Microsoft : Hola Lens 2 - Best than VR and AR

We are going to know about future device 

Hololens 2 design: Lighter than ever

Out of the many AR and VR heandset I’ve tried, Hololens 2 is definitely in my top three as far as comfort goes. According to Greg Sullivan, director of communications at Microsoft, Hololens 2 is three times more comfortable than its predecessors. I’m not sure how the engineers and designers came up with that number, but what’s important is that it feels true.

img credit - slashgear

Putting the headset on is easy enough and once you adjust the fit via the large knob on the back, the device feels well balanced. Instead of over-encumbering the front or back of the headset, Microsoft placed the Qualcomm 855 SOC and battery at the rear of the device with the all the sensors placed in the front. I never felt my head being weighed down in one direction or the other, but I’m curious to see how it would fare with an hour of use. 

Hololens 2 eyes and hands tracking

img credit - unity 

Microsoft is onto something with its eye and hand tracking for the Hololense 2. It’s near seamless, fast and responsive. When I put on the headset, I got a notification stating that Hololens 2 needed to measure my eyes. Instead of just measuring for interpupillary distance, the embedded sensors took a 3D scan of my eyes while I used my peepers to follow the movements of some colorful gems. The implementation reminded me of Tobii’s eye tracking technology. However, it’s unclear if Microsoft employs the same methods.

Whatever it’s doing, the result is a fast and responsive system. Scrolling down to read a longer passage was as easy as well, reading. When my eyes got to the end of the sentence at the end of the virtual page, it simply scrolled down so I could continue unabated.

Eye tracking also helps to make one of the more mundane features of Windows gain some cool points. Glancing at my left wrist, I noticed I had gained a virtual tattoo of sorts in the form of the Windows logo. Tapping the glowing spot on my arm summoned the Windows Start Menu, allowing me to launch various programs.

Hololens 2: Playing with holograms

img credit - extremetech 

The main difference between VR and AR is that the former takes place in a closed environment that shuts out the outside world. AR and MR (mixed-reality) create a virtual overlay within the real world. And with the Qualcomm SOC and sensors, the virtual models created are mapped to a specific location and remain there even if you aren’t interacting with them. That meant when I went to observe a model of a working jet turbine, the wind farm I mentioned previously was still hovering above the real-life table where I left it.

In terms of graphical fidelity, it really depends on the program. Some models like the the jet turbine looked more animated rather than photorealistic. And the colorful hummingbird that came to become my favorite Windows 10 demo was pretty but was made up of a series of triangles that while pretty, would have been even more impressive if it were an actual hummingbird. And I do wish the holograms possessed a deeper opacity as it would up the immersion factor. But that’s one minor quibble.

I’m just glad I’m able to see more of holograms period. A major improvement that Hololens 2 has over the original headset is the field of view. Microsoft has increased it from 16:9 to 3:2, which meant that the models didn’t disappear the second I looked off to the left or right. It also allowed for a bigger play space. Allowing the wind farm to hover in the background as I went to Mars, mapped a path for a proposed landing and exploration route for a probe and then drew rings around the planet, turning it into a rudimentary Jupiter.