Microsoft launches HoloLens 2 mixed reality headset in India

The device is said to augment the jobs of employees in sectors like manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, and education.

HoloLens 2 used to connect with remote colleagues in real-time and work together on a holographic canvas overlayed in a user's physical environment.

Microsoft has launched its HoloLens 2 mixed reality headset in India to enable businesses across different industries to make use of the capabilities of mixed reality solutions.

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The device, introduced about three years ago at MWC Barcelona, is said to augment the jobs of employees in sectors like manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, and education.

“We are in a new era of computing, in which the digital world goes beyond two-dimensional screens and enters the three-dimensional world,” Microsoft India COO Rajiv Sodhi, said, adding that the device can aid businesses and their employees complete crucial tasks faster, safer, and more efficiently.

Essentially, mixed reality blends the physical and digital worlds, from augmented reality to virtual reality, making it possible for these worlds to interact in real-time.

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The mixed reality headset can have different industry-specific uses. In the manufacturing and automotive industry, it can help improve worker productivity, accuracy, upskilling, as well as enable remote maintenance and reduce downtime, according to Microsoft.

The device is said to facilitate training and simulations, as well as remote consultations between experts in the healthcare sector.

The headset features see-through holographic lenses with 2k 3:2 light engines. It has four visible light cameras for head tracking, two IR cameras for eye tracking, a 1-MP time-of-flight depth sensor, and an 8-MP RGB camera sensor.

The device also has a five-channel microphone array, built-in speakers with spatial audio. It uses smart microphones and natural language speech processing to support voice commands. It also allows people to securely log in to the device using their eyes with Windows Hello.

On the hardware front, the headset also features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 Compute Platform, second-generation custom-built holographic processing unit, 4 GB LPDDR4x system DRAM memory, 64 GB UFS 2.1 storage, Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac 2x2), Bluetooth 5.0, and USB Type-C connectivity.

HoloLens 2 can be integrated with mixed reality business applications, industry ISV solutions, as well as both new and existing Azure services. It is available in India via commercial authorised resellers Softline and Team Computer, the company noted.

Last year, the tech firm had also introduced an ‘Industrial Edition’ of the mixed reality headset , which it said is “designed, built and tested to support regulated environments that have rigorous requirements.”