A pinch of virtual reality, another of 360-degree video, many distorted images, and a smartphone. These are the four basic elements needed to use Google's latest experiment called Sprayscape. It's... something similar to a "digital spray" with which you can create very, very strange virtual environments. It's as if Google DeepDream took control of your phone during a psychedelic trip, and even the app claims to be "perfectly imperfect"...
Remember Google Wave? When it was announced in May 2009, the Web went crazy. Invitations were sold on eBay at absurd prices, and millions imagined a "revolutionary" communication platform, but once access was released... nobody knew what to do with it. At the same time, Google did a rather poor job explaining what Wave's supposed strengths were, and it only took fifteen months for it to get the thumbs down. The Mountain View giant has a long list of cancelled projects in its record, and I think we've just found a potential candidate: Google Sprayscape. Technically it's an "Android experiment", and interested users should expect some erratic behavior and several bugs, but the best thing will be to show the video:
According to the official description, Sprayscape is an app that uses the smartphone's gyroscope to take photos inside a virtual sphere. That is, a kind of 360-degree canvas on which we use the device as a spray. The effect is much more pronounced when you keep your finger pressed on the screen, and the final result is similar to a completely chaotic 360-degree video on YouTube, a "virtual collage" out of focus, unique and unrepeatable. Sprayscape gives us the option to share these artistic expressions through Facebook, save them to Google Drive, or keep them private, of course.
Honestly, I have no idea how long Sprayscape will last. It could become the next Snapchat, or get lost in the digital tide like other projects. The point is that its version 1.0 is now available for download on the Google Play Store. There are no details on the minimum version since it varies with hardware, although I suspect its base is Android 5.0.
