Ask HN: What are your impressions of the HoloLens so far? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What are your impressions of the HoloLens so far?

#101

Post by TheHoloHerald » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 8:31 PM UTC

soylentcola wrote: post #59

Gaessaki wrote: post #2

I've been doing development on it for a bank for about two months now. Things I like: -Let's you have an infinite number of virtual monitors with applications such as word, outlook, browsers etc. -Developing for it is really easy with tools like Unity -Battery life is not too shabby, rarely have to take it off to charge while I'm doing something -Great demo piece Things to work on: -Field of view isn't terrible, but…

I think both FOV and price point are the most likely weak points to see continuing incremental improvements. Thinking back to my first smartphones in 2003-2004, it would've been easy to say "well yeah, the screens are too small, there's not enough RAM, and they're way too expensive!" But over time, the steady improvement of touch displays, SoC's, and supply chains brought sub-$400 devices that are likely more powerfu…

100% correct. First off as someone who uses the HoloLens daily FOV becomes less and less of an issue. People have to realize with FOV that it's a happy medium, most tech is about compromise and they did a great job with the hololens. Let's say they decided to add a wider FOV, they would have to add more glass, more processing power, longer battery life, more R&D, all of these things add up to a greater price, a heavier system and later release date. It's about equalibrium.

Re: Ask HN: What are your impressions of the HoloLens so far?

#102

Post by doublerebel » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 8:38 PM UTC

yodon wrote: post #64

NoGravitas wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would really like to dispense with my monitor(s) and plaster big virtual monitors over the walls of my cube. But at this point, I really doubt that the hardware is usable for that use case (low resolution, weight). I'd love to be proven wrong.

HoloLens resolution is absolutely there today.

It's not, it's only really 720p at a fixed focal distance. The display does a great job of aliasing with extra light points but there is no substitute for pure pixels. Dense text and symbols/code is not a great experience.

Re: Ask HN: What are your impressions of the HoloLens so far?

#103

Post by doublerebel » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 8:46 PM UTC

oceankid wrote: post #100

doublerebel wrote: post #10

I've been making apps on it since mid last year. It's an amazing device, the image stability and quality is very good and in a well-designed app the small FOV becomes an afterthought. Clicking/selecting objects with gaze is often an antipattern. Much better to use alternate input. Analytics is kind of a mess. Everybody recommends unity but performance will suffer. I wrote my own framework instead. Most of the open-so…

Thanks! What resources do you recommend for app UI designers to get their hands dirty with this 3D interface paradigm?

You have to use the device. Often. To try to accomplish something real and useful. Then the limitations present themselves quickly.

As far as a design workflow I've heard many designers are happy with their existing 3D tools like Maya and Unity. Any standard 3D object and texture can be loaded into the hololens.

Re: Ask HN: What are your impressions of the HoloLens so far?

#104

Post by Klathmon » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 9:19 PM UTC

doublerebel wrote: post #88

NotQuantum wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People really don't like the concept that I can see a world they can't experience. Some people become offended This is the /exact/ kind of elitism that killed Google Glass. The whole "I have this and you don't" mentality is childish and damaging.

It's not the attitude of the wearer, I and other devs I've met really enjoy sharing it with everyone and wish it was more accessible. But I don't have a case full of hololenses to create a shared experience. Nevertheless in a group if one or two people are nerding out sometimes somebody finds it unpleasant. I can understand.

Do you think a dedicated "streaming output" would help?

When I use my Google Daydream, being able to "cast" my screen to a TV and it really helps with this feeling as everyone else can watch along.

If the cost didn't increase too much, I feel that an onboard camera that can overlay what the user is seeing to show a 3rd party could help with that feeling. (Or if it already has a camera onboard, perhaps some better software to make casual sharing of your perspective easier)

Re: Ask HN: What are your impressions of the HoloLens so far?

#105

Post by pmontra » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 9:38 PM UTC

rm_dash_rf wrote: post #17

andrewstuart wrote: post #16

I'd be impressed if someone could give me a grab bag of real world use cases for the mass market. I'm just super not convinced that this isn't a Kinect sitting on your face. And Lego/Minecraft on the tabletop.... no thanks I don't want games set in my lounge room, that's an incredibly boring place to set a game in.

TV replacement...Imagine having 5 large screen tv's in your living room watching every march madness game that is currently happening all at the same time.

But do people really want to wear a headset? And comb their hairs or get a shampoo after a long session? The only headsets people wear, sometimes even as fashion items, are glasses, air straps, hats and helmets. All of them are much lighter than a Hololens (maybe except some helmets). Hats and helmets suffer from the same combing problem as Hololens. Furthermore I don't see people going around with a bulky Hololens. With something like the glasses of the Denno Coil anime or the contact lenses of Vinge's Rainbows End, yes. It's a long way to there.

