Google Unveils New Preview of Android XR Development Tools

Wow, okay, so Google just threw out a new Developer Preview for their Android XR SDK. I mean, it was all the buzz at Google I/O or something. They’ve packed in some new gizmos—like better support for immersive videos and hand-tracking for ARCore with Jetpack. You know, the kind of update that makes developers out there go, “Ah, finally!”

Here’s the kicker, they’re dropping support for 180° and 360° videos using that fancy MV-HEVC codec. Fancy schmancy, right? Meanwhile, Jetpack Compose has danced its way into XR, which I guess means creating adaptive UI layouts won’t feel like wrestling a bear anymore. Not that I’ve ever done that, but you get it.

Oh, there’s also something about hand-tracking with ARCore. They’re claiming 26 posed joints now—that’s more joints than I got. Picture someone waving their hands about to interact with floating buttons and stuff. It’s like we’re one step closer to being in a sci-fi movie or something. And don’t get me started on Material Design for XR. Apparently, it’s supposed to make everything look snazzy across different devices, like magic.

Now, I’m guessing hardly anyone has these newfangled Android XR headsets. I mean, there’s Project Moohan from Samsung and XREAL’s Project Aura coming later, but who even knows when that’ll happen? Good thing there’s an Android XR Emulator. It’s basically an imaginary playground for developers who don’t have the latest tech toys.

Oh, and Unity’s joining the fun with this Pre-Release thing for Unity OpenXR. Some fancy stuff about better performance with Dynamic Refresh Rate and SpaceWarp—whatever that means. Honestly, it makes my head spin a bit, but for the XR devs out there, it’s gotta be a big deal.

They’ve also given out these Unity samples for XR, so devs can muck around with hand tracking, face tracking, bla bla bla—the whole nine yards. But as much as Google XR might not have been ‘that big’ this year at Google I/O (so they say), they’re still gearing up to drop these Android XR glasses. Word on the street is they’re kinda like Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, with screens right in your lenses for reading and whatnot. Wild!

Anyway, if you’re curious, you can dig deeper into the Android XR Developer Preview. I’m sure some devs will find it all fascinating. Okay, maybe not overly thrilling, but it’s a step.