Monday, June 23, 2014

To Be Determined...

Recently, I learned about the colAR app.  The colAR application makes a child's coloring page come "alive" on a tablet or smartphone.  In other words, a normal coloring page turns into an animated 3D scene.



Today, I tried the application using my Samsung Galaxy s5 smartphone. The kids excitedly picked out the pictures they wanted to color. While they sat down and colored, I downloaded the app. My youngest son finished first so we tried it out right away. It worked great!  He was really excited to see his airplane come alive on the screen.  Then, we were sadly disappointed when the app would not work for my older son's drawing.  Other reviews for the app did mention that the same thing occurred for them.  I had heard many great things about the app despite this review so I ignored it at first glance.  Now, I wish I took it more seriously.


              

Since I purchased the coloring packs offered by the colAR app I contacted Google Play, and they were very helpful.  They offered to help me get a refund, but I decided to contact the company first.  I am hoping this is just a bug that needs to be fixed.  My children love creative activities and technology so this application is a great fit for summer fun.  I am awaiting a response from Puteko Limited, so my full opinion is yet to be determined.

Have you used the colAR app?  What has been your experience?

1 comment:

  1. I wonder if the issue is related to the app not being perfected yet for the Androids, but I have not seen this issue on iPads. I also wonder if the issue is related to using a smartphone instead of a tablet. Bring the pictures to class that you children colored and let's see what happens when we try it on the iPad. One person in class said she had no problem displaying the images for the upgrade on her iPad even though she did not have the upgrade. Guess, we just need to be patient. I also learned this week of another augmented reality app similar to colAR called Chromville, but it is still in beta, so only a few pages are available. This technology is fairly new for smartphones, and is still in its first generation, but keep us updated on what you find out. A new blog post would be one way to do that when you know more. As for my iPad, it always works when using the free pictures, and teachers who have upgraded with their iPad have had things work fine as well with the other pages. I am thinking it might be related to the app being new for Android smartphones. I have not downloaded the app to my iPhone, but personally prefer to see the pictures come to life on the larger screen of an iPad.

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