HoloLens vs. Oculus Rift

While it may seem that Microsoft and Facebook are set to go head-to-head with HoloLens and the Oculus Rift, this may not be the case. HoloLens (by Microsoft) is a venture into augmented reality, or AR, while Oculus Rift (acquired by Facebook) is virtual reality, or VR.

While similar, AR and VR have their differences – differences which mean that HoloLens and Oculus Rift may not be competitors at all. While augmented reality projects images onto the user’s environment and uses the existing visual environment, virtual reality starts from scratch. Everything you see in the Oculus Rift is computer-generated, whereas HoloLens uses a mixture of real-world and computer-generated imagery.

Both, however, are exciting steps in technological advancement.

Microsoft’s recently unveiled HoloLens uses advanced sensors to understand the environment around the user. It is composed of a headset that resembles a thick pair of sunglasses, with transparent glass lenses. It works like the Xbox Kinect, but in reverse. While the Kinect tracks your body and movements to incorporate you into a virtual environment, the HoloLens tracks your environment and projects on to it. It can recognise your body (as well as your surroundings) so your movements within your environment are tracked and utilised, avoiding the issues of a lack of hand controls that virtual reality brings, and the problem of not being able to walk about. It doesn’t entirely cut you off from your surroundings, but instead uses them to your advantage. This can be useful for manual dexterity, and for avoiding motion-sickness problems, but if you are seeking total immersion it can be seen as a flaw.

The idea with HoloLens is that it will serve as a replacement for the PC. They wish to merge our physical life with our virtual lives, so that we are no longer cut off by our internet use. This integration should allow for greater creativity and sharing of our virtual world with those in our physical world.

HoloLens will run a range of applications including HoloStudio, which is similar to MS Paint but for augmented reality. It allows the user to build and create in 3D. There is also HoloBuilder, which is based on Minecraft. Also included are Skype (for video calls) and OnSight – made with NASA as a simulation of Mars.

The Oculus Rift, on the other hand, provides a fully immersive and limitless experience. It is composed of a fairly bulky headset that covers the eyes and ears. Oculus is more suited to gaming than HoloLens, but it can be used for a vast range of things. This includes design, education, anxiety management, Street View maps, training (e.g. surgeons), PTSD treatment, ‘body swaps’, car test drives, retail, cinema, driving lessons, social media and space travel. Because the Oculus Rift headset can change everything about what is perceived by us, the options are almost endless. The Oculus Rift doesn’t have to incorporate your environment, so it can do anything. But it has drawbacks – the fully immersive nature means that the user is cut off from the ‘real world’, and it cuts them off from their own body and perception of it, meaning they cannot move around in their real-world environment. This can mean that difficulties arise in perception of oneself as the person playing the game.

Oculus and HoloLens complement each other as they are based on same basic technology. They have the same basis, with some crossover in their design and purpose. But they are not ultimately direct competitors as they operate in slightly different fields and have different goals. While Oculus is primarily a gaming platform, HoloLens seeks to be the replacement for a PC.