The Microsoft HoloLens 2 will not be Wi-Fi reliant anymore for productivity. Microsoft is launching a dongle that will make the AR glasses 5G capable for wireless connectivity.
The new frontier for the tech industry is going beyond screens and straight into the real world. Tech companies are racing to be the first to hit the consumer market with a mass market ready glasses. Microsoft is currently leading the pack with the Microsoft HoloLens.
Unfortunately, it might not be another year or two before the company is ready to deliver the HoloLens experience to the general market. Nevertheless, the company is on the right track with its latest additional feature for the HoloLens 2.
5G connectivity for the Microsoft HoloLens 2
Microsoft announced in the online Build developers conference that the company will soon release the 5G dongle for the HoloLens 2. Prior to the release, the HoloLens 2 had to rely on Wi-Fi connections for it to function properly. Soon, HoloLens 2 users will be able to work without being tethered to a hotspot.
Available to more markets at possibly lower prices
Microsoft also announced that the HoloLens 2 will soon be available in more markets. The company hasn’t released official sales number for the AR glasses. No one is expecting the numbers to be blow off the roof as the HoloLens 2’s application has been constricted business applications.
Nevertheless, Microsoft is going to release the HoloLens 2 in more European markets such as Netherlands, Belgium Denmark and Switzerland. Asian markets such as Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan will also get their first crack at the HoloLens 2.
Greg Sullivan, Microsoft’s director of mixed reality, certainly thinks that the future of the AR glasses and headsets will be towards a more affordable area. He believes that the Microsoft has all the cards ready to make a push for the mass market. He said that ‘With our Windows mixed-reality headsets, with our partners, we basically licensed the six degrees of freedom positional tracking.’
Growth of cloud services
Microsoft also announced in the Build conference that the company is working bolstering its cloud services for the AR ecosystem. The AR glasses rely on heavy cloud computing for guided remote assistance. The feature basically allows the glasses to access a vast server of information for voice assistance such as in telemedicine and maps.
The additional growth of the cloud services also means that the HoloLens 2 will now be able to recognize voice commands and have better hand tracking capabilities too.
Image courtesy of Microsoft/ Youtube