The new "HoloLens" Augmented-Reality Glasses by Microsoft combines the world around you with Virtual Reality and 3D elements.
While you can still see your surroundings, the glasses render virtual reality objects that interact with your real vision - for example by creating a hole in the wall.
The glasses analyze your environment and recognize walls or furniture!
The first thing we notice about the glasses is that they look quote heavy and bulky - they weigh over half a kilogram and fit all the way around the users head.
The glasses operate with windows software, and you can do normal things like browse the web or watch videos, as well as play games that have been specifically designed for the HoloLens.
Before opening each application, you first have to select where you want to place it in your field of vision - and it will stay there as you move around.
You can also place 3D holograms in your surroundings that you can then look at like a virtual statue.
There have been games especially developed for the HoloLens - for example a game where monsters attack you crawling through your walls, and you shoot them with a virtual weapon that is being rendered to your hand (and it moves as you move your hand too!)
You can navigate through the virtual world by Air-Tapping (Tapping on the virtual screen in front of your eyes with your hands) which replicates a mouse-click on the computer.
This is a concept we have seen in futuristic Hollywood movies a lot already, and now Microsoft has brought it to real life.
But multiple reports say that it's not fully developed yet - when typing things via the keybord, it can take quite a little bit of practice!
And there seems to be another downside: the relatively small field of vision.
While the human eye naturally picks up about 180 degrees of our surroundings, VR Glasses like the Oculus Rift manage to pick up a bout 100 degrees, while the HoloLens only offers maybe 40 degrees.
This means that you can't step too closely to anything because things at the edge of your field of vision will disappear, destroying the illusion everytime.
There is a big difference from Virtual Reality headsets, like the Oculus Rift for example: while they are big and chunky and basically put a whole screen in front of your eyes, the HoloLens is see-through and can therefore interact with your environment.
Also, the HoloLens doesn't have to be plugged into a PC like normal VR Headsets - everything is included in the glasses and you can move without any wires. The battery lasts about 2-3 hours.
While the technical aspect of these glasses is impressive, for me this lacks in usability.
People don't want to walk around with glasses on their head that look like a helmet from StarTrek - they are way too bulky in my opinion.
The sleek, feather light version of the google glass was much slimmer and probably more comfortable to wear.
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