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Microsoft's HoloLens Has Some Competition

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Microsoft's HoloLens Has Some Competition

Microsoft today revealed a bit more info on one of their more secretive projects, the HoloLens, at Microsoft Build 2015. For those that missed the unveiling of the HoloLens a few months back, it is a holographic projection headset with motion tracking and gesture recognition. Which is not the same as Augmented Reality or Virtual Reality. Unlike with Augmented reality devices, the HoloLens doesn't just project images in front of the user like Google Glass does. It projects them and locks them into place wherever the user wishes in their environment. Freakin' awesome I say. It looks something like this:

www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us

The HoloLens is 100% wireless and has an HD display and spatial sound, which means that the sound output is based on the location of the holograms. It can process Terabytes of data in real time, which is what gives the holograms a real presence with as little latency as possible. Surface tracking is crucial for a life-like experience. And by surface tracking I mean how the device detects what a solid object is, such as a coffee table. You don't want to turn your head left, just to see the content in front of you follow along leaving a trail. Everyone that got to try the HoloLens during that super secretive demo a few months back said the exact thing, that they felt like these virtual displays were sitting right there in front of them and that they were a part of the environment.

After today's Build demo, I'm certainly even more excited for this technology. It looks way more polished since the last time we saw it and we got to learn more about how it will interact with Windows 10.

It's definitely an exciting piece of technology. But it is not the only one out on the market surprisingly. There are other companies out there, smaller mind you, working on very similar devices. Many of these companies took it to Kickstarter to continue their projects, and many got successfully funded. Here are a few of the ones that stood out the most and which will or are already on the market.


meta



The meta began its life on Kickstarter, and was successfully funded at a little under $200k. It is probably the closest device that I've seen to the HoloLens in terms of functionality. It can measure depth, for touch gesture recognition and their surface tracking algorithms were created by professors and graduate students at Columbia University. Pretty snazzy. Currently, the only way to get one is through an invite only system, which you can sign up for here and it will probably run you about $667.

It does come in short in a few areas, when compared to the HoloLens, the main one being that it is not wireless. It does have an HDMI port which definitely limits mobility. This is probably just an alpha/beta thing, and I'd imagine that once it's ready for commercial use that it will be wireless. At least it will need to be in order for it to be any competition for the HoloLens.


meta augmented reality
www.getameta.com

castAR



castAR begin it's journey on Kickstarter also, and was successfully funded with a little over 1 million dollars. Not too shabby for a relatively new technology. Like the HoloLens, it aims to project 3D like images in front of your face and have them become a part of the environment. A few very large differences though. The castAR requires a special "surface" to function properly. This is where the content gets displayed. No Surface. No hologram. It is made up of a special reflective material, and once publicly available will come in many sizes. It also uses a special wand device to control the display. Already, you're going to need a few extra peripherals and, like with the meta, it is not wireless which again limits your mobility.

The castAR seems to be targeting a different audience however. It seems to have a more game oriented feel. Many of the demos are for table top games, which makes sense when you look at it. Even the wand itself is a controller for many of the demo games. You can set up your surface and play a game of virtual chess perhaps. You can currently pre-order the castAR for $400, which will include a wand controller and a 1 meter by 1 meter surface. Delivery dates are still to be determined though.


Impression Pi


The Impression Pi is one of the newer augmented VR, AR, Holo headsets out on the market. And it is out, you guessed it, thorough Kickstarter. It has successfully been funded and is now adding new stretch goals into the mix. Like the HoloLens it is wireless, for an interesting reason. Because it uses your phone to run the software.

It's offers pretty advanced features, for a device powered by a phone. It has both Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality capabilities and offers various gesture controls. You can get a completed module by pledging $249 which isn't bad at all. The only question is how well will it be able to handle


Magic Leap


Magic Leap is probably the most secretive AR/VR/Holo device so far. But they must have something good as Google was willing to throw half a billion dollars their way as an investment last year. From what I've read, it will pretty much be able to do what the HoloLens does, plus it will also have full VR capability. The only thing we have on the Magic Leap is this promo video made for it a while back.

However it is just a promo video. How much of it is actually working footage is also unknown. But if that is the final goal that Magic Leap wants to reach, then the HoloLens is going to have some competition.


Walter Guevara is a software engineer, startup founder and currently teaches programming for a coding bootcamp. He is currently building things that don't yet exist.

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