For those not in the know, HoloLens is Microsoft’s breakthrough 'mixed reality' (MR) project that we know will change the way we engage and interact with brands and content. Here at Imagination Sydney we've been fortunate to be one of the first companies in Australia to have HoloLens. So what are our impressions of this tech?
A computer for a hat
Given the HoloLens is the first of its kind from Microsoft, it actually looks really cool. Packed into the device are two screens, six cameras, microphone, speakers, batteries - basically it’s a super computer strapped to your head and runs completely untethered meaning complete freedom to wirelessly move around the office space. Although the device is quite comfy to put on, after a while you start to feel the weight of it which can be quite uncomfortable.
With respect to Microsoft this is being picky, as we have to appreciate the fact that Microsoft has effectively shrunk a super-computer into a wearable and the result is incredible.
It’s not a mouse click away
What differentiates HoloLens from traditional AR platforms is that the device does not need markers to augment visual content. Instead the device's cameras map your surroundings to understand its geometry. Using that geometry, it augments visual content within the space.
So with the device powered up and the headset on your ready to go, what’s next? The first thing you see when you power the device up is an amazing mesh type animation that shows the device mapping the environment in real time.
Next is a familiar looking Microsoft user interface that presents a relatively basic menu giving access to a familiar array of Microsoft applications. I personally thought the menu would be less traditional and more futuristic but in hindsight this is a development/test product and it needs to be functional. What’s cool, but at the same time makes you look a bit crazy when doing so, is the gesture based control required to navigate the user interface.
It first starts with your head, that when you move around a small pointer represents the focal point similar to a mouse cursor but a dot instead. Then, by using a pinch gesture you can click on your desired button. Sounds simple but it takes some practice to get used to it. Kind of like using a manual car for the first time.
Something we found quite useful, when wanting to find something quickly, was Cortana, Microsoft’s personal voice assistant. It was actually quite a fulfilling and liberating experience to walk around, un-tethered. Ask Cortana to show you a YouTube video and for it to pop up in front of you as your walking to a meeting. I think that through the future generations of this technology, voice control and the use of AIs will play a big part in its success.
Augmented techoration (AdNews guesses this is a Soper buzzword)
Microsoft has released HoloLens to the development community giving them a new creative territory to explore and develop for. The fruits of this are already emerging - playing games such as Fragments which is an interactive mixed reality thriller game that has really shown off the power of the hardware. Beyond the draw of gaming we loved exploring how apps such as Actiongram provide a new narrative platform for story telling and how HoloStudio can provide a new way of viewing our environmental 3D design concepts.
The result of this deep dive into the type of content the HoloLens is capable of displaying has resulted in a chaotic augmented techoration of our Innovation Lab with 3D models, videos, posters, hololgrams, barking dogs, webpages and space stations dotted in every nook and cranny of our tech space.
Cleaning your room
The HoloLens has a feature that when a room is mapped, it remembers its location so that when you next enter the space the same content you had mapped to the environment remains. This means you could decorate your entire office space with augmented content and bask in your creative augmented techoration every day. Our head of digital production made a really valid point after playing with this tech - in the future you will be asked to clean your virtual room. Unbeknown to him at the time, but the future was right around the corner. Literally yesterday I had to clean up the augmented content we had scattered around our lab because it was looking messy!
What brands could do?
Our goals in investing in this technology have been to understand how it will impact our clients so we can better advise them on future trends and disruptors to their business. Since we have showcased the technology to our clients we have had great interest in how it can be used at an experience level. For this it certainly can and it is a powerful symbol in a market place where all businesses are striving to achieve the perception amongst peers that they are leaders in technology. It has also proven its weight as a training utility with Japan Airlines using it to train mechanics and crew.
What we have seen more than this is the eye-opening realisation, in discussions with our clients, that this technology really has the potential to change how we consume and interact with content. As a brand, business and advertiser, a world when we no longer need printed bus shelter signs, TVs in our living rooms, computer screens and mobile phones is a very different world, and one to be prepared for.
We are using it as a point of inspiration so our clients can see that we are always ahead of the curve and a trusted advisor to new and emerging technology that could impact their business
The future
So what does the future look like for this technology? Well this is genuinely a very exciting tech and my mind is set, whether it be Google Glass’, Microsoft HoloLens or the much anticipated Magic Leap - a highly secretive US start up pioneering a new type of head mounted virtual retina display - mixed reality is a future tech that will change the face of how we advertise, market, consume content, conduct business, and how we communicate.
The biggest thing about this technology is that the future for all of us will not be seen by all of us, it will be completely personal. We will have full creative license to make our environments our own, with full personalisation of content and environments from the bus to the living room. Microsoft has provided a fantastic eye-opener into this new world.
Given this is generation one, it will only get better.
By head of technology at Imagination, Jake Soper