Investigating the balance between virtuality and reality in mobile mixed reality UI design: user perception of an augmented city

Examples of mixed reality mobile applications and research combining virtual and real world data in the same view have emerged during recent years. However, currently there is little knowledge of users' perceptions comparing the role of virtual and real world representations in mobile user interfaces (UIs). In this paper, we investigate the initial user perceptions when comparing augmented reality and augmented virtuality UIs in a mobile application. To chart this, we conducted a field study with 35 participants, where they interacted with a simulated mobile mixed reality (MMR) application with two alternative UI designs, and an online survey completed by over a hundred people. Our findings reveal perceived differences e.g. in immersion, recognition, clarity and overall pleasantness, and provide insight to user interface design and methodological challenges of research in the area of mobile mixed reality.

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