Currently, Microsoft is the company driving the most innovation in the world of Mixed Reality. The Microsoft HoloLens technology promises a future of holograms and holoportation. Microsoft Mesh welcomes developers into a world where they can create extended reality experiences. For many companies, MR represents the next step in VR and AR innovation.
While things like AR smart glasses for engineering and VR headsets for collaboration are becoming increasingly more accessible, MR remains largely untouchable. The innovations that Microsoft is unveiling are world-changing, ground-breaking, and extremely expensive. At present, it’s unlikely we’re going to see a future anytime soon where Microsoft MR is mainstream.
So, what does that mean for companies keen to unlock a new level of mixed reality?
Are companies restricted entirely to VR or AR headsets? Or is it possible that more affordable MR solutions could be hiding just outside of the media’s focus?
Cheap MR is Available (To a Degree)
Mixed Reality headsets are available for those who don’t have a small fortune to spend – although they might not check all of your boxes for what “MR” technology should be. There are many companies on the market today advertising Mixed Reality hardware, but few offer things like holographic experiences and hologram-based teleportation like Microsoft.
Let’s look at the HP Windows MR headset, for instance. Currently selling for around £300, this headset has a single halo strap to hold it to your head and a visor-like viewing system, similar to most VR devices. There’s a pair of motion controllers which look like the original Oculus Touch controls mixed with the HTC wand. You also get inside-out tracking, which means you don’t need to set any external sensors around your room.
The 1440 x 1440 resolution per eye and high 90hz refresh rates are great – but it’s hard to see where the true mixed reality experience comes in here. You get more of an immersive virtual interaction, and you can use Windows Mixed Reality and Mixed Reality Ultra technology. However, you don’t get the direct connection between the real and virtual worlds like you would with the Microsoft HoloLens 2, for instance.
How Affordable is Mixed Reality?
To understand how much you’re probably going to pay for an MR headset; you need to understand what Mixed Reality really means. It’s essentially a blend of physical and digital worlds that bridge the gap between humans, and digital content. It’s similar, in a sense, to augmented reality, but on a more significant scale. You get things like environmental input, spatial sound, and positioning sensors.
Products like the HP MR headset or the Acer Windows Mixed Reality headset are located closer to one side of the mixed reality spectrum than the other. In the “virtuality continuum”, which defines the spectrum for mixed reality, there’s the real, physical reality of what we’re seeing and experiencing on the left side. To the right, you have the corresponding digital reality.
The Microsoft HoloLens 2 is more “in the middle” of the virtuality continuum. Users remain present in their physical environment for the most part, but they can also blend in significant parts of the digital world. The HP and Acer mixed reality headsets are located towards the right of the continuum, focusing more on the “virtual” and digital environment, than the real landscape. Although you can bring elements of the real world into your virtual space, your experience is less blended.
Will MR Headsets Become More Affordable?
Right now, Mixed Reality headsets like the Dell Visor, and the HP Windows Mixed Reality headset are already making MR more accessible, albeit only on a certain point in the spectrum.
If you’re looking for the kind of experience that goes beyond the highly virtualized experiences of those headsets and treads on HoloLens territory, you may need to pay more. That’s not to say that the situation will stay this way, however.
It wasn’t so long ago that most companies looked at full VR and AR solutions for businesses as a solution reserved only for the biggest brands. Now, the evolution of VR and AR headsets means that the technology is becoming increasingly accessible, even to the smallest companies and start-ups. Some brands are even saving money through access to XR.
Going forward, the chances are that MR will follow the same roadmap. It may take a while, but there’s no doubt that MR will become more affordable over time.
