Passengers on public transit in Aberdeen are now taking advantage of new technology based entertainment.
Commuters taking the public transit buses in Aberdeen, Scotland now have a brand new augmented reality experience available to them that will allow them to gain a great deal more entertainment out of their rides.
Through the use of mobile devices, they can now enjoy high tech entertainment while onboard.
Using smartphones and tablets, passengers on these Scottish are able to open up an interactive video channel that gives the viewer the choice to view a range of different content, including information about the transit services, interviews with staff, movie trailers, and even the ability to purchase tickets or surf the web.
There are 35 First Aberdeen buses that have been equipped with this augmented reality feature.
To make this service more readily available to a larger number of mobile devices, the buses also feature free WiFi for riders. This initiative has been generating a considerable amount of activity from passengers. In fact, since it first launched in November, there have been thousands of individuals who have accessed the content available through this AR channel.
All that riders need to do to access the AR material is to follow the instructions on the bus seat backs for downloading the free First Scotland app from Google Play or the Apple App Store. The app makes it possible to aim the mobile device at the seat back to trigger the video channel so that it can be streamed into the smartphone or tablet.
According to the General Manager of First Aberdeen, Duncan Cameron, “Our new augmented reality channel brings our seat backs to life and I hope makes bus travel that little bit more interesting and enjoyable.” He also went on to say that the transit system believes that they are the first company of that nature around the globe that has implemented AR tech on the backs of bus seats in order to help to encourage ridership on their vehicles. The sheer number of uses that the feature has seen until now has revealed the type of interest that this can, indeed, draw.
The Jakarta handset is expected to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress 2014.
The partnership between BlackBerry and Foxconn, which was first announced in December of last year, is about to produce its very first release of mobile devices, which will be debuted at the MWC 2014.
This answers the question that many people had about the next BlackBerry 10 based device.
According to Terry Gou, the chairman of Foxconn, when asked about the newest mobile devices from the struggling manufacturer, “We are working with them to design a new device, and we will showcase multiple devices at the trade show in Barcelona in February.” The specs regarding the handset have not been revealed, as it appears that the companies are attempting to keep them secret until the official launch.
The prediction is that the mobile devices will be lower end, and will be the BlackBerry Jakarta.
This lower end gadget will not be featuring a physical keyboard, as has been desired by many of the most loyal among the last lingering BlackBerry device owners. Instead, it will have a much more cost effective full touchscreen display. The goal is predicted to be to provide consumers with a new option to be able to purchase a touchscreen smartphone without a large price tag.
Many have been greatly interested in the fact that it seems that Gou has been talking about several mobile devices, and not a single gadget. This has spawned a great deal of speculation as to whether this means that BlackBerry will be launching more than one new handset, or if there will be more that are being manufactured by Foxconn, which could also suggest that Firefox OS gadgets will also be working their way into the mix.
It is believed that the “Jakarta” mobile devices will be slated to hit the emerging markets midway through the spring, this year, in April or May. This will still be at least a couple of months after its initial unveiling at the massive international technology news event. This description of the expected gadgets aligns well with the direction that the partnership had intended to take throughout 2014 and into the future.
