LiDAR? EVERYTHING you need to know about the NEWEST iPad Pro's LiDAR Camera

Описание: So the new iPad’s have LiDAR. I had three questions about it.

The first question I had when I saw it on Apple’s website was: Does it work?

The second question was: Will AR be more accurate than other iOS devices?

And the third question I had was: How useful is it going to be?

Those are the questions I answer in this video!

For the new 2020 iPad Pro, Apple has included it on the rear-facing camera. Now it’s not officially part of the Pro camera setup but is featured right under it which is why I didn’t feature it in my camera comparison.

Now I spent several hours trying to use a variety of AR apps on the app store and couldn’t find one that really showed me anything different. I went through the Apps on Apple’s website and placing a waterfall on a table didn’t seem unique between devices. Most of the apps hadn’t been updated in at least a month which wasn’t a great indication of their potential LiDAR usage.

The only tool that showed me a visible improvement over the old iPad Pro and even the iPhone 11’s was Apple’s own measure app. And to get to the next part, I spent at least an hour measuring the same table space with an iPhone 7, 8 Plus, XS Max, 11 Pro Max, 2018 iPad and 2020 iPad.

For each device, I would trace the table top by walking around it, record the measurements and then trace the object again by standing still.

Here’s what the 2020 iPad Pro’s do better than the rest:

1. The iPad Pro not only snaps to corners, but also straight edges.
2. In fact, it detects straight edges which is neat
3. It can easily detect the faces of the object

Now one would assume that the newer devices would offer better readings BUT I found that my iPhone 7 was the least fussy when it came to detecting corners and measuring. I had more of a hassle trying to use my iPhone 11 Pro Max than I did with the iPhone 7.

The LiDAR on the iPad Pro allows the device to have a great understanding of where it is in 3D space. For example, the measure tool will sometimes automatically detect a shape. On my iPhone 11 Pro Max, it detected the shape but couldn’t figure out where the object laid in space. The iPad Pro on the other hand new exactly where it was.

The best example I can show you with the LiDAR is to watch how the measure app tracks the surface of this HomePod box. On the new iPad Pro, it can detect the
different faces of the box. Even the iPhone 11 has a hard time trying to figure out what a perpendicular wall is.

So that’s the LiDAR in action. Now why is there such a big difference? Because of this thing called active imaging. With the LiDAR, the iPad Pro is essentially reaching out to the object and recording what it senses. It’s touching the object with its laser beams.

With all the other devices, all the measurements are done through passive imaging. It’s just recording whatever the sensor sees and does a best guess.

Which is why the LiDAR does such a great job detecting surfaces.

So how useful is the new LiDAR camera on the new 2020 iPad Pro? It’s cool feature, that works relatively well, with fringe benefits. The biggest downside of Augmented Reality on the iPad or iPhone or any touch device is that you have to carry that device is that it’s not really augmenting your reality. It’s an alternate reality. I say it’s an alternate reality because you’re still interacting with that reality through a device. You’re not part of that reality. It’s not immersive. You still can’t use your hands really.

AR in its current form, on smartphones and tablets is a novelty. AR games, are just dumb.

So having a LiDAR sensor in the iPad Pro is the second step in bringing it to the masses. Apple’s getting some milage out of their ARKit development. I’m guess we’ll see a LiDAR sensor on the iPhone 12’s when they get released in 2021 and everything will still be this lackluster.

The third step will be when Apple releases their iGlasses or iLens or iBifocals or iSee hardware or whatever they decide to call it. For me personally, AR is going to be the apex of our digital and physical worlds.
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