“Microsoft HoloLens is the first fully untethered, see-through holographic computer. It enables high-definition holograms to come to life in your world, seamlessly integrating with your physical places, spaces, and things. We call this experience mixed reality. Holograms mixed with your real world will unlock all-new ways to create, communicate, work, and play.”
This is how—in a nutshell—Microsoft describes its latest product. The device, a wearable gear for the eyes, is pretty much the stuff that science fiction movies are made of. It doesn’t try to be discreet like the failed Google Glass project. Instead, it’s big, bold and incredibly unapologetic.
What can you do with HoloLens?
• People in the design fields can “go beyond the screen” and fine-tune their designs in holographic mode. Rendering can be a more interactive task because holograms provide a more realistic 3D perspective than anything on a flat screen.
• The device maps the physical environment, so you can integrate holograms with the surroundings as you would with actual tangible items. This allows you to “build” virtual gaming world like Minecraft right in your own living room.
• Creating something innovative and imaginative is easier because you can visualize how it would interact with the real world “whether it’s a new piece of furniture in your home, a toy for your kids, or a new creation for work.” With the 3D-printing-compatible HoloStudio, you can even make prototypes.
• Remote collaborations are taken one step further as a HoloLens-powered collaborator can virtually “transport” the project site to their own space thousands of miles away. Unlike sharing screens and real-time videos, the device allows for precise and interactive perspectives, which gives a new meaning to being hands-on.
Beyond these, HoloLens has the potential to do a lot of good. “The mixed reality of the HoloLens has the potential to revolutionize [medical] education by bringing 3D content into the real world…using holograms we can easily separate and focus in on individual systems,” says Mark Griswold of the Case Western Reserve University, as quoted by Wired.com.
Meanwhile, TIME thinks that the goggles can be helpful to those figuring out how to colonize Mars. “For example, instead of merely inspecting images of Martian rock from a distance via the [Mars Curiosity] rover, the HoloLens will enable [scientists] to crouch down and take a closer look at land formations, etc.”
The possibilities truly are virtually endless with holographic computing technology. And Microsoft believes that “developers, commercial organizations, designers, creators, and those seeking a whole new way to be entertained will find unique value in Microsoft HoloLens.”