Microsoft hololens

Designed for comfort.

The headband is designed like a performance car with great weight distribution for a comfortable fit. Weight is distributed around the crown of your head, saving your ears or nose from undue pressure.

Power and grace.

Containing more computing power than the average laptop, Microsoft HoloLens is passively cooled without fans. With no wires, external cameras, or phone or PC connection required, you can move freely and untethered.

Adjustable fit.

The adjustment wheel in the headband ensures a comfortable fit for a wide range of adult head sizes.

Sensor fusion.

Microsoft HoloLens has advanced sensors to capture information about what you're doing and the environment you’re in

Spatial sound.

Using a scientific model that characterizes how the human ear receives sound from a specific location, Microsoft HoloLens synthesizes sound so that you can hear holograms from anywhere in the room.

Sensor fusion.

Microsoft HoloLens has advanced sensors to capture information about what you're doing and the environment you’re in.

Built-in speakers.

A precise audio experience without headphones that is immersive, yet won’t block out the real world.

Expectations

During its announcement, Microsoft said that HoloLens would be released “within the Windows 10 time frame.” That leaves a wide-open window for when we see a market release of HoloLens.

All the devices Microsoft brought to Build 2015 are prototype builds, so we expect a number of design enhancements and likely technological enhancements before anything becomes available for businesses or consumers. As such, no specifications were provided, no hardware features were revealed, and few questions were answered.

Microsoft did offer that the developers that engaged in more detailed demonstrations had high-praise for the platform. Given Microsoft’s Universal platform for apps, HoloLens has an important role to play.

What we got to use was clearly still a work in progress, but Microsoft is putting considerable resources behind the effort. That is a doubled-edged sword, expectations are being set very high early in development. That means HoloLens must be an undisputed home run once it reaches end-user heads.

Still, this is undoubtedly the future, and Microsoft has set a very high bar. We wrote it twice so far, and will write it again: This tech is really cool, and it is going to change the world

The first stop in the demonstration was a live performance given by Dan and Joe. Joe donned HoloLens while Dan went backstage and manned his PC (running Windows 10 of course). Joe executed a Skype video call with Dan. After showing how the video image (called a card) could be moved and pinned to certain parts of the room, the two then began trading holograms and each could manipulate the virtual space. 

HoloLens, Skype, Minecraft, and 3D printing

One of those holograms was a caricature city skyline of San Francisco. They made some changes to it and then sent it to a 3D printer. After that, Dan showcased a model of the Seattle Space Needle he created in Minecraft. He then passed it to Joe in the HoloLens environment where both of them could manipulate and resize the model. Joe scaled it down, and placed it on a shelf in the make-shift room that was the stage setting.

With the mind-share that Minecraft occupied during the second day of Build, from the Keynote to HoloLens demonstrations, it is clear that the next big chapter for Minecraft is that as a hologram creation environment.