Microsoft launched a developer demo for its HoloLens mixed reality headset on December 17, Thursday at its flagship store. It will soon start selling its development kits, bringing it one step closer to challenging various augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) units including Facebook's Oculus Rift, Sony PlayStation VR, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR, and Google Cardboard. The special rooms in the New York flagship store provide three demonstrations of the VR-AR device that showcase its various features.
Microsoft's Hololens Experience Showcase at the company's Fifth Avenue store features the mixed reality device, according to The Verge. It follows the HoloLens "roadshow" in major North American cities and is the precursor to Microsoft's development kits that will go on sale next year.
One of the demos is called HoloStudio. Before starting it, VR-AR headset users must watch an instruction video and make minor adjustments to the AR headset to provide a comfortable fit.
The demo requires the developers to perform various tasks. One job is to attach a sign in 3D space to a wall.
They also have to paint a Star Wars X-Wing fighter. Yet another mini task is to transfer a fish inside a pipe to open water, and then copy the blue fish until it fills the entire room.
The second demo reveals a 3D watch that appears on a table, and then the AR headset describes the watch. Afterwards the watch grows many times bigger than its original size and explodes, revealing the design and pieces inside the timepiece. This application could be used to show consumers more details about a product, according to BGR.
The third HoloLens demo is the Project X-Ray game that shows how the device could be coupled with an Xbox One controller to function like Oculus Rift or PlayStation VR. This shooting game requires the VR-AR headset user to battle robotic scorpions crawling out of the room's walls
Microsoft's HoloLens device is more ideal for developers compared to various VR headsets that are more practical for gamers and retailers. It is unclear how the OS giant will tweak it for the retail market.