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

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

#61

Post by Gaessaki »

rmccoy6435 wrote: post #3
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…

The price point is what was explained to me by a developer/project lead as the hardest hurdle. It's a hard sell when someone sees it's $3,000 and not available to consumers for at least another year or two. I have a two pronged question: Is this something you approached the bank about, or is it something they approached you about, and what is your level of autonomy on it (as it is the banking world and there are heav…

The bank had the HoloLens for a few months before I had started, but they never did much with it. Basically, they had a budget to expend on R&D and that's one of the tools they felt could be useful (and also probably to market the department to their higher-ups). Me having experience with Unity, the Kinect (the precursor technology to the HoloLens) and just barely with the HoloLens (had a chance to try it before it was publicly available while I was at Microsoft) made me an ideal candidate for the bank to hire and engage in AR projects with it.

I can do whatever I want with it. I was surprised to find out after I joined that the regulations are really not that bad, less even than when I was at Microsoft. I think it really depends on the department and the function. The HR department for example is a lot more stringent (though believe it or not, they also explored VR with our team).

They have a pretty good set of tutorials on the HoloLens site, though they're kind of monotone and over polished for my taste. I think the key thing is to know Unity, which I've mainly done through doing and exploring their API or youtube videos. MVA is a pretty good resource, though I haven't needed to use it.

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

#63

Post by Gaessaki »

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…

I feel the same way. Not being tethered imo is a fantastic benefit that I aught to have mentioned. I don't really feel that FOV is a huge issue or anything, was just putting it out there.

Will be interesting to see where things go given they've switched suppliers for key parts supposedly in preparation for a 2019 release.

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

#64

Post by yodon »

NoGravitas wrote: post #41
yodon wrote: post #27

HoloLens is cool but most of the HoloLens applications you write will be consumed on the $299 software-compatible Mixed Reality headsets that ship later this year (it's amazing how few people are paying attention to this announcement - Microsoft uses Mixed Reality as its branding but these are basically high end VR headsets with integrated tracking for a third the price of Rift and Vive devices)[0][1] From an applica…

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.

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

#65

Post by Gaessaki »

epmaybe wrote: post #48
rtfs wrote: post #18

I was recently at a Microsoft Training Centre, where we also had a chance to test the Hololens. All in all, it's crap. It is pretty heavy, so I can't imagine wearing it for more than 10 min. The latency was ok, but still somewhat disturbing. The gesture recognition was bad. I, and later on also the Microsoft guy, had to tap twice several times to trigger an action. The shown floor shop example was a bad choice. Speed…

I was wearing it for multiple hours straight without any fatigue. You need to tighten it and use the right nosepiece, having it rest on your forehead rather than your nose. Gesture recognition was really good when I was testing it, it really doesn't take long to learn. Rarely would I have to tap twice. The standard gesture is bringing your index finger and thumb together, I definitely had a hard time explaining that…

The gestures are easy if the device is well adjusted, otherwise it's hugely inconvenient (usually the case when demoing).

The clicker makes things easier however.

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

#66

Post by anentropic »

falcolas wrote: post #47
andrewstuart wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A TV everywhere I go and in any direction I choose to see one is not something appealing in the least. In fact it's a repelling idea.

How about a computer monitor? Or overlay of information about your world (this bus will next arrive in 5 minutes; find out more about that statue; follow this blue line to your destination)?

like... my phone?

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

#67

Post by true_religion »

falcolas wrote: post #44
vezycash wrote: post #39

Is there any reason why HoloLens can't be both VR & AR? If I want to watch a movie in a public area for instance, I'd love a VR mode to tune out everything else.

I think the biggest problem is that even if you (and I'm basing this off the original models) darken the entirety of the visor so you can only see what's being showed by the built-in screens, you'll still get a ton of peripheral light and noise. To get to VR levels of visual isolation would require something closer to what you get with a Rift or Oculus headset.

So we could have a good be setup in a darkened room? Like people have with projection TV's?

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

#68

Post by yodon »

yodon wrote: post #52
obsurveyor wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd need like a 6k display to even start getting close to the 1920x1024 at arm's length equivalence. That's at least a generation or two ahead of where we're at today. That's why all this Mixed Reality stuff coming out of Microsoft today is just so much talk. I'm not arguing against them working on it, there should be a foundation but we're currently at the equivalent of the late-90s, early 2000s VR devices when it…

If you've not worn a HoloLens, I think you'll be surprised. There are plenty of things to complain about with the HoloLens but the resolution is amazing.

I'm fascinated by the downvote someone gave the parent, because I've never heard anyone complain about the resolution on the HoloLens after using it. If you're still in the thread and are able to discuss the scenarios where resolution was a problem, you have me curious.

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

#69

Post by Animats »

As hardware, it's a nice job. It's self-contained and wireless. The form factor is tolerable. Compare the HTC Vibe, which is as clunky as the VR headsets of the 1990s and still needs cables. The HoloLens has much better balance, too; the VR headsets are far too front-heavy. None of this gear is really compatible with wearing glasses, though.

It's surprisingly good at "drawing dark". It can't, really, so it just puts a neutral density filter in front of the real world to dim out the background. This, plus some trickery with drawing intensity, allows overlays on the real world. At least the indoor real world; the grey filter is fixed, and the display will be overwhelmed in sunlight.

The field of view is too small for an immersive illusion. The resolution is too low for the "infinite number of monitors" some people want. It's useful for putting an overlay on what you're working on, which suggests industrial and training applications.

It's not clear there's a mass market for this. Certainly not at the current price point. If it became cheap enough to sell to the Pokemon Go crowd, it might work for that.

A useful metric is, "Is it good enough for Hyperreality?"[1] As yet, it's not. But it could get there. Watch that video. What hyperreality needs is 1) really good lock to the real world, 2) adequate but not extreme resolution, 3) wearability, 4) wide field of view, 5) useable under most real-world lighting conditions, and 6) affordablity. The Hololens has 1 under good conditions, has 2, arguably has 3, lacks 4, 5, and 6. Not there yet.

[1] https://vimeo.com/166807261

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

#70

Post by falcolas »

anentropic wrote: post #66
falcolas wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about a computer monitor? Or overlay of information about your world (this bus will next arrive in 5 minutes; find out more about that statue; follow this blue line to your destination)?

like... my phone?

So, your phone overlays a line in your field of vision indicating which direction you're going?

Or does it overlay an arrow on a digital representation of the street you're traveling, on a screen located away (and at a different focal length) from your actual view of the road?

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