Industrial clients are driving development and features for HoloLens 2. Since HoloLens 2 launched in 2019 Microsoft has rolled out 34 software updates. Some updates offered support for new regions while others have offered tweaks to tracking or accessibility improvements.
Now, HoloLens2 has full Microsoft Teams integration. Microsoft has always supported real-time video calls on HoloLens 2, but now users will be able to call people directly from the headset, add contacts, and even join group meetings. Users will also be able to see resizable screens of what’s shared in meetings as well.
Microsoft Teams is mostly used on the HoloLens 2 for remote assist situations where a support person dials into a meeting on the headset to assist in solving a problem. Other users in the meeting see the video feed from the viewpoint of the user wearing the headset. HoloLens 2 users can now use text chat during team calls and view images or PDFs that will appear as holograms in the headset. Onedrive integration keeps the files synced with the headset and other devices.
These updates are the first major updates to HoloLens since Alex Kapman co-creator of the headset left Microsoft earlier this year. At that time it was believed that future plans for a HoloLens 3 could be shelved. Scott Evans, Microsoft’s Vice President of Mixed reality had this to say about the future of Halo Lens in a blog post.
“We’re just looking for the right design point to make it a meaningful update, [Businesses] want a successor device that’s going to enable an even higher return on investment.” Evans hears from clients that, unlike consumers who want to replace their devices often, businesses don’t want to make their existing headsets obsolete for only slight improvements. “They don’t need a successor yet, but they want to know it will be there at the right time.”
Microsoft still plans to improve the HoloLens display tracking, sensors, and battery life in the next “meaningful update” Maybe this meaningful update is HoloLens 3 or something totally different, we’ll have to wait and see.
Image Via Microsoft
