Comparison: Hololens 2 vs Magic Leap
At the CVPR 2019 show in Long Beach I got the chance to compare the latest Hololens (HL) to the Magic Leap (ML) under similar conditions in the exhibition hall. As an AR enthusiast that owns the first Hololens I have quite some experience with AR headsets I can offer a fairly unbiased comparison.
Wearability
Both devices are relatively comfortable to wear while the HL is slightly heavier in the front. The ML sports it's clumsy wired puck via a cable but on the other hand feels more comfortable around the head and eyes. The total weight of the devices feels more or less the same.
Winner: HL is slightly easier to wear
Display
The colors and brightness of the projected items comes out in a quite similar fashion on both devices. On the HL the field of view feels somewhat limited also on this second generation. On the ML, the field of view is not perfect but anyhow sufficient so that it's easier to find the objects you have placed and is interacting with.
Winner: ML
Interaction
In theory, hand gestures to manipulate the GUI and move objects around is preferable, but there is still much work before the HL can interpret your gestures good enough. Even though this has been greatly improved since the first HL it's still annoying to fail to grab or click half of the time. Here, the ML is offering a much better experience with the handheld control. It is easy and fast to grab, move and draw by pointing with a projected ray.
Winner: ML
Verdict
Today, the use of an AR headset is still limited for any practical and useful applications but there is no question that this is the future. The responsiveness and speed in which you can move animated objects around in the ML gives you the feeling that a warcraft-like strategy game on your living room floor is not far away and you could already today easily lose yourself in their AR world for hours. The HL is today clearly behind in most aspects but once the hand gestures are better working it might be of greater use for professional applications. Therefore, if you are thinking about buying one of these two today, I would recommend the Magic Leap.
Nice write Ludvig - very useful - thanks for writing it! ?Shoot me an email and let's touch base via phone.
Chief Executive Officer | Former NASA Chief | Innovator Computer Technologies | Lecturer | Board Advisor "Fostering Advancement through Space Exploration Expertise"
5 年I had predicted that AR (MX/XR) will be a transformative technology for many industries, including Space Exploration. But, building the appropiate infrastructure for data processing, intelligently AI ?, comes first. AR has some yrs to overcome & to be adopted [integration & wearability design]. #GreatMarketValue #Investment My hope it to see it take-off by 2022
The interaction review is flawed as you compare gesture recognition and capabilities of the HoloLens to the controller of the Magic Leap. A proper bench mark is to compare gesture recognition of both devices in terms of responsiveness and capabilities. I will have a HoloLens 2 soon enough and will provide a bench mark from the perspective of a developer who understands how to compare hardware devices. This was not useful at all.
XR Pioneer since 1987; Emeritus Professor; Human Factors Specialist. "XR's loveable curmudgeon" ??. All comments on LinkedIn are my own, but they're damned good ones ??
5 年I've not been impressed with either of them.? I think the videos we see (the ones that don;'t feature illusionary/delusionary CGI) show how primitive they actually are, which is why I keep on shouting out about the fact that they are totally inappropriate and not fit for purpose when it comes to the surgical applications and other nonsense we're being force-fed.? Use outdoors?? Forget it!? So applications in defence, field maintenance training and what have you are a joke.? My recommendation to people is that, if you want to try AR for the purposes of seeing whether or not you can use the tech in your business, do not waste your money on these items, get hold of a DreamGlass system and have a go before committing.
Senior Digital Innovation Executive | Strategic Partnerships | Inspiring Next-Gen VR/GenAI/AR/WebGL/ and Emerging-Tech Solutions for Marketing, Brand Campaigns, and Enterprise Training.
5 年Most manufacturing plants will not allow any necklaces or things that can be seen as a safety hazard, so a tethered device is typically not allowed.?