Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Headset To Roll Out This Month

Image credit: UploadVR

Back last year in 2016, computing giant Microsoft announced its plans to come with Mixed Reality Headsets having Windows 10 VR and holographic capabilities. Moreover, to make this project a success, Microsoft has teamed up with several industry tech giants like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer who will be responsible for making these Mixed Reality headsets. Just take a look at the video below to get an idea of things that could be possible with Windows Mixed Reality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xpI0JosYUk

The Microsoft Mixed Reality headsets are different from the HoloLens in a sense that the latter one has a transparent visor for overlaying images in the real world. Also, the HoloLens comes with more advanced features like Gesture Tracking and others. While explaining the difference, Microsoft Technical Fellow Alex Kipman said “HoloLens is focused on task workers and enterprise. The affordable headsets starting at $299 are entirely focused on gaming and entertainment.”

Acer Mixed Reality Headset Announced at GDC

At the ongoing Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, Microsoft made an official announcement of the Acer Windows Mixed Reality Development Edition headset that will be shipping this month.

The Microsoft’s developer kit will be rolled out in a phased manner with this Acer headset. This kit will include the Mixed Reality documentation, along with access to Windows 10 preview builds and essential SDKs for creating of mixed reality applications.

Image credit: Windows Blogs

Speaking about specs, the Acer Mixed Reality Headset uses two totally opaque LCD displays with 1440 x 1440 resolution and 90Hz refresh rates. Additionally, it will also have built-in audio out and headphones support through 3.5mm jack. The connectivity options include an HDMI 2.0 for display and a USB 3.0 for data.

Microsoft is keen to call this a ‘mixed reality headset’ as it offers inside-out tracking without the need for any additional sensors. This helps you perfectly map the surrounding real-world objects and experience true room-scale VR capabilities.

Easy Setup and PC Integration

Unlike the standalone Microsoft HoloLens, these mixed reality headsets would have to be tethered to its compatible Windows 10 PCs, although Microsoft claims that the setup is pretty simple with just a plug and play activity.

Once your headset is plugged to a Windows 10 PC, it would automatically install the drivers. After this, users just need to setup the “active space” in order to trigger the built-in sensors for inside-out room-scale positional tracking. Your headset will then scan and map the entire room and trigger you a necessary warning whenever you move out of your “active space.”

Image credit: UploadVR

These mixed reality head-mounted displays will allow you interact with 3D objects and create floating images against the real-world background. Just like the existing Rift and Vive headsets, you can also watch movies and play games in 3D. Moreover, the Microsoft mixed reality headsets will be able to run Windows Universal Apps, HoloLens Apps and would also be able to launch the basic Win32 programs in a single “desktop” window.

PC Requirements

To keep in with the affordability quotient of its mixed reality headsets, Microsoft has made sure that the headsets need minimum PC hardware requirements. This includes the Laptops to have Intel Core i5 Chip with Kaby Lake Architecture and the PCs to have Intel Core i5 Chip with Skylake. Additionally, both Laptops and PCs will require an 8GB of dual-channel RAM.

The mixed reality headsets are also likely to work with voice commands via Cortana, giving users the ability to interact with the content. Initially, the headsets are also expected to support nine different languages, and more would be added further.