Glossary
Augmented reality
Overlaying computer-generated information onto the real world so it appears positioned within it.
Augmented reality places computer-generated information into the wearer’s view of the real world, positioned so it appears to belong there: a direction arrow that stays on the road ahead as you turn your head, a label that stays attached to the object it names.
Where the line falls
The word is used loosely, and on this category it covers two quite different things. Placing an arrow at a fixed spot on the lens is a heads-up display and needs no understanding of the scene. Keeping that arrow anchored to the street as you move requires tracking the world and the wearer’s position in it, which is far harder and much more demanding of the battery. Most glasses that mention augmented reality are doing the first.