Layar Augmented Reality App Now Available in Android Market

Layar, the world's first mobile augmented reality application, is now available for Android in Android Market. We urge you to go download it. Like right now. Okay. To give you a brief introduction on what Layar is, you can either watch this video or read our own description:

Layar uses Android's GPS, camera, and compass features to display real-time information on the world before you. Think of it as an informative looking glass for the world, you point your Android phone in a particular direction and you'll receive details galore--points-of-interests, houses for sale, ATMs, jobs, and so much more. It'll give you the information about what you want to know--distance, store hours, etc--by just pointing in the right direction. It's pretty much Google Maps on ridiculously powerful steroids

The real beauty of Layar is that they've opened up this 'reality browser' to third-party developers, over 100 developers have already developed layers for the application and 500 more developers will be jumping in. You can already see nearby Yelp reviews, tweets from Twitter friends around you, and so much more. The potential is simply off the charts.

We've installed Layar on our T-Mobile G1 and were very impressed on how well it runs for such a (presumably) demanding application. We're excited and hopeful for Layar to take off and bring augmented reality browsers to the forefront of the discussion. It's the future.

Go grab Layar and tell us what you think!

picture from engadget