourself if not satisfied with VR environment. Take SIMS for example).
Want to know more?
The links below would teach you more of Augmented and Virtual realities.