Master Thesis
Design Space and Platform Requirements
for Multi-mode Extended Reality
for Multi-mode Extended Reality
The term “Extended Reality (XR)” refers to a unified platform or contents that supports or uses multiple forms of reality (2D, 3D virtual, augmented, augmented virtual) together. However, despite the conceptualization, such a platform (nor the associated content) has not been demonstrated as much, not to mention its design space studied. In this paper, through a comparative study, we demonstrate and evaluate the user experience of mobile XR, which should not only support the convenient and quick use, and seamless switch among various operating modes of reality but also multitasking with other non-XR applications (e.g. responding to incoming text, taking phone calls). The mobile XR experience is illustrated through a simple monster game that operates by design, in 2D mode (for map based search and exploration), 3D VR mode (for 1st person viewpoint monster battles) and AR mode (for the capturing of the monsters in the real world). We also present “EasyXR”, a mobile XR platform designed around using a simple-to-use foldable clip-on lenses, which supports touch interaction and thereby easy switch among different XR and regular app modes. We explore and experimentally evaluate the user experience of XR contents on different mobile platforms, namely, on (1) bare smartphone (PhoneXR), (2) smartphone slid into closed cardboard-type headset (ClosedXR), and (3) smartphone with clip-on lenses (EasyXR). Results show while PhoneXR and ClosedXR have advantages in supporting the AR and VR experience respectively, with respect to the total and collective experience, EasyXR was clearly preferred for its balanced design around both usability and immersion.