Although augmented-reality sounds a bit gimmicky to our ears, bringing back memories of the 1990’s and 'virtual reality', there’s little doubt that some of you of use these tools. And they are kind of cool.
Nokia City Lens (beta) is just such an app as it uses your Lumia’s camera, compass and accelerometer to display what’s around you or perhaps more accurately, to highlight areas based on categories. It’s a useful tool especially if you’re in a urban environment, walking around, looking for an establishment or wanting to discover something new.
Version 1.1 of the app is now out and while it doesn’t get too many new features the new additions should make using the app a little more easy:
- Nearby Points of Interest
- Compass calibration
The first one simply brings more useful information to your fingertips, highlighting particular areas that have a higher degree of relevance. The compass calibration “takes less time and provides visual indicators”, which should hopefully make using the finicky tool less annoying--it’s a tad embarrassing to wave your phone in a giant figure 8 every time you want to use it or show it off, no?
Users can grab Nokia City Lens here from Nokia for their Lumia phones. Like all betas this may work on non-Lumias too if you want to try some Finnish Windows Phone wares. You can also see our mini-review of the app for more information.
Source: Nokia Beta Labs (opens in new tab)
Daniel Rubino is the Executive Editor of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft here since 2007, back when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Microsoft Surface, laptops, next-gen computing, and arguing with people on the internet.
