Microsoft HoloLens to be Wireless, and Last Up to 5.5 Hours

Microsoft HoloLens to be wireless, and last up to 5.5 hours on a single charge. The company will start shipping the Developer Edition of the HoloLens within the next couple of months. The price? Hope you’re sitting down for this – $3,000.

Microsoft Bruce Harris spoke about Microsoft’s augmented reality headset during an event in Tel Aviv. He notes that any universal Windows 10 app will work on the device, adding that if developers want to take advantage of all of the headset’s features, they will have to build 3D apps.

Harris says that the headset will also be connected to the internet and other units. This means that if you have friends that own a HoloLens you can all interact with each-other in the same virtual world.

The AR headset is expected to go under the 2.5 hour mark for more demanding tasks so game sessions, or whatnot, will be somewhat short for early adopters. The device’s battery life is quite disappointing, but considering how powerful the machine is, it isn’t shocking news. The machine projects hologram-like images that looks like they were projected against real-life objects in the consumer’s room.

According to Harris, battery life will be improved with time, and the projections from the device will look exactly like watching videos on a 15-inch screen from 2 feet away.

Unlike the device’s rivals, the HoloLens will be completely wireless, and the device uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to function. Also, there will be no wired-version of the device, says Harris.

We thought that $600 for a virtual reality machine – Oculus Rift; was incredibly steep, and the rumored $800 for PlayStation’s VR was just downright insulting, but $3,000 for the HoloLens dev kit has put things in perspective.

Yet, still, we don’t want to jump on the band-wagon and bash Microsoft’s developer kit just yet. We have to see it in action first. The hefty price tag will most likely drop a few pounds, and bring it to more affordable levels, but we are quite shocked given this initial price confirmation.

The first Oculus Rift dev kit was priced at $300 – with re-sellers putting it on Amazon and Ebay at well over $1,000.

At the moment of writing this, Microsoft has not specified a release date for the consumer-ready model of the HoloLens.

Will the HoloLens be even more costly when it will hit its consumer street date? Or will we see a drop in price? Regardless, we hope that Microsoft’s HoloLens will have enough content to make use forget that humongous price.

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Roxanne Briean

I am a geek, a gamer and a writer. I have always been fascinated with the online community. At the moment I work as a full-time writer and study interior design. When I'm not scouring the net in search of interesting new gadgets and software I spend my time in MOBAs or drawing.