Around 240 million people have low vision problems. Samsung’s C-Lab project, Relumino is designed to help people with visual impairments experience and enjoy the world around them like everyone else.
Relumino is a free app available in English and Korean on the Oculus Store. It contains a number of different tools that help with low or impaired vision. In order to use Relumino, you need:
Any Samsung VR Gear headset and a Samsung smartphone. For best experience, use one from the list of these recommended smartphones:
‘Galaxy S8, S8+, Note 7 FE, Note 8’ and later models
NOTE: Smartphones from other companies are not compatible
Two convenient ways to run the Relumino app
- Via headset
Turn on your VR headset with the phone connected and simply run Relumino from the store that will be displayed on the headset screen.
- Via Phone
Install Relumino from the Oculus library and run it. Connect your phone with the VR headset with the app still running and you are ready to use it.
Both very convenient ways of running Relumino.
Using Relumino:
Relumino utilizes the rear camera of the Samsung smartphone to process the images extracted from the videos, while hooked up to a Gear VR headset. You can select from a range of different options such as magnifying or minimizing, highlighting outlines, adjusting contrast or brightness to better the see the world around you. Here is a list of all the modes and how you work around them
Turn on Outlines: This feature turns on outlines of obscured images that help the user recognizing objects/people better.
Brightness& contrast: Set the brightness and contrast of how you see things. The brightness system also adjusts the brightness of the home screen of Oculus if you wish to change it.
Display color filter: This applies color filters to reduce light glare or apply a comfortable tint for the user. Navigate to this option by
Menu ->Screen -> Tint
Menu->Screen-> strength
Color Invert: This option changes the background and font colors of reading materials so users can read better. Go to menu and select Reverse
Zoom mode: Enlarge and shrink images in the zoom mode and also there is an added move tool as well to use while in zoom mode.
You can use this feature by drawing a circle on the touchpad of the headset to enlarge/reduce
Partial View Movement: This option comes with two types of views.
- Scotoma mode: Lets you see the area not visible due to scotoma.
- Tunnel Vision mode: Collects entire image inside a visual field of the user with narrow vision caused due to tunnel vision.
Samsung’s Relumino is a very easy to use app and the best thing it’s free, as opposed from its other low-vision app competitors. The remapping of images Relumino performs is very efficient and close to reality. A great app for people with low vision problems