HoloLens 2 shows that Microsoft’s impressive XR device is for industrial, medical, and educational applications. It’s not for consumers. Not that it ever was, really.
At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Technical Fellow Alex Kipman (best title ever for a fellow who has a tech-related job) mounted the stage to announce that after four years, Microsoft had a successor to the HoloLens. HoloLens 2 is here, and it’s less of a consumer device than ever. That’s not a bad thing.
Next-gen improvements include a flip-up visor, lighter weight, more centered balance, and a new fit system that purports to make wearing the headset for long periods of time more comfortable. On the more technical front, the new version has double the field of view of the original, a new time-of-flight sensor, and new eye-tracking sensors. Microsoft says you can also now interact with holograms more naturally and instinctually, just like you would with physical objects in the real world. That capability is borne out of the fourth generation of Microsoft’s Kinect technology in tandem with AI tools, taking the fun gesture-recognition gameplay technology and making it truly useful.
