The potential of augmented reality was showcased just a week ago at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and has been talked about long before that, but Nokia and LG will introduce it to the market this year.

Augmented reality could be introduced into smartphones this summer as technology that overlays a real world view with 3D graphics and is commonly used to point at real-life objects and get information.

The LG phone with bult-in augmented reality will be the LU2300 that runs on Android and will be released to Korea in Q2 and distributed next throughout the rest of the world.

Nokia’s augmented reality phone will help mapping and location based services, and is thought to be introduced on to certain N and X series by the end of 2010.

Senior VP for martphones, Jo Harlow, said the company would look to introduce augmented reality in Ovi Maps and other apps:
“Well I think what I get excited about and that you can see on the horizon are the types of things that really enhance the services that we’re offering, the kinds of things that enhance the maps experience in the areas of augmented reality,” Harlow said on Nokia Conversations.”You can see how those kinds of technologies really make that just a fantastic experience for consumers.”

by Richard Armitage