No more guesswork. Microsoft HoloLens, the company's highly anticipated augmented-reality headgear finally has an official ship date: March 30th.
This is good news for developers who started submitting applications to buy the $3,000 headset back in October of last year. Now, once they receive invitations, they can actually order the HoloLens Development Edition and see it shipped to them at the end of March. The company announced the delivery schedule in a blog post on Monday.
It's the first concrete product-delivery information we've received since Microsoft first stunned the tech world with this seemingly out-of-the-blue device over a year ago.
A full, standalone Windows 10 device, HoloLens combines the wearer's real world with a virtual one. It uses a combination of HD displays, see-through lenses and precise eye calibration to create a pretty powerful effect.
Unlike virtual reality headsets from Samsung and Oculus, HoloLens is not fully immersive and has been criticized for its somewhat narrow field of view. What you see is like a giant HD screen that floats in front of your face. However, because of the built-in 3D depth-sensing camera and precise motion sensors, projected images fully interact with the physical world. Virtual objects, for instance, can bounce off the real furniture and you can blast virtual holes in real walls. It also does a good job of delivering immersive audio to your ears without the need for headphones.
We're also learning a little bit more about the technology inside the HoloLens and some of the capabilities it provides. For example, thanks to a pair of built-in cameras, HoloLens can do something called "mixed reality capture." Essentially, HoloLens can record the real word and combine it with the virtual activities being generated inside HoloLens to create one trippy video, something you can actually share with others.
While Microsoft hasn't been shy about showing off HoloLens in home environments (and, I can tell you from experience, it is an amazing gaming device), it has yet to reveal when it will make a consumer edition available.
In the meantime, developers can look forward to a box that includes the HoloLens, a handheld Bluetooth Clicker remote control (you can also control the device via gestures), a charger and cable, an overhead strap to secure it to your head, nose pads for comfort, a microfiber cloth to clean the device and a small carrying case (see photo above). They'll also get the development kit, and access to tutorials about how to build Universal Windows Apps.
Along with product availability, Microsoft finally revealed, in a separate blog post, a new selection of official HoloLens app experiences, which join the previously announced HoloLens Studio, Holographic Story Telling and Project X-Ray (now called RoboRaid).
Among them is ActionGram, which will allow creators to build entertaining videos using HoloLens' aforementioned mixed-reality capabilities. There are also a couple of new games: the platform game Young Congers and Fragments, a mixed-reality crime drama.
On the more utility-focused side, HoloLens will ship with Skype capabilities and something called HoloTour, a sort of virtual tour guide for tourist locations around the world.
In case you missed Microsoft's vision for the future on in-home HoloLens use, check out this video: