Microsoft unveiled the HoloLens 2 augmented reality headset in Barcelona at MWC 2019. It really is amazing. Finally, an augmented reality headset that is fully realized and reasonably priced at $125 per month (interesting financing model.. like a cell phone) or $3.5k to buy the developer kit. Magic Leap headset is a joke compared to HL2. See the video below for how far Microsoft has come in its user experience and how seamlessly the AR experience can work.

As you can see from the video above the integration is getting pretty good. I’m sure this was a fully scripted demo but once the developers start receiving HoloLens 2 we’ll start seeing some amazing applications. The anime movie Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale introduced augmented reality headsets (The Augma) where you earn points by watching AR ads and playing AR games in the streets. Or in the Hulu series ‘The First’ everybody is walking around with dark glasses for viewing AR. Seems that reality has caught up with fiction.

My only reservations are how open the HoloLens 2 platform will be. Will there be good interoperability with other AR headsets and applications on mobile devices? Will there be an open system to code spatially aware areas into the real world? Only time will tell but this is a good start. If the AR industry doesn’t get stuck in a niche then we might see augmented reality replace the smartphone. Then we’ll all get brain implants as the next step… if you want them 😉

(Edit: Everybody pointed out that SAO with AR was Ordinal Scale, not Alicization. My mistake. )

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