You may have already heard the buzz about augmented reality, but let's put it in an automotive context. Imagine your phone helping you drive your car?such as putting up safety alerts for vehicles too close to yours, and tracking incoming dangers in real time. That's the idea behind iOnRoad Augmented Reality, an augmented reality driving app for Android. If you do a lot of driving, this free app is a worthy download, as long as you're not expecting luxury-car level accuracy.
Interface, Live View, and Collision Detection
For this review, I tested iOnRoad Augmented Driving 1.1.1.3 on a?Verizon Wireless HTC Rezound. The only thing you need to get started is a windshield mount for your Android phone, since the app needs to "see" what's ahead at all times in order to function. Any generic windshield mount should do; I listed this as a con (above) mainly because it's not something most people have around unless they're already using their phone for in-car navigation.
When you first fire up iOnRoad, it takes about a minute to adjust to its surroundings. The live view is accurate and updates beautifully, just like when using the phone as a viewfinder in the Camera app. It highlights the current lane of travel in green. In my tests, the app also figured out my current speed, much like any current GPS navigation app would. Tap the Menu button, and you'll head over to the main menu, which features eight large icons for cuing up navigation, music, and other tasks in the background. With the live view visible, you can also tap Navigation on the left to start Google Maps Navigation; then both will run simultaneously.
The collision detection works just like the options you'd find on an upscale luxury car. With the phone mounted on the windshield, the app can tell you if it detects a possible collision with another vehicle ahead, even when the app is running in the background. In practice, this worked well, though I should note that there was only so much testing I could do here, as each "test" involved me putting myself in a somewhat dangerous situation to see if the app figured out what was going on. In other words: Don't try this at home (but by all means, try the app).
Headway Distance Monitoring and Photo Snapshots
The headway distance monitoring is similar, but instead of looking for possible accidents, the app simply measures how far away the nearest car is in front of you, and shows you with a graphical readout. It also sounds an alert if that car is too close for safe braking in the event of a sudden stop, based on your own speed of travel. In testing, this feature also worked well. Once iOnRoad became acquainted with my surroundings, it figured out there was a Hummer stretch limo ahead of me. The app locked onto it and then put up a real-time readout showing how many feet away I was. When I got too close to the Hummer's rear bumper, the app popped up a warning and sounded an alarm based on my current speed, the Hummer's speed, and the distance between us.
On the other hand, I had less success with the lane departure warning. I tested it by popping on my blinker and then beginning to drift out of the lane I was in; the blinker was to notify other motorists, as once again I didn't want to cause an accident. I did eventually get the app to sound the lane departure warning, but several attempted drifts left the app completely silent.
Another useful feature: You can take snapshots using the main interface with a single button tap. This way you can photograph an interesting landmark, car, or other feature you may want to save for later, without having to fumble with starting up the phone's camera app. iOnRoad also includes something of a game called Safety Point Counter, which lets you rack up points based on how long you can drive with the fewest amount of safety alerts. The app immediately begins adding points to your score as it's running, with a readout in the top center of the display. This seems fairly pointless, but hey, you can just ignore it.
Car Locator, Other Features, and Conclusions
iOnRoad offers numerous other features, though none are as game-changing as the collision detection and other real-time warnings. The Car Locator does what other apps already do, but with a twist: It records your parked car's GPS location and also takes a photo snapshot. It then places a marker on a map, so when you return to find your car, you can view your location versus the marker on the map, as well as pop up a photo of where you parked the car.
Back at home, you can log into your personal Web dashboard, which saves and tracks the various alerts from your last trip. It also saves snapshots from the road and lets you share driving data with others. The SMS and notification narrator does exactly what it sounds like: It reads incoming texts and notification alerts out loud to you. The app also has an automatic driving detector, which figures out if you've somehow stepped into your car and started driving. If so, it activates itself. I didn't have a bicycle handy to test this feature and try and throw it off, but it's a nice touch.
Overall, iOnRoad offers a bevy of interesting features you won't find in typical GPS navigation apps. I don't want to damn it with faint praise by calling it a fun distraction, because it actually enhances driving safety. Over time, I'll be keeping an eye on this app to see how it evolves; for now, it's worth installing, as long as you're not expecting it to be as effective as the crash avoidance systems found on $60,000 luxury cars. Considering it's free and fun to use, and this is its first non-beta iteration, we can cut it some slack.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/30oX4V4poZk/0,2817,2402079,00.asp
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