I was lucky enough to get tickets to see Mike Taulty talk about Microsoft HoloLens at Leeds Sharp last week. I didn’t really know anything about augmentated reality or virtual reality but in the interests of Staying Technical I was definitely interested to find out a little more.
Wow!
It turns out that the HoloLens is a Windows 10 PC designed to be worn rather than sat at. It runs apps from the windows store without modification (although Mike did stress that typing furiously in midair is somewhat less precise than using a keyboard). Instead of sitting on a screen the windows floats in front of you, hovers on a wall, or rests on a table.
3D apps can be build using Unity 3D (in fact Mike showed us how). I was really impressed how easy it was to work out what the user was looking out and listen to what they were saying (although I imagine Microsoft Cognitive Services could be used very effectively here).
Can I imagine us all walking around with these things strapped our head? Probably not… at nearly £3000 for the developer version these are likely to be out of the consumer budget (although Microsoft are working with partners at the moment to develop other models). But in a commercial environment? For architects, engineers, surgeons or even as a stepping stone onto the next generation devices which may weigh little more than regular sunglasses? I could see that!
Am I rushing out to buy a HoloLens? Probably not, it would I seriously consider an Acer or Asus model for a couple of hundred pounds… that’s a much harder question to answer! I can imagine little spaceships flying around my living room or a huge troll sat on my sofa playing chess with me – the sky really could be the limit with these devices!
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