Re: Ask HN: What are your impressions of the HoloLens so far?

#106

Post by HoloHerald » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 10:08 PM UTC

We received our unit in August of last year and have documented our experiences with it using our YouTube channel: The Holo Herald. Some quick things that we noticed:

-While the FOV is less than ideal it is not experience breaking

-The device is more comfortable than most headgear technology out today(there is also adjusters such as a nose piece and headband that make it more comfortable for a long duration)

-It is intuitive. This device can and will be easily picked up by many people. We found older people who could barely stand trying to operate a smartphone throw it on and almost instantly understand it. There is just something about this device that makes people feel like they can handle it without too much work. And the fact is that they can, it is very simple to use and the hand gestures may be the main reason for it.

-While the hand gestures may not be the most reliable it does come with a clicker that remedies this quite satisfactory. To give this Vive-esque controllers would completely ruin the experience and what Microsoft was trying to accomplish.

-The UI and operation are unobtrusive which means that while it doesn't have much productivity use right now, it will in the future.

If you would like to get a better idea of what the HoloLens does and can do we urge you to find our YouTube channel. We try and deliver our content in a non-technical way as to explain how an end user really see's it without all the tech jargon getting in the way.

Re: Ask HN: What are your impressions of the HoloLens so far?

#107

Post by newera2016 » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 10:11 PM UTC

doublerebel wrote: post #86

rmccoy6435 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any chance you could expand on analytics a bit? Also, I've looked through the MVA for the HoloLens and done some messing around in Unity, but are there any good, active blogs about the HoloLens? I know there are a few like Mike Taulty and some other blogs that might post about it occasionally, but I would like a "Morning Dew" for HoloLens.

Think about trying to track a funnel or "happy path" in AR and understanding intent from user's gaze and motion. There is no "go-to" analytics pattern or framework that I'm aware of yet. The AR blogs I find are mostly content-free, not exactly their fault because most demos are just PR demos and the real dev is under wraps at private industry. Similar to the comments here, whoever knows what's up is not talking. Lots…

would you be able to share some dashboard/library or anything that you have developed?

Re: Ask HN: What are your impressions of the HoloLens so far?

#108

Post by Time2Listen » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 11:06 PM UTC

HoloHerald wrote: post #106

We received our unit in August of last year and have documented our experiences with it using our YouTube channel: The Holo Herald. Some quick things that we noticed: -While the FOV is less than ideal it is not experience breaking -The device is more comfortable than most headgear technology out today(there is also adjusters such as a nose piece and headband that make it more comfortable for a long duration) -It is i…

You can definitely see the quality in apps increasing through your videos. The more recent apps you preview are a lot more intense than the ones in the beginning! Cool Channel!

Re: Ask HN: What are your impressions of the HoloLens so far?

#109

Post by Gaessaki » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 11:52 PM UTC

jakobegger wrote: post #78

Gaessaki wrote: post #2

I've been doing development on it for a bank for about two months now. Things I like: -Let's you have an infinite number of virtual monitors with applications such as word, outlook, browsers etc. -Developing for it is really easy with tools like Unity -Battery life is not too shabby, rarely have to take it off to charge while I'm doing something -Great demo piece Things to work on: -Field of view isn't terrible, but…

I'm curious about the virtual monitors. Are they usable for working? Is the resolution good enough that you can use virtual displays for coding / browsing / looking at YouTube videos?

Definitely not for coding. Would code on a phone before I would on the HL. It's pretty handy when you just need a display to read or watch content off of while you do something else. For example, when youre looking at a solution on stack overflow while coding. Or perhaps when you're trying to replicate a circuit diagram using real components.

Re: Ask HN: What are your impressions of the HoloLens so far?

#110

Post by doublerebel » Fri, Apr 14, 2017, 12:18 AM UTC

Klathmon wrote: post #104

doublerebel wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the attitude of the wearer, I and other devs I've met really enjoy sharing it with everyone and wish it was more accessible. But I don't have a case full of hololenses to create a shared experience. Nevertheless in a group if one or two people are nerding out sometimes somebody finds it unpleasant. I can understand.

Do you think a dedicated "streaming output" would help? When I use my Google Daydream, being able to "cast" my screen to a TV and it really helps with this feeling as everyone else can watch along. If the cost didn't increase too much, I feel that an onboard camera that can overlay what the user is seeing to show a 3rd party could help with that feeling. (Or if it already has a camera onboard, perhaps some better sof…

Yes, it's possible to do this using the HTTP server that hololens runs. It's pretty sweet it streams performance data as well as the muxed camera+virtual stream. We got some really good results today recording a demo that way.

Microsoft did an awesome job with providing built-in tools and the vast majority of MIT open source hololens examples.

It's very technical and dev heavy, it would be great to see an app that will provide the streaming feature without the admin pairing currently necessary for the "server" access.