Microsoft's HoloLens is highly anticipated, with demos and previews of the device being very exciting for the future of augmented reality.
Most of us, however, have yet to get a good glimpse at HoloLens, with users having to imagine what it would be like for themselves. Microsoft has released a new promotional video for the HoloLens, giving a look at what it will look like from the perspective of the user.
The video highlights Microsoft's new partnership with Case Western Reserve University, showing how students of the university can use HoloLens for their medical studies. Interestingly enough, however, Microsoft offers a few scenes in first-person view, showing a very limited field of vision for the headset. The hologram effect, as you can see in the video, simply disappears outside of the small window in the center of the display.
The video does a good job at offering a much more realistic view of HoloLens, with other videos and demos leading people to believe that the headset might be a little more immersive.
In fact, even this video really only gives a partial view of how limited the effect will be for users, with it not likely that people will get the full effect until they put the headset on.
While the limited view will certainly be frustrating for the average user, it will be especially problematic for things like gaming, as users not really knowing what's going on around them somewhat defeats the purpose of an immersive headset.
What makes this worse is the fact that it is unlikely to change before the headset is released later this year. Microsoft officials have been quoted as saying that, while the headset being shown off at trade shows is not the final version, it is unlikely to be hugely different in the final consumer version.
It's a shame that the field of vision is so narrow, because apart from that, the headset looks to be pretty spectacular. The demos showing off the device have all shown it to be game-changing when it comes to interacting with our digital lives, such as when the company demoed using HoloLens to play Minecraft in 3D.
It is likely, however, that as time goes on, Microsoft will improve the field of vision in future versions of the device.
Despite the obvious limitations, many are still very excited for the HoloLens and what it can do. You can see the new video showing off the device below.
Via: Ars Technica
