Microsoft today announced that its latest AR headset, HoloLens 2, is finally shipping. The headset can be purchased directly for $3,500 or rented for $125 per month.
Microsoft announced HoloLens 2 back in February and has started selling the headset today. Though pricey at $3,500, HoloLens 2 is actually cheaper than its predecessor which launched at $5,000. In addition to the outright purchase price, Microsoft is also renting headset to businesses for $125 per month, and will later launch a developer edition priced at $100 per month.
Image courtesy Microsoft
Like the original, HoloLens 2 is positioned as an enterprise-focused device. Microsoft envisions companies using the headset for design, remote assistance, training, visualization, collaboration, architecture, construction, and much more.
HoloLens 2 Specs
The official specs confirm the headset’s weight at 566 grams and ‘active use’ battery life at 2–3 hours. Here’s the full spec sheet:
Display
Optics
See-through holographic lenses (waveguides)
Resolution
2k 3:2 light engines
Holographic density
>2.5k radiants (light points per radian)
Eye-based rendering
Display optimization for 3D eye position
Sensors
Head tracking
4 visible light cameras
Eye tracking
2 IR cameras
Depth
1-MP time-of-flight (ToF) depth sensor
IMU
Accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer
Camera
8-MP stills, 1080p30 video
Audio and speech
Microphone array
5 channels
Speakers
Built-in spatial sound
Human understanding
Hand tracking
Two-handed fully articulated model, direct manipulation
Eye tracking
Real-time tracking
Voice
Command and control on-device; natural language with internet connectivity
Windows Hello
Enterprise-grade security with iris recognition
Environment understanding
6DoF tracking
World-scale positional tracking
Spatial Mapping
Real-time environment mesh
Mixed Reality Capture
Mixed hologram and physical environment photos and videos
Compute and connectivity
SoC
Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 Compute Platform
HPU
Second-generation custom-built holographic processing unit
Memory
4-GB LPDDR4x system DRAM
Storage
64-GB UFS 2.1
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac 2×2)
Bluetooth
5
USB
USB Type-C
Fit
Single size
Fits over glasses
Weight
566g
Image courtesy WalkingCat
Aside from field of view and resolution improvements, HoloLens 2 also launches out of the gate with full hand-tracking. This is a huge improvement over the ‘air tap’ gesture that was relied upon with the original headset. With hand-tracking users will be able to more naturally and directly interact with augmented reality content.
Kasey
After 5 yrs I decided I would get away from my previous work and it changed my daily life… I started off working on a task on the internet, for a corporation I located on the internet, for a number of hours per day, and I earn way more than I have done on my old job… Very last payment I got was Nine thousand bucks… Wonderful thing about this is the fact that I get additional time for my family. Test it out, what it’s all about… w89.me/28oc
asdf
eat a dick
mellott124
Having deja vu, and I still don’t see a buy button.
The corporate flacks now think this is their big money tech savior. Maybe they will get interested in VR again after this proves not to make a billion dollars in two quarters after launch.
Hope there is a review of this product soon. I am interested in knowing more about field of view. One of the big problems with the previous version is the field of view was really, really tiny.
Magic Leap is not an option for me due to my eye glass prescription, and contacts do not work for me. (I am aware of the prescription inserts that Magic Leap sells) This is one of the advantages of the Microsoft solution is that you can use them over your existing glasses.
dota
hmmm
eye wear is all about ergonomics
the more comfier wins
dk
fov is basically the same as ML1 just sightly less square
dota
wonderful specs
I especially like optical waveguide tech
Hope in future they’d make it like that of Spiderman
(with a separate proc. unit connected with usb, it could be possible)
Kenji Fujimori
Blue screen of death in AR
Kenji Fujimori
Praising monopolies to become more monopolies in all fields. Google and apple creeping further into the market. Here’s an idea how about a non monopoly?
dk
bots have families too?
Ardra Diva
the only truly disappointing thing about Hololens is the 50-degree FOV. Otherwise it’s amazing. One reviewer described it as “sorcery”. Good times ahead. We have to get past these baby steps before we can have amazing. It’s been 4 years since Google Cardboard – we have seen amazing leaps in that amount of time.
Ardra Diva
The only truly disappointing thing about Hololens is its 50-degree FOV. Otherwise pretty incredible. One reviewer described it as “sorcery”. We have to get past these baby steps before we can have amazing. Cardboard was released 4 years ago – we have seen improvements in leaps and bounds just in that short amount of time. What will the next 4 years bring? Incremental upgrades, but the visors 4 years from now should be lights-out better than what we have today.
The official specs confirm the headset’s weight at 566 grams and ‘active use’ battery life at 2–3 hours. Here’s the full spec sheet:
