Microsoft is actively expanding a team tasked with making a new challenger to Apple Silicon, according to a report by Windows Latest. Like Apple's M series processors, the new Microsoft SoCs will be based on Arm architecture, the report claims. But making the SoC development somewhat more exciting, Microsoft is said to be working in parallel to make sure Windows 12 will be Arm optimized.

Information about a new Microsoft-designed Arm chip comes from several sources, Windows Latest discloses. A few job listings, like this one, are said to provide clues; several other job listings have been removed at the time of writing. In addition to these listings, an unnamed source indicated to Windows Latest that "Microsoft is optimizing Windows 12 for Silicon-ARM architecture."

Pondering over the still-live 'Senior Product Engineer' job listing reveals that the candidate will work for "the Microsoft Silicon team" and be tasked with a wide range of semiconductor development processes to advance Azure, XBOX, Surface, and HoloLens using Microsoft's "internally developed silicon components." The lengthy job description mentions various silicon design and testing tasks.

In another job description, which isn't sourced, Microsoft is specifically recruiting a 'Principal System on Chip (SoC) Silicon Architect.' It seeks someone with experience in high-performance SOC architecture and CPU and GPU architecture and design. The main role of this recruit will be in "building complex, state-of-the-art SOCs using leading silicon technology nodes and will collaborate closely with internal customers and partners," relays Windows Latest.

We aren't sure where the leap of faith or logic that the above team members will be designing a chip for Windows 12 comes from. We only have the related statement from Windows Latest about Windows 12 being optimized for Arm. So, please add a pinch of salt to the idea that Microsoft is readying an Apple M2 killer under its own efforts/brand. It would be more traditional for it to work with the likes of Qualcomm, which reckons it has an Arm chip with something special coming soon, thanks to the work of the ex-Nuvia team.

Some Context - Microsoft SQ Series - A Collaboration With Qualcomm

It wouldn't be so surprising if Microsoft's Silicon Team was working on a new Surface chip, as it has done so before. Less than three years ago it launched the Surface Pro X 2-in-1 with a custom Microsoft SQ1 processor (7W). That chip arrived with a lot of boasts about its CPU, GPU, and AI processing, but the claims, and compatibility, fell a little flat in practice (see linked review above). However, the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 launched last November with a new SQ3 chip, and did a lot better, as you can read in our review.

The SQ series Arm processors, which are custom designed for Surface portable devices, are collaboratively designed with Qualcomm doing most of the heavy lifting. These chips are based on contemporary Snapdragon 8CX designs, so when the Nuvia chips arrive, Microsoft might have a parallel SQ model taking advantage of the newer cores. The first Snapdragon with Nuvia cores is expected to be the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 Processor, and should emerge near year-end.

Some Windows 12 Nuggets

Windows 12 is still very much an unknown but news of it has been cropping up more frequently in recent months. Windows 12 development was supposed to have started in earnest this March, and we have seen Intel Meteor Lake chips being prepared with Windows 12 support.

Windows Latest shared some nuggets regarding the new OS from Microsoft that are interesting enough to relay here. It says that Windows 12 has a targeted release date of late 2024. As part of the Windows Core project, version 12 should be more modular and customizable for different form factors - which will be further boosted by good Arm optimization.

Moreover, the built-in AI acceleration in modern processors will give utilities we have already seen in Windows 11 a smart boost. The source says that an AI-driven smart snap window arranging tool seen in Windows 11 is an example of something that could be standard in 12. Pausing for thought, could an AI coprocessor thus become a minimum requirement in Windows 12?

We got official confirmation regarding Microsoft’s plans for 10,000 layoffs just ahead of the weekend. The job cuts were significant, even for an employer the size of Microsoft, with the numbers representing nearly 5% of its entire workforce, or one job in twenty. As we still reel from the news, social media posts by ex-employees have started to paint a clear picture of the business areas where Microsoft felt it could shed entire teams of workers. Some will be surprised to learn that teams behind projects like HoloLens, AltSpaceVR, and MRTK (Mixed Reality Tool Kit) have been culled in their entirety.

We don’t need to ponder more over the scale of the layoffs at Microsoft, as it joined the likes of Google, Facebook, Amazon and others in taking this route for shareholder appeasement in the current downturn. Instead, it is interesting to focus on Microsoft’s staff-cutting incisions. 

In our headline we use XR as a catch-all for virtual, augmented, mixed, and extended reality. Even in his most recent keynotes and appearances, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been keen to emphasize the importance of the ‘metaverse’ to the IT industry, as well as consumer and work lives in the coming era.  So, we wonder why this part of Microsoft’s business has been so drastically pruned.

With regards to HoloLens, we know it has already been refocused and scaled back a number of times. Its chief architect Alex Kipman left a few months ago in a cloud of controversy. Perhaps a bigger impact has been the reported issues with HoloLens in US military trials, meaning it might not get funding to progress, and thus become another project test without any future.

The entire team behind MRTK is also gone. MRTK was an open-source project designed to accelerate cross-platform MR development. This decision has been made now, despite MRTK3 (announced last June) being scheduled to ship in February 2023. MRTK was an important support project for developers, targetting platforms such as Microsoft HoloLens 2, Meta Quest, SteamVR, and Lenovo ThinkReality A3, which run on Qualcomm hardware. There is some hope that due to its open-source nature, community support can continue with resources from the last Microsoft work on MRTK3.

Microsoft acquired AltSpaceVR in 2017, and it is now confirmed that all its metaverse project work will end on March 10. Our sister site Windows Central reckons that AltSpaceVR has a successor dubbed Microsoft Mesh, so the firm is seemingly keeping some resources allocated to this touted next frontier in the future of the internet. Nevertheless, Microsoft killing off these teams and projects makes its XR and metaverse ambitions look pretty hollow.

Are we witnessing another Windows Phone moment for Microsoft, a strategic withdrawal signaling it has lost too much ground to competitors to have the heart to compete? It is hard to answer this as we really don’t have a clear picture of how many XR staffers remain, and what particular projects other than Microsoft Mesh, they are working on. We might not know the full extent of the changes, or see clearer picture of Microsoft’s new XR strategy, until the annual BUILD developer conference in May.

A new list of Windows 11 SKUs has emerged, revealing that Microsoft has added a new Windows 11 Mixed Reality version and now doesn't list the IoT and LTSC versions it has shipped in the past. 

Microsoft introduced its Windows 11 operating system last month, saying that owners of the existing Windows versions would be able to upgrade to its next-generation operating system, provided their system met the requirements. Microsoft didn't reveal the list of Windows 11 editions it planned to make available, though, but as reported by MSPoweruser, the Bluetooth SIG has posted the list for them. 

The Bluetooth SIG is an organization that oversees the development of the Bluetooth standards and ensures support by various applications. In general, the list of Windows 11 editions for client PCs resembles the list of Windows 10 editions, but with some noteworthy changes.

• Windows 11 Home
• Windows 11 Pro 
• Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
• Windows 11 Education
• Windows 11 Pro Education
• Windows 11 Enterprise
• Windows 11 Mixed Reality

The Windows 11 Mixed Reality is now a fully-fledged SKU, not a device-specific edition for Microsoft's HoloLens, indicating that Microsoft sees the AR/VR markets as promising. 

The list of Windows 11 SKUs no longer includes the Enterprise Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) that is guaranteed to be supported with security updates for up to 10 years after the release.  Also, Microsoft does not list any IoT (embedded) variants of Windows 11 here. 

At present, Microsoft does not seem to have plans for special editions of Windows 11, such as the feature-limited Windows 10 S operating system or Windows 10X for dual-screen devices. However, the software giant may well add something similar to the mix sometime in the future if it needs to. Also, expect Microsoft to offer region-specific versions of Windows 11. 

While Microsoft may not be ready to introduce all Windows 11 editions formally, it has to make them compliant with hardware and software. To that end, the company has to disclose SKUs to various third parties, such as the Bluetooth SIG, which in turn may reveal this information on their websites. 

Microsoft today announced that Windows 10 has been installed on more than 1 billion (yes, with a "b") active devices around the world since its release in July 2015.

The company said that "over one billion people have chosen Windows 10 across 200 countries resulting in more than one billion active Windows 10 devices." We're a little suspicious about the one-to-one ratio Microsoft cited, and the company's decision to say those people "have chosen Windows 10," but it's still an important milestone.

• How to get Windows 10 free -- or at least for cheap
• The best ways to get Microsoft Office free (or under $50) 
• Nvidia delays GTC news likely about Ampere

Of course, it probably didn't hurt that Microsoft officially dropped support for Windows 7 in January. That change forced Windows 7 users to decide if they would use an unsupported operating system, upgrade to Windows 10 or switch to another platform. Upgrading to Windows 10 was probably the path of least resistance.

Windows 10's growth can't all be attributed to Windows 7's demise though because the operating system was already approaching the 1 billion active user mark. It reached 700 million users in September 2018, 800 million users in March 2019 and 825 million users in May 2019. Now it's found another 175 million in less than a year.

Its breadth helps in that regard. Microsoft said that "Windows 10 is the only operating system at the heart of over 80,000 models and configurations of different laptops and 2-in-1s from over 1,000 different manufacturers." It's also found in the company's Mixed Reality platform and Xbox consoles, and a version of it, Windows 10X, will be in upcoming foldable devices.

Windows 10 will only continue to branch out from there. Microsoft said:

"Reaching a billion people with Windows 10 is just the beginning. We will invest in Windows not only within Windows 10 for PCs but also across many other Windows editions, serving diverse customer needs including Windows IoT, Windows 10 Teams edition for Surface Hub, Windows Server, Windows Mixed Reality on HoloLens, Windows 10 in S mode, Windows 10X and more."

Microsoft finally released the HoloLens 2 today. Just don't expect to find the device at a store near you: the company's still positioning its next-gen augmented reality (AR) headset as a tool for its enterprise customers, rather than a consumer product.

Microsot revealed the HoloLens 2 in February. At the time, it said that it upgraded the headset with a new design, new components and renewed focus on proving AR's value to enterprise customers. It also upped field of view from the original HoloLens from 30 x 17.5 degrees to 43 x 29 degrees. The AR gear runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 mobile compute platform.

Microsoft made it clear at the Build 2019 developer conference in May that it doesn't expect consumers to buy the HoloLens 2. We asked the company's director of mixed reality communications, Greg Sullivan, if Epic Games' announcement of HoloLens 2 support meant we'd see games for the platform soon. His response was clear: "That journey will be measured in years, probably."

Which brings us to the official launch. Microsoft lists three purchase options for the HoloLens 2:

• HoloLens 2: $3,500 per headset
• HoloLens 2 Development Edition: Starts at $99 per month. It includes a $500 in Azure credit and trial of the Unity Pro and PiXYZ Plugin
• HoloLens 2 with Dynamics 365 Remote Assist. Starts at $125 per user per month. 

The device isn't in ready supply, however. Microsoft said pre-orders for the HoloLens 2 Development Edition are "coming soon." The HoloLens 2 is "available from select resellers," as is the Dynamics 365 Remote Assist bundle. But it noted that it "is responding to unprecedented demand" and told people who've already pre-ordered to contact their account representatives for updates. Clicking the "Contact a reseller" link under the Dynamics 365 Remote Assist bundle leads to the website for Insight, which says people who fill out its pre-order form will be "placed on [its] priority list," making it seem like it's not actually ready to ship. 

MSPowerUser reported that HoloLens 2's launch is limited to the U.S., UK, Canada, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and China. 

More information about the HoloLens 2 is available via Microsoft's website, where the vendor once again reiterated that the device is "the future of work," not something consumers are going to be donning any time soon. It seems if you're looking for a consumer-friendly AR headset, you're still stuck with very few options, namely the Lenovo Mirage AR. 

Apple has filed a patent for a new mixed reality (MR) headset that could be different from other products on the market. As reported by Variety, the new device includes sensors that can track users' eyes, facial features and hands. The patent was originally filed in March 2019 but published earlier this month.

It's the latest to join Apple's ever-growing list of mixed and augmented reality (AR) patents, all in an apparent bid to take the tech from simple phone applications and smart glasses to Apple-branded wearables, like headsets. The "Display System Having Sensors" patent includes a litany of different components, including eye-tracking sensors, cameras and environment-tracking sensors, that work in tandem to create a virtual image of the real world.

The patent also notes additional applications of the headset and things it could potentially do, including the utilization of "head pose sensors," "eyebrow sensors" and "lower jaw sensors" to help read the entirety of a person's face and hand tracking. Detailed lighting sensors could also be implemented in a similar setup.

All of this culminates in a unique vision that could allow Apple to project an image of the real world through the headset, instead of overlaying information on top of – such as Microsoft's HoloLens. One version of the headset includes cameras meant to capture a direct video feed, which the headset could use to create composite objects meant to be seen on a virtual reality (VR) display.

Of course, Apple hasn't confirmed what it'd use this tech for or if any such products will ever come into fruition at all. In fact, the vendor has yet to announce anything in the AR or VR department. But given that Facebook is working to create VR headsets with built-in facial tracking for communication via virtual avatars, it would make sense for Apple to look to follow suit or beat the social media giant to the punch. Apple has plenty of ways it could employ the tech, especially with its Animoji and Memoji avatars that people can already use to create voice messages and expressions that mimic their own.

On July 11, however, DigiTimes reported that Apple isn't actively developing these products any longer. Apple hasn't given any statement on the matter, so we don't have any sort of official word to go by. But with these types of intriguing patents continuously rising to the surface, it's hard not to wonder exactly what's going on over there in terms of XR. 

Lenovo today announced its first AR headset, the ThinkReality A6, as the first of a new line of products that use AR in the enterprise market.

The A6 is powered by the Intel Movidius chipset and waveguide optics from Lumus, and it’s attached by a cord to an Android Oreo-based compute box with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 system on a chip that you wear on your belt.

Lenovo’s AR glasses weigh 0.8 pounds (380 grams) and have a 40-degree diagonal field of view. Each eye has a resolution of 1080p. It has a 13MP RGB camera and two fish-eye cameras.

Those specs make it slightly less powerful than Microsoft’s HoloLens 2, with a Snapdragon 850 and a roughly 52 degree field of view.

The A6 has gaze control and gesture recognition or can use a 3DoF controller. The headset works over Wi-Fi but not 4G or 5G. It has a built-in headphone jack as well as built-in speakers. Lenovo claims the whole headset lasts about 4 hours on a charge.

The ThinkReality A6 has no official price or release information for consumers, but businesses can consult with Lenovo for purchases.

When HoloLens 2 debuted at Mobile World Congress, it made a splash. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 850-powered headset is more comfortable, has a wider field of view, hand tracking, and a promise of a broader ecosystem at launch. Here at Microsoft Build, I got to try the headset for myself, see the improvements, and learn why it’s not destined for the home anytime soon.

“The journey will be measured in years.”

It was more advanced than my previous AR opportunities with the original HoloLens. But that found a home in the enterprise, where its cost was made up by providing maintenance instructions that did away with the cost of plane tickets to ship experts to machinery that needed fixes. Could this be the one that comes home?

Greg Sullivan, director of communications for mixed reality, told me no. The HoloLens 2 is still an enterprise device. But in the future? Maybe.

“I compare it to the advent of the graphical user interface,” he told me. Moving items in 3D spaces, he said, is natural. So was using a GUI after his computer science classes had him using punch cards.

I told him that I was surprised by Tim Sweeney and Epic Games’ announcement back at MWC that it would support HoloLens. (Unity trials will ship with the Development Edition of HoloLens 2.) Maybe, in the future, we could see games? Maybe we could see a HoloLens for the home?

Perhaps, Sullivan told me. “That journey will be measured in years, probably.”

Better trackers, better comfort

Getting the HoloLens 2 on and off was easier than the original. Loosen, put on your head, tighten with a knob on the back, and voila. And once it’s tightened, you can take it on and off like a hat. This comes from someone who could never get the original HoloLens to fit just right.

The hand-tracking is cool, and far more intuitive than the air tap gesture from the original HoloLens. In my demo, I grabbed a small windmill and expanded it to fill the room. I had a hard time shrinking it back down, but I think that was an issue with the demo software, not the tracking.

In another section, I found a hummingbird surrounded by gems. When I focused on a gem with the eye-tracking and told it via microphone to “pop,” it burst into the box with facts about hummingbirds. As I read it, it scrolled down with my eyes.

An update to Microsoft Teams that works with HoloLens 2 will put virtual workers in each other's offices.

In a demo at the Build 2019 developers conference in Seattle, the company showed off two workers in HoloLenses putting together a project. They could access files from Teams and even annotate 3D models with HoloLens' hand-trackings. A third worker was able to call in from a PC using a webcam, and appeared on the wall.

Yet another participant was able to use a phone to see what everyone is seeing on a HoloLens as an AR Camera. It works with ARCore and ARKit and Azure Spatial Anchor. That means even if some people don't have a HoloLens, they can still participate.

There's also a hand-dock to open up apps with a flick of a finger. The demo mixed Azure, HoloLens, Microsoft 365, and more.

One week ahead of its Build developer conference (May 6-8), Microsoft announced its HoloLens 2 Development Edition, a $3,500 package for developers working on the platform. It will also be available for $99 per month (for 36 months). The company didn’t reveal international pricing. The Development Edition “will be available for preorder soon and ship later this year,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Tom’s Hardware.

To be notified when the HoloLens 2 Development Edition becomes available for pre-order, join the Mixed Reality Developer Program.

The package comes with a HoloLens 2 headset, $500 in Azure credit and 3-month trials of Unity Pro and the PiXYZ CAD data plugin. All of these together should allow developers to build interactive AR experiences for enterprise.

Additionally, the company said Unreal Engine 4 support will be available by the end of May.

Developers who want to pre-order the HoloLens 2 Development Edition should join the Mixed Reality Developer Program, a Microsoft spokesperson said.

And, like the first HoloLens was, it appears HoloLens 2 is aimed at enterprise, not consumers. Specifically, in a press release, Microsoft referred to “professional mixed reality experiences using your industrial design data.”

The HoloLens 2 headset was first revealed at Mobile World Congress in February by Microsoft technical fellow Alex Kipman. It offers double the field of view of the original headset and will integrate with Azure and Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Microsoft released Windows 10 cumulative update KB4489899 yesterday, and in addition to the usual bug fixes and security improvements, the update is supposed to address the performance issues in certain games that were caused by its predecessor.

That update, KB4482887, was released on March 1. Its primary focus was to bring the Retpoline mitigation to the Spectre Variant 2 vulnerability to Windows 10 to improve performance over previous mitigations. But it also caused low frame rates, mouse input lag, and other problems in games like Destiny 2.

The issue appeared to affect people who updated to KB4482887 regardless of their hardware configuration, installed drivers, or other factors. Deleting the update also fixed the problem, so it was clear that the blame lay squarely on Microsoft's corporate shoulders. (Or at least those responsible for Windows 10 updates.)

But now KB4489899 is said to fix the problem. Microsoft said in the release notes that this update: "Addresses an issue that may degrade graphics and mouse performance with desktop gaming when playing certain games, such as Destiny 2, after installing KB4482887." It also improves HoloLens and has security updates.

KB4489899 does have issues, though. One causes "applications that provide advanced options for internal or external audio output devices" to stop working on "machines that have multiple audio devices." Microsoft listed Windows Media Player, Realtek HD Audio Manager, and Sound Blaster Control Panel as examples of such apps.

That problem has a temporary solution, which involves selecting the "Default Audio Device" in the app's options and then sending the app's audio to the right device using per-application audio settings in Settings > System > Sound > App Volume and device preferences. Microsoft plans to fix the issue in late March.

Hopefully, that issue--along with the others listed in the release notes--isn't a deal breaker. If it isn't, KB4489899 should be good to go for people who didn't want to sacrifice in-game performance by installing KB4482887. The update and its requisite service stack updates can be installed, fittingly, via Windows Update.

Many people can't bear the thought of not seeing their smartphones. They'll leave them on the counter while they wash dishes, use them even after the lights dim in a movie theater, and hold them in front of their faces while they drive. So it makes sense for Microsoft to look to smartphones as the mixed reality input devices of the future in a new patent application.

Microsoft applied for the patent on February 28--after it revealed the HoloLens 2 at MWC Barcelona 2019--and it has since been published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Organization (USPTO). It's simply called "Virtual Reality Input," and in it, Microsoft describes a system that would allow people to use their phones even when they're in virtual/augmented/mixed reality.

The company explained that current interaction methods, from hand-held controllers to gesture-based input, have their limitations. They're also unfamiliar to many people, making it even harder for them to feel comfortable in mixed reality. The solution? Allow people to use devices they use all the time--smartphones--to interact with mixed reality experiences. Microsoft explained:

"In some examples, the touch-sensitive input device may enable the reception of touch input, which may be an intuitive and familiar input paradigm to a user (e.g., as a result of repeated, daily use of a smart-phone). Touch and/or other types of input may extend the range of inputs that can be supplied beyond translation and rotation enabled by the hand-held controllers described above. The input device itself may also provide a familiar paradigm of interaction, as in some examples the input device may be, as referenced above, a smart/phone or other mobile device of the user."

While some people can navigate their smartphone without looking at it--constant use has ingrained the location of each app icon in their memory--others cannot. (It can be hard to figure out exactly what's happening on-screen with nothing but tactile or auditory feedback.) Microsoft thought of those limitations, too, and it also wants to go beyond addressing them. It explained:

"Moreover, the virtual reality experience may complement and/or extend input device functionality. As described in further detail below, the virtual reality experience may render a representation of the input device that visually indicates the device and also provides a user interface for interacting with the device and virtual reality experience. In some examples, the user interface may provide additional information and points of interaction beyond a user interface rendered by the input device itself."

It makes sense. Immersion in VR can be elusive if people aren't comfortable with a control scheme. Most people are comfortable with their phones. And if augmented reality is about building upon things in our environment, well, our phones are pretty much tied with our bodies as the most constant things in our environments. Microsoft's system merely embraces those truths in mixed reality.

Updated, 2/25/19, 12:42pm PT: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella responded to employees' petition to end the HoloLens contract with the U.S. Army in an interview with CNN Business. "We made a principled decision that we're not going to withhold technology from institutions that we have elected in democracies to protect the freedoms we enjoy," he said. "We were very transparent about that decision and we'll continue to have that dialogue [with employees]." He also said that it wasn't about what 100 people wanted, it was about "being a responsible corporate citizen in a democracy."

Original article, 2/23/19, 12:08pm PT:

Microsoft employees demanded the cancellation of a U.S. Army contract through which the HoloLens augmented reality headset would be used to train soldiers. The petition backing the demand was signed by more than 50 employees and addressed to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and chief legal officer Brad Smith.

The contract was made public in November 2018. It's called the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) contract, and it's worth $479 million to Microsoft. Employees who signed the petition to cancel the contract are essentially asking the company to back down from a deal worth nearly half a billion dollars. (To start.)

BuzzFeed News obtained a copy of the petition, which said in part: “We are alarmed that Microsoft is working to provide weapons technology to the U.S. Military, helping one country's government ‘increase lethality’ using tools we built. We did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used.”

This isn't the first time Microsoft employees have demanded that their employer stop offering its technologies to the U.S. government. They did the same thing in June 2018 to protest Microsoft's work with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency following reports of mistreatment.

Other tech workers have made similar demands: Google employees pressured the company into ending its artificial intelligence contract with the Pentagon. Unlike Microsoft, which has ignored employees' efforts to cancel these contracts, Google decided to end the partnership. (Though it's still a defense contractor.)

These efforts are part of a larger trend which is seeing tech workers push back against the ways the fruits of their labor are being used. They want their employers to behave ethically--and in accordance with their own political views--rather than selling advanced technologies without considering the ramifications.

To its credit, Microsoft has made those ramifications a central part of its research into things like facial recognition, which Smith has published several blog posts about over the last year. It's not hard to guess why the company's employees would then be surprised about a contract meant to make soldiers better killers.

Not that the U.S. Army would be able to train too many soldiers via the IVAS contract. HoloLens dev kits cost $3,000--even if the entire contract went towards equipment procurement, that would only buy roughly 160,000 headsets. Adding on maintenance fees, software development, and other costs would reduce that number.

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Today Microsoft revealed the HoloLens 2 for the first time. The upcoming device offers vast improvements over the first-gen HoloLens headset, such as intuitive controls and better comfort. Microsoft also brought the price down a smidge, but at $3,500, this one’s still meant for big businesses.

Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 is a completely redesigned headset, with an all-new exterior design, high-quality material construction, and newly-designed internal components. Microsoft said it built the new headset with three things in mind: More immersion, better comfort, and more value out of the box.

Better Immersion

To improve immersion, the HoloLens 2 displays offer double the field of view (FOV) as the original model, while maintaining the same level of visual clarity as the original device. Microsoft’s original benchmark for image clarity was 47-pixels per degree of visible area, and the company achieved that same benchmark in the new headset by installing two 2K MEMS displays—one for each eye.

Microsoft also went back to the drawing board and re-imagined the way to interact with the mixed reality world. The original HoloLens relied on gesture controls, which weren’t as intuitive as you would imagine. The new method of interaction is more like interacting with the real world, meaning you can reach out and touch holographic objects as if they were real.

Want to move a window? Grab onto it and drag it around. Is that object to small? Grab the corners and stretch it. Is there a button to press? Reach out and push it. The new HoloLens also includes a new feature called Follow, which enables apps to track and follow your movement so that you can bring heavily-used applications with you all the time.

While we have not yet tried the new interaction system, watching the presentation demonstrates that it would be far superior to the old method. Microsoft said the HoloLens 2 is capable of these advanced interactions because it includes a brand-new Kinect sensor, which is capable of fine spatial tracking of your whole environment, the objects within it, and yourself, right down to your individual fingers.

Superior Comfort

For the comfort side of things, Microsoft redesigned the exterior of the headset. The new device is much more compact than the first-generation HoloLens, and it’s made of lighter materials. The entire front visor of the headset is made of carbon fiber to reduce the weight and aid with weight distribution. Carbon fiber is also an incredibly tough material, which should help protect it from damage in industrial settings.

The original headset had a dual headband system that enabled you to adjust the headset to line up with your eyes, which worked well enough, but it was a cumbersome system that didn’t accommodate glasses. The new headset features a balanced crown headband with an adjustment dial on the back like many of the Windows Mixed Reality VR headsets. Microsoft also gave the HoloLens 2 a flip visor, to bring the lenses out of your view without removing the headset. Not that removing the headset would be difficult. Microsoft said it’s as easy to put on as a regular hat.

Out-of-the-Box Value

The original HoloLens was an expensive device that didn’t include any bundled software. Microsoft said that, on average, it would take companies who invested in a HoloLens three months before they could use it in meaningful ways. To fix that issue, Microsoft worked with partners to ensure that HoloLens 2 would have a robust software ecosystem at launch.

Microsoft said that Microsoft Dynamics 365 would be updated for the HoloLens 2, with Remote Assist and Layout ready to go at launch. The company is also planning to release a new app called Guides, which would enable experienced workers to create instruction guides for recruits.

The HoloLens 2 will also integrate with a new cloud service called HoloLens Azure, which will enable shared mixed reality experiences across a variety of devices. HoloLens Azure Spatial Anchors allow AR Kit, AR Core, and HoloLens devices to see the same virtual objects in real-time to facilitate collaborative work. HoloLens Azure cloud services also include Remote Rendering, which allows you to stream high-polygon content of infinite detail on HoloLens devices.

HoloLens Customization Program

Microsoft also revealed the HoloLens Customization Program, which allows partner companies to modify the HoloLens headset to meet specifications for industrial use cases. Trimble is the first company to take advantage of the customization program, and it announced the Trimble XR10, which is a HoloLens 2 integrated into a hard hat for first-line construction workers. Trimble didn’t say how much the XR10 would cost, but the device will ship when Microsoft ships the HoloLens 2.

Pre-orders Available Now

Microsoft did not reveal the shipping date for the HoloLens 2, but the company is ready to take your money anyway. The HoloLens 2 is available now for pre-order at HoloLens.com. You can pay $3,500 to buy the device outright, or you can finance it for as little as $150 per month.

Want to comment on this story? Let us know what you think in the Tom's Hardware Forums.

Microsoft hasn't made any official HoloLens announcements in a while. That could be set to change, however, because two recently discovered patents describe various improvements to augmented reality (AR) headsets that bear more than a passing resemblance to the HoloLens we know today.

The patents were published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on February 14 and quickly discovered by the folks at Windows Latest. They are titled "Multiplexed Hologram Tiling In A Waveguide Display" and "Eye-Tracking With Mems Scanning and Reflected Light." 

The first patent relates to eye-tracking in AR devices. Microsoft effectively said that current eye-tracking solutions could make a head-mounted display more expensive, less comfortable and harder to use. The technology described in the patent aims to address all of those problems with numerous technologies crammed into a device that looks like the current HoloLens.

The other patent is supposed to offer wider fields of view (FOV) in waveguide-reliant displays like the HoloLens. Those headsets can often display a narrow FOV that requires you to constantly turn your head if you want to see something in your periphery; this Microsoft patent covers one technology that could be used to overcome that limitation. The current HoloLens' FOV is a mere 35 degrees. 

Here's how it's described in the patent:

“Embodiments are disclosed herein that relate to providing a near-eye display device with a wide field of view through the use of angularly multiplexed holographic recordings to form gratings for the waveguide. The angularly multiplexed holographic recordings may be spatially overlapped in relation to one another. This may help to decrease a size of the display device compared to the use of layers of gratings.”

Basically, Microsoft found a way to either A) keep the FOV the same while shrinking the device or B) expand the FOV while keeping the device the same size. Either would make sense for the next iteration of the HoloLens. (And in the future we wouldn't be surprised if the device shrinks while the FOV expands.)

Microsoft filed the first patent in 2017 and the second in 2018. This means that even though they were just published on Valentine’s Day, there's a good chance that the company has already improved upon the technologies, as well as other aspects of the HoloLens since. We won't know until the HoloLens 2, or whatever it's going to be called, is officially revealed to the public.

Current signs indicate that Microsoft is planning to announce the HoloLens 2 at MWC Barcelona 2019. The event kicks off later this month, so hopefully it won't be too long until we finally learn more about what Microsoft has planned for HoloLens.

Windows Mixed Reality may finally be making its way to Google Chrome. The folks over at Windows Latest today spotted a few snippets of new code in Chromium—the open-source browser project at the heart of the Chrome web browser—that explicitly mentions upcoming support for Microsoft’s mixed reality platform.

The relevant code was found in two “commits” (changes made to files managed via the Git version control system often used in software development) to the Chromium project made on January 22 and 29. They give away their purpose in their names: the first one is “Add a flag for Windows Mixed Reality support” and the second one is “Add MixedRealityDevice to support Windows Mixed Reality.”

It’s not hard to guess why Chromium is finally adding Windows Mixed Reality support more than a year after the platform’s introduction. Microsoft is reportedly planning to use the rendering engine from Chromium, rather than its own EdgeHTML technology, in a future version of its Edge browser. It’d probably leave a sour taste in Windows Mixed Reality users’ mouths if the move stopped them from being able to browse the web.

But it’s also not hard to guess why adding Windows Mixed Reality support wasn’t a priority for Chromium before. Prior to January 9, the most recent mention of “mixed reality” on the Windows Developer Blog was from October 2018. That’s also when the Windows Experience Blog last brought up the platform. It hasn’t even been mentioned on the Microsoft Devices Blog since July 2018 or, tellingly, the Microsoft Edge Blog since October 2017.

That follows the general arc of Windows Mixed Reality’s popularity. The platform debuted with several headsets from the likes of Acer, Asus and more. But the Microsoft Store currently lists just seven headsets, three of which are out of stock and two of which are on sale. We at Tom’s Hardware haven't gone deep into the platform ourselves since our July 2018 review of the HP Windows Mixed Reality Headset.

There could be some good news on the horizon: Microsoft is rumored to be announcing HoloLens 2, codenamed “Sydney,” at Mobile World Congress on February 24. The device is expected to be improved on nearly every way, which might finally convince the company to release it to the general public. The original version’s development kit— which costs a whopping $3,000—is currently out of stock. That could mean Microsoft is making room for a HoloLens 2 developer kit to debut sometime in the near future.

Windows Latest noticed several other changes that Windows users might enjoy as well, including Chromium support for Windows 10’s Dark Mode and a new feature meant to “help block unintended downloads.”

Otherwise, let Windows Mixed Reality users rejoice in knowing that Chromium is finally going to support the platform, even if it may only be to placate Edge users.

Microsoft is making a return to the Barcelona-based Mobile World Congress, and it may reveal a new HoloLens there. The Verge has revealed an invite to select press for an event on Feb. 24 featuring CEO Satya Nadella, corporate vice president Julia White and technical fellow Alex Kipman. The latter's involvement suggests it could be a new HoloLens, which he works on.

This matches with reports from last year, suggesting a launch in Q1 of 2019. The device, codenamed Sydney, is supposed to be lighter and more comfortable with a better display. Other rumors include using Qualcomm's Snapdragon 850 CPU and the new Kinect sensor that the company showed off at its Build Conference in 2018. 

HoloLens has mostly found a home in enterprise applications, where augmented reality can be used to help train workers and bring eyes from offices abroad into the room with frontline employees. MWC is usually a consumer show, though, so it's possible the company has some more use-cases up its sleeve, especially with improved technology.

Over the years, smart glass design has come to market in various flavors, from the futuristic sci-fi look of Google Glass, to the sunglasses style of Vuzix Blade and the old school trendy style of North’s Focals. But DigiLens hopes to bring something new to the augmented reality (AR) hardware table with its unveiling at CES today of DigiLens Crystal, frameless and CPU-less smart glasses arriving in 2019 at under $500 (£395).

DigiLens Crystal Specs

With no CPU of its own, DigiLens Crystal smart glasses weigh “less than three ounces,” Chris Pickett, CEO of DigiLens told Tom’s Hardware. Instead of saddling the smart glasses with a processor, DigiLens developed a way for the hardware to use a smartphone connected via a USB-C port for power, video and running apps. Pickett said that because the smart glasses tether to a smartphone, “we can offload the weight of the batteries and most of the electronics to the phone itself, reducing an AR application down to the creation of a smartphone app.” The smart glasses have to be connected to a smartphone to work, since the phone provides the battery, processor and memory needed to run applications. Think of DigiLens Crystal as a hands-free companion to the phone. 

The startup thinks it has an advantage over other smart glass competitors, such as Vuzix and Microsoft's Hololens, by eliminating the need for heavy processors and batteries or tinted lenses. It’s promoting the glasses for both indoor and outdoor use and for gaming and social apps, as well as for education and workers in logistics, manufacturing and maintenance. 

DigiLens says DigiLens Crystal has room in gaming applications, for example, especially as smartphones, low latency 5G and voice-activated game capabilities bring more attention to interactive social gameplay. And in trucking, a DigiLens Crystal-based head-up display can use precision-based tracking for a panoramic FOV display offering information like directions or pointing out a dockside freight location. 

Aesthetically, the DigiLens' Crystal glasses are more passable than some other AR/mixed reality (MR) alternatives, with their half-prescription-glasses, half-safety-goggles look. But one deterrent may be the 30-degree FOV. The Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality glasses currently have a FOV of 35 degrees, which is often its most criticized feature. And if you connect the glasses to a smartphone, that five hour battery life won't get you through a full work day, and there are inherent limitations in requiring the glasses to be hooked up to a smartphone to work. 

DigiLens Crystal smart glasses will be available to consumers and to OEMs as a fully integrated reference design platform by late 2019. DigiLens licenses its technology for manufacture and sale by other companies. Its current partners include Texas Instruments DLP Pico Products, Young Optics of Taiwan, a waveguide manufacturer and Malata of China, an ODM and electronics supplier. 

Vuzix Blade, AR smart glasses with the look of Oakley sunglasses and the power of Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, are finally hitting the consumer market later this month for $999 without prescription and "under $1,200" with prescription. Armed with a quad-core ARM processor, an AR display in the right lens, a touchpad, voice control, and its own iOS and Android companion app and app store, the Blade gives you a lot of ways to control it. We've tried them out for ourselves, and while they’re still a ways off from turning users into fashionistas, its software makes the glasses stand out for all the right reasons. 

The Look

It’s hard for me to get on board with the Vuzix Blade’s thick, black plastic styling. At best, they look like an extra chunky version of traditional men’s Oakley sunglasses—which I’m not a fan of to begin with—without the tint. Sure, they’re a more socially acceptable upgrade compared to other AR/MR glasses like Microsoft Hololens or the now enterprise-only Google Glass, but they still don’t look like something I’d voluntarily wear in order to look good. And they’re not nearly as cute as North’s Focals smart glasses.

The glasses’ temples are quite wide and gently scraped across my hair and head as I pulled them on and off. While I can feel the thick pieces resting at the back of my head, they didn’t bother me. The glasses were even more comfortable than wearing a headband.

I wore the Vuzix Blade on and off for about 45 minutes. It didn’t weigh my head down or feel too heavy. But it did irritate the bejeezus out of the bridge of my nose. The nose pads are thick rubber and gave me a feeling that I can only compare to what you feel when someone points a finger between your brows but doesn’t actually touch you (if you’ve never done this before, try it. It’s exactly how my nose felt while wearing the Blade). As a result, I felt like taking the glasses off every couple of minutes and rubbing the bridge of my nose back to normalcy.

Vuzix said the end goal is for the Blade to be as sleek and functional as the glasses used in the Kingsman movies. At this iteration, I have to say that Eggsy looks better in his version of AR glasses than I do in the Blade. But in the picture below you can see Vuzix’s vision for subsequent models, the Blade 2 and Blade 3. 

How It Works

The Vuzix Blade has to be paired with your smartphone via Bluetooth to work. It always has to know your location because the device has to know it’s physically next to you in order to function, I was told. After the Blade is connected, and you download Vuzix’s companion iOS or Android app, the smart glasses can display incoming notifications from any of your smartphone apps. The companion app will also give users access to Vuzix’s app store, the only place where you can download apps, like Amazon Alexa for the Blade.

I’m sorry; I can’t not say it: Navigating the Blade’s menu worked just like Saiyan scouters in Dragon Ball Z. With my finger, I touched a nondescript plastic touchpad on the glasses’ right arm. To scroll through the menu, a row of icons on the bottom of the display, I swiped on the touchpad. A two-finger hold brought me to the Home menu, featuring the date, time and any notifications. After a while of continuous use, due to my historically limited upper-body strength, my arm got a little tired from working the glasses.

Using display Cobra engines and a small projector on the temple, the Blade projected crisp, colorful text and images in front of my eyes. The default screen showed “Home” in big white letters, while a neon green box held the date and time.The bottom of the display featured a row of colorful icons representing apps.

Already-Impressive Array of Apps

Vuzix claims to have 400 developers a month registering to develop Blade apps. In my demo, I got to try out the Blade’s texting capabilities, gaming and betas for Amazon Alexa and a top video streaming service. It gave me a taste of what the Vuzix Blade app store will have upon the Blade’s consumer launch. It’s clear Vuzix was waiting for the right amount of apps, both in quality and quantity, before releasing the Blade to the general public.

When I tried the Blade, they were still developing the iOS texting app, so I used an Android phone. When I received a text, a pop-up dropped down from the top of the display, with a preview of the message written in white, including the sender and emojis. There’s no messages app, everything goes through your smartphone so you use your phone’s SMS app, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp or another messaging client to chat.

I tried out a teleprompter and karaoke demo where words streamed in front of my eyes like the story appears in a Star Wars opening crawl. While this appealed to me as a newfound karaoke fan (ever since my six-year-old niece did a of “Ice Ice Baby” this Christmas), there are greater possibilities for this technology. Imagine doing a public speech with your words right in front of your eyes, or this being used as a translator, instantly decoding foreign languages.

When I demoed the beta video streaming app, the company was still in the process of making the UI more seamless. But the bright colors of Rainy With a Chance of Meatballs were impressive on such a tiny display from a relatively light device. However, the image did fade out a little if I was looking at something black. The final app should be ready by the end of January.

The Blade’s Alexa compatibility has gotten it a lot of attention. But with North’s Focals also boasting the voice assistant, Blade will need to work intuitively with Alexa to stand out. When I tried out an Alexa Beta demo, I had to tap to speak and then tap when I was done speaking. It worked on the first try multiple times, but all the tapping isn’t necessarily carefree. However, Vuzix told me they are working on making Alexa voice-enabled through the Blade. And the Blade will also feature Google Assistant; although, I didn't get to try that out. 

Final Thoughts

Vuzix Blade is a bit off putting to the more style-conscious due to its chunky look, but it was surprisingly lightweight on my face. While it did irritate my nose, perhaps I can get use to it, especially if Vuzix delivers enough functionality and fun through its app store. We’re also interested in testing out that 8MP camera, battery life and long-term application. We’ll be reviewing all this in the Blade in detail later this month, so stay tuned.

The best thing about CES and the weeks and days leading up to the tech extravaganza is the promise of seeing something weird, wacky and innovative. The zSpace Laptop PC is one such product.

This unassuming-looking device is the first Windows laptop to combine augmented and virtual reality, making an experience that seems to burst from the screen. When it launches (date TBD), zSpace is hoping to target the education and enterprise space with a surprisingly affordable price of $1,500.

I had the opportunity to get an exclusive hands-on with the zSpace Laptop PC and was pleasantly surprised at how smooth and intuitive the experience is.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this technology. HP showed off something similar a few years ago with its Zvr Virtual Reality Display, which was housed in a 23.6-inch all-in-one setup. The tech is pretty straightforward –– using a proprietary 3D display, head-tracking sensors, 3D glasses and a large stylus. Only now, the technology is housed in a 15.4 x 10.8 x 1.2-inch laptop that weighs about 9 pounds. It’s a bit chunky, but it’s a lot more mobile than a 23-inch monitor.

The head-tracking cameras are located in the upper corners or the laptop with another pair in the center. The top-mounted cameras protrude outward and downward, an ideal position to track the glasses. So about those glasses. They kind of look like your run-of-the-mill 3D movie eyewear, except for the large gray dots lining the frame. Although the glasses utilize a passive form of VR and are necessary to the experience, the dots are the secret sauce. Acting as mini mocap trackers, they’re what the head tracking sensors in the laptop are actually using to monitor your head position.

Once everything is synced up, the technology works seamlessly, creating clear interactive 3D images that are more blended reality than true virtual reality. Using the micro-USB-powered stylus, I launched an educational butterfly app, where I interacted with each stage of a monarch butterfly’s development. Clicking on a caterpillar and pulling it towards me, automatically zoomed in on the squirming critter, allowing me to get a clear look at its multitude of legs. When I wanted another look at the creepy crawly, I just rotated the hand holding the stylus.

The animations were consistently smooth and the actual field of vision was the size of the display. That meant that I could pretty much move my head freely without breaking the 3D effect. That’s a lot more than I can say for something like Microsoft Hololens, with its incredibly narrow field of vision.

In addition to learning about butterflies, I also had the opportunity to get up close and personal with human anatomy, touring different systems including limbic and lymphatic. I also had the opportunity to take a tour of an exploded robot arm and learn how to build an engine.

Running all this blended reality goodness takes a decent amount of power. When it ships, the zSpace Laptop will have an AMD APU A9-9420 CPU with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. And when you’re not using the 3D effects, the notebook will deliver the functionality you’d expect from a Windows 10 PC. And despite the 15.6-inch display having proprietary 3D technology embedded, for all intents and purposes, it looks just as bright and vivid as any other screen. However, I’d definitely want to test it in our labs to be sure. As far as battery life, zStudio didn’t give an estimate, but I’d hazard a guess that system can’t last more than two hours running any of the blended reality apps.

I’m looking forward to reviewing the zSpace Laptop PC. If the company can keep the price that low, it could be a great tool for educators as well as enterprise users.  

This story was originally published on Laptop Mag.

Rumors of Apple joining the augmented reality (AR) market have smoldered for years. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said AR is as big an idea as the smartphone, recent iOS devices have given developers more of the tools needed to make AR experiences and the company has made a series of acquisitions related to the AR market. Now it seems Apple has stoked the flames by buying smart glasses lens maker Akonia Holographics.

Apple confirmed its acquisition of Akonia to Reuters, but the company didn't share any details about the deal, nor has it acknowledged it on its website. Reuters believed the deal may have closed in the first half of 2018, but neither Apple nor Akonia have corroborated that timeline.

Akonia's website says the company was founded in 2012 to "develop advanced optical technologies based on holography" and that it turned its attention to the AR headset market only after "achieving revolutionary advances in holographic data storage." The company focused on a product called HoloMirror to offer "a unique combination of performance, transparency and low cost that will revolutionize the smart glass display industry."

It's not hard to see the appeal of a cheap and well-performing headset that offers more transparency than something like Microsoft's HoloLens or the Magic Leap One. Both are tinted like sunglasses, which allows them to overlay graphics on top of the real world but also makes everything seem a bit dark. The ideal AR experience would offer those same graphics and information without altering the user's perception of the real world.

Right now that experience simply isn't available on a large scale. Smartphone-based AR simulates the effect by using the device's camera to capture the real world, but it still isn't a perfect representation of what the environment looks like. Google attempted something similar with Glass, yet that product never made its way to the general public and eventually shifted towards business use with the Glass Enterprise Edition.

Apple could see HoloMirror as the key to offering a better AR experience than its competitors. It would make sense, then, for the $1 trillion company to just buy Akonia instead of licensing its technologies. The company reportedly spent $30 million on Vrvana before it had a commercial product; it's not likely to become a spendthrift when it comes to a company that's spent the last six years quietly working on a fundamental problem with AR.

Of course, Apple could plan to have Akonia's team work on something other than an AR headset. Companies often acquire smaller businesses for their research and talent with no intention of further supporting their previous work. But with Cook's enthusiasm for AR, the expansion of ARKit in iOS devices and this series of AR-related acquisitions, there's a lot of smoke for there not to be a fire. 

Meet HP’s Windows Mixed Reality Headset

Last fall, Microsoft launched the Windows Mixed Reality (MR) Portal, and a handful of hardware partners released headsets for Microsoft’s immersive computing platform. But like other Windows MR headsets we've tested, this head-mounted display (HMD) is underwhelming.

The HP Windows MR headset isn’t a bad headset, but it’s not a great one either. The product designers did several things right, such as include moisture-proof cushions and a removable tether cable. However, the negative features outweigh the positives, detracting from the overall value of the headset. Unless you get a screaming deal on the HP Windows MR headset, you may be better off with one of the competing options.

Design Features

The HP Windows MR Headset is an all-black HMD, which gives it a somewhat sinister look (as apposed to the bright, happy-colored Acer HMD). The front of the visor is smooth and round, which gives it a refined look. Like all Windows MR headsets, the HP HMD includes two 180-degree cameras with Microsoft’s HoloLens tracking technology that provides inside-out spatial tracking. The two cameras stick out from the visor to limit occlusion from the body of the visor. The cameras also point outwards and towards the ground at slight angles to prioritize tracking the ground and the space to your sides.

Like many Windows MR headsets, the HP headset features a hinged visor that enables you to flip the screen up to see the real world without taking the headset off completely. Sadly, HP’s hinge design is no better than other Windows MR headsets we’ve seen. In the short time we spent with the headset, we already noticed wear in the hinge. The weight of the visor puts too much pressure on the plastic hinge, which causes it to sag. At this rate of deterioration, it would be a miracle if the hinge still holds the visor up after a year of regular use.

The headset features a balanced crown head strap design, which is universal among Windows MR devices. The strap features rigid bands that support the weight of the headset on the top of your head (hence the balanced crown name). The rear of the strap includes a dial that allows you to tighten the strap around your head. The dial has a ratcheting lock, so it’s best to lift the headset off your head before loosening the strap so that you don’t wear the mechanism down prematurely. Like the Lenovo Explorer Windows MR Headset, HP’s headset is well-suited for people with small heads. It supports a minimum head diameter of 5.5 inches. The strap extends to 8.75 inches, but it doesn’t get much wider, so it may not be comfortable for people with large heads.

The cushions on the adjustable head strap feature a moisture-proof cover, which is easy to clean. However, the cushions are permanently fixed to the head strap, so you can’t replace them when they eventually wear out. The face cushion is a soft foam material that isn’t moisture-proof. It adheres to the visor with Velcro and is replaceable. Unlike other headsets, such as the Lenovo Explorer, HP’s headset doesn’t include a rubber gasket to help the device adapt to the contours of your face. The cushion mounts directly to the hard-plastic visor.

Bring Your Own Headphones & Mic

HP’s Windows MR headset doesn’t offer built-in headphones, so you'll need your own if you wish to experience the full immersion of the headset. This is not uncommon for VR headsets, especially Windows MR headsets; Samsung’s Odyssey is the only Windows MR headset with headphones.

The Lenovo Explorer, Asus and Acer headsets each include a short cable with a headphone jack at the end, but HP’s headset doesn’t have a cable. The company instead installed a headphone jack on the bottom of the visor. At first, we liked the novel placement of the jack, but then we tried it and learned why it’s bad. With the cable dangling straight down from your face, it’s easy to catch the cord with your hands. We didn’t like the cable on the other headsets, but HP’s approach is much worse.

HP’s headset also lacks an internal microphone and only has one jack, so you’ll need a headset that uses one jack for audio input and output.

Specifications

High Resolution, Poor Field of View

HP’s Windows MR headset features dual 1440 x 1440 LCD panels, which produce a crisp, clear image. Several Windows MR devices feature the same display panels, including Lenovo, Asus and Acer’s headsets. The dreaded screen door effect is visible with these displays; however, it's nearly imperceptible unless you're looking for it. We prefer the image quality of the Samsung OLED displays over the LCDs that HP used, though. The LCD displays are poor at producing deep blacks, which makes the image appear somewhat washed out in dark scenes.

When we first put HP's headset on, we were surprised at how restricted the field of view (FOV) was. HP’s documentation claims that the headset offers a 100-degree FOV, which would put it on par with most VR headsets, including the Oculus Rift. In our experience, the view in the HP Windows MR is much more restricted than the Oculus Rift. HP’s headset gave me a sense of tunnel vision that no other HMD has triggered.

We recently found a SteamVR environment that enables us to compare the FOV of VR headsets called ROV Test FOV & Resolution. The measurements that the test provides vary from person to person because the FOV is relative to the distance from the lenses and screen to your eyes, but it’s a good tool if the same person tests each headset. From my perspective, the HP headset provides less than 80-degrees of horizontal view, whereas I can see approximately 90-degrees in a Rift and around 100-degrees in the HTC Vive.

Hard-to-Find Sweet Spot

The balance of the head strap plays a major role in the visual clarity a headset offers. HP’s Windows MR headset features a set of Fresnel-Aspherical lenses—the same ones you’ll fine in Acer, Asus, Lenovo and Dell’s headsets---that have a narrow visual sweet spot. Your pupils must align vertically with the lenses to get the best possible image.

HP’s headset features the same fixed interpupillary distance (IPD) Fresnel lenses found in the competing Windows MR devices. However, the visual experience that HP’s headset offers isn’t on par with those other headsets. The lenses should also be aligned with your eyes on the horizontal axis, but HP’s headset doesn’t offer an IPD adjustment, so that’s likely not possible. Acer, Asus and Lenovo feature a fixed 62-millimeter IPD, but HP's IPD feels narrower than that. By our measurement, HP’s headset has a fixed 60-millimeter IPD, which makes it less suitable for people with wide-set eyes.

Replaceable Cable

HP’s MR Headset stands out as the only Windows MR device that features a removable tether cable. The fixed cable is one of our chief complaints about other Windows MR devices because it’s the most likely point of failure, aside from a poor-quality hinge. The cable provides the data and power signals to the headset and is susceptible to damage from trampling and tugging.

HP’s cable design isn’t perfect, as it still includes a fixed tether that leads from inside the visor to the right side of the head strap. However, the tether cable is 11 inches long and features a socket to connect an extension cable, which would take the brunt of the trampling abuse. The headset includes a 13-foot extension cable, which features USB 3.0 and HDMI ports on one end and a proprietary plug that looks like a compressed DisplayPort interface on the other end. HP doesn’t currently offer longer cables for the consumer version of the Windows MR headset, but the company offers a Pro headset for businesses, which includes a longer lead for use in larger spaces.

HP’s Windows MR headset doesn’t include headphones or a built-in microphone. You must provide your own headset for audio and communication. The headset features a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom of the visor, which at first glance seemed a clever idea. However, in practice, we realized that we prefer the tethered, side-mounted headphone jack found on Acer, Asus and Lenovo’s headsets because we caught our hands in the dangling cable multiple times and feared we would eventually damage our gear.

A wireless headset would likely be the best solution, but you can’t use a Bluetooth headset in conjunction with Microsoft’s motion controllers, so your options are limited.

Not These Controllers Again!

HP added a few clever features to its headset to differentiate it from the other devices in the Windows MR lineup, but we wish it would have put effort into making a better controller. HP, like most Windows MR partners, adopted Microsoft’s reference controller design and didn’t change a thing except for the logo on the handle.

Microsoft’s reference controller works well as an example for the company’s tracking technology, but it should not have passed as a consumer product. Microsoft makes the Xbox One controller, which is arguably the best gamepad on the market. The company spent a fortune on research and development to refine the feel and actuation of each button and trigger on its gamepad, but inexplicably, it didn’t use Xbox’s expertise to create the Windows MR motion controllers.

The inputs on Microsoft’s motion controllers feel cheap and aren’t optimized for ergonomics. The overall construction of the controllers is subpar with loose fitting of the door to the battery compartment and a flimsy piece of plastic securing the halo with the tracking sensors. Motion controllers should be built to take a beating because they will likely be smacked against a wall or dropped on the floor. The Windows MR controllers probably won’t survive many hits like that.

MORE: Best Virtual Reality Headsets

MORE: All Virtual Reality Content

MORE: Virtual Reality Basics

Living With HP's Windows MR Headset

Setup Process

Simplicity was one of Microsoft’s key goals for the Windows MR platform. The company saw the complicated setup process of existing VR solutions from Oculus and HTC as a barrier to entry for most people interested in VR. As such, the setup process for HP’s Windows MR headset is the exact same process seen among the other Windows MR devices.

Before you plug the headset in, ensure that you’ve got the latest Windows 10 updates installed on your computer. We recommend that you opt out of Microsoft’s Insider Preview program for the most stable Windows MR experience. 

With Windows up to date, plug the HP Windows MR headset into your computer. The headset requires a USB 3.0 port, and it must be plugged into the HDMI port of the graphics card. Windows MR headsets include inside-out tracking cameras, which eliminate the need to run wires for cameras or base stations.

Windows should automatically detect that you’ve plugged in a Windows MR device and begin downloading the appropriate drivers for the device. If the Windows MR Portal doesn’t launch automatically, locate it in the Start menu and launch it manually. The software should take you through the initial setup wizard, which will help you calibrate your room and learn the basics about navigating Microsoft’s immersive computing environment.

The setup wizard will walk you through connecting and calibrating your motion controllers through Bluetooth. HP’s headset doesn’t include a Bluetooth receiver, so if your computer doesn’t have one, you’ll need a third-party USB receiver.

The setup wizard also includes a room calibration process, in which you must trace your open play space with the cameras on the headset to establish your safety boundaries. If you step close to the defined barriers, a virtual grid appears in the headset to warn you where the safe-zone ends.

Once you’ve calibrated the environment, Microsoft puts you through a short tutorial that explains how to interact with the virtual world of Windows MR. The tutorial explains how to move around the space and how to use the motion controller or your voice to interact with objecta, menus and windows. 

The whole process, from taking the headset out of the box to fully configured, should take less than 10 minutes, and once you’re accustomed to the setup, it should take fewer than five minutes to run through setup.

Comfort

When choosing a VR headset, comfort should be a significant factor in your decision. After all, if the headset isn’t comfortable, you won’t be motivated to wear it often, or for long periods, if at all. HP’s headset is neither the most comfortable, nor the least comfortable headset.

HP’s Windows MR headset weighs 528 grams, which is quite a bit heavier than most HMDs (the Asus HMD weighs under 400 grams). However, the balanced crown head strap does a surprisingly good job at distributing the weight across your whole head. We wouldn’t trust the fitting of the head strap for extremely active games, though. To get the weight distribution sweet spot, wear the strap like a cap on top of your head.

Performance Evaluation

The HP Windows MR headset doesn’t have any processing technology that we can benchmark, so our evaluation process focuses on how the headset affects the performance of our test system. Our VR test system includes an Intel Core i7-5930K, 4x4GB of Crucial Balistix DDR4 2400, a Crucial M500 500GB SSD and an MSI X99S Xpower AC motherboard. We also used a Zotac GTX 980 Ti graphics card.

Our test suite includes Arizona Sunshine, Gorn, Rick & Morty: Virtual Rickality and Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope. Microsoft recently released a new version of the Windows MR Portal, which included a performance overhaul for Windows MR games, which in turn invalidated our past results. We no longer have the other Windows MR devices on hand, so we can’t provide updated figures for those devices. We’ve included the past results in our graphs, but you should take the performance difference between the HP headset and other Windows MR devices with a grain of salt.

Comparison Products

Arizona Sunshine

We expected performance for Arizona Sunshine to surpass the results from our Asus evaluation because of Microsoft’s performance “improvements.” However, our results indicated that Microsoft’s update didn’t work as advertised, or a component in HP’s headset caused a bottleneck. Without another Windows MR headset on hand to make a direct comparison, we can’t know for sure. We’re leaning towards a software problem, though.

The frame times from our HP Windows MR test exceed the frame times of previous headset tests, but the 980Ti had no trouble keeping the latency below 14 milliseconds to provide a consistent 90 frames per seconds (fps) to the displays.

Gorn

Gorn is a lightweight game that can run on the lowest-end VR-ready graphics cards, but the developers didn’t do a great job optimizing the performance. Gorn rarely pushes your GPU to a high limit, but the performance also rarely stabilizes and frame times can vary by more than 2 milliseconds each frame. That said, Microsoft’s recent Windows MR performance enhancements worked well with Gorn and provided the most stable frame timing we’ve seen in this game.

The frame time interval chart also indicates that Gorn performed better on the HP headset than it did on the Asus headset. We didn’t experience any dropped frames on the HP headset, whereas dropped frames were a semi-regular occurrence with the Asus headset.

Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope

Serious Sam VR is a much more demanding game than Gorn and Arizona Sunshine because of the number of simultaneous on-screen enemies. With a few baddies on screen, we get great performance, but it doesn’t take long before dozens of enemies are bearing down on you. For our test, we run through the Endless Wave mode of the game, which constantly sends more cannon fodder your way until you can’t fight the hoard off anymore. As you can see in the graph, as the baddies accumulate on screen, the frame rate drops at a steady rate.

Our test results indicate that our system performed worse with the HP headset than it did with the Asus headset that features the same display specifications. However, we suspect the difference is somewhat software related. Croteam recently released an update to Serious Sam VR that altered the lineup of enemies that spawn in Endless Wave mode. The developer also introduced air-strike attacks, which would account for the frame time spikes seen in the middle and near the tail end of the graph.

As you can see from the frame time interval chart, the new update to Serious Sam VR negatively impacted the game's performance. Our GTX 980Ti had a hard time keeping the frame rate high enough to avoid relying on reprojection technology.

Rick & Morty: Virtual Rickality

Rick & Morty: Virtual Rickality is another lightweight game that should run on the lowest tier graphics cards. The developer also optimized this title well, so we rarely see big performance swings. Our test results indicate that Microsoft’s performance improvements may have had a mild effect on this game. Our test system kept the performance on the HP headset slightly ahead of our results with the Asus headset.

The frame time interval chart doesn’t tell us much, except that dropped frames in this game are a rare occurrence.

Analysis & Conclusion

On paper, HP’s Windows MR headset seems like a winner. The device offers the same high-resolution displays and Fresnel lenses found in most Windows MR headsets, and it includes convenient design features, such as the flip up visor. It also stands out among the Windows MR headsets as the only device with a replaceable tether cord, which is a big deal for the device's longevity.

If HP's Windows MR headset provided the same quality experience as the other Windows MR headsets, it would be a great purchase; however, it fails to offer the same quality of experience. HP’s headset provides the narrowest FOV out of any VR headset we’ve tried. People complain that the FOV in Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive is too narrow, but the FOV in the HP Windows MR headset is several degrees narrower, which emphasizes the tunnel-vision feeling.

The build quality of the device also leaves something to be desired. The visor feels sturdy, but like the rest of the Windows MR headsets that offer flip visors, the hinge for the visor feels like it would break easily. This does not feel like a $449 product.

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Get ready for a whole new HoloLens. Earlier this week, reports began to surface that Microsoft is gearing up to release the next generation of HoloLens mixed reality headset. Thurott.com first broke the news on June 12 that Microsoft would launch the next headset in Q1 2019. Thurott didn’t share the source, but Brad Sams, the author of the article, noted that the report is “based on documents [he] was able to view.”

Thurott also claimed the documents reveal the next device would be “lighter, more comfortable to wear, and have significantly improved holographic displays. Reportedly, Microsoft’s codename for the device is Sydney. We’ve not seen the documents that Sams saw, so we can’t say for certain, but Thurott isn't known for spreading falsities.

Thurott isn’t the only website talking about the next HoloLens headset, either. Following the news about the potential Q1 release, The Verge, citing “sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans,” reported that Microsoft would reveal the headset in the second half of this year. The Verge’s source also divulged that Microsoft’s prototype features an ARM-based processor for improved battery life. The Verge’s source didn’t name the chip in question, but if you read between the lines, it’s a clear hint that Microsoft turned to Qualcomm for the next-generation device. 

Earlier today, Engadget, also citing a “source familiar with the matter,” reported that the HoloLens 2 headset would feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 SoC. When Qualcomm revealed that XR1, the company announced it was already working with Vive, Vuzix, and Meta to build next-generation devices. So it’s not hard to believe that Microsoft would jump onboard.

The Rumors Add Up

It’s important to understand that Microsoft has not substantiated the news about the next HoloLens device, so you should take these reports with a grain of salt. However, the release timing and the hardware choice both make a lot of sense.

We’ve known for a while now that Microsoft is working on a new HoloLens headset. In July 2017, the company revealed that the next HoloLens headset would feature a deep learning accelerator. And just last month, the company discussed a new Kinect sensor, which it said would be present in the next HoloLens headset.

Also, the talk about a Qualcomm SoC fits perfectly with the trends in the industry. Qualcomm is dominating the mobile XR space, with SoCs that power VR-ready smartphones, standalone VR headsets, and augmented reality glasses. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense for Microsoft to develop custom silicon when Qualcomm offers robust XR-dedicated hardware already.

Moving to an ARM-based processor platform from Qualcomm would help Microsoft shrink the form factor of the HoloLens, which is undoubtedly a key design challenge for the next-generation device. The Qualcomm platform should also help keep the price of the device in a more palatable range. The current HoloLens sells for over $3000, which is out of reach for most people--and plenty of companies. We would guess that Microsoft wants to bring the price down to a more reasonable level. Perhaps even under $1000.

A Q1 2019 launch timeframe is also within reason. Microsoft launched the first HoloLens headset three years ago. Two years ago, it revealed the Windows Mixed Reality platform, designed to support VR and AR devices alike. Last year, Microsoft's VR devices started to hit the market, but aside from the dated HoloLens, the company doesn't yet offer anything to fulfill the AR half of the Windows MR promise. Now is the time for Microsoft to start making that move.

DreamWorld revealed an affordable augmented reality (AR) headset that it thinks will help spur developers to embrace this emerging technology. The company believes that developers need an affordable platform to help them get into AR software development for more than just smartphones.

Today, we have access to AR software through our smartphones, but handheld AR experiences have limited appeal and capability. ARKit and ARCore go a long way to inspire developers to jump into AR development because it ensures that people will be able to use their apps if they desire. However, to realize the true potential of AR technology, you need a headset that you can wear over your eyes that lets you see digital content mixed with the real world. AR headsets exist today, but they are generally unattainable for most people due to their exorbitant price tags.

Many companies make AR smartglasses, such as Vuzix, ODG, and Kopin, but those are generally meant for the enterprise market and have multi-thousand-dollar price tags to match. Microsoft’s HoloLens is also mostly suited for business use, and its $3,500 price reinforces its enterprise focus. Even the Meta 2 AR headset, which is a tethered device that doesn’t include computing hardware, sells for $1,500.

The DreamWorld DreamGlass is an affordable, lightweight, tethered AR headset, which offers a wide (for an AR device) 90-degree field of view and a medium-resolution (1280x800 per eye) display. The displays in the DreamGlass headset operate at 60Hz, which may seem low if you’re familiar with the needs of VR headsets, but AR doesn’t close you off from the real world, so the refresh rate isn’t as important in AR as it is with VR devices.

“There is so much potential in Augmented Reality, but the hardware limitations and steep price points of headsets available today have not made it easy for developers to fully contribute to the ecosystem. Through the DreamGlass, we hope to be the guiding light for all developers- providing them with an accessible top-quality platform to create top quality content. Only then, will they be empowered to bring a more genuine realism to augmented reality. We want to close the gap between reality and the augmented digital world,” DreamWorld founder and CEO Kevin Zhon said in a press release.

The DreamGlass headset features inside-out tracking via an infrared camera and a 1080p RGB camera. Out of the box, the headset offers 3-degrees of freedom (3-DoF) tracking, but it will also support 6-DoF marker-based tracking for more advanced experiences. The DreamGlass headset also offers IR-based gesture tracking technology, which the company developed in-house.

DreamWorld is targeting developers with the initial release of the DreamGlass headset, but the company set the price of the device low enough to entice consumers as well. DreamWorld is releasing a developer kit first, but it also plans to release a consumer version in the future along with a software distribution network to give developers a platform to sell their wares.

"Gen 1 is a Developer Kit, mainly for developers. We made a huge effort to make the DK affordable so the developers will have the resources and motivations to build for it because they know their end customers can afford to buy it too. Only in this way, can we get the ball rolling for the whole AR industry. After some solid content is generated by the developers, DreamWorld will release consumer versions to hit the mass market, and also develop our software distribution network (similar to the path Oculus has taken)," Zhong told Tom’s Hardware.

The DreamGlass headset should also have mass appeal, not just because of the price, but because of its compatibility. Most of the time, when you pick a device like a VR or AR headset, the device that you choose is married to a specific platform. If you buy a Meta 2, you need a PC. If you purchase a HoloLens, you have to work within the limits of the onboard computing power. The DreamGlass headset isn’t locked down to a specific platform; it supports PCs and mobile devices.

The DreamGlass headset includes a USB/HDMI tether cable like the ones that come with most VR headsets but is also offers an optional USB Type-C connection, which is compatible with Android devices. The kit doesn’t include the USB Type-C cable, but the company offers the cable, which includes an in-line battery pack to power the headset, as an accessory.

The DreamWorld DreamGlass headset is available for $399. The company said that it already has inventory of the devices and it expects to deliver the first batch of orders near the end of the month. For more information, see DreamWorld's website.

AntVR today launched a Kickstarter campaign for its MIX AR developer kit. The new device offers a 96-degree field of view, which is the widest FoV AR device in the consumer market, and it’s available with hand tracking, eye tracking, and 6-degrees of freedom motion controller upgrade modules. AntVR MIX also boasts SteamVR compatibility, which means there’s already plenty of compatible content.

The AntVR MIX is a tethered AR headset. Unlike Microsoft’s HoloLens, which features the computing power built into the device, the AntVR MIX relies on a host PC to render the virtual objects in the environment. The MIX headset doesn’t offer full freedom of movement because of the tether, but the MIX headset is much more affordable than the HoloLens, and it offers a much wider field of view (FoV) than its competitors.

Custom Optics

AntVR created a custom lens system for the MIX headset called Dual Channel Mixed Optics, which features layers with different polarizations within the lenses. The company tuned the lenses to allow environmental light to pass through at any focal length. Light from the internal displays comes through at a focal distance of 3m, which allows virtual content to blend with the real world. The displays are somewhat dim and not fully transparent. AntVR said the brightness is comparable to regular sunglasses.

AntVR’s new optics technology enabled the company to offer a more immersive AR experience than the competition. A typical AR device, such as Meta’s Meta 2 headset or Microsoft’s HoloLens, provides small windows to the augmented world. The MIX headset features a 96-degree FOV, which is the widest FoV in any AR device that we know of, and it’s comparable to most VR headsets. AntVR also said that the Dual Channel Mixed Optics enabled it to keep size and weight to a minimum. The MIX headset is smaller than most AR devices, and it weighs a paltry 130g, so it should be comfortable to wear for extended periods.

Modular Hardware Gives You Options

AntVR’s basic MIX package includes the MIX AR glasses and a controller, both of which offer 3-DoF tracking. AntVR also offers a range of accessories for the MIX headset that enhance the device’s capabilities. The company offers an inside-out tracking module, which features stereo monochrome cameras and a built-in IMU to enable Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) spatial tracking.

AntVR also partnered with a handful of third-party companies to expand the MIX headset’s capabilities. The company worked with uSens Inc. to offer a Fingo hand tracking module, partnered with 7invensun to offer an eye tracking solution, and cut a deal with Nolo VR to provide a 6-DoF outside-in tracking option with motion controllers. The AntVR MIX headset is also compatible with a handful of non-partnered third-party accessories, such as the OptiTrack commercial tracking solution or HTC Vive Tracker for SteamVR tracking. The MIX headset is also compatible with the Leap Motion dev kit. To top everything off, AntVR is shopping around for a partner that can provide a wireless solution.

SteamVR Compatibility

The MIX headset AntVR is offering on Kickstarter is a developer kit, but there’s already a wide range of content for the device, because AntVR made the MIX headset compatible with SteamVR games. The company said that you could play any game that features a black skybox backdrop. Currently, MIX works with more than 130 SteamVR titles.

AntVR is also offering the MIX headset at an aggressive price compared to its competition. A HoloLens will set you back a few thousand dollars, and Meta sells the Meta 2 dev kits for $1,495. AntVR said the MIX would retail for $649 when it hits the consumer market, but the company is offering deep discounts for Kickstarter backers. “Early Bird” and “Super Early Bird” backers will get the best prices, but all Kickstarter pledges save at least $150 off the retail price. The discounts get better when you add accessories to your purchase.

AntVR said it expects to ship the MIX DK packages in December 2018. The company is looking to raise $50,000 via its Kickstarter campaign, and at the time of publication, it had already raised more than $22,000 towards that goal.

The next Oculus headset could give you a whole lot more to look at. Today, at Facebook's F8 conference, Oculus Head of Project Management Maria Gernandez Guajardo unveiled "Half-Dome," a new prototype headset with a wider field of view and improved visibility for objects that are close to your face.  She also revealed that Oculus is developing advanced hand tracking capabilities so you can use your real fingers in the virtual world.

Ever try reading a notepad in VR? Current headsets have fixed focal distances, which works well for viewing things a few feet away from you, but not so great for objects that are right in front of your face. The company's new Varifocal technology moves the internal displays closer or further from the lenses based on the content.

Guarjardo’s team also managed to increase the field of view in the headset to 140-degrees, which is roughly a 40-degree improvement over the Rift headset. And Oculus’s engineers managed to squeeze these improvements into a headset that's the same form factor and weight as the Rift.

In addition to the increased field of view and adjustment focal distance, the new headset features motion-capture cameras on the front to track hand and finger movement. Guajardo said that Oculus is “investing in new AI technology” to help bring your hands into VR in a more convincing way.

Today, the Oculus Touch controllers allow hand interaction in VR, but Oculus wants to bring your real hands into VR. For several years, Leap Motion has been leading the charge in finger and hand tracking, but Oculus’s new solution could surpass the capability of Leap Motion’s current tech for complex VR interactions. Oculus developed a motion capture technique called Deep Marker Labeling, which uses machine learning to interpret hand gestures as tracking markers. 

Oculus also uses the front-mounted cameras for 3D capture of the environment around you. The headset pumps the camera data through computer vision algorithms, which it can use to recreate a 3D rendering of the real world around you with stunning accuracy. If Oculus’s demonstration is to be believed, the company’s room-scanning technology seems to be more advanced than you'll find on Microsoft’s HoloLens.

Oculus didn’t say when we would see a product with the advanced cameras and focal system. We hope to see these innovations in Oculus’s upcoming Santa Cruz standalone VR headset. However, if we had to bet, we’d say the 140-degree FOV would be reserved for the next desktop connected Oculus headset, whenever that may materialize.

Microsoft is a big believer in immersive technology, and the company is always working to improve the immersive computing experience. A team of Microsoft researchers recently revealed an interaction technique called MRTouch that would enable tactile touch for mixed reality content on the Hololens (as well as other devices, eventually).

In 2016, Microsoft released the HoloLens headset, which was our first introduction to the company’s mixed reality aspirations. The HoloLens headset features environment mapping and hand tracking technology, and it enables you to interact with 3D virtual objects with a real-world space. HoloLens supports gesture, gaze, and voice-based input, but those methods aren’t as intuitive as we would like. Gestures don’t offer a tactile response to user interaction, and although gaze and voice interactions can be helpful, they aren’t suitable as universal interaction methods.

Most people are accustomed to touch-based interaction from using smartphones, tablets, and to a lesser extent, touchscreen computer monitors. Microsoft’s experimental MRTouch software brings touch interaction into mixed reality environments by taking advantage of the HoloLens’s advanced environment mapping and hand tracking technology to pinpoint flat surfaces that you can use as a virtual input device.

The Microsoft HoloLens headset features two environment tracking modes. The long-throw tracking mode uses the on-board camera to map the space around you, including the walls of the room and the physical objects in that space. The headset also operates in short-throw mode, which is used for gesture tracking and features a maximum tracking distance of one meter. The MRTouch application uses the HoloLens’s short-throw tracking mode, because the long-throw tracking isn’t accurate enough for finger tracking.

Microsoft’s researchers combined the short-throw depth camera information with the infrared camera feed to provided accurate mapping of flat surfaces without relying on information from the long-throw depth camera. The researchers said this enables to MRTouch software to operate without a full 3D map of the environment around you.

With MRTouch, you can use any flat surface, such as a countertop, your desk, or the wall, as a tactile touch surface. To open an app with MRTouch, touch the surface you wish to work with and drag your finger down to the right, which will create a virtual window that you can open the application. The physical surface enables you to feel the virtual buttons when you press them, but it also enables more precise input. In-air gestures work for simple interactions, but it’s hard to work with a virtual menu when you can’t tell when you’ve pressed a button. Further, in-air interactions are limited to single input points, whereas MRTouch enables multi-touch interactions with up to all 10 of your digits.

The tracking pipeline for the MRTouch software operates at 25fps and features three components: the Image Streamer, Tracker Engine, and Client Library. The Image Streamer exports the data from the infrared and depth cameras and sends it via a TCP socket to the Tracker Engine. The MRTouch Tracker Engine receives that data from the Image Streamer and uses it to maintain a list of “known tracking surfaces” and their coordinates. Like any application in Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality platform, MRTouch windows remain anchored in their position while you move around the space. The third component of the MRTouch system is the Client Library, which opens a TCP connection to the Tracker Engine to receive the position data and touch information. The Client Library then translates that information into a format that the application can interpret.

The MRTouch software operates on Microsoft’s HoloLens Mixed Reality headset, but the team said that it created a custom API to build the software, which means it would be easy to port the app to other mixed reality devices.

However, MRTouch is currently unavailable. Microsoft didn’t say when, or if, MRTouch would be offered publicly. However, if you wish to learn more about the process, the team’s leader, Rober Xiao, published a research paper that details the methods used to make MRTouch work. We’re hopeful that this project will progress into marketable software, because tactile interaction in mixed reality is something we desperately want to see available.

Introduction

The Lenovo Explorer Windows Mixed Reality headset is a portable VR headset that's affordable and lightweight, and will fit on a small head. If you're looking for a headset to share with your kids, this is among your best bets right now.

Microsoft launched the Windows Mixed Reality platform in October, which added virtual reality and augmented reality to the Windows 10 operating system. Rather than build its own hardware, Microsoft focused on the software side of the platform and turned to a handful of hardware partners to take care of the headset manufacturing. The company partnered with well-established PC hardware designers such as Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung to bring a variety of Windows Mixed Reality headsets to the market. Microsoft set the minimum specifications for the headsets, and it developed a reference controller design for the motion controllers, and it gave the headset partners the freedom to customize and improve the designs as they saw fit.

We recently took a good hard look at the Acer Windows Mixed Reality Headset, and it left us with mixed impressions. The Acer headset features a crisp display, is lightweight, and is easy to set up. However, the build quality feels somewhat cheap, and we weren’t impressed with the reference-design controllers that Acer includes with the headset.

Lenovo’s Explorer Windows Mixed Reality Headset is in the same price range as the Acer headset, and it offers comparable features. And it happens to be the second Windows MR headset that we received for evaluation. Hopefully, Lenovo’s headset doesn’t fall short in the same ways that the Acer headset did. Let's see.

The Windows Mixed Reality Platform

Windows Mixed Reality is Microsoft’s immersive technology platform. It piggybacks on the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and supports augmented-reality devices such as the HoloLens headset. But Microsoft’s partners are betting that most people will access Windows MR with one of the Windows MR VR HMDs.

The Windows MR platform provides a virtual environment from which to access your digital content in 3D. When you put the headset on, you’ll find yourself in virtual space that you can customize for your preferences. The default environment is called the Beach House, and it offers several rooms and workspaces. (For an in-depth look at the Windows MR platform and its Beach House environment, see our Acer Windows Mixed Reality Headset review.)

The Windows Mixed Reality platform is still in its infancy, and as such, there isn’t much to do with it yet. Microsoft boasts that more than 20,000 applications support Windows MR, but we’d argue that you won’t find much to do that’s practical in VR. Sure, you can open almost any UWP app in Windows MR, but most apps weren’t created with a 3D environment in mind, and they don’t offer much that you can’t do with a standard PC display.

When we received our Acer headset, we attempted to use it for productivity, but that was easier said than done. Ideally, we would have used Microsoft’s Office suite to write the review while wearing the headset. Unfortunately, there was a bug in Microsoft’s UWP Office applications that prevented us from opening them in the VR environment. Fortunately, by the time we started to evaluate the Lenovo headset, Microsoft had corrected the problem. Much of the review you’re reading right now was written in Word Mobile while wearing the Lenovo Explorer headset.

Working in Windows Mixed Reality has gotten better since we first looked at the platform, but it’s still not up to par with a traditional computing environment. We’re now able to work with Word Mobile and other Office apps, which is a great improvement from the initial launch. However, we’re still not convinced that Microsoft’s approach to productivity in VR works—especially now that Oculus’ Core 2.0 software supports virtual workspaces, too. It’s nice to see Microsoft’s native applications working in Windows Mixed Reality, but we don’t expect to spend much time working with our headset on. In fact, we couldn’t even compel ourselves to write this entire article in VR. We could see using Word Mobile in Windows MR to write short documents, or for quick edits. However, Windows MR doesn’t improve our productivity. If anything, it hinders our ability to work efficiently, and therefore we don’t see ourselves giving up traditional displays just yet.

We found that we had to lift the visor regularly to see the real world. Be it reaching for our mouse or searching for the right key on the keyboard—we found it more challenging than you might expect to reach for peripherals blindly. You may not think that visual cues play a big role in reaching for your mouse. We learned the hard way just how much our peripheral vision plays a role in our day-to-day computer use.

When we tested the Acer Windows Mixed Reality headset, we found that using the motion controllers to navigate applications was cumbersome. We attempted to use the mouse in VR, but that didn’t appear to work in our early tests. We’re not sure if Microsoft changed something, or if we somehow missed this feature, but we’ve since discovered that you could use your traditional mouse in Microsoft’s Mixed Reality environment. The mouse isn’t the ideal peripheral for 3D navigation, but it is still superior for 2D navigation. We much prefer using the mouse to access the menus in Word Mobile and other 2D applications.

When you use the mouse in VR, you can move it from window to window through 3D space. The mouse cursor remains at a static distance when hovering over an application. When you move beyond the app window’s barriers, the cursor jumps to the nearest flat plane—be that another window, a wall, the background in the distance, or even the floor. You wouldn’t think that moving a mouse in a 3D space would work, but Microsoft’s implementation works well.

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The Lenovo Explorer Windows Mixed Reality Headset

The Lenovo Windows Mixed Reality Headset comes in a nice, secure package. The box opens from the top to reveal the headset and a box with the manual and cleaning cloth. Both motion controllers can be found held securely in form-fitting foam under the documentation. The package also includes four AA batteries for the controllers.

The Lenovo Explorer headset shares a lot in common with Acer’s HMD. Both companies stuck closely to Microsoft’s basic reference specifications with little deviation. The two headsets are so similar that we would be shocked if they aren’t assembled in the same factory.

Like all Windows MR headsets, the front of Lenovo’s Explorer headset features the tracking system from Microsoft’s HoloLens headset, which includes two infrared cameras and an infrared projector that beams IR light into the room for the cameras to detect. Both cameras face forward with a slight offset facing outward in opposing directions to provide ample tracking coverage in front and beside you. The cameras also tilt slightly downward to keep track of the floor for height calibration. The two cameras, combined with internal gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer sensors, provide room-scale 6 degrees of freedom tracking in as large as an 11.5ft x 11.5ft (3.5m x 3.5m) space.

Like Acer’s headset, the Lenovo Explorer features dual 2” x 2.89” 1440 x 1440 LCDs, which can operate at 60Hz and 90Hz depending on the GPU powering the device. The Lenovo Explorer headset also shares the same 50mm round Fresnel lenses as Acer’s Windows MR HMD. And like Acer’s HMD, Lenovo’s headset features a fixed IPD of 63mm.

The high-resolution displays provide a clear, but not perfect, image. If you look closely, you can see faint outlines of the subpixels (the dreaded "screen-door" effect), but most people probably won’t notice. When your eyes line up with the sweet spot, the images are crisp and clear. However, the round Fresnel lenses distort the edges. When you glance your eyes to the border, you’ll see a warped, blurry image. The round lenses also appear to restrict the field of view more so than the custom lenses in the Rift and the Vive. The Lenovo headset makes you feel like you’re looking through a round porthole, which is exacerbated by the blurry extremities.

The Lenovo Explorer also features a halo-style head band like the Acer headset, which is to say it doesn’t include an overhead strap for added balance. Lenovo designed the headset to balance most of the weight on your forehead. The rear of the head strap sits low on our skull to help shift some of the weight to the back of your head. That is where you’ll find the tension-adjustment dial that enables you to tighten and loosen the strap. Like the Acer headset, Lenovo’s design doesn’t include a button to release the tension--you must turn the dial to loosen the strap. Lenovo’s tension mechanism feels marginally stronger and more resilient to wear and tear than Acer’s tension dial. However, when you loosen the dial, it makes a loud grinding noise that doesn’t instill confidence in long-term resilience.

The Lenovo Explorer headset also employs a hinge that enables you to tilt the headset up so you can see your surroundings. This feature is helpful when you need to reach for your mouse or keyboard, but like the head-strap tension dial, we worry about the longevity of the hinge system. When you tilt the headset upward, it locks into place, but we’re worried that the lock will wear down sooner than it should. Our evaluation unit is already showing signs of the visor sagging after a few dozen uses.

The two headsets are a lot alike, but of course, they’re also quite different.

Acer chose a bright blue plastic for the outer shell of its headset. Lenovo’s Windows MR headset features a much more subdued color scheme. The bulk of the headset is made of black plastic, with dark-grey contrasting highlights to give it some character.

Like Acer’s headset, the Lenovo Windows MR headset is made of lightweight materials. Subjectively, the two devices feel nearly identical in weight. Objectively, the Lenovo headset is the lightest HMD that we’ve tested thus far. It weighs just 380 grams, which is 62 grams lighter than the Acer.

The size of the Lenovo headset likely plays a big role in its reduced weight. When we received the Acer headset, we were surprised by its tiny frame, and Lenovo’s headset is even smaller than Acer’s device. The visor of the Lenovo Explorer is 185.1 mm across, 94.8 mm tall, and 102.1 mm deep.

Because of its small size, Lenovo’s headset would fit people with smaller heads than the Acer headset. Not only is the visor more compact, but the headband of the Explorer headset is also the smallest that we’ve seen on a VR headset. Children shouldn’t spend extended periods of time in VR because it can have negative effects on eye development, but if you’re going to share VR with your kids, Lenovo’s headset is the one most likely to fit a child’s head. Conversely, the Lenovo Explorer may be too small for you if you have a larger-than-average noggin.

The Lenovo Explorer headset includes soft cushions on the forehead rest and the back of the head strap. The cushions feature a mesh texture, which is not resistant to moisture, and the face cushion is a softer material that wicks up moisture. Fortunately, these cushions are removable and washable, so you can clean them or replace them if necessary. All three cushions fasten to the headset with Velcro.

The Lenovo Explorer headset doesn’t include built-in headphones. Instead, it includes an audio lead that allows you to plug in a stereo headset with a microphone. The headset doesn’t include separate leads for the headphones and microphone. You must use a headset that includes a single triple-channel cable. You can also use wireless headphones. However, if you want to use the motion controllers with the HMD, you can’t use Bluetooth headphones. (The Windows MR platform doesn’t allow for it.)

The lead for the audio jack sticks out of the right side of the headset alongside the data cable for the device. The 4m-long data cable features a Y-split that includes USB 3.0 and HDMI connectors. The other end is hardwired into the headset, which means it would be difficult to replace it if you ever damage the cable.

The right side of the head strap features a clip that directs that data and audio cable to the rear of the headset. Unfortunately, Lenovo’s engineers didn’t think through the placement of this clip and the exit point of the cables very well. When we lifted the headset’s visor, the cable didn’t have enough slack, and the clip that guides the cable popped off the head strap and flew across the room. We were able to retrieve the clip and attach it to the headset, but it came off again the next time we flipped the visor. The data and audio cables should exit the visor closer to the hinge to reduce the amount of slack required to flip the headset.

The Controllers

We were disappointed to learn that, like the Acer headset, Lenovo’s Windows Mixed Reality Headset includes a pair of Microsoft’s reference motion controllers. There isn’t much else that we can say about the controllers that we haven’t covered in the Acer review. Lenovo’s wands are identical to Acer’s, right down to the plastic used to make them. The only discernable difference between them is the Lenovo logo on the handle of each controller in place of the Acer logo.

When we evaluated Acer’s controllers, we noted that the build quality left much to be desired, and our time with Lenovo’s controllers confirmed our fears. The thumbstick on the right controller started to show wear after just a few hours of use. It now clicks when we rotate it near the top of the ball, and there is resistance when we press the stick forward, as if the mechanism inside is now damaged. We suspected that these controllers would wear prematurely, but less than a week of use is worse than we feared. We hope our experience is an exception to the rule, but this is the second set of these controllers that let us down, which doesn’t bode well for Microsoft’s reference-controller design.

Microsoft’s reference-controller design gets the job done, but we wish Lenovo had taken the time to tweak the mold to make the controllers more ergonomic. We would have appreciated seeing an improvement in the plastic used for the mold to increase the controller’s rigidity, too.

Evaluating Lenovo's HMD

We would love nothing more than to provide objective test results of the Lenovo Explorer Windows MR headset (and every other VR HMD, for that matter). However, analyzing the performance of VR headsets is easier said than done.

In the past, we experimented with 3DMark’s VRMark tool to test motion-to-photon latency, but 3DMark discontinued that project before retail VR headsets hit the market. Basemark also created a tool called VRScore that analyzes motion-to-photon latency, and we would be happy to use it for our tests. However, VRScore doesn’t support Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality platform, and it’s possible that it never will. We reached out to Basemark when we received our first Windows MR headset, and Arto Ruotsalainen, Basemark's co-founder and CEO, told us that the company cancelled Windows MR support.

“Regarding Microsoft VR headsets, we had to, unfortunately, cancel the support as neither we, nor our current partners, were able to get enough interest from Microsoft to help us out with the integration,” said Ruotsalainen. “VRScore PC 1.1 will have updated Oculus, HTC Vive, and OSVR SDKs.”

Nvidia also makes a performance evaluation tool. Nvidia’s FCAT VR pulls performance metrics directly from the rendering pipeline, and it supports Steam VR and the Oculus runtime. We evaluated this headset before FCAT was available, but didn't publish our review immediately because of the arrival of the HTC Vive Pro and Samsung Odyssey. For a better sense of how a WMR headset performs in terms of FCAT data, see our review of the Samsung HMD, which does contain some. Note, though, that the Samsung headset has slightly higher-resolution displays. So the Lenovo headset should be less demanding on your graphics card.

One of the biggest advantages of the Windows MR platform compared to Steam VR and Oculus Rift is its low system requirement threshold. Where the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive require a GTX 960 or better to operate, Microsoft’s platform supports Intel’s integrated HD Graphics. When we tested Acer’s Windows Mixed Reality Headset, we used three different PCs to evaluate multiple performance tiers. We used an Intel Core i7-5930K with a GTX 980 Ti to represent our high-end build. Our mid-tier system was an older Intel Core i3-4330 with a GTX 950. And we used an Intel Core i5-6400 with integrated HD Graphics 530 to verify that you can, in fact, skip the discrete GPU and operate a Windows MR headset.

The specifications of the Lenovo Explorer closely match those of the Acer Windows Mixed Reality HMD, so we didn’t see the value in describing the experience of using the Lenovo Explorer with the same machines again. We completed our Acer headset evaluation using desktop computers, which aren’t easy to pick up and haul around. This time, we added a laptop to the mix to evaluate the portability of the Windows MR platform and the Lenovo Explorer headset. Lenovo graciously provided us with a Legion Y720 gaming laptop along with the headset for our evaluation. The Y720 is a full-fat gaming laptop featuring an Intel Core i7-7700HQ with a Nvidia GTX 1060 discrete GPU.

Microsoft’s mixed reality platform is the only VR platform that doesn’t require a discrete GPU. The company worked with Intel to ensure that basic Windows MR functions would work with Intel HD Graphics. We weren’t impressed with the low refresh rate of the headset when an integrated GPU is powering it. The feature works, and if you needed to use it occasionally, it would be fine. However, we wouldn’t recommend using an iGPU for long-term VR use.

That said, AMD recently released its Ryzen- and Vega-powered APUs, and we are highly curious to see if a Ryzen 2400G can deliver a better experience than our Core i5-6400 system. Unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out for the Lenovo Explorer, as we had to return our review sample before we could get a Ryzen APU to the VR lab. We have more Windows MR headsets to evaluate, so we’ll explore that idea in a future story.

The Lenovo Explorer headset offers effectively the same experience as the Acer Windows MR headset. As such, we spent most of our time with the Lenovo headset with it connected to the Y720 laptop. We were pleasantly surprised to see how well the two devices complemented each other. A Lenovo Explorer headset and a gaming laptop make a fantastic portable VR solution.

Headset Setup & Calibration

The Lenovo Explorer headset is a breeze to set up and configure. Simplicity was one of Microsoft’s primary goals for the Windows Mixed Reality platform, and in that regard, the company certainly succeeded. Windows MR headsets don’t require external sensors or base stations like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. As such, you need only plug in a single HDMI and a single USB cable, and you don’t have to worry about running wires around your room. The single USB and HDMI connections also make these headsets practical to set up anywhere.

Windows 10 should automatically detect that a Windows MR device is present and proceed to install the necessary drivers and the Mixed Reality Portal. Your computer must have the Windows 10 Fall Creators' Update installed before it will detect the headset. However, unless you’ve forcibly prevented updates, your PC should already have it. When the driver installation is done, the Mixed Reality Portal should launch automatically.

Next, you should see a prompt to pair your controllers. Follow the onscreen instructions to connect the right and left controllers. You’ll find the pairing button under the battery cover for each wand. When prompted, press and hold the pairing button until the controller vibrates.

Once you’ve paired the controllers, you must set the borders of your play space. Like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift setup, Microsoft’s Windows MR platform supports room-scale and standing configurations. If you choose standing-scale VR, you don’t have to dictate your safe play area, but you do have to define the parameters for the room-scale configuration.

When you set up the play space for an Oculus Rift or an HTC Vive, you must trace your play area with one of the controllers while the external tracking system keeps track of its position in the room. Because the Windows MR headsets don’t have external cameras, tracing your space with a controller wouldn’t work. As such, you must carry your HMD around the room to let its cameras trace the room. You must take care always to keep the headset facing your host computer while you trace the room.

The first time you run the setup procedure, the Mixed Reality Portal will run you through an orientation process, which teaches you the basics of using the controller, interacting with Cortana, and navigating the menus and environment.

The Windows MR platform can store multiple room profiles. If you take the system to another room, or a friend’s place, you won’t need to recalibrate your room boundaries when you return to the previous location.

Health, Safety, Maintenance & Setup

It’s always a good idea to read the manual when you purchase a new piece of computer equipment, and that advice should be taken even more seriously when you’re dealing with a device that you put on your head and over your eyes. VR headset designers typically take safety seriously—perhaps to a fault—and Lenovo is no different. The product manual is full of health and safety warnings.

The manual that comes with the Lenovo Explorer headset warns that you should refrain from using the device if you suffer “head, respiratory, back, joint, orthopedic, or other serious medical conditions.” The company also advises against using the headset if you have “high blood pressure, tendinitis, or carpal tunnel.” And the Lenovo Explorer isn’t suitable for pregnant women, or people that have difficulty with physical activity. These guidelines are typical of HMD instructions, but Lenovo strayed away from the industry with the age restrictions.

Lenovo, like all other headset makers, suggests that seniors should consult a doctor before using the Explorer headset. Curiously, Lenovo’s guidebook doesn’t say anything about limiting access to younger children. The Lenovo Explorer headset features a small headband that should make it easy to fit the device on a child’s head, but it doesn’t support adjustable lens spacing, which means the interpupillary distance (IPD) would be too wide for small heads. Most HMD makers warn that kids younger than 13 shouldn’t use VR headsets, because it could affect the development of their eyes.

Lenovo isn’t concerned about young kids using the Explorer headset, but it does warn that using the device could be hazardous to your health if your life relies on an implanted medical device such as a pacemaker. Lenovo notes that the electromagnetic signals from the headset could interfere with such devices. You should also avoid VR if you have photosensitive epilepsy, because the images can trigger seizures and other symptoms.

Maintaining the Device

The maintenance section of the Lenovo Explorer user guide suggests that “with appropriate care and maintenance, the Lenovo Explorer headset will serve you reliably.” That may be true, but Lenovo could have done a better job making it easy for you to keep the headset clean.

The Lenovo Explorer is sealed well on the outside, but there’s a gap next to the lenses that could allow dust to accumulate inside. We suppose you could clean it out with compressed air, but without vents to let the dust out, it could end up getting blown deeper inside the device. We would have liked to see a better seal around the lenses. However, with proper care in storing the device, you could avoid the accumulation of dust inside the HMD.

The Lenovo Explorer headset comes with a soft cloth that you can use to clean dust and smudges from the lenses and sensors. The user guide indicates that you can use water or eyeglass cleaner to dampen the cloth to remove dirt that can’t be wiped away dry.

Somewhat ironically, the hardest piece of the headset to clean is, without a doubt, the part that you would most frequently need to clean. The face cushion that Lenovo includes with the Explorer headset is a basic foam gasket. It offers reasonable comfort, but it wicks up moisture like a sponge. And Lenovo suggests cleaning it with a dry eyeglass cloth.

The cloth may work on the forehead and rear cushions, as they are somewhat moisture-resistant and won’t soak up your sweat as easily. The face cushion, though, is far more sponge than anything.

We didn’t spend enough time with the headset to break a sweat but shudder to think of the cushion’s condition after an hour of a game like Sprint Vector. And the thought of sharing the headset with friends and family after it has been sopping up sweat? Yuck. 

It’s a real shame that HMD designers continue to overlook the fact that people sweat. We don’t understand how moisture-proof, hypo-allergenic face cushions aren’t the standard in the VR industry yet.

Conclusion: An Excellent Laptop Companion

When we evaluated Acer’s headset, we didn’t realize the implications of using a laptop to power a Windows MR device. The HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift are both compatible with gaming laptops, so we took it for granted that the Windows MR experience would be comparable to the competition. We didn’t consider the simplicity of Microsoft’s platform in this context. After spending time with the Lenovo Explorer tethered to the Lenovo Y720 laptop, we realized that these devices make perfect companions.

If your gaming system is a mobile computer, you probably wouldn’t want to lug around a cumbersome VR system unless you had to. We’ve seen dozens of trade-show setups with Vives and Rifts, and they work well enough, but the setup can be ponderous, to the point that hauling a full desktop PC doesn’t amount to much extra effort, and it could produce better results.

With a Windows MR headset, hauling a full desktop around becomes a silly exercise. You may achieve somewhat better performance from a top-tier desktop, but you really can’t beat the simplicity of putting your laptop on the table, plugging in the headset, and being ready to go. Not only will this sort of setup be easier for trade-show environs, but we believe it would give people an incentive to bring it with them when they travel. And we can see the appeal of working in the Windows MR environment while on a business trip, where we might not have access to multiple desktop displays.

Final Thoughts

Lenovo’s Explorer Windows Mixed Reality Headset would make a good VR HMD for a first-time buyer. It has a lot going for it, such as the crisp display, its lightweight materials, and its compact size. And, of course, the ease of setup is an attractive feature. However, Acer’s device also enjoys most of those merits.

The build quality of Lenovo’s headset exceeds that of Acer’s device--marginally. We noticed a creaking sound when handling the Explorer, though it doesn’t feel like a toy in the way that Acer’s Windows MR headset does. The hinge system is also marginally better, though we still worry about it long-term.

We also worry about the wireless controllers that come with the Lenovo Explorer. We couldn’t understand how these controllers passed Microsoft’s standards and how Acer didn’t think it should improve the design. We’re doubly confused as to why Lenovo would make the same mistake. The wands feel cheap, and we experienced a minor failure in our short time with the controller. With controllers like this, Sixense might actually find a market for its STEM system, if it ever manages to release its long-awaited magnetic motion-controller platform.

Bottom Line

Despite the headset’s shortcomings, we still think the Lenovo Explorer is worth looking at. Lenovo’s MSRP is $449, which (to our eyes) is too much when compared to the Rift with Touch controller at $399. But you can often find the Window MR headsets for much cheaper than the suggested price. A $100 discount, not unheard of for Windows MR headsets, would put this headset in a much more competitive position. If you don't have the money to shell out for a higher-end headset, Lenovo's Explorer would be a good introduction to the world of PC-connected VR.

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Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality Platform

Microsoft jumped into virtual reality last October with the formal launch of its Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, which includes the Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) platform. Although Microsoft took its time getting there, the company does see VR as a serious computing revolution, not just an enthusiast fad.

More than 18 months after Oculus and HTC began shipping Rift and Vive headsets (early 2016), Microsoft is playing fast follower and focusing on making easier, more user-friendly solutions. For example, the company invested in creating a reliable inside-out tracking system to eliminate the need for external cameras and reduce setup complexity. Microsoft also wanted its immersive computing platform to support a wide variety of applications and use cases. Today, the Windows Mixed Reality platform supports both augmented reality and virtual reality devices.

Of course, Microsoft had its first kick at the can in 2016 with the HoloLens development kit, an augmented reality device featuring inside-out tracking. The HoloLens is too expensive for regular consumer use, but it's worth noting that the system does support Windows Mixed Reality and UWP apps. Moreover, Microsoft was able to re-purpose the HoloLens tracking technology for its more affordable VR headsets.

Rather than designing a proprietary headset for the Windows Mixed Reality platform, Microsoft partnered with a half-dozen familiar hardware companies to create compatible devices, including Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, and HP. Most of the Windows Mixed Reality headsets were announced the same day as Microsoft's Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, but Acer was the first WMR partner to provide a headset for testing, so that's where we'll start our comparison of how WMR stacks up against the established Rift and Vive.

Beach House

Microsoft calls its sole Windows Mixed Reality environment the Beach House. Eventually, you'll be able to change the default environment, but this is it for now. As with the SteamVR and Oculus Home environments, Beach House is the primary hub from which you can launch apps and games.

Inside the Beach House, you’ll find a handful of rooms that are configurable for different use cases. You start outside on what can be described as the patio. On the ground in front of you, there's a bag with the Windows logo on it. When you select the bag, windows open with quick links that take you to the apps, games, and free content available for Windows Mixed Reality.

On the right-hand side, you’ll find a giant window to access the Microsoft Holograms app, which hosts items for customizing and decorating your virtual space. Some of the Holograms are static objects, such as pictures for the wall and plants for a window sill. Other Holograms are animated, and you can place the holograms anywhere in your Beach House, resized to taste.

Navigation & Locomotion

You move around in the Beach House by teleporting. This involves pressing the thumbstick forward to activate the teleport reticle and using your motion controller to place the reticle on your landing spot. Simply let go of the thumbstick to teleport. You can also change orientation as you teleport by pointing the thumbstick in the direction you'd like to face when you land.

Microsoft’s locomotion mechanics draw from Cloudhead Games’ Blink system. But unlike Blink, Microsoft’s teleport system doesn’t fade the screen as you move. Instead, the field of view shrinks in to help reduce the potential for motion sickness.

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The Acer Windows Mixed Reality Headset

Acer's WMR Headset and its controllers come packed in a pair of blue boxes. The headset is wrapped in plastic, and then stuffed between foam padding on either side to keep it snug during shipping. You also receive an owner's guide and a voucher for a free copy of GhostBusters VR.

The headset sticks out from most consumer electronic devices because of its vibrant blue color, which seemed odd at first, but grew on us over time.

Specifications

Up front, you'll find two black-and-white cameras, along with an infrared sensor, both derived from the Microsoft HoloLens headset. The cameras enable inside-out spatial tracking, while the infrared sensor tracks the wand controllers. Those tracking cameras do not facilitate pass-through vision (a live video feed, basically), meaning you can’t use the headset for AR experiences.

Acer's design employs a mechanical head strap system like the one found on Sony’s PlayStation VR. This strap has a moisture-proof padded section for your forehead, and another one for the back of your head. On the strap's back side, you’ll find a blue dial that lets you adjust for different head sizes.

Unlike the PlayStation VR, Acer’s head strap mechanism doesn’t include a release button. We consider this to be a serious oversight. The dial locks in place with a click when you tighten it, and if you turn it too far, force is the only way to unlock the mechanism. We predict this will be a premature wear point that could cause problems down the road.

Fortunately, you don’t need to remove the headset as often as you would with a Rift or Vive. Those devices prevent you from interacting with the real world altogether. But with Acer's WMR HMD, you simply flip the visor up.

Though the flip-up visor is a nice feature, it does introduce some fresh concerns. For instance, because of the hinge system, Acer’s headset doesn’t put any pressure on your cheeks. That sounds like a good thing. But it could also allow light in if you have slim facial features. The hinge is also a potential failure point. So far, ours is holding up well enough. However, the hinge's actuation feels cheap, like something you'd find on a child's toy. We worry it might eventually fail to hold the headset upright.

At least Acer’s headset is a featherweight. HTC’s Vive weighs 563 grams with the standard head strap, and a staggering 812 grams with the Deluxe Audio Strap installed. The Rift is somewhat lighter at 470 grams (with its cable detached). And Acer’s headset is lighter still at 446 grams. The Windows Mixed Reality Headset's cable doesn't disconnect, as it does from the Rift and Vive, so our comparison may not be exact. Still, we're confident that Acer’s headset weighs less than a Rift.

The WMR Headset is also surprisingly compact. Its body measures just 195.8mm wide and 73.9mm tall, whereas Oculus' Rift, which was once the benchmark for compactness, is 171mm wide (216mm with headphones) and 88mm tall. Acer's headset is about as deep as Oculus' Rift, though: it measures 109mm, compared to the Rift’s 102mm depth.

Inside, Acer’s team installs two 2.89” x 2” 1440x1440 LCD panels. Similar to Sony's PSVR, the displays can operate at 60 or 90 Hz to accommodate lower-performance hardware. The headset also includes a proximity sensor that activates the displays when it detects your head.

There are two 50mm round Fresnel lenses in the headset, and they're mounted at a fixed 63mm interpupillary distance. Unlike the Rift and Vive, Acer’s WMR Headset doesn’t offer a mechanical IPD adjustment. Acer instead relies on software-based IPD calibration, allowing an 8mm adjustment range.

When the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive came out, screen door effect was a major concern. Acer’s headset offers a higher resolution than either competing HMD. This helps reduce SDE, but doesn't eliminate it. If you look closely enough, you will see gaps between the sub-pixels.

Subjectively, Acer’s headset provides superior image clarity compared to the Rift and Vive. However, its screens still aren't crisp enough to make small text legible.

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The Acer Mixed Reality Motion Controllers

Acer's controllers ship in a box that doesn't include any padding. Each Windows Mixed Reality wand fits on either side of the box, with a piece of cardboard separating them. Acer tucks AA batteries for each controller (two each) in the packaging, too.

The WMR controllers feature a thumbstick, a trackpad, a trigger button, a grip button, a menu button, and a Windows button on the handle for input. The backside of each handle opens to reveal a slot for the batteries. We noticed that this compartment includes eight pogo-pin contact points, suggesting that it may be possible to install rechargeable packs in the future. A Bluetooth Connect button is also located under the battery compartment cover.

At the top of each controller is a halo ring with 18 white LEDs, which provide reference points for the camera-based tracking system. The controllers include IMU and magnetic sensors as well. These serve as backup for Acer's primary system, keeping the controllers in line whenever they're outside the headset camera's visual range.

Uncomfortable Controller

Acer went with Microsoft’s reference controller design, which offers plenty of input buttons, but lacks ergonomic refinement. Manufacturing quality leaves much to be desired, too. We're left wondering how the controllers made it past the prototype stage in this from.

Microsoft is obviously no stranger to building input devices. It arguably makes the best gamepad money can buy in the Xbox One controller. In fact, we expected Microsoft to equip the WMR controllers with components from its Xbox One parts bin, or at least to leverage its experience in designing comfortable gamepads. This doesn’t seem to be the case.

Instead, we found the WMR controllers surprisingly uncomfortable to use for even moderate lengths of time. The handles are narrow and thin, mostly rectangular, and therefore a poor match for the shape of a hand. The handle's base pushed into our palms when we held on firmly, and our fingers cramped up even with a loose hold on the device. A little more girth in the handle, similar to HTC's controllers, would likely help.

We weren’t impressed with the placement of the buttons, thumbstick, and trackpad. We often had to adjust our grip to reach the various elements. The trigger's position would be fine, except that the controller has a bulge to make space for the trackpad, which affects how you place your finger on the trigger. The trigger has a nice springy feel, but the action is too short and it doesn’t have the smooth click feel you get from an Xbox One gamepad.

The grip button's placement is good. However, you might have a different experience if your fingers are particularly long. Depending on how we held the controller, we could either press the grip button with our fingertip or the middle of our finger. With longer fingers, you may not find a comfortable position at all.

The trackpad and thumbstick are too high on the handle for us to reach comfortably. If we placed our hands where we could reach both the trigger and grip buttons, we couldn’t reach the full trackpad with our thumb, and the thumbstick was just barely within reach. We were able to manipulate the thumbstick from our natural grip position, but couldn’t get our thumb fully over the stick. This removes precision control. The controller's thumbsticks are accurate and smooth, but they lack any form of texture to keep your fingertip planted.

To reach the thumbpad, we had to slide our hand up the handle so far that we could no longer reach the trigger button, forcing us to squeeze that button with the inside of our large knuckle. All factors considered, it becomes quite a nuisance to work with any application that requires trackpad and thumbpad input, such as the Windows Mixed Reality home environment.

We have no qualms with the menu button's placement, but we don't like where Microsoft put its Windows button, which is located exactly where our thumb naturally rests when we hold the controller most comfortably.

Warning: Fragile

The Vive wand and Oculus Touch controller can take a beating, which we know because we've inadvertently slammed them into walls, bookshelves, display cabinets, ceiling fans, and the floor. We’re not convinced that Acer's controllers will stand up to similar abuse, though. Our primary concern is the piece that holds the handle to the tracking halo.

The tracking halo is secured to the handle with a plastic bracket. This bracket is rigid, but the attachment inside the handle is flexible and seems weak. There's enough flex in the attachment that the handle wiggles whenever you place the controllers on a surface halo-side down. We don’t have much confidence that it would survive a good smack against a solid wall.

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System Requirements

When Oculus and Valve launched their VR platforms, both companies emphasized the need for a high-performance host machine to avoid motion sickness. Following years of internal research, Oculus and Valve both concluded that a 90 Hz refresh rate is ideal. Such an aggressive goal requires lot of graphics horsepower. Early on, you needed a GeForce GTX 970 or Radeon R9 390 to handle the workload. Oculus and Valve have since introduced technologies like Asynchronous Space Warp, Asynchronous Time Warp, and Asynchronous Reprojection to help compensate for less-powerful graphics subsystems. Nevertheless, you still need a modern gaming PC for comfortable VR.

Microsoft offers two performance tiers for WMR headsets, and these enable different experience levels. Basic Windows Mixed Reality compatibility requires a PC equipped with a sixth- or seventh-gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processor that includes integrated graphics and at least 8GB of memory, running Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. This base performance tier lets you interact with WMR-compatible UWP apps in the Windows MR home environment and enjoy 360° images/videos. You can even play some games with Intel HD Graphics, including Space Pirate Trainer.

We asked Microsoft how it achieves all of this using decidedly mainstream graphics hardware. The company credits its ownership of the OS and access to the entire pipeline for its ability to optimize performance.

Ultra MR Experience

If you’re serious about using Microsoft’s platform, especially at 90 Hz, you really need a PC that meets or exceeds the Windows Mixed Reality Ultra configuration. Higher refresh rates make it easier to keep the device on your head for extended periods. And of course, the Ultra configuration enables support for more content, particularly modern VR games.

At the very least, you want an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960/GTX 1050 or AMD Radeon RX 460/RX 560 graphics card. But even those boards won't give you access to the full gamut of available content. If you want to play SteamVR games with your Windows MR headset, you need a GeForce GTX 1070 or Radeon RX Vega 56. Granted, SteamVR for Windows MR is still in Early Access, so the requirements may change. Just remember that WMR headsets boast a higher resolution than the Vive and Rift HMDs, imposing a more taxing graphics workload.

The standard Windows MR Ultra configuration offers support for a wide range of CPUs, from an Intel Core i5-4590 or AMD Ryzen 5 1400 on up. Microsoft and Valve won’t cut you off from running SteamVR on one of those mid-range processors. However, both companies suggest a Core i7 for the best possible experience.

Bluetooth Needed

Many PCs meet the requirements for one of Microsoft’s WMR performance tiers. However, most don’t offer native Bluetooth 4.0 support, which is required if you want to use the WMR controllers with your headset.

Use Microsoft’s compatibility tool to check if your system meets the Windows MR requirements. When we ran it on our VR test system, we received a warning that the machine didn't have a Bluetooth controller. We expected that the Acer HMD would have one in it like HTC’s Vive, but alas, that's not the case.

We picked up an inexpensive IOGear USB Bluetooth 4.0 receiver for less than $20, but you shouldn't have to endure such an inconvenience. Take note, Acer: leaving out critical (and inexpensive) components leads to confusion and, ultimately, dissatisfied customers.

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How We (Couldn't) Test The Acer Windows MR HMD

When we received the Acer Windows Mixed Reality Headset, we hoped to run some benchmarks on it. Previously, we dabbled with Nvidia’s FCAT VR utility, which reports graphics performance using Oculus' Rift and HTC's Vive. Unfortunately, FCAT VR does not support Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality platform, though. We did reach out to Nvidia regarding WMR testing and were told that FCAT VR wouldn't be updated in time for the launch.

Although we were disappointed by Nvidia’s response, we weren't surprised. It took the company more than one year to develop the first iteration of FCAT VR, and constant runtime updates have necessitated maintenance releases ever since. We have full confidence that Nvidia will eventually add WMR support to FCAT VR, but until then, we're unable to quantify frame rates or dropped frames as we did in FCAT VR: GPU And CPU Performance in Virtual Reality.

As of December 7, 2017, Nvidia pulled the FCAT VR download from its site and left a note stating that a new version would be available soon. If the upcoming build supports Windows MR, you can be sure that we'll test with it.

Display Performance Testing

FCAT VR is a great tool for evaluating the VR graphics pipeline's performance, but a host PC’s ability to deliver high frame rates doesn't matter if the headset's displays can't keep up. Last year, Basemark released a utility that measures how fast an HMD’s display reacts to the signal coming from your computer.

Basemark’s VRScore software pairs with a device called a VRTrek, which features two photodiodes that detect light emitting from your headset’s displays. The software determines the latency between a command's initiation and its execution on the display. In the past, we used VRScore and the VRTrek device to evaluate the performance of Oculus' DK2, Oculus' Rift, HTC's Vive Pre, HTC's Vive, and the OSVR headsets. Unfortunately, we may never be able to run the same test on Windows MR headsets.

Before we received Acer's solution, we checked with Basemark to see if there would be a new version of VRScore with support for Microsoft’s Mixed Reality platform. The company planned to release VRScore 1.1 over the summer, but was forced to delay its release for several months. We still don't know when the new version will be available. But even when Basemark gets 1.1 out the door, it still won't include Windows MR support.

“Regarding Microsoft VR headsets, we had to, unfortunately, cancel the support as nor we or our current partners were able to get enough interest from Microsoft to help us out with the integration,” said Arto Ruotsalainen, Basemark Co-Founder, and CEO. “VRScore PC 1.1 will have updated Oculus, HTC Vive, and OSVR SDKs.”

With that news, our hands are tied. Lacking the tools to test real performance, we can’t verify Microsoft’s claims. Subjective experience is all we can offer at this time. We hope that, eventually, performance analysis won't be as challenging. But until then, we're at the mercy of an emerging market.

Subjective Tests

We tested Acer's Windows MR headset with three different systems. First, we used our primary VR test system, which includes an Intel Core i7-5930K, 16GB of Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4-3200, and a Zotac GeForce GTX 980 Ti AMP! Extreme. Then we tried the headset with less powerful machines, including a system with an Intel Core i3-4330, 8GB of G.Skill DDR3-1600, and a GeForce GTX 950. Microsoft also made a big deal about Windows MR headsets working with the HD Graphics engines in Intel sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-gen Core processors, so we auditioned an Intel Core i5-6500 and 16GB of Corsair DDR4-3200.

First, we tried Acer's Windows MR headset on our highest-end system. This allowed us to experience what a premium experience should look like. Backed by a powerful host machine, Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality platform ran well. Its frame rate felt smooth, and the visuals were crisp. Our informal test sequence suffered no perceivable dropped frames, leaving us satisfied.

We did, however, experience frame rate problems when we enabled a preview window to let others see the display output. Microsoft’s spectator view contributes significant load, bringing performance down across the board. When we have access to a version of FCAT VR that works with Windows MR, we’ll quantify the spectator window's true impact.

Next, we moved on to a lower-end Core i3-4330 and GeForce GTX 950. This system exceeds Microsoft’s minimum requirement for Windows MR, but it doesn’t satisfy the baseline for an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive headset. To our surprise, though, it had no trouble with mixed reality. In fact, we had a hard time discerning between the Core i7- and Core i3-based PCs. We played around in the Beach House, pinned apps on various walls, and jumped between windows to push the hardware as hard as possible. We even fired up Bigscreen, which calls for a Core i5 and GeForce GTX 970 at least, and noticed no performance hitches.

VR Through Integrated Graphics

Finally, we tried Acer's Windows Mixed Reality Headset hooked up to a Core i5 with Intel HD Graphics. Microsoft made a big deal about the Window MR platform’s ability to run well without discrete graphics, and we were skeptical of its ambitions from day one. Nevertheless, we were eager to test the company's claims.

To accommodate the lower performance of an integrated graphics engine, Windows Mixed Reality headsets must operate at two refresh rates. When a discrete GPU is present, they refresh at 90 Hz. Without an add-in card, they run at 60 Hz.

Oculus and Valve put a lot of time and effort into determining what makes VR comfortable, and both companies concluded that 90 frames per second is the sweet spot where most people experience no negative side effects. When the frame rate dips much below that threshold, users start to get sick. Thus, we weren't sure how Microsoft's pursuit of 60 Hz would go, and our real-world experience didn't help. In fact, we don't think 60 Hz should be an option.

Of course, Microsoft’s intent is to make immersive technology accessible to a wider audience, which should drive adoption for MR (and VR) hardware/software. However, if mixed reality leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth, you probably won't line up to buy it. And unfortunately, the most accessible configuration for Windows Mixed Reality proves to be incredibly jarring. By now we’re accustomed to VR, and we’re rarely affected by motion sickness. But Windows MR running on integrated graphics ranks among the worst experiences we’ve ever had.

As you might expect, graphics quality in the Beach House is reduced when you don’t have a discrete GPU installed. The environmental details aren't what worry us, though. Performance is the more serious issue. As soon as we turned around for the first time, we wondered what Microsoft was thinking. As we rotated, the scene had trouble keeping up. Intel's HD Graphics engine couldn't even maintain a consistent 60 FPS. The problems worsened when we tried moving around. Pressing the joystick to teleport, we noticed a prominent delay between controller input and on-screen action. There was even lag when we moved our hand to place the teleport reticle in a different place.

The primary purpose of supporting Windows MR headsets on integrated graphics hardware is to make the platform appealing in the business world. This idea falls flat due to the performance implications, though. Sitting in front of a static window works fine. Turn your head to the side to check another screen, though, and the image gets choppy, quickly becoming uncomfortable.

Gaming powered by integrated graphics was the only redeeming experience, ironically enough. i-illusions somehow managed to smooth out the performance of Space Pirate Trainer on the most basic hardware configuration. Of course, all of the advanced graphics details were disabled, but we still had to be impressed by the fluid frame rates. Few games demonstrate this level of refinement, and fewer support the entry-level Windows MR hardware configuration. But if you can find a few gems like Space Pirate Trainer, you could potentially justify using Intel’s HD Graphics as a temporary solution. Still, we do not advocate skipping a dedicated GPU for long-term use.

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Health, Safety & Maintenance

Before using any product, it’s always wise to brush up on the health and safety precautions. Acer’s quick-start guide offers a handful of tips for operating the WMR Headset. Like Oculus and HTC, Acer recommends that you consult a doctor before using the headset if you suffer from conditions that could be triggered by mixed reality. Issues with your heart, trouble with physical tasks, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress are all potential problems. According to Acer, pregnant women and the elderly should also refrain from using its headset.

The guidelines include a healthy dose of common sense, too. Don't use the headset while you're sick, fatigued, or intoxicated because “a comfortable VR experience requires an unimpaired sense of motion and balance.” Don't use the headset with a sharp object in your hand. And always ensure that your play space is clear of trip hazards.

Acer suggests that its Mixed Reality Headset “should not be used by children under 13” because it can’t accommodate their narrower IPDs. The company cautions against prolonged use, and recommends that parents monitor kids over 13 to ensure they take regular breaks.

Maintenance & Care

Acer’s Windows Mixed Reality Headset isn’t covered in sensors like the Vive, and it isn’t dotted with an array of hidden IR lights like the Rift. As a result, the headset itself isn't as fragile as competing HMDs.

You can wipe down the entire device, including the cameras up front, with a damp cloth. Acer doesn’t advise using detergents, and your cloth should not be wet enough to leave drips behind (naturally, moisture is bad for the electronics inside). The instruction guide even suggests that humidity could cause a short circuit, so store the headset somewhere dry.

Acer says the headset's operating temperature ranges from 0-35°C, but recommends avoiding use following a dramatic temperature change. In other words, don’t plug the WMR Headset into a computer right after receiving it.

It’s also important to keep the headset away from dusty and smoky areas. If dust accumulates inside the headset, it could short out. And smoke can cloud the lenses, which may void your warranty.

Acer’s WMR Headset utilizes two moisture-proof cushions that shouldn’t absorb sweat. Wipe them down with a damp cloth or dry towel, but don’t attempt to wash them, and definitely don't use any detergent. The face cushion is removable, so you should be able to find replacements when the stock cushion wears out. But again, don't attempt to wash it because it may deteriorate.

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A Simple Setup Process

Microsoft boasts that it offers the “quickest, easiest setup available” of any desktop VR system, claiming you should have your Windows MR headset up and running in 10 minutes or less. After trying this for ourselves, we agree. The Windows MR setup process is quick and (mostly) painless.

Microsoft’s WMR platform doesn’t require external cameras like the Oculus Rift, and it doesn’t have external base stations like Valve’s SteamVR Tracking technology. Instead, this is the first platform to offer inside-out tracking, which uses embedded cameras to track your surroundings. As a result, there are far fewer steps in the WMR setup process.

First, ensure that your PC is up to date with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. If you don’t already have this build installed, you can manually apply it with Microsoft's Update Assistant.

With Windows fully updated, launch the Mixed Reality Portal. You can open the software manually from the Start menu, or plug in the headset, which launches the software automatically. Click on Get Started, and you’ll receive a prompt to read the terms of service and agree to its stipulations. After pressing “I Agree,” the software runs a compatibility check on your system.

The next step requires a Windows MR headset. If the headset isn’t hooked up yet, you’ll see a prompt to connect it. Windows should detect the HMD and install its drivers automatically. Then click Next to pair the controllers.

To turn on the WMR controllers, press and hold the Windows button for two seconds. The LEDs on each controller’s halo should light up and blink slowly. You should also feel a slight vibration when the controller powers on. Pull the battery cover off and press the Bluetooth pairing button next to the batteries.

If the Bluetooth signal is strong enough, the controller should pair in a couple of seconds. If your computer’s Bluetooth controller shares the antenna from your motherboard’s Wi-Fi connection, make sure the external antenna is installed or you’ll experience tracking problems.

Room-Scale or Seated

Microsoft offers room-scale tracking (the recommended configuration), facilitating seated, standing, and room-scale VR experiences. Like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, Microsoft’s room-scale platform employs a boundary system to help keep you within a safe tracking area. If you select the room-scale option, you must clear a space and then trace its area so that your computer understands where your safe zone is located. Rather than tracing with a controller, you carry the headset around to trace this safe zone.

Microsoft indicates that you need at least a 5x7-foot space for room-scale tracking. We’re not sure what the maximum play area is, but our Acer WMR Headset's tether is shorter than the one on our HTC Vive, which means it won't cover as much ground.

Cortana Can Help

Microsoft’s Cortana virtual assistant is deeply integrated into the Windows Mixed Reality platform. With Cortana, you can use your voice to dictate many tasks within the virtual environment, such as launching and closing applications, moving and resizing windows, adjusting or muting the volume, and taking snapshots or recordings.

To use Cortana, you must have a wired headset attached to the HMD's audio jack. Microsoft does not support Bluetooth headsets in WMR. To activate Cortana, say “Hey Cortana” like you would on your desktop PC or Surface device. For a full list of commands, refer to Microsoft’s support documentation.

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What You Can (And Can’t) Do With Windows Mixed Reality

Microsoft believes that the Windows Mixed Reality platform will attract those who want to bring their working environment into the virtual world. At least initially, though, the company is more focused on gamers. It recently released Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR in Early Access on Steam, which gives WMR headsets access to the vast content library on Valve’s VR platform.

There aren’t many games in the Microsoft Store that support WMR yet. However, after speaking with two of the developers who brought games to the WMR platform, we’re confident that list will grow rapidly.

In particular, Trevor Blom, Vertigo Games’ lead programmer, told us that bringing Skyworld and Arizona Sunshine to Windows MR was almost as easy as checking a box in Unity and compiling a new build. The inputs and functionality of Microsoft’s platform translate well from the Rift and Vive.

Space For Entertainment & Productivity

Inside the Beach House, four loosely segregated sections allow you to set up different work spaces. The one directly ahead as you enter the building is for casual Web surfing. On one wall, you find an Edge browser window. On the other side, there's a bench for sitting as you browse.

To the left of this room is an entertainment room, which has a virtual seating area and a giant display for watching movies. Microsoft configures the theater screen to launch its rental service. Here, you can watch trailers and pay for feature-length films.

We didn’t bother renting any movies, but we did watch a few trailers. The image that Acer’s WMR Headset produces is acceptable for short clips, but we're not sure we'd enjoy it over a couple of hours. Microsoft designed this space to resemble what you'd find in a high-end home theater. It's not as inviting as a real theater, though, mostly because it can't be shared with anyone. You can make the room a bit more interesting by opening the walls to reveal night sky behind the screen.

Again, this experience would be better if it could be shared, and we expect that'll be possible in the future. Microsoft recently acquired AltspaceVR, and it’s not hard to imagine that the company would merge AltspaceVR technology directly into Windows MR to enable group movie nights.

The other side of the Beach House offers two more configurable spaces. A room on the right side of the hallway has a large screen on the wall that opens to the Windows Store games section. Clearly, Microsoft considers this the game room. However, you can use it for any task you'd like. We chose to make it a productivity space. The room on the left side of the hallway features a large window for viewing photos from your image gallery. This room has several bare walls that you can decorate or fill with app windows.

If you’re looking for a less confined workspace, you can also set up shop on the building's roof, which gives you a clear view of the ocean and shoreline.

Limited By Window Placements

We usually work with windows open across multiple monitors, so we attempted to emulate that setup by placing Skype on the left, a browser window on the right, and OneNote in the center. But with three windows active, we started to see a problem. The space around us quickly filled up because we had to place the windows within a foot or two from our face, or the screens had to be rather large so that we could read them.

To counter this, we tried placing windows above and below us in ways that would accommodate a quick glance. This didn’t work well, though, because we couldn’t place the app windows where we wanted. Microsoft doesn’t facilitate fine-tuned control over the angle at which apps appear. The windows instead snap to wall surfaces, which interferes with configuring a perfect 3D workspace.

We wanted to give the Acer WMR Headset and Microsoft's platform a fair chance, so we tried using it to write our review. Typically, that'd involve Microsoft Word. But to our dismay, the company's own Office suite isn't one of the 20,000 UWP apps with Windows MR support. So much for getting your work done in a WMR headset.

We spoke to Microsoft about the lack of Office support and, to our surprise, we learned that it should be working. Microsoft designed Windows MR to support all UWP apps natively, without the need for an update from the developer. Company reps told us that they're aware of a bug in the Windows Store that prevents you from seeing all available apps when you’re in the headset, including those in Microsoft’s Office suite. The company is working on a solution.

Without access to Word, we attempted to write the article in OneNote, which proved futile for such a long story. You could easily take a few short notes, but OneNote just isn't suitable for long-form documents. It is possible to use Google Docs within Windows MR, but you must do that from Microsoft’s Edge browser. There is a UWP Google app that lets you access Gmail, Google Drive, and your Google Calendar, but it doesn’t include access to Google Docs.

Some day, we imagine you'll be able to perform a full day's work within Microsoft's mixed reality environment. Access to more than 20,000 UWP apps in WMR is a good start. But the app selection currently comes up short.

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Conclusion

Microsoft's mixed reality concept sounds good. Who wouldn't want an infinitely customizable workspace where you can place apps wherever they're most convenient to access? You'd think that removing the restriction of a fixed display would be liberating. However, we found that using a 3D environment for 2D tasks was more difficult than a traditional monitor. With just four apps open, we found ourselves surrounded, which made the virtual space feel claustrophobic. When headsets sport resolutions that make small windows practical to read, Microsoft’s virtual environment will likely be much more compelling.

Working in mixed reality isn't terrible, it’s just impractical. The more time we spent in Microsoft's 3D environment, the more we got used to its limitations. However, even as VR veterans, we don’t feel compelled to swap our triple-monitor array for an HMD.

Hardware Conclusions

From a hardware perspective, there’s a lot to like about Acer’s Windows Mixed Reality Headset. In some respects, it’s a better device than the Rift or Vive. Acer’s headset is light, comfortable enough for moderate use, and capable of producing a crisp, clear image. We're also impressed by the inside-out tracking system's fidelity. It's spot-on, and as long as the controllers are in view, they track just as well as the Vive wands or Touch controllers.

However, we’re not impressed with the build quality of critical wear points, such as the visor’s hinge. Its construction seems questionable, and we believe it'll break long before it should. The controllers also have us concerned about their longevity. Let's be honest: when you’re fully immersed in a virtual space, accidents happen. We already see signs of wear with one controller's battery cover. These things just weren't built to last.

We would also have preferred a replaceable cable. We’ve already damaged the cable from one Vive, and our Rift's cable is showing signs of wear. With either of those HMDs, you can order a replacement if the existing cable breaks. Given Acer's design, though, if the cable gets damaged, the whole headset has to go back to Acer for repair.

The shortcomings of Acer’s Windows Mixed Reality Headset would be easier to overlook if the hardware was less expensive. Indeed, when Acer announced its pricing, the WMR Headset seemed like it'd be the most affordable option out there. But Oculus crushed Acer’s advantage days before it started shipping by slashing the price of a Rift with Touch controllers to $400—the same price as Acer’s device.

Bottom Line

If Acer’s headset was $100 cheaper than the Rift, it would be a tremendous value. However, we cannot recommend the WMR Headset over the Oculus Rift at a similar price point. Acer's advantages (a higher display resolution and no external sensors) do not make up for Oculus' superior build quality and bundled content.

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LAS VEGAS, NV -- One of the key technologies that makes augmented and mixed reality work is waveguides, and a company from the UK called WaveOptics is pushing a new family of waveguide modules designed for AR glasses that promise full color, relatively high field of view (FoV), lower cost, and more scalable manufacturing processes. When we met with WaveOptics at CES, reps would not divulge specifics, but did state that the company is working with tier-one customers, which is a coy way of saying that it’s probably in talks with the likes of Apple, Microsoft, and others.

(Psst, What’s A Waveguide?)

Waveguides are key components of AR glasses that--wait for it--guide waves of light from a projector to the glass in front of your eye so you can perceive virtual objects in 3D. It’s one of the core pieces of magic that enable the HoloLens to offer a completely self-contained headset that produces its amazing images on just an Intel Cherry Trail chip.

It’s perhaps instructive to contrast this model to fully occluded VR headsets like the Vive and Rift. When you strap on a VR HMD, you’re essentially putting a small monitor right in front of your face. When you run a VR experience for the headset, all the graphics have to be fully rendered at high resolutions and framerates and produced on that little display. Really, it’s just a small version of what happens between your gaming PC and monitor, but in binocular form and with a pair of lenses between your eyeballs and the display so you can see everything in 3D. This requires tremendous computational resources.

The waveguide model is sort of the opposite. Instead of rendering graphics to a hi-res display, it uses what’s called a light engine to produce a tiny image that’s projected into the waveguide, which then allows you to see the image. Because the rendered image is so small (just as it is on the HoloLens), it requires little in the way of compute resources, which enables lightweight and slim eyeglass-type designs.

Physically speaking, a waveguide is a series of layered panes of glass with microns-thick air gaps between each pane. It resembles a lens from a pair of eyeglasses, but layered. There’s a prism at the top of the glass panes that bends the light from the projector down into the waveguide. There are no active electronics or moving parts in the actual waveguide.

The WaveOptics Phlox Modules

Combined, the light engine, projector, and waveguide form a module. WaveOptics has three variations of its modules (which it dubbed “Phlox”) in various stages of completion. Two offer binocular vision and 40-degree FoV; the other was a monocular prototype that simply showed how WaveOptics is working on achieving 50-55 degrees FoV.

Of the first two, one is the Phlox 40-Degree DMD module, and the other is the Phlox 40-Degree LCoS module. They’re functionally the same in terms of the end result that you can see, even though digital micromirror device (DMD) and liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) are different display technologies. The former uses a TI display and offers low power requirements (about 0.5W per side); the latter costs less to produce but requires more power. The DMD module is going into production this summer, although our impression is that the LCoS module could be ready to go soon, as well.

DMD Module

The (monocular) high field of view module doesn’t even have a real name yet; WaveOptics referred to it simply as the “High Field Of View” module. At its CES suite, WaveOptics was showing off a module that could be blue light only; next, they’re going to figure out how to make red light work as well, but first they need to build a “red” waveguide. The company plans to sample system integrators with a full-color, binocular version of the module by the end of 2018.

The two 40-degree FoV Phlox modules are designed to fit over (well, in front of) eyeglasses. There’s no need for IPD adjustment because, WaveOptics said, the eyebox is big enough (19 x 15mm at 25mm eye relief) that it’s not an issue. (IPD is set at 63mm.) They offer a 16:9, 720p image, and depending on the content, they can display 2D or 3D images. They promise a 5m-to--infinity focus range, too.

Expect 200 nit/lumen efficiency (averaged over the FoV), 80% transmittance, and a 50:1 contrast ratio. The actual modules measure 39.1 x 44.1mm, with a 3.1mm thickness, and they weigh 12g. (That’s quite lightweight; for comparison, a moderately “heavy” gaming mouse weighs ten times that.)

LCoS Module  

WaveOptics’ Secret Sauce

There are a few aspects of WaveOptics’ designs that the company asserts separate it from the competition, and it all comes from its 2D pupil expansion technology. The “2D” in this case refers to “making the exit zone of the light bigger in both X and Y, which makes it ‘just work’ for users who may have different eye spacings,” stated WaveOptics. This expansion is done in "steps," as the waveguide splits the light into different colors before recoupling them into a visible image. WaveOptics uses two steps; HoloLens, reps said, uses three.

Ostensibly, having fewer steps reduces issues with light scattering and bounce. Basically, when the projected light hits the waveguide, the waveguide splits the light into blue and red (the green light is “shared between red and blue waveguides,” according to WaveOptics’ materials) and reflects it down into the glass panes of the waveguide. Think of a waveguide as a gun barrel; better rifling means the “bullet” (in this case, a beam of light) travels more efficiently and accurately down its path. Effectively, that should produce higher-quality images.

Meanwhile, because there are only two steps instead of three, there’s simply less opportunity for scatter and bounce (one fewer “gun barrels,” as it were), and that, WaveOptics said, makes manufacturing easier (and therefore cheaper), because the tolerances can be looser without losing too much in the way of image quality. The modules are also physically lighter and smaller, then, as well, which enables smaller form factors.

If WaveOptics’ plan continues as it hopes, system integrators will begin building AR glasses with these modules yet this year.

Scope AR announced that it’s augmented reality remote assistance application Remote AR now supports Microsoft’s HoloLens and its spatial tracking technology to bring remote assistance into the third dimension.

Scope AR’s Remote AR remote assistance platform is an enterprise-level augmented reality utility that helps field technicians do their job more efficiently. The software enables technicians to connect remotely with experts who can walk them through an unfamiliar repair procedure. Scope AR originally targeted tablet devices, such as iPads, to relay images and video between the on-site technician and the remote expert.

The first version of Remote AR came out long before Apple released ARKit and Google released ARCore, so Scope AR relied on fiducial markers for tracking. In June, Scope AR announced that it adopted Wikitude’s Instant Tracking SLAM technology and Google's Tango technology so that you don’t need to use fiducial markers anymore. Today, the company released a version of the software for HoloLens, which takes 3D remote assistance to a new level. The HoloLens version allows you to keep your hands free to work, while you receive live assistance on the screen in front of you.

Remote AR isn't Scope AR's first HoloLens-supported application. In May, the company added HoloLens support to its Worklink assistance software.

“Remote AR was designed from the ground up to support enterprise needs of getting expert knowledge to workers, when and where it’s needed, by allowing users to select their device of choice, whether it’s a smartphone, a tablet, or now, Microsoft HoloLens,” said Scott Montgomerie, CEO and co-founder of Scope AR. “We’re seamlessly integrating the latest technologies, like Microsoft HoloLens, into our solutions so organizations can focus on the work at hand, secure in their knowledge that they can take advantage of AR today and deploy the best devices for their workforce.”

One of the key features of Remote AR is that it allows experts to draw on the screen to point the technician to specific items of concern on whatever they are working on. That could be a connection to check, or a location of a bolt to remove, or something along those lines. With earlier versions of Remote AR, experts were limited to 2D doodles, so it could be hard to pinpoint some thing. With the HoloLens version, experts can take advantage of HoloLens’s spatial awareness to give more precise instructions.

The HoloLens version of Remote AR also allows the remote expert to focus on different parts of the hardware than where the technician is working, which means that as a tech follows one set of instructions, the expect can be annotating the next step in the repair process.

Scope AR’s Remote AR software works seamlessly between platforms, and the software license is platform agnostic, which means that if you own one version you own them all. The Remote AR software for HoloLens is available now.

It looks as though Microsoft has a bit of a legal situation on its hands in regards to its HoloLens technology.

The software giant stands accused of willfully infringing upon patents held by Connecticut-based HoloTouch. Recent court filings in the Southern District of New York reveal allegations of infringement on at least two holographic imaging tech patents dating back as far as 2006. Making matters worse, it appears that Microsoft even acknowledged HoloTouch's patents as "prior art" in a 2013 patent filing of its own. 

The technology in question covers a variety of touchless controls for a range of industries, including "ATMs, automotive equipment, aviation devices, consumer electronics, gaming equipment, home appliances, kiosks, leisure products, medical and military equipment."

The story, as told by HoloTouch, is a familiar one. Little company approaches big company with what it believes to be “new and exciting” technology. Big company ignores little company, builds new product using technology eerily similar to what was pitched by little company years earlier. The little company then demands a licensing deal for the patents it believes big company has been using without permission. Once again, big company ignores little company. Lawsuit is filed by little company seeking a jury trial and triple damages, although no amount was specified in this case.

Commonly referred to as “treble damages,” the request for triple damages stems from the fact that HoloTouch believes Microsoft willfully infringed on the patents in question. The problem is that to establish willful infringement, not only is the patent holder required to prove damages, but it must do so with clear and convincing evidence that the accused knew that its action constituted infringement of a valid patent. The key word here is “valid.”

There are several ways to challenge the validity of a patent, even after it has been granted, without ever stepping into a courtroom. One such legal maneuver would be for Microsoft to seek cancellation of the patents in question altogether. Beyond that, Microsoft has teams of lawyers that are more than familiar with their way around litigation.

Although in these David-and-Goliath scenarios it's hard to imagine the little guy winning out, there is recent precedent in the XR world. Zenimax scored a big legal win against Oculus (which is to say, Facebook), for misappropriating VR trade secrets, to the tune of $500 million. 

This is just the first shot fired in what will no doubt be a protracted legal battle between the two companies. With so much riding on this case, it seems fairly obvious that, regardless how the courts rule in this case, an appeal will be filed by whomever comes out on the losing end of the decision.

Microsoft declined to comment for this story.

Unless you have superhuman powers, the only way to “visit” Mars is by looking at online images captured by the Curiosity rover. For a more immersive experience, you could view these images as one massive 3D model in AR (that is, if you’re lucky to have one of Microsoft’s HoloLens devices). That changes today as Google announced Access Mars, which allows you to explore the Red Planet’s surface with the same 3D model right from your web browser.

With just your mouse, you can move around the Martian landscape and check out some points of interest, which are highlighted by white icons. These can provide information about Curiosity’s mission, the rover itself, and some of its major findings. For instance, visiting the Pahrump Hills area reveals that one of JPL’s main objectives with Curiosity was to reach a specific rock formation called Mount Sharp. During the journey, the rover would drill holes in order to obtain and analyze minerals. Based on the data gathered, scientists can find out more about the planet, and more importantly, its potential to support human life.

Just like the Destination: Mars experience and another demo at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena, California, Access Mars uses OnSight, a “mission operations tool” used by JPL scientists to explore Mars from their computer or AR devices. According to Alex Menzies, JPL’s software lead on VR and AR projects, NASA receives images from the rover every day--a series of panoramic shots of the surrounding area. JPL then uses algorithms to match all of these images together to create an accurate 3D model of the area.

This model is then used by scientists such as Katie Stack Morgan, whose voice you hear in the Access Mars experience, to find telltale clues of life on Mars. She told us that she and her team are trying to find silica, a bright rock formation that indicates water traveling through the area. By following the trail of silica, Morgan hopes to find a source of water on Mars.

Access Mars is not just accessible via a web browser; you can actually view it through different devices, such as your smartphone and laptop. You can even use your own VR device (if you own one) for an extra layer of immersion. This type of technology is possible thanks to the WebVR standard, which was developed by Oculus as a way to bring the virtual reality experience to the masses without spending too much money on an expensive head-mounted device. Access Mars is actually part of a larger group of WebVR experiments, which include a new tool to create frame-by-frame animations in 3D and a visual assistant to show off complex math concepts.

Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17004 to Fast Ring members of the Windows Insider Program who have elected to "skip ahead" to less stable builds of the operating system. Like its most recent predecessors, Preview Build 17004 is focused on bug fixes ahead of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update's release in October, but it also includes some visual changes courtesy of the company's new Fluent Design system.

Fluent Design was announced at the Build developer conference in May. It changes various aspects of Windows 10's user interface with more textures, new lighting effects, and a greater emphasis on animations. Much of these updates appear to be influenced by HoloLens, and it's clear that Microsoft is preparing Windows 10 for a world in which your primary device isn't a traditional PC with its monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Microsoft said in Preview Build 17004's announcement:

As we progress into the next feature update, you’ll begin to see more and more elements of Fluent Design light up. We love the enthusiasm we’ve seen for Fluent Design, and with today’s build you’ll notice that Reveal is now visible on Start in All apps.

That's a small change, sure, but the confirmation that Fluent Design will expand in future preview builds makes this release a little more exciting. The rest of the build is standard pre-release fare: Microsoft squashed a bunch of bugs in Microsoft Edge, improved Windows 10's input methods, and made the operating system more accessible by adding a new color wheel to the Color & High Contrast Settings.

Preview Build 17004 also fixed a problem that prevented Mod Organizer from loading mods into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Microsoft said it also added a shortcut to the Edge browser to your desktop, but if you delete it, the company won't replace it with future builds. It's not clear if this is a minor bug or if it indicates that Microsoft will continue to push Edge on Windows 10 users with the Fall Creators Update.

The Fall Creators Update is set to debut on October 17. We'll probably see more of these bug-focused preview builds in the intervening weeks.

Microsoft announced that the second generation of the HoloLens' Holographic Processing Unit (HPU) will contain a deep learning accelerator.

Holographic Processing Unit

When Microsoft first unveiled the HoloLens, it said that it comes with a special kind of processor, called an HPU, that can accelerate the kind of “holographic” content displayed by the HMD. The HPU is primarily responsible for processing the information coming from all the on-board sensors, including a custom time-of-flight depth sensor, head-tracking cameras, the inertial measurement unit (IMU), and the infrared camera.

The first generation HPU contained 24 digital signal processors (DSPs), an Atom processor, 1GB of DDR3 RAM, and 8MB of SRAM cache. The chip can achieve one teraflop per second for under 10W of power, with 40% of that power going to the Atom CPU.

The first HPU was built on a 28nm planar process, and if the next-generation HPU will be built on a 14/16nm or smaller FinFET process, the increase in performance could be significant. However, Microsoft has not yet revealed what process node will be used for the next-generation HPU.

Deep Learning Accelerator

What we do know so far about the second-gen HPU is that it will incorporate an accelerator for deep neural networks (DNNs). The deep learning accelerator is designed to work offline and use the HoloLens’ battery, which means it should be quite efficient, while still providing significant benefits to Microsoft’s machine learning code.

This would make the second-gen HoloLens a part of the rising on-device machine learning trend, where devices run machine learning code natively rather than sending the data over the network from hundreds or thousands of miles away. For a device such as HoloLens, having the deep learning processing done in real-time is critical, because the device can’t afford too much latency between the time it receives the data and the time it makes use of it.

As we’re talking about an augmented or “mixed reality" device, using an on-device deep learning accelerator also means you don’t have to send the data about your surroundings to someone else’s servers. However, it remains to be seen if Microsoft will decide to collect large amount of data about what the users are doing, as it has already done with Windows 10.

Mira, a Los Angeles-based startup, announced Prism, a $99 augmented reality headset that's powered by an iPhone. The headset will ship to developers this fall, and the company will put the device in the hands of consumers by the holiday season. Unlike AR devices such as Microsoft's HoloLens or the Epson Moverio, which project images produced from dedicated processors onto custom, complex optics, Prism is merely reflecting an iPhone's image off a precisely-curved plastic lens back onto your eyes, creating a hologram-like effect. In a way, it's the equivalent of the Samsung Gear VR, but for AR.

We had a chance to try out a near-shipping version of the headset, along with several prototype experiences. As with so many of the early XR devices we're seeing, the Prism has some compelling attributes, but chief among them are the price point and the fact that it's AR. By choosing AR and the iPhone as the target device, Mira has a playing field largely to itself at the moment, but its top priority will have to be coaxing the developer community to provide compelling content in this nascent entertainment arena.

First, The Headset

The company's CEO, Ben Taft, wouldn't commit to a final weight, but he said Mira is aiming to ship it at less than a pound. The Samsung Gear VR is about 0.7 lbs, just as a reference. The Prism's resolution is set at half of the iPhone's resolution per eye (an iPhone 6 or 7 has a resolution of 1334x750). Its field of view is 60°, and although we don't have official specs for Microsoft's HoloLens, some have pegged its FOV at less than 40°. Epson Moverio's FOV is 23°.

In our experience with the Prism, the FOV does seem bigger than the HoloLens, although it's been a while since we last experienced Microsoft's offering, and unsurprisingly, Mira didn't have one on hand for comparison purposes.

Regardless, even at 60°, the Prism's FOV feels a bit limited. The Prism's resolution also seems to be quite a bit less than that of the HoloLens (Microsoft lists the hologram image as having 2.3 million "total points of light," so good luck making a direct correlation). In some of the early prototype experiences, we noticed that the resolution degraded a bit game to game. This is where any further comparisons to the HoloLens end; these are, of course, completely different products in entirely different classes, aimed at different markets and purposes.

The Prism includes a fairly comfortable modular strap, with a forehead cushion inside. The cushion is made of foam, with a soft plastic core to give it shape. The cushion and the strap are easily removed or disassembled. The strap is made of TPU material. The lenses attach to the headset with magnets. They're made of polycarbonate plastic, with a special inside coating that reflects light at a particular angle (for each eye). The outside is covered with an anti-reflective coating, with another hard coating on top for protection.

There are no active electronics in the lenses, nor refractive properties. It's a fairly simplistic and cost-effective solution; custom optics are prohibitively expensive for a small startup, but the crafty founders figured out how to find clear plastic that matched the radius and curvature needed to make the lenses. During the prototype stage, they cut the lenses from plastic fishbowls. Now, Mira works with an industrial design company and manufacturers overseas.

A Different Kind Of Play Mat

The Prism also comes with a small remote that looks quite a bit like the Daydream VR controller. It includes a touchpad, a trigger button, and two regular buttons. The remote uses accelerometers and a gyroscope to track its movement, and as such you can use it as an interactive device within an AR experience, such as turning it into a magic wand or a fishing rod.

The headset is tracked via the accelerometers and gyroscope included in the iPhone, and it will show you content without any other help, but the Prism does rely heavily on markers. It comes with a cardboard play map for more precise tracking, and the software is trained to use the iPhone's front-facing camera to find this play map and turn it into a surface play area above which the hologram sits.

Although this can be used to project gameplay for solo experiences, it becomes much more interesting in shared gaming. Multiple Prisms can be paired via Bluetooth (using the iPhones, of course), and multi-player games will make use of the play map for this purpose. In fact, even if you don't have Prism, using an iOS device and the Prism software, you can go into Mira Spectator mode to watch and explore an experience others in the room are enjoying.

We played a couple of games, one in which we were wiping out some villain donuts that hovered in space around us. To do this, we used the remote a little bit like we would a fly-fishing rod. (Killing the donuts also made us hungry.)

In another example, we projected a maze-like game onto the play map—here, we were tasked to get through the maze, consuming donuts Pacman style. (This made us even more hungry.) This was supposed to be a shared experience where two of us raced to see who could consume the most donuts, but the build was put onto the iPhone just moments before we began, and we ran into a bug. We played solo . . . and ate all the donuts. Interestingly, as we moved our head closer and further away from the physical marker, the holographic object would scale; it would get bigger as we moved closer, and smaller as we moved away. This is typical of AR, of course, but considering the relatively low-tech reflection method, we were pleasantly surprised that Prism offered it.

The company expects to see content such as mixed reality puzzles and holographic chess, and Taft even talked about an AR version of Battleship. There is also one of those tilting-rollerball games, where you're using gravity to keep the ball on the table.

Prism is being powered by the Unity engine, and Mira has created an SDK for Unity as it gets the headsets into the hands of developers quickly. The SDK also helps developers define the marker surface (that play map tracker) for specific types of games and AR experiences. Said Matt Stern, COO and co-founder:

Mira is already working with a handful of select immersive content studios to develop an initial suite of premium applications that will be free and bundled with the Prism headset by delivery time. As a baseline, the headset will ship with this suite of compelling solo + multiplayer games, 3D design and visualization tools, and productivity applications. Additionally, by shipping developer kits first, we are giving 3rd party developers the opportunity to have their content be one of the first experiences new users get to try in AR in addition to Mira’s core bundle of apps.

Early Days And Education

Mira is a young startup. The principle founders (Taft, Stern, and Montana Reed) have been at work on this for about two years as part of the first class to emerge from the Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young (aka Dr. Dre) Academy for Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation at USC. Indeed, co-Founder Matt Stern can be seen briefly in episode 4 of HBO's "Defiant Ones," a mini-series about Iovine and Young. It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that Mira has the weight of those two entrepreneurs behind it in some capacity, which is even more interesting given Iovine's role at Apple (he runs Apple Music) and the company's work on ARKit for iOS.

You'd have to wonder whether Mira is on Apple's radar. Taft would not speculate, but he did say that where ARKit is focused on the phone in handheld mode (you see what the phone camera sees), the Prism is focused on projection via the external headset for a more "premium" (his word) experience. Taft said Mira is encouraging developers to work on both. He also told us that Mira focused on iOS because it has largely been untapped for AR and VR hardware. However, Android support is on the company's roadmap, too. For now, Prism will work with the iPhone 6, 6s, and 7, because they share screen size and camera placement.

The company has raised seed money to the tune of $1.5 million, from Sequoia Capital, Troy Capital Partners, S-Cubed Capital, along with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, will.i.am, and Jens Christensen (who founded Jaunt VR). The company employs 12 people.

The Prism will be available for pre-order at on Mira's site; the $99 gets you a headset, lens cover, remote, and carrying case.

Is This A Toy?

There's a constant stream of XR hardware--devices, controllers, and so on--that we see via email pitches and at tradeshows, and as with any emerging tech, some of it is immensely promising (like the Vrvana Totem), whereas some of it is...not. Even among the gear that really works, we're always asking ourselves if what we're looking at is a great new tool, or a compelling entertainment device, or if it's just a toy.

Mira's Prism is dangerously close to toy territory, primarily by dint of the fact that it's a rather single-purpose device and is handicapped by needing markers to enable most of its best features, but then again, perhaps the Mira folks are onto something here.

ARkit is happening--that's just a fact--so what Mira is doing is surfing a wave by offering a $99 device that complements what's already landing on people's iPhones. We've stated before that AR through a smartphone screen is problematic, and we've advocated for pushing smartphone-powered AR viewing onto a lightweight HMD of some kind. Prism is not exactly what we had in mind, but it does have some promising ideas. Take the marker-full play map: On one hand, having your AR experiences bound to a physical piece of paper feels uncomfortably low tech, but it's also simple and fun. We can imagine playing all sorts of tabletop games with friends, or letting the kids keep themselves entertained for hours. Yes, it requires a $99 device, but we live in a world where kids often have their own personal tablets, and parents let their kids play with their $700 smartphones. We also know from experience that XR tabletop experiences can be utterly engrossing.

There's also the possibility that Prism can unlock some AR communication and productivity experiences, which would also be attractive to users.

We'll refrain from pontificating further on the Prism; these are still early days in the XR world, and who's to say what will stick and what won't. Meantime, new ideas and angles, like this one (thought up by students, we would remind you) keeps things fresh.

Microsoft has expanded and rebranded the HoloLens Agency Readiness Program. Much like the shift from Windows Holographic to Windows Mixed Reality, the new Mixed Reality Partner Program takes the focus off Microsoft's HoloLens hardware and puts it on Windows 10 as an XR platform. Companies will still get access to the HoloLens, of course, but they'll do so by participating in the broader Windows Mixed Reality ecosystem.

Many enthusiasts probably view XR from a consumer's perspective. Games, movies, and other media currently dominate the discussion about VR and AR in most circles. But that's not where Microsoft's ambition ends. It wants Windows Mixed Reality to be the computing platform of the future, not an expensive toy. The Mixed Reality Partner Program is supposed to help companies get a glimpse at--and shape--Microsoft's vision for XR.

Microsoft wants people to do work in XR. That's why it partnered with Trimble and the Construction Information Technology Lab at the University of Cambridge on a construction-focused HoloLens tool. It's why the company expanded the HoloLens Agency Readiness Program to companies focused on helping enterprise businesses adopt XR. And now, it's why that program has been replaced by the Mixed Reality Partner Program.

Companies have to undergo "a multi-week readiness program that consists of both in-depth technical training on mixed reality solutions and sales and marketing readiness" to join the Mixed Reality Partner Program. Partners will receive "direct access to Microsoft engineering support and mentorship, as well as marketing and sales assistance," and will also "participate in joint business planning with the Mixed Reality extended team."

Businesses that have already worked on XR might be able to skip some of the Mixed Reality Partner Program's on-boarding. Microsoft said that those "who already have deep expertise in designing and deploying mixed reality solutions" will be able to take a "fast track and immediately work with the Microsoft team on plans to engage customer accounts." The company didn't say how exactly it qualifies "deep expertise" in this nascent field, though.

Unsurprisingly, members of the HoloLens Agency Readiness Program will be grandfathered into the Mixed Reality Partner Program. Other companies can express their interest in the program on Microsoft's website, and the company encouraged prospective partners to attend a July 12 breakout session at Microsoft Inspire.

Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16226 to Fast ring members of the Windows Insider Program. This new build includes many improvements to Windows 10 input sources, the Microsoft Edge browser, and the operating system's ease of access. But the real stars are bug fixes for various aspects of Windows Mixed Reality as well as the ability to keep an eye on your GPU's performance via Windows 10's Task Manager.

Windows Mixed Reality has become increasingly important to Microsoft. At its Build developer conference in May, the company revealed a new Fluent Design system to encourage developers to make apps that work on tablets, VR HMDs, and everything in between; announced new motion controllers for WMR headsets; and set up several demo stations where people could experience HoloLens and Acer's WMR HMD for themselves.

Preview Build 16226 is all about refinement. Here's the list of fixes and improvements to Windows Mixed Reality, per Microsoft's blog post:

The Mixed Reality software download issue has been fixed. The workaround that has been provided for the last flight can be removed. You could directly upgrade to Build 16226 and get the Mixed Reality software.360 Video issue with video quality has also been fixed.New Teleportation Model also introduced in this flight, where we transitioned to a much easier teleportation and navigation model only using the left joystick.Speech improvements where we have improved the speech interaction experience through out Mixed Reality platform.Headset Reliability Improvement where we are going to continuously improve on this in future flights.We also fixed issues when trying to get out of limited mode.We fixed the issue where the Mixed Reality Portal does not shut down cleanly.We fixed the issue where Cortana now opens up apps correctly within the Mixed Reality environment.We fixed the issue where there is multiple gaze cursor in exclusive mode apps.We also fixed the issue where the Boundary is set smaller than the actual.

Of note are the new teleportation model, the commitment to making headsets more reliable, and the improved speech recognition. All three aspects will prove critical as Microsoft attempts to convince people that Windows Mixed Reality isn't just for gamers. The company believes you'll eventually do much of your computing through an HMD, but that can only happen if everything is easy to use and as reliable as current devices.

Preview Build 16226 also includes several gaming-related improvements. One is the addition of an Xbox Networking section in the Settings app that can "identify and resolve issues preventing you from using voice chatting and playing multiplayer games with other Xbox Live users." The other is the ability to monitor "GPU utilization information for each separate GPU component" and graphics memory usage stats in Task Manager.

Many enthusiasts probably use third-party software to make sure everything's running like it's supposed to. Windows 10's built-in Task Manager is supposed to cater to everyone, though, and Microsoft's decision to include GPU monitoring highlights just how mainstream discrete graphics have become. (Another sign: Apple's decision to upgrade the graphics cards in its Mac lineup and to finally support external GPUs in macOS.)

Microsoft said this GPU tracking is "still under construction" and that you "will find issues and bugs." That's to be expected in the Fast ring, though, and giving feedback on Task Manager could help make sure the utility is more polished when it reaches mainstream Windows 10 users.

You'll also find new emoji, an improved Edge, and many other changes in Preview Build 16226. We expect future builds to be just as feature-packed, especially as the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update's release approaches. Microsoft made it clear at Build that it wants to continue to rapidly update Windows 10 with the community's feedback, which means the Windows Insider Program is likely to keep moving at full speed.

Last year at E3, Microsoft’s Xbox division announced that a new, more powerful Xbox One console would see the light of day in 2017. The company said the upcoming console, then known as Project Scorpio, would be the most powerful living room gaming console ever made, and it would support native 4K and “high-fidelity VR.”

During Microsoft’s E3 press conference on Saturday, the company revealed the Xbox One X and mentioned its specs, the price, and a bit about what the console can do, but curiously, Microsoft had nothing at all to say about VR.

The Long Game

Microsoft seems to be playing the long game with immersive technology. The company staked a claim in XR when it debuted the HoloLens in January 2015. Later that year, Microsoft revealed a partnership with Oculus to bundle Xbox One controllers with every Oculus Rift headset. At that point, Microsoft was established as a key player in AR (and/or mixed reality, however you want to slice it), but in VR it seemed to be trying to catch the wave however it could.

Then we had E3 2016 and the promise of VR support on a new Xbox console, and many presumed that "support" meant "support for the Rift," because of the two companies' existing relationship. But Microsoft said nothing about the VR hardware that would pair with Project Scorpio. (Now that Oculus has the Touch controllers, and they work with Rift games that don’t offer motion control support, Oculus has little need for the Xbox One gamepad that comes bundled with each headset anyway.)

Between then and now, Microsoft blew open the next phase of its XR endeavors with a curious spate of announcements from WinHEC, followed by details about maintream-level VR HMDs and the PC specs needed to support them. Then came the official debut of the Acer "mixed reality HMD, more details about other HMD hardware, and the promise of a set of motion controllers for the platform.

At that point, it seemed a matter of arithmetic: Surely the mixed reality HMDs would be the hardware supported by the new console, and we assumed that Microsoft would spill the beans when it announced the next Xbox console at E3 2017—and we were right. Mostly.

Microsoft opened its 2017 E3 press conference with the reveal of the Xbox One X (the official name for the console formerly known a Scorpio). During the presentation, Microsoft revealed the detailed specifications of its upcoming console. The company talked about the price of the new hardware. And it revealed that more than 30 partners have signed on to build experiences that take advantage of the console’s beastly performance numbers.

But there was nothing about VR, or AR, or Windows Mixed Reality on the Xbox One X.

The Missed Next Step

We find that puzzling. Microsoft and Sony are usually at each other heels with new hardware innovations. The fact that Microsoft is letting Sony have such a lead with VR is confusing. It’s true that Sony had a major head start with VR technology. The company started developing the PSVR hardware in 2010--shortly after it invented the PlayStation Move controllers. That’s two years before Palmer Luckey landed in the public spotlight with his Oculus Rift prototype and Kickstarter campaign.

Microsoft got into VR late in that respect, but the company has had plenty of time to catch up, and it has on multiple fronts, but it hasn’t bothered on the console. Sony sold nearly 1 million PSVR units in its first four months, so there’s clearly a market and a hunger for this technology. So what gives?

Following the Xbox E3 press conference, Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s head of Xbox, spoke with The BBC, and his answers left much to be desired. His tone somewhat alluded to the idea that VR on Xbox One is still on the distant horizon.

“This show right here was about consoles. It’s about great games. That’s what’s important to us. But we are believers in mixed reality!” said Spencer. “Mixed reality on the PC is something that we’re focused on. We’re building first party games, and our Mixed Reality platform with our OEM partners continues to roll out. We’ll have more to talk about in the future.”

Spencer went on to say that he doesn’t get many questions about mixed reality “in the living room,” and he offered some speculation as to why. His answer might also be a subtle hint that the Mixed Reality headset for Xbox One X would ultimately be wireless.

“There are just issues with, ‘My TV is across the room, there’s cables hanging out.’ When I do this on my PC, I’m closer to my PC, and that seems to be a much more user-friendly scenario,” said Spencer. “But, I will say we’re all learning. The work that Sony is doing is great. The work that Oculus and HTC are doing; it’s all about learning what mixed reality can be.”

Microsoft is setting itself up to embrace mixed reality on the Xbox platform, but it’s also taking a cautious approach to the concept. Whether this is a wise wait-and-see move, or an indication that Microsoft just hasn't been able to figure our VR and MR on the Xbox yet, or something else, the news from E3 is that there is no VR-on-the-Xbox news.

Microsoft held a presentation in Shanghai on May 23 where the company revealed that the Chinese Government approved the Microsoft Hololens for sale to its citizens.

China is the largest and fastest growing market for virtual reality hardware and software, and Microsoft wants a piece of that pie. The tech giant recently approached the Chinese government for approval to sell the Hololens mixed reality computing developer kits in China. Today, Microsoft revealed that it has received approval; sales start now.

The Chinese technology market is traditionally hard to break into. The government in China restricts the use and sales of many electronic devices and Western-derived software. It was just four years ago that China lifted a decades-long ban on console-based video games, and to this day, you can’t access Valve’s Steam platform from within China. HTC had to create Viveport so that it could offer a software distribution platform in China to support the Vive VR system.

Breaking Hololens into the Chinese market could be a major win for Microsoft and its Mixed Reality platform. The immersive technology industry is booming in China, and with a population of over a billion people, the pool of development talent there is large. Microsoft said it shipped over 22,000 Hololens developer kits since it launched in 2016. Now that it’s selling in China, that number should jump quickly, which can only be a good thing. More developers mean more chances to create something amazing for the platform.

Microsoft said the Hololens developer kits are available in China now. The company didn’t provide a link to where you can purchase one, though.

Microsoft thinks of the HoloLens and its new crop of “mixed reality” headsets like the ones from Acer and HP as devices that are all on the same continuum. We’ve stated before that we take some issue with that designation, but to prove its point, Microsoft showed us a demo wherein multiple HoloLens headsets and Acer HMDs worked together at the same time on the same experience.

We saw this same demo in two different settings at Build 2017--in a room on the show floor (what Microsoft called “The Hub”) and in a special “Mixed Reality University” event where we were guided through the process of creating the actual demo in Unity.

Dollhouses And Problem-Solving

The demo is fairly simple: Working together, multiple parties have to navigate a few basic problem-solving activities to enter a mine and launch a rocket ship. (We know how bizarre that sounds...just stick with us here.)

One group is wearing Acer HMDs and is seeing the environment in first-person VR, at human scale. The other group is wearing HoloLens headsets and is seeing the whole thing--an island with a volcano on it--in “dollhouse” form and in mixed reality. That means the island is rendered small enough that it fits onto a large, circular coffee table, and the HoloLens wearers have a god’s-eye view. They can see the island perched on the table, but because the HoloLens has see-through lenses, they can see the real world around it, too.

The HoloLens wearers can see the Acer HMD wearers represented as tiny little characters on the island. The Acer HMD wearers don’t know that the HoloLens wearers are there at all--until the demo’s hosts tell you to look up. There they see that the HoloLens wearers are represented as faceless clouds. They move and titter about, though, as if they’re sentient, because--well, they represent sentient humans.

(Yes, this has an unsettling psychological effect all the way around. We need to talk it out with our therapists.)

The game is this: The HoloLens folks will see clues pop up over the island. They have to shout the clues to the Acer HMD wearers, who use them to figure out the problem in front of them. For example, one of the clues had to do with Pi; the Acer HMD wearers had to punch in 3-1-4 as a code on a door. Another HoloLens-level clue was something about red, green, and blue (RGB, we get it), and the Acer HMD people had to stack three colored blocks in that order to open another door.

You get the gist. There were just a few clues, and then the HoloLens gods watched the Acer HMD mortals enter a volcano. Inside was a rocket. It took off, shot through the top of the volcano, jettisoned its spent fuel tanks, and sailed off through a hole in the ceiling and into outer space.

Fin.

Proving Mixed Reality

Like many tradeshow demos, this one was a little silly and focused more on the fun than the technical details. What it did call attention to, though, and for good reason, is the fact that the experience was 1) running on multiple devices--6-8 or so, depending on how many people were in the demo room at a time--and was 2) running on two different types of devices simultaneously, which 3) offered players two completely different perspectives on the game.

Yet all of the above was perfectly synced up in real time. That is frankly rather astonishing, and more than anything we’ve seen to date, it proves Microsoft’s notion of mixed reality--that mixed reality is the continuum, and that devices with differing functionality exist on different parts of the same continuum, and that those devices can work together because they run on the same platform.

Unity Unity

So what manner of devilry was this? To be clear, the happy HoloLens/WMR HMD playtime demo was created with and facilitated by Unity. Presumably, there’s a way to do this in Unreal, but at the “Mixed Reality University” event, we were told a bit about how Unity made it work, specifically.

First, a HoloLens device has to start the session as a host. Then, that device finds a common reference point for all other devices in the session. The first HoloLens sends the location info to a second HoloLens, which must then “find” that common point. Once they’ve synced to the same spot, they can share it with other devices. That’s the origination point of the scene, which is the shared coordinate between the HoloLens devices and the Acer HMDs.

Unity’s Unet (a multiplayer technology first announced back in 2014) underpins the communication aspect of the whole thing.

At the “university” session, we did some more tinkering--enable this, disable that--but to be honest, game development is a little over our heads. But at the end of it, we had “created” this island demo, and we were able to run it with all of our group’s HoloLens and Acer HMDs.

Our takeaway from that experience is that it doesn’t seem especially difficult to get these two types of devices working together. When you see “black box” demos (meaning you see the product but get no glimpse under the hood), you can never know if some engineer kludged together a last-minute hack or workaround to make the thing sing. By showing us the simple steps for how this island demo was put together--and mind you, this was done for multiple groups at a time, multiple times per day--Microsoft was reiterating that these are all mixed reality devices, on its continuum, and that they can truly work together.

Last year, Scope AR launched Worklink, an augmented reality utility that aids in manufacturing and on-site repairs of industrial equipment. When the software launched, Scope AR targeted handheld devices with augmented reality capability (such as iOS and Android devices) and industrial smart glass devices. Now, the company is shifting its focus towards Microsoft’s Hololens mixed reality HMD.

Scope AR’s Worklink software helps cut down manufacturing and industrial repair costs. The software adds 3D overlays to real-world objects to help workers repair or assemble complex machinery. Manufacturers can create visual instructions based on their CAD materials.

Worklink works well on handheld mobile devices, and those devices are basically ubiquitous these days, but now that Microsoft’s Hololens is starting to pick up momentum, and Microsoft is jumping feet first into its Window Mixed Reality platform this year, Scope AR is ready to embrace the Hololens platform.

Note that Scope AR stopped short of supporting the full Window MR experience. We had a chance to speak briefly with Scott Montgomerie, Scope AR’s CEO, and he explained that his company’s clients aren’t interested in the tethered MR HMDs that Microsoft’s partners are preparing for launch. The industrial clients need the freedom to move to the job site. You can’t bring industrial equipment into the computer lab, after all. Scope AR may look at VR when untethered systems become popular, but for now, the Hololens’ augmented reality capability is what the company’s client are after.

“Through its built-in depth camera and sophisticated tracking technology, HoloLens is one of the best wearable devices for hands-free use of the MR applications so many organizations are seeking,” said Scott Montgomerie, CEO of Scope AR. “With WorkLink now supporting the device, enterprises finally have a simple and easy way to digitize visual instructions at scale -- empowering all workers to become their own expert -- and begin to realize the full potential of MR.”

Montgomerie told us that porting Worklink instructions to Hololens couldn’t be simpler. Scope AR worked with Microsoft for several months to ensure that the mobile version and the Hololens version would work seamlessly together. If you have a workforce with Hololens and smartphone devices, everyone can use the same instructions to achieve the same goals. The Hololens users will simply have their hands free to work while they see the overlay.

When you use Worklink on a smart device, the software relies on fiducial markers to track real objects and overlay the digital versions. With the Hololens version, fiducial markers still work, but Scope AR also leverages the tracking and depth mapping systems in Microsoft’s Hololens. The Hololens automatically maps out the environment you’re in, which allows you to work with larger objects without needing an array of markers.

Anyone Can Make Instructions

Scope AR put a lot of effort into ensuring that it’s easy to create training material for Worklink. Manufacturers must insert the CAD drawings of the device they wish to make training material for. Once the CAD drawing is loaded into the utility, you simply identify the components you wish to animate and add text annotations where needed. You don’t need to be proficient in 3D animation to build a repair guide for Worklink, according to Scope AR.

“Enterprise-class instructional content is one of the most impactful use cases across MR today,” said Brandon Bray from Microsoft. "By providing a platform for anyone to customize their content easily for MR integration, Scope AR is making it easy for users to take advantage of the benefits of mixed reality using Microsoft HoloLens."

Scope AR’s Worklink for Hololens is available now, and if you own a license for the smart device version, you automatically have a license for the Hololens version.

Update, 5/12/2017, 8:46am PT: Corrected misspelling of executive's name.

HoloLens was announced one year ago today, and Microsoft celebrated the occasion by trumpeting the mixed reality headset's progress so far.

March has actually been quite busy on the MR front. Microsoft rebranded Windows Holographic to Windows Mixed Reality to better reflect its hopes for XR on Windows; expanded the HoloLens Agency Readiness Partner Program to offer "extensive, hands-on training" to six more European companies; and has now wrapped up the year with a blog post and video summarizing much of what's been happening in the world of HoloLens.

Microsoft highlighted these tidbits in its blog post:

Over 150 exclusive mixed reality apps are now available in the Windows Store.HoloLens is available in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, France, Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the United States and we will begin to ship in China before summer.We have expanded the promise of mixed reality by making it attainable for everyone. Windows Mixed Reality, the HoloLens software platform, is built into Windows 10, opening an ecosystem of hardware and software that will revolutionize how we interact with people, places and things.

Many other things have been going on with HoloLens. Developers have started to experiment with game concepts that take advantage of the MR headset, Microsoft created a jerry-rigged Spectator View to help businesses show off MR's potential, and a company called Stryker has signed on to use HoloLens to design better operating rooms. One dev even built an experimental experience that combined HoloLens with the HTC Vive.

We also learned more about the HoloLens' internals and how its Holographic Processing Unit works. To say that we're waiting to learn more about the MR headset would be an understatement. Alas, Microsoft said in its blog post that we aren't going to slake our thirst for knowledge until the Build 2017 conference, which runs May 10-12 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. Here's hoping that post-birthday bash is illuminating.

Although someday Microsoft’s HoloLens (or at least a future version of it) will most likely become a consumer device, for now the $3,000 HMD is an industry play. (Actually, the dev kit is $3,000; the Commercial Suite is a cool $5,000.) Microsoft has been diligently pushing it in that field, and to that end the company announced that it’s expanding its HoloLens Agency Readiness Partner Program to another six partners in Europe.

The groups joining the fun are:

•Black Marble (UK)•Fundamental VR (UK)•Holoforge (France)•Immersion (France)•REWIND (UK)•Zuhlke (Germany)

Microsoft explained that there are multiple ways companies can get involved with mixed reality and HoloLens. Devs can use the SDK to build their own experiences, and companies can join the Enterprise Accelerator Program, wherein they work directly with Microsoft. There are also “off the shelf” apps like Sketchup Viewer and Skype for HoloLens, Microsoft noted.

And then there’s the HoloLens Agency Readiness Partner Program. Microsoft said that agencies in the program “have all gone through extensive, hands-on training with our team.” Companies in this program are equipped to help other companies develop HoloLens applications and experiences.

“Working with one of our hand-selected HoloLens Agency Readiness Partners is one of the quickest ways to get started with creating mixed reality applications that can transform working with 3D data, bringing new products and information to life, and creating new opportunities for business growth,” read a Microsoft press release in part.

Black Marble offers multiple ways to help companies get rolling in mixed reality. Its HoloLens Workshop explains the basics. In its Holographic Vision, the company will help you figure out what your mixed reality experience will look like, and its Holographic Proof of Concept and Holographic Application programs help companies “realize your vision” and start to actually make a HoloLens solution, respectively.

Fundamental VR explains on its site that “We provide strategic support to help map your journey into VR, MR and AR. Our production, creative and programming resource delivers impactful virtual experiences and our IP lab builds cutting edge platforms and technology to accelerate time to market.” It specializes in “medical training and procedures, workplace collaboration tools and education training.”

Holoforge Interactive said it has four years of HoloLens experience and uses its own proprietary engine and tools as well as the Unity game engine to build “tailored applications.” The company has worked with partners in fields including aeronautics/marine, automotive, energy, geotech, museums, entertainment parks, media, real estate, data visualization, and more.

France’s Immersion has been at it since 1994 and said that it “develops and integrates high-end display systems and interaction devices, in order to test, design, simulate and agree in real-time around the virtual mock-up.” It’s worked in many of the same industries as HoloForge Interactive, as well as aerospace, defense, health, education, and more.

Rewind describes its work by saying that “We combine cutting edge technology with strategic thinking to create immersive virtual, physical and digital narratives for your brand.” This includes virtual reality production, digital Out of Home (OOH) marketing, post production for CGI and visual effects for films, and 360-degree videos.

Zühlke is a little less specific about what it does. At a high level, it “will help companies transform their vision from a smart idea into a resounding market success.” The company has local teams dotting the globe (in Austria, Germany, Serbia, Switzerland and the UK) working in fields “from machinery and plant engineering, to medical technology and the financial sector.”

These six European countries join nearly a dozen North American companies in the HoloLens Agency Readiness Partner Program.

Nomenclature is important. Microsoft has been using the term “Windows Holographic” to describe its mixed reality efforts--which for a time functionally consisted only of the HoloLens and the Holographic shell. Now as the company, along with Intel, pushes in new directions in the XR market, it’s rebranding “Windows Holographic” to “Windows Mixed Reality.”

A Microsoft spokesperson gave Tom’s Hardware a statement that read in full:

Microsoft renamed “Windows Holographic” to “Windows Mixed Reality” to be more encompassing of the company’s broader vision for the platform. We’re unifying the mixed reality ecosystem around a platform that enables shared experiences and interoperability between headsets. By opening up the Windows Mixed Reality platform to the industry at large, we anticipate the growth of holographic apps will make for stronger experiences and better devices for everyone.

One could read into that as much as one likes, but our take is that the new term indeed better matches what Microsoft is trying to do, particularly as it hopes to get more hardware markers into the XR fold.

Microsoft’s Three XR Pillars

Microsoft has three plays in XR. Three pillars, you might call them. One is hardware, vis-a-vis its own HoloLens--a unique device with proprietary components and see-through lenses. You can debate about whether it’s AR or MR, but it most certainly is not VR.

The second pillar involves Microsoft’s efforts with Intel to define hardware specifications for the mainstream HMDs that PC makers are building, as well as the mainstream-level PC specifications needed to run those XR experiences.

The third pillar has to do with operating systems and applications. To that end, Microsoft has its eyes on perhaps the biggest prize: making Windows 10 the primary OS for XR industry-wide. That’s perhaps a little obvious; every PC-connected VR experience currently makes use of Windows. But Android is a big player there as well--most notably for Daydream and Gear VR--and because mobile XR is a key segment of the overall market, Android is a major competitor to Windows.

Perhaps a better way to describe the mobile XR market is to put “mobile” in quotation marks. Typically, when we talk about “mobile” devices, we mean smartphones and tablets, which almost entirely run on Android. However, in XR, “mobile” really refers to the nature of the hardware. Untethered HMDs are going to be of enormous importance to the non-enthusiast space. Think light entertainment and productivity as opposed to hardcore gaming, although some level of “serious” gaming could be part of that. Look no further than Intel’s Project Alloy as evidence of how that could work.

For these untethered HMDs, hardware makers have to make some tough choices. Android is a mature OS, and when you see Qualcomm launching programs aimed at jumpstarting mobile HMD development, you see an Android-based future for XR. But it doesn’t have to mean that, and that’s where Microsoft sees a big opportunity. Why can’t a “mobile” HMD have an x86 chip and run Windows? Further, as we’ve recently learned, Windows should run on ARM processors now (no, not like that).

Windows Mixed Reality: The Linchpin

The linchpin of the whole OS battle is Windows Mixed Reality, formerly known as the Windows Holographic shell. Windows Holographic Mixed Reality is a shell that runs on top of Windows 10. Simply put, it gives you all Universal Apps, plus lots of other content, in a mixed reality environment.

We’ve seen many times how incredibly compelling that is for HoloLens, but it will also be necessary for other types of HMDs. A PC-connected mainstream HMD needs to give you options for productivity. So does any untethered HMD. The brilliant idea behind Windows Mixed Reality is that you can get those Universal Apps and more on a HoloLens-like device with clear lenses, a fully occluded VR HMD, or a mixed reality HMD that can be occluded or can give you visual access to the real world via some kind of camera passthrough. This is not to mention whatever ends up happening with the company's Project Scorpio.

“Windows Holographic” essentially limits the shell, in name if not in practice, to only HoloLens-like devices. Therefore, “Windows Mixed Reality” is a name more befitting Microsoft's plans for XR dominance.

Update, 3/2/17, 9:20am PT: Added a photo gallery, additional details on specifications, and a statement from Microsoft. Originally published 3/1/17, 10:35am PT.

We’ve been waiting for solid details from--well, from anyone--about the inexpensive VR HMDs that are supposedly coming from several PC makers. Today at GDC, Microsoft announced that an Acer-made HMD dev kit bearing the ungainly title of Acer Windows 10 Mixed Reality Development Edition is nigh.

We first learned that several PC makers were planning to build VR HMDs (at the probably not-so-gentle-prodding of Intel and Microsoft) around Computex 2016 time, and at WinHEC, we learned more about the range of specs to expect from the upcoming HMDs and the PCs that will support them.

We were a little surprised that we saw only one prototype HMD at CES--from Lenovo--but now there’s one about to hit the wild in the form of the aforementioned Acer HMD dev kit.

It will offer a resolution of 1440x1440 per eye (706ppi) on LCD displays with a refresh rate of 90Hz. It has built-in audio out and a 3.5mm mic jack, and you can connect it to your PC via a single HDMI 2.0 cable (for the display) and a USB 3.0 cable (for data). Also note that this appears to offer some semblance of mixed reality.

We also know that "Windows Mixed Reality" supports Xbox and Xbox 360 controllers, and it "enables" support for additional controllers, but Microsoft spokespeople cleverly never said whether or not this headset supports any of the above. However, given that this Acer HMD is the MR dev kit, it stands to reason that it does support those controllers.

The "phased rollout" of these dev kits, starting with those who received a "golden ticket" for attending the Windows Mixed Reality session at GDC, will begin later this month. The kits include Acer's HMD as well as "documentation and access to Windows 10 Insider preview builds and the software development kit (SDK) to enable developers to build mixed reality applications." Microsoft said in a blog post that it plans to bring MR to more devices in the future:

We’re also excited to share that Windows Mixed Reality experiences will light up on other devices over time, beyond desktop and Microsoft HoloLens. Our plan is to bring mixed reality content to the Xbox One family of devices, including Project Scorpio, in 2018.

Since we first published this article, we had a chance to see the HMD up close and in person--but under glass. Microsoft even had a security guard posted to make sure people (cough, like us, cough) didn’t try to remove it. He wouldn't let me take his picture. There's not too much more we could glean from seeing the HMD this closely. You can see the simple clasping mechanism that goes around the back of your head. Notably, there is no strap that goes on top of your head, so the whole thing needs to stay up just from the friction around the front, sides, and back of your head.

It's unclear how exactly and to what extent this Acer device will do mixed reality. Clearly, there are a pair of cameras on the front. As we noted in our coverage of LG's new high-end VR HMD prototype, these could be used to toggle on a "real world" view, perform some of the inside-out tracking, let you toggle between fully occluded VR and MR, or create a merged reality environment. At the very least, it will obviously make use of Microsoft's Holographic Shell, and Microsoft confirmed that it will offer inside-out tracking. (We assume that will be 6DoF, but that detail remains unconfirmed.)

Microsoft would not tell us much of anything offering only this statement:

The Acer Windows Mixed Reality Development Edition headset uses the Windows Mixed Reality platform, and delivers built-in inside-out tracking. Windows Mixed Reality is the most complete mixed reality platform across virtually any device type – from VR to AR and everything in between – creating the foundation for the next generation of innovative mixed reality devices powered by Windows 10.

For now, those are the only details we have available. Microsoft will start sending out the dev kits “soon” to content creators. As before, the company stated that we should expect to see devices like the Acer HMD hit the market around the holidays this year, and said it will share more at Build 2017.

Just before GDC, we received a non-announcement announcement that LG is making a VR HMD. Details were sparse, to say the least, but we had the chance to go hands-on with the device. It’s still a prototype, but it performs wonderfully as is, and it will most likely offer a mixed reality environment of some kind via passthrough cameras when the final version comes to market.

The Prototype

The current iteration of LG’s VR HMD is PC-connected, just like the Rift and Vive. It has an OLED display (made by LG) that’s 3.64 inches on the diagonal. It offers 1440x1280 resolution per eye (540ppi) and sports a 90Hz refresh rate. Notably, that resolution is higher than the 1200x1080 resolution of both the Rift and Vive.

The device’s headstrap setup is reminiscent of the HoloLens, and the front of the HMD can slide forward and up, making it exceptionally easy to peek into the real world when necessary and also to take the thing on or off. When you snug it to your face, you tighten the hard plastic straps with a dial on the back to keep it tight.

This design also makes the HMD adjustable. You can slide the front forward or backward 40mm depending on your comfort level, and whether you’re wearing glasses. How far you have the front assembly slid forward affects the field of view. At 12mm (which we infer from talking with LG is the shortest lens-to-eye distance it offers), the FoV is 110 degrees. That’s as good or better than the Rift, Vive, and PSVR, at least on the horizontal. The further out you go, the more the FoV will be reduced.  

We were also told that the lenses are refractive, not the Fresnel lenses that Vive and Rift both use. We were told no more than that, and LG politely asked us not to shoot any pictures of the lenses from too close up.

There’s a headphone jack, too. In our demos, LG plugged in generic headphones for the audio.

The LG VR HMD runs SteamVR, and it uses Lighthouse base stations (though LG-branded) as the Vive to achieve room scale tracking. LG did not comment on the content issue, but we infer that you can play any Vive game on this device.

Mixed Reality And More?

There is much about this HMD that LG has not finalized, and there will be some key features in the final product that aren’t present on this prototype. One that seems to be a shoo-in is a pair of passthrough cameras on the front of the HMD. This current design even has dummy holes for them (if you look closely, you can see that there are no cameras mounted in there yet).

The obvious use for passthrough cameras is mixed reality; what’s less obvious is what that means and how it will be implemented. For example, LG may simply use them to let you toggle on a “real world view” when you need to check your surroundings. On the other hand, they may be a precursor to inside-out tracking that would let LG do away with the Lighthouse trackers. Ostensibly, they could also be used to toggle between a fully occluded VR environment and a mixed reality one, as Vrvana’s Totem does, or to create merged reality, as Intel is doing with Project Alloy.

Of course, LG could also cut the passthrough camera from the final design altogether.

LG said that we should expect the shipping HMD to be lighter than the prototype, and it may also have a higher-resolution display.

Synecdoche Hand Controllers

The HMD has two hand controllers, and they look almost identical to the Vive controllers, but there are some slight differences--which felt a little odd. For example, LG’s design has an angular look compared to the more rounded Vive controllers.

LG also added another button to the top of the controller. An LG rep said that they noticed that many devs liked to add functionality in pairs--such as offering both forward and backward movement--and so it put two equidistant buttons on either side of the touchpad. LG also tightened up the button placement a bit so everything is closer together.  

The two demos we saw made minimal use of the controllers and no use of the buttons, so it’s difficult to evaluate whether or not those design tweaks make a difference.

The Demos: A Fire Dancer And Space Ping Pong

LG showed us two short demos. In one, you’re a passive observer, and in the other, you interact with the environment. For the record, both were superb.

In the first one, you’re greeted by a dancer--she was an avatar, mostly black but drawn with bright orange lines, but her movements were so fluid and graceful that it had to have been created by motion capture. She created this sparky, streaming 3D trail of flame wherever she moved. She dances all around you, so you have to keep spinning in place to keep track of her. It reminded us a little of Tilt Brush, if the artist was a dancer and her palette was fire.

The best way we can think of to describe the second demo is space ping pong. You’re ensconced in a spherical metal room, standing on a platform. A paddle appears in your right hand, and you have to whack a glowing orb at the wall. When your ball hits a glowing green panel, you get points. The ball comes at you fast--so fast that you can’t look the ball into the paddle (which is why I whiffed on several swings, or at least that’s my official excuse).

Why?

When we asked the LG rep on hand why the company was making an HMD in the first place, he sighed a little and noted that he was getting that question often. But his answer is, frankly, why not? He astutely noted that LG already possesses IP and expertise around the display and optics technology, and it wanted to leverage that for VR, and so it worked with Valve to build the HMD.

Indeed, Valve is the ODM for both the headset and the controllers; it basically adapted its existing technology to fit the designs that LG requested. If you think about it, this actually makes plenty of sense. Although it may seem as though Valve is betraying HTC by helping to build a competitor, shouldn’t we have always expected Valve to work with multiple hardware makers? We incorrectly conflate Valve and HTC when it comes to the Vive because of how closely the two have worked together on it, but of course, they’re entirely separate companies. (It also raises the question of how much of the Vive’s IP comes from Valve.)

There’s no word on availability or pricing, and that’s because LG hasn’t even finished designing the final version. The company was clear that it’s soliciting feedback from the VR world at GDC before it makes its final plans.

A Competitor Emerges

Everything we saw in the demos was vivid, smooth, pretty, and electric. The visuals were stunning. Based solely on those few minutes, the LG VR HMD prototype looks every bit as good as the Rift and Vive. Whatever the final version of the LG VR HMD becomes, early indications point to this HMD as another competitor in the high-end VR HMD market.

Somewhat quietly, Qualcomm is full bore into the VR/AR/MR business. At CES, Qualcomm announced its Snapdragon 835 SoC--billed as dedicated to “immersive experiences”--and the hardware launch foil for the new chip was Osterhout Design Group’s (ODG) R8 and R9 augmented reality glasses.

It was no coincidence that Qualcomm, one of the most dominant smartphone SoC makers, debuted the 835 on a device that is not a smartphone. The company was sending a clear message that it’s not interested only in smartphone-based mobile VR like Daydream and Gear VR, but in dedicated, standalone HMDs (be they VR, AR, or MR).

Hitting 10mn

Qualcomm made headlines late in 2016 when it announced that it achieved 10nm with the 835 and also built its 48-core Centriq 2400 Processor. We know the former uses Samsung’s FinFET process, but we aren’t certain about the latter. At the time it was announced, Qualcomm promised that 10nm would grant the 835 a 27% increase in performance or up to a 40% decrease in power consumption over 14nm (not to mention a 30% increase in area efficiency).

Assuming that Qualcomm’s claims hold true, the 835 represents a noteworthy opportunity for the burgeoning XR headset market. It’s no secret that the vast majority of the industry is driving towards untethered, all-in-one HMDs for all manner of XR. That’s an obvious “must have” on the AR and MR side, but even headsets built primarily for VR are yearning to be free, if you will; look no further than Intel’s Project Alloy; Oculus’ Project Santa Cruz; and a smattering of third-party wireless VR devices, technologies, and accessories from Sixa, DisplayLink, MIT, Intel, TPCAST, and Quark VR.

In all cases, what you’re essentially doing is cramming a PC onto a headset. To say that’s ungainly and difficult would be an understatement. You have to balance a great deal of compute power with energy efficiency and weight, and then you still need to figure out what to do with all that sensor data.

The 835 chip promises to address some of those issues. It’s also important to note that there's no separate visual processing unit (VPU) here to offload some of the work from the CPU and GPU. There isn't even a dedicated inertial measurement unit (IMU). Qualcomm leveraged the existing DSP functionality of the 835 to enable headset makers to skip the IMU altogether. According to Jim Merrick, Qualcomm's IoT Marketing Director, "An IMU is essentially a special purpose DSP. We already have a DSP … that’s integrated into our SoC in the first place."

Keep in mind that the Intel Project Alloy prototype has a Skylake-based Atom chip for now, and even the next generation will have just a Kaby Lake CPU--notably, still not a 10nm Cannnonlake processor. Even Microsoft’s HoloLens, which is an exceptional device, relies on a combination of an Intel Cherry Trail chip and a dedicated “HPU” (Holographic Processing Unit). According to Qualcomm, HMDs built with the 835 will enjoy a physically smaller chip with better efficiency without sacrificing any meaningful performance.

Further on the road to efficiency, Merrick told us that all of Qualcomm’s VR reference designs have eye tracking built in, because eye tracking is a “prerequisite” for foveated rendering. Foveated rendering is an answer to the problem of having to render a whole virtual environment, which is a waste of resources if you consider that the human eye can only see so much of a scene at any given time and with any reasonable amount of focus.

When you think of a mobile HMD and Qualcomm’s value, you may think of a lightweight AR headset like ODG’s R8 or R9, but the company is making plays on more heavier-duty, VR-oriented headsets, too. Merrick acknowledged that Qualcomm has been talking with the PC makers who are promising to deliver VR HMDs this year:

A lot of the PC makers are also handset manufacturers, so we have existing relationships with these people. [But] we’re getting a lot of interest. Some of our solutions like the 6DoF, or the single the monocular camera--those reduce cost and shorten time to market. It’s very interesting to people. Our GPU is very robust, we’ve seen a lot of interest in it. Our thermals are very good. I think everyone agrees you want to get to an untethered, all in one type device.

Supporting Operating Systems

Hardware aside, one of the key advantages that Qualcomm offers concerns supported operating systems--or, perhaps more accurately, supported content platforms.

Merrick was adamant about the need for content:

The content pipeline is critical. You know, Oculus has captured the imagination of the industry, specifically, and consumers to a somewhat lesser extent, for the last couple of years. But what has saddled Oculus is a content licensing and delivery platform. There’s some fantastic demos, some great technology there, but there’s not a robust ecosystem. That’s why Sony had the opportunity with PlayStation VR to get better traction. It’s helped Vive with Steam, because they have a content delivery and licensing platform. It’s all about the content.

When it comes to XR, Qualcomm has powerful, superb platforms to offer: Android and Windows. Technically, as Merrick was quick to point out, Qualcomm has always tried to be OS-agnostic. But one aspect sorely lacking on ARM chips (on which Qualcomm’s Snapdragon SoCs are based) was always Windows support. (Steve Ballmer can tell you all about that.)

With an announcement back in December, though, that’s suddenly changing: x86 emulation is coming to ARM, and guess which company will be the first to support it? (Qualcomm. It’s Qualcomm, if you missed the hint.)

If Qualcomm enables Windows to run on its chips, that means the Windows Holographic shell should work, as well. Windows Holographic has its own set of mixed reality applications, of course, but according to Microsoft, it will also support any UWP apps. Therefore, a headset built on the 835 could feasibly run any modern Windows application and Windows HoloGraphic apps.

This is in addition to whatever is in the Google Play Store, because the 835 is already set up to run Android. That includes Daydream apps and, depending on the hardware, Project Tango as well.

And of course, any device should be able to leverage whatever emerges from the WebVR effort being spearheaded by Facebook/Oculus (with their Carmel browser), Google, and Mozilla.

Looking Into The Future

The 835 looks to be a platform upon which Qualcomm rides into the future. It’s built to support deep learning and eye tracking, for example--two technologies that may become rather standard on many XR devices at some point.

Eye tracking will certainly become a go-to feature for many XR HMDs (possibly a must-have at some point). It has great potential as an input method, and as we mentioned, you need it for foveated rendering. SMI is the darling of Qualcomm in this regard; Merrick called the company “the leaders in the space.”

Another extremely compelling technology we’ll be seeing in HMDs is a deep learning component, and on that point, Qualcomm believes the 835 is ready for it. Said Merrick, “Snapdragon 835 has substantial compute capability to run one or many deep neural networks across all cores (CPU, GPU, DSP).” Developers also get to use the Snapdragon Neural Processing Engine SDK.

“This software framework gives developers and OEMs the tools to run trained neural networks on the Snapdragon core of choice based on the power and performance demands of the chosen user experience or feature. Supporting these workloads on the device ensures optimal performance as opposed to relying on a connection to the cloud,” added Merrick.

ODG: The Rider

Given the above, we might say that Qualcomm is a dark horse in the XR field, and if so, ODG is its rider. It’s true that others (see SMI, above) are hitching their wagons to Qualcomm’s platform, but ODG’s R8 and R9 AR glasses feel like a big win for both companies. The buzz around the spectacles at CES was palpable, most notably within ODG’s crowded, multi-story booth, wherein all the ODG reps were sweaty and breathless and excited.

The possibilities that the R8 and R9 promise is enormous, although it would seem that much of that promise is yet to be unlocked. To be frank, the demos ODG gave us at CES left something to be desired. This was partially due to the fact that a few pairs of the glasses that ODG was using for demos were having issues, and there just wasn’t much compelling content to pick from just yet, but the actual demos weren’t especially mind-blowing. Much of it consisted of looking around within 360° videos, so we didn’t even get to experience 6DoF tracking, for example.

However, a rundown of the specifications and features shows tremendous potential. Note that the R8 and R9 are similar in many ways--indeed, it’s difficult to even tell them apart at a glance--but there are key differences. Let’s start with a chart:

Both the R8 and R9 run on Android 7 (Nougat) with the Reticle OS layered on top, and they support the Unity and Unreal engines. Further, an ODG SDK is in the works that would let you enjoy content from essentially any Android platform.

Both pairs of glasses run on Qualcomm’s 835 SoC (2.45GHz) and offer 6DoF tracking, dual stereoscopic displays, 1,300mAh Li-ion battery capacity (mounted in the earpiece), and at least one front-facing camera. Note well that compared to the previous-gen R7 glasses, which sport a weaker 805 chip, narrower FoV, only a 4MP autofocus camera, and only 3DoF tracking, the R8 and R9 offer much more impressive features.

Neither the R8 nor the R9 offer much in the way of field of view, which is an unfortunate limitation in terms of immersion. They can muster just 40° and 50° FoV, respectively. It’s worth noting, though, that the R9 can display in 22x9 (native digital movie format) or 16x9 aspect ratios.

Although the R8 is the “little sibling,” a double-take worthy feature it offers over the R9 is dual 1080p cameras--as opposed to the R9’s single 4K camera--which means it can shoot binocular video.

However, ODG built the R9 with an expansion port on top, so you can add all manner of modules to expand its capabilities. (Who exactly is making these modules remains to be seen.) The idea here is that ODG wants to sell consumers a nice all-in-one package with the R8, but enthusiasts and pros can opt for the R9 and add those modules they need for efficient extensibility. That top-mounted port offers MIPI, USB, and power to flow through it. An ODG rep rattled off many potential add-ons for the port, including night vision goggles, medical detectors, LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), structured light sensors, or multiple cameras.

Unlike the R8, the R9 also offers numerous onboard buttons, mounted on the ear pieces, including the standard Android buttons. However, that’s just one means of input; an ODG rep told us that really, you could employ almost any conceivable input. That could include voice commands, a wireless MEMS controller, controls via smartphone tethered by Bluetooth to the device, and more.

Both sets of glasses are capable of object tracking, so you can place virtual objects in physical spaces. ODG employs SLAM, fused with IMU data and the camera input.

For now, we’ll give the tepid demos a pass; the devices in the booth had been abused for days, and given that neither the R8 nor R9 is actually on the market yet--they’re coming in the fall and spring of this year, respectively--we expect that ODG is still doing some tinkering.

Expect more XR devices running on the 835 to emerge soon, and expect those devices to land on a range of HMD types from AR to VR. What will be most interesting to watch is whether or not some of the major HMD players gravitate towards this ostensibly smaller, lighter, and more efficient platform over the Intel-based chip solutions in Project Alloy, HoloLens, and other upcoming HMDs.

The race for all-in-one XR HMD supremacy is on, and that’s good for both the market in general and consumers specifically.