Yesterday, Google announced a new software update for its Android XR platform, which will grant your Samsung Galaxy XR headset several new abilities and features. Samsung also revealed that, along with this update, Android XR will get regular software updates, including security patches, for up to five years.
One of the more notable new features is the ability to convert 2D apps, sites, images, and video into 3D content. Google refers to the experimental process as ‘auto-spatialization,’ which receives support in Chrome and YouTube apps. However, it will utilize a bit more battery power and currently supports content up to 1080p at 30fps.
Also new is the ability to pin apps to walls and see your real hands when interacting with virtual content in home space mode; it now saves the apps from your previous session after powering the headset down, supports eye-tracking, adds Android Enterprise support, and now supports up to 100 XR-ready apps and games on the Play Store, which is more than double what the platform had at launch.
I’m sure some owners wished the new features were ready at launch, but the platforms are relatively built out on the slower side, as early adopters are more or less beta testers. So if you have one and haven’t used it in a while, now might be a great time to get back into it.
