Microsoft

HoloLens, Microsoft's augmented reality headset, will only have a battery life of 5.5 hours.

New details of the wireless headset were made public by Microsoft's Bruce Harris, a technical evangelist within the company.


Harris said the HoloLens, which is due to the shipped to developers in the first quarter of 2016, was "totally wireless" and would not have any wired options. Any device that supports Wi-Fi or Bluetooth will also be able to connect to the headset. Harris was speaking at an event in Tel Aviv, Petri reported.

A downside of the headset running without a tethered mode is that its battery life will suffer. At best the battery will last for five and a half hours, which could drop below 2.5 hours when doing more complex tasks.

Harris also answered questions about the HoloLens' field of vision. He said wearing the headset was like having a 15 inch monitor close to your face.

The HoloLens is Microsoft's entry to the burgeoning virtual reality market. But like Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR, the HoloLens used augmented rather than virtual reality. Promotional videos from the company show HoloLens being used to view emails and documents on walls that can be worked on while the user is completing other tasks.


In order to see this embed, you must give consent to Social Media cookies. Open my cookie preferences.

Astronauts on the International Space Station could be some of the first to benefit from the technology. Two headsets were sent to the orbiting science lab in December, having originally being part of a failed resupply mission in June, and will be used to deliver instructions to astronauts and provide real-time feedback.

Theoretically astronauts could be repairing parts of the space station and have the instructions of what tools and what actions they need to complete appear instantaneously -- a digital instruction manual of sorts. There is also gaming potential for the augmented reality tech, with HoloLens already being used to stream Halo from an Xbox One.