Microsoft is fully integrating Teams into its HoloLens 2 headset and taking the opportunity to formalize a future HoloLens 3.
Microsoft’s latest update to its headset Holo Lens 2 makes collaboration between colleagues even easier. One of the biggest additions is probably the full Microsoft Teams integration, where users no longer need to use a computer or smartphone to join a meeting with their colleagues. Although the headset has been able to make and receive Teams video calls for years, its collaboration features have been quite limited until now.
Microsoft is fully integrating Teams into its HoloLens 2 headset
With this new update, the Redmond company offers HoloLens 2 users the ability to display holographic windows with their calls, chats and Teams calendars. As this release also adds OneDrive integration, users can access their cloud folders and view shared Word documents, PDFs and other videos during calls.
Microsoft has also combined its two Dynamics 365 Mixed Reality apps, namely the Dynamics 365 Guides app, which offers step-by-step holographic instructions to users, and the Dynamics 365 Remote Assist app, which allows field workers to show their colleagues what they’re seeing. The company says the combined app was a priority request from Toyota, which has been providing feedback to Microsoft about the headset since 2016.
David Kleiner, who directs Applied technology and research laboratory of Toyota North America, explained that giving field workers laptops doesn’t work because they don’t have a desk, and it’s much more practical to use a device they can carry with all their tools. “Someone can just grab a HoloLens, start a guide session and have a trainer in their head,” said David Kleiner. “If he needs help, he can call an expert directly from the app.”
and take the opportunity to formalize a future HoloLens 3
In addition to discussing the headset’s new capabilities, Microsoft also explained that it would market a successor to the current version. Reports from a few months ago claimed that the tech giant had abandoned plans for the HoloLens 3 and that the end of the device was near. However, Microsoft denied these rumors and reaffirmed that the headset was “a vital part of projects [de l’entreprise] for new categories like mixed reality and metaverse.” Microsoft’s Vice President of Mixed Reality Scott Evans said the company is “just looking for the right design to deliver an update that makes sense,” because “[les clients] want a new entity that can deliver an even greater return on investment.”