If you ever used the Wikitude app on legacy devices you'll know what a useful tool an augmented reality app can be. We mentioned recently that ARKick is now available for BlackBerry 10 devices and it works much the same. However, it's great to see the app being built for BlackBerry 10 and then rolling out to other OS's in the near future. Who said BlackBerry was dead!

ARKick is the world’s first contextual Augmented Reality app. The application will assist users in finding the best places near them but also taking into account things such as weather, time, temperature, and places that are already popular on Facebook and Foursquare. Sounds pretty good doesn't it?

Once you load the app for the first time you may want to swipe down from the top bezel as that's where the instructions are. They will give you a quick overview of how to use the app and its two different modes.

On the subject of modes - the first is 'Browser Mode' and by selecting this option you'll be presented with a wide selection of different categories to help filter down what you want the application to look for. So for example - if I select bars, that is all that will be shown once you start panning around. The bars will be shown in a high tech style map in one corner of the screen but it's the camera that is doing the real work. Pan that around and you'll see the local bars displayed on the screen. The nearer they are - the bigger they will appear. 

As you will see in the video, if you tap on a location that is shown in the augmented view it will give you some further information regarding that place - such as the address, phone number, a map and even a few photos which I presume are pulled in from the Foursquare integration. So the Browser View is super if you are looking for a specific type of place.

The other option is 'SideKick Mode'. When using this one and you pan the camera around it will show you all local places that may be of interest, rather than just the filtered ones as seen in the Browser Mode. Again, you get the map on-screen which I love. It's the colors that do it for me. The combination of that beautiful blue with the green dots inside makes it looks so nice.

The developers of ARKick have done a wonderful job with the app and as you can see from the above image they are keen to communicate with users. It isn't often we see this level of commitment from devs within the app itself so kudos to them for that - hence why they deserve their details being placed here in the post.

ARKick is priced at £2.00/$2.99 and as far as I can see that's fantastic value for money. Sure, it's not an app we will all use everyday, but if you visit an unfamiliar town or city this is the perfect way to find local amenities etc. ARKick shall remain within my GPS folder on my BlackBerry forever I think.

More information/Download ARKick for BlackBerry 10

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