Samsung’s Galaxy S9 AR Emoji

Samsung’s Galaxy S9 AR Emoji are kind of horrifying

One of Samsung’s messages with the new Galaxy S9 is that it’s “Built for the Way We Communicate Today.” And while that’s a laudable goal, one of the key features behind that message AR Emoji doesn’t feel like it connects with the way anyone communicates now, or will want to in the future. At least I hope not.

AR Emoji will widely be seen as a response to Animoji, the new iPhone X emoji that use face scanning technology to convert facial movement into animated animals that you can send as messages. But the idea and implementation is actually very different. The Galaxy S9 relies entirely on conventional photos from the selfie camera rather than Apple’s complex 3D sensor array, yet attempts to produce something more ambitious and fraught with potential disaster: realistic, yet cartoonist, depictions of your own face.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the results are mixed.

We'll have to spend more time with the Galaxy S9 to deliver the final verdict on AR Emoji, and of course the phone's overall success isn't going to hinge on them. But from our brief testing, they're a plane crash right into the depths of the Uncanny Valley. They’re not abstract enough to be cute, yet not realistic enough to be authentic.

Samsung may have been a little too ambitious on a technical level, but even then I’m not sure the idea is sound. There’s a reason why Snapchat filters tend to turn you into a bear or a Pokémon rather than yourself. And to that end, Samsung has actually announced that various Disney characters will also be available as AR Emoji which is a much better idea, but one that brings us right back to Animoji.

Comments

Kenyan senator campaigns against stigma around menstruation

The sight of a red bloodstain on Kenyan Senator Gloria Orwoba's white pantsuit was so startling that a female security guard rushed over to hide it. It was an accident, Orwoba said. Just before walking into parliament, she looked down to discover that she had been caught unprepared by her monthly period. For a moment, she considered retreat. But then she thought about how the stigma around menstruation affects Kenyan women and girls and strode into the building. To those who noticed the stain, she explained she was making a statement. It didn’t last long. Within minutes, colleagues in the senate became so uncomfortable that another female lawmaker petitioned the speaker to ask Orwoba to leave and change her clothes. Male colleagues agreed, calling the issue “taboo and private,” and Orwoba walked out. A male colleague accused her of faking her accident in parliament, to which she replied in a local media interview that “everyone would rather think it's a prank, because if i...

Zimbabwe’s size of tobacco crop increased despite increased fertilizer prices caused by the war in Ukraine.

Image credit: apnews.com The size of the tobacco crop increased despite increased fertilizer prices caused by the war in Ukraine. Zimbabwe expects to harvest 230 million kilograms (254,000 tons) of the golden leaf this season, up from 212 million kilograms (234,000 tons) last year, officials said at the official opening. The southern African country now wants to make its tobacco industry more lucrative by manufacturing more cigarettes at home and limiting foreign funding of farmers. Currently, China funds the bulk of production and buys the lion’s share of Zimbabwe’s tobacco. The war in Ukraine affected Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers “quite badly because it happened at the time when we were planting our crop, so we did pay more for fertilizer than we should have,” said Patrick Devenish, chairman of the regulatory body, the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board. He attributed the spike in production to more growers taking up the crop, from about 123,000 farmers last season to about 150,000 this ...

How To Get Into The Video Gaming Industry

Job Opportunities in the Video Gaming Industry In today's digital and technological world, video gaming is a booming industry that offers a vast array of job titles and career paths. With the growing popularity of gaming comes a plethora of career opportunities within the industry. Some job titles include animators, game designers, sound engineers, test developers, marketers and sales representatives, writers and technical support professionals. Animators are responsible for creating character movement in game animation while game designers develop the look and feel of the game by creating levels and design elements that drive player engagement. Animators also collaborate closely with artists to create dynamic gaming environments while sound engineers are responsible for creating music and audio effects that make games more exciting to play. Test developers work on testing the game's systems ensuring there are no bugs or glitches that can hinder game...

Onuroic

Search This Blog