HoloLens在一月份初次露面的时候，给人留下非常深刻的印象，前天在Build 2015第一天Keynotes的演示中，HoloLens的使用场景增加了，效果也更令人震撼了。可那毕竟还是on-stage的演示，仍然让许多人觉得不真实，还是有人嘲讽HoloLens会是下一个Google Glass。
好在微软为Build 2015准备了足够数量的HoloLens，让与会者参与体验，甚至有training教大家为HoloLens写应用。那么从开发者的角度，HoloLens到底怎么样呢？不妨来看看体验过的人怎么说。
As for the using the device: First off, it was awesome. Second off, it was awesome.
Air-tapping to select and open holograms in the air felt surprisingly natural, as did talking into the microphone. Using it in conjunction with a standard mouse/PC setup felt very natural, and it was extremely rewarding to see what we did on the computer reflected in the “real” world.
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Where Google positioned Google Glass as an always-on, always-with-you Ultra Life Companion that was designed to be in your face and all your friends’ faces forever, HoloLens is very clearly aimed at Getting Things Done and Serious Business.
We tried Microsoft HoloLens: This is going to be much bigger than Google Glass
Real-world interaction was one of the most impressive things HoloLens does. The device, which is loaded with sensors, does real-time mapping of all the objects close by, and you can actually see it doing this since you can make the wireframes visible. There’s a little latency — as other people in the room moved, their wireframes took a second to catch up — but it was an extremely cool effect.
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Once you accept the device’s limitations, you begin to unlock the possibilities within it. It’s not hard to imagine a developer creating a holographic version of video chat It’s not hard to imagine a developer creating a holographic version of video chat — with not just floating screens, but floating people, rendered in 3D. Building virtual pets that follow you around would be child’s play.
I created a hologram on Microsoft HoloLens
“This is better than Google Glass. This seems to genuinely match the potential your promotional materials convey. We are excited to see it develop further, and fall into the hands of enterprise, where it seems even a small amount of imagination and implementation will pay huge dividends. Please can we take one home? Oh, please?”
Be aware: nobody would tell us anything about the hardware in Microsoft HoloLens. Nothing about the specifications, the battery life, or the cost. Lips were sealed.
As with anything new, exciting and prototypical, there are still more questions than answers with HoloLens, but it’s a unique combination of tried-and-tested concepts, one or two new ones, and a savvy and robust coding solution. Even with our (very) limited Unity expertise, our imagination is running away.
In the hands of a talented end user, Microsoft HoloLens could be very special indeed.
Today’s demo obviously happened in a controlled environment, but it was nowhere as controlled as I expected. People moved around as four or five of us gathered around a table to look at our holograms and everything still worked really well.
At the end of the session, I came away very impressed. When I first heard about HoloLens, I thought this was a technology that was still very far away from being production-ready and I assumed that the demos Microsoft showed earlier this year were simply well-staged and had managed to pull the wool over the assembled tech press. Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft started selling HoloLens within a year (the company, of course, won’t say when HoloLens will go on sale or at what price).