Johannes Rio is one of more than 250 million people around the globe who suffer from visual impairment.

In Johannes’ case, his field of vision is very narrow and he has no sense of depth. In the past, he had been given tools like telescopes to help him do simple tasks like reading what his teachers wrote on the school board. 

Just to walk around, he wears glasses with a +20 magnification. 

“You can only imagine how thick that is,” he says. 

For someone who was born with a visual impairment like Johannes’, Samsung’s Relúmĭno app is a godsend.

Relúmĭno is a free-to-download, visual aid app that requires Samsung’s Gear VR and at minimum a Samsung Galaxy S8 or Note 8 to function. 

When wearing the Gear VR, the app processes images recorded through the rear camera of the phone to produce a clearer image for the user. 

For example, the app can highlight outlines, adjust contrast and brightness or remap the image to suit people that only have partial vision. 

The app promises to have an incredible impact on the lives of visually impaired people.

“I can see what was impossible for me to see before,” Johannes exclaims. 

“It almost feels like being born again.”

At a recent showcase of the app, people were given the opportunity to test the effect for themselves. Special glasses were used to simulate low vision for those who are not visually impaired. 

Looking through those glasses was a bit like looking through frosted glass; you can make out certain shapes, but that is about it. 

However, when you put the VR goggles over the frosted glasses, the effect was immediate and incredible. 

From seeing nothing but a misty haze, you could now see clearly outlined shapes and make out faces of the people around waiting their turn. 

However, according to the Samsung spokesperson during the showcase event, Kim Soo-min, the app in its current form is only a prototype of things to come. The whole set-up with the big Gear VR and smartphone defeats one of their main goals: making reading in public more comfortable. 

Kim gave the example of people having to press their faces up to a menu in order to read what is on there — behavior that is sure to attract some stares, apart from being inconvenient. 

“Using a phone is not really the best way [to use the product]; the way we’re going is developing glasses so they don’t have to use the phones,” he said.

The glasses will incorporate the Relúmĭno software in a more inconspicuous way, and are set to come out by the end of the year. Unfortunately, the expected price range of the glasses is still anyone’s guess. 

However, judging by the fact that the app’s minimum requirements in its current form requires a high-end Samsung phone to operate, one can imagine the tech will initially likely be out of reach for the less affluent of the visually impaired.

The showcase of the app included a viewing of the Samsung-initiated short film Two Lights: Relúmĭno. The romance stars Korean celebrities Park Hyung-sik and Han Ji-min, and tells the story of two young people who meet at a photography club for the visually impaired. 

The film shows the audience what struggles people with a visual impairment have to go through every single day to do seemingly simple things. In the film, the Relúmĭno app is prominently featured. 

In the cinema, Johannes was watching the film wearing the same technology. Afterward he commented, “[This is] the first time I can actually see that a cinema is big.” 

Hopefully, many other visually impaired will soon be able to share his experiences.

— Frans Snackers is an intern at The Jakarta Post

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