HoloLens: new details and some disappointment

/ / Augmented reality @en

Microsoft HoloLens continues to be on everyone’s lips: the famous augmented reality headset is about to be launched on the market (there isn’t yet a precise date, but it seems that the developer version will be available soon) and little by little details and news are unveiled.

Some news came from the speech in Tel Aviv by Bruce Harris, Microsoft’s Technical Evangelist. Here’s the video:

In this speech, Harris revealed four important details about HoloLens, and unluckily some of them left a bit of disappointment.

The first one is about the battery: its autonomy will be around 5 hours and an half, 2 and an half in case of massive use of the headset. This is way less than what users were expecting, still anyway you can definitely recharge it between games or work sessions.

The second detail is about the field of view: augmented reality fans heard with some disappointment that the experience of wearing and using HoloLens is comparable to having a 15-inch monitor about a foot away from one’s face. This, still being impressive, is still less than expected.

The third detail, on the opposite, was largely appreciated by the future users: one of the nightmares of augmented reality headsets fans is having to wear devices that are uncomfortable and, even worse, full of wires and cables. HoloLens doesn’t need them, because it will be connected via Wi-fi and Bluetooth to the internet and to other devices.

The fourth and last detail is about Microsoft: HoloLens will natively support all Windows 10 apps, making it possible to use it as you would use a laptop.