This year has definitely seen a growth in the potential that virtual reality and augmented reality can become in the near future. Google has now decided to release their augmented reality stickers to all Pixels phones running Android 8.1 Oreo.
Whether bringing a favourite story to life or making the festive season a little more manageable, users will be able to enjoy Star Wars and Netflix marketing in a whole new way. You will be able to watch Stranger Things' Eleven chew on some waffles; surround yourself with AR balloons and champagne; evaluate Porg and its relevance in the Star Wars universe. These stickers have the potential to become another intrusive form of marketing but, at the moment they appear harmless, optional, and even hilarious at times. They make funky sounds, jump around, attempt to communicate with the user. One might actually take a step back and wonder, are you sucking the character into your life story, or are the characters bringing you into theirs?
They are easy enough to hang out with, open the camera, switch to AR stickers mode, choose a favourite sticker pack and plop them right into the landscape. They are surprisingly realistic, especially the Star Wars characters. You can move them, resize them and when the photos have been taken and the fun is over, the few pixel users who have yet to do so may finally get around to subscribing to Netflix.
