A few days ago, Microsoft unveiled the second generation of its flagship Mixed Reality headset. Dubbed simply as Hololens 2, this device was undoubtedly stealing all the thunders in MWC which was held in Barcelona this year.

So what’s amazing about Hololens 2?

Almost every part of it. Seriously, the $480M deal with US Army last year should be an indication that Hololens 2 is gonna be huge.

Here’s 5 reasons Hololens 2 is gonna keep leading the enterprise Mixed Reality scene:

1. Better Ergonomics
   On the first glance, you can already see a change of form factor from its predecessor. The visor part is pretty similar and still won’t win any beauty contest. But the most notable difference is the blocky part at the back of the headset. It’s immediately clear that Microsoft moved the main processing unit here. Consequentially the center of gravity is geared more to the center now, so your nose no longer have to bear the most weight like Hololens 1. It’s also utilizing carbon fiber build to make it lighter. Borrowing the concept from its VR line (the stupidly named Windows Mixed Reality), the tightening mechanism feels more natural this time. However, what I’m most excited about is the flip-up design of the visor. Users can now get in and out of the MR effortlessly. Not only this is good for normal usage, it is GREAT for development.
2. Hand Tracking
   One of the limitations of Hololens 1 is its input interface. There are only a few hand gestures it can detect. Not having a dedicated controller is more of a shortcoming than a feature. Although it’s understandable that for field usage it’s better to have no controller, for office usage it’s quite limiting. Hololens 2 brings a fully articulated hand tracking. Meaning it can even detects individual fingers. The on-stage demo had the presenter pressing piano chords. Very impressive to say the least. The whole demo feels like hand tracking is really where MR headset should be heading toward.
3. Bigger FoV
   Hololens 1 had a measly 34-degree field of view, so you experience a lot of clipping. Not to mention its 16:9 ratio makes it more noticeable. Hololens 2 comes with 52-degree FoV and with more squarish ratio, allowing more vertical view which looks more natural when you see digital contents.
4. More Affordable Price
   The enterprise edition comes at $3,500 price point. That’s $1,500 less than Hololens 1 of the same edition. Although it remains to be seen if the developer edition will be less than $3,000, it’s hopeful to wish for it. Additionally, there are instalment plans this time. For $125/month, you get a subscription to Dynamics 365 Remote Assist bundled with a Hololens 2 device. The catch is that you have to subscribe for 36 months.
5. A Suit of Cloud Solution
   Although an MR headset is impressive on its own, without a strong cloud infrastructure to manage data and connect to other devices, it’s just mostly a display device. In enterprise settings it’s a severe limitation. With a suit of cloud-based solutions, Microsoft is putting itself as the only end-to-end Mixed Reality solution.

Hololens 2 is open for pre-order now. Although the official release date is not confirmed yet, people who have pre-ordered has been indicated it will be released somewhere around April-May.

After 4 years of the first Hololens life cycle, Hololens 2 is a much anticipated refresh. And from the review so far, it doesn’t disappoint.

App Igniter will surely try to get our hands on Hololens 2 once it’s available. Stay tuned!