Sony AR Fun Camera App Released on Google Play for Xperia Smartphones

Sony, a day after announcing its Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact smartphones in India, has released the ‘AR fun’ augmented reality camera app via Google Play.

Notably, the ‘AR fun’ app comes built-in with the latest Xperia Z3 (Review | Pictures) and Xperia Z3 Compact (Pictures) handsets, and is being released for other Xperia handsets running Android 4.2 and above – Sony hasn’t specified a compatibility list however.

Created by Sony Mobile Communications, the AR fun camera app lets users add 3D objects, text, images and other AR effects on the video and images captured through the smartphone’s camera.

“AR fun lets you create funny and interesting pictures and videos. You can doodle your thoughts in the 3D augmented reality space or throw objects like paintballs and buckets on faces in the viewfinder. Create memorable pictures and videos playing virtual pranks on your friends, or on cute little elves and see how they respond!,” statesthe AR Fun camera app description on Google Play.

In the automatic mode, the app pairs with the Sony’s Face Recognition Technology and the SmartAR Engine to detect faces and 3D environments, and adds virtual AR items to the image. Receiving a positive reply from users on Google Play with a 4.7 rating at the time of writing (from 349 users), the 21MB sized AR Fun app requires Android 4.2 and later OS versions to run.

Last month, Sony Mobile Communications released 6 new ‘Underwater Apps’ for itsvXperia Z1S, and Xperia Z (Review) smartphones, in a special section on Google Play. The 6 apps are Goldie, Photo Lab, Platimal, Rainy-oke, Sink Sunk, and Tiny Umbrella. The apps however seemed to showcase the much-touted water-resistance capabilities in Sony Xperia smartphones, and don’t really do much apart from providing momentary entertainment.