Offers new way of seeing the world.
The Microsoft HoloLens virtual reality headset has been recognised as Best Product Design in the Consumer Electronics category of the Good Design Awards held in Sydney on Friday.
The Microsoft HoloLens, priced at $3,000, is the first untethered holographic computer and enables users to view and interact with a combination of holograms in their own physical environment as a new way to see the world. It features numerous sensors to provide 360-degree viewing capability as well as built-in audio programs which monitor the location of the user.
“HoloLens provides a unique, immersive computing experience, but one that doesn’t try to block you from the real world. Instead, it embeds your most valuable applications into the world around you. We call this experience mixed reality, and it is enabling all-new ways to create, communicate, work, and play,” the company says.
According to Microsoft, a gamer using HoloLens can fight robots breaking through the actual living room walls, dodging as very real-looking lasers fly past their head. An architect or illustrator using HoloLens can design in three dimensions, moving objects from the screen into the real world to visualize and examine. A professor or student using HoloLens can get up close and personal with their area of study like never before, strolling through rock formations on Mars or examining a hologram cross-section of a beating, human heart.
NASA has recently used HoloLens to create a tour of Mars with former astronaut Buzz Aldrin as the guide for the holographic tour. The Mars experience with the HoloLens is enhanced with commentary from Curiosity Mars rover driver Erisa Hines.
The Microsoft HoloLens edged out the Oculus Rift which was also a finalist within the Consumer Electronics category at the Good Design Awards. In March 2014, Facebook purchased Oculus for $US2 billion.