Microsoft and Others Use Mobile World Congress to Debut New AR Hardware and Use Cases

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By Eric Abbruzzese | 1Q 2019 | IN-5422

As always, Mobile World Congress (MWC) this year brought the latest announcements and demos in the mobile device and connectivity marketplace. Augmented Reality has had an increasing presence at MWC over the past few years, and this year was no exception. Along with the expected 5G and new handset announcements, Microsoft showed their next generation HoloLens. A few days earlier, the company also revealed plans for a dedicated HoloLens mobile app for remote expertise, rounding out the Microsoft AR ecosystem. Vuzix also showed their new M400 AR device at the show. While it is perhaps surprising that these reveals were done at MWC over CES or another show, there is a clear connection between connectivity, mobile devices, and augmented reality. Enabling novel use cases and enhancing existing ones are both being explored in AR, whether through 4G today or 5G tomorrow, and this discussion is supported by the latest and greatest handset technology, alongside the smart glasses announcements.

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New Hardware, New Connections

NEWS


As always, Mobile World Congress (MWC) this year brought the latest announcements and demos in the mobile device and connectivity marketplace. Augmented Reality has had an increasing presence at MWC over the past few years, and this year was no exception. Along with the expected 5G and new handset announcements, Microsoft showed their next generation HoloLens. A few days earlier, the company also revealed plans for a dedicated HoloLens mobile app for remote expertise, rounding out the Microsoft AR ecosystem. Vuzix also showed their new M400 AR device at the show. While it is perhaps surprising that these reveals were done at MWC over CES or another show, there is a clear connection between connectivity, mobile devices, and augmented reality. Enabling novel use cases and enhancing existing ones are both being explored in AR, whether through 4G today or 5G tomorrow, and this discussion is supported by the latest and greatest handset technology, alongside the smart glasses announcements.

Easy to Understand Hardware Improvements

IMPACT


5G, and more general connectivity, is at the heart of MWC and is increasingly a focus for AR implementations. The need to serve a greater range of users and use cases where WiFi may not be applicable means cellular is the natural choice. 4G is capable enough for most use cases today, but challenges in high-mobility use cases, such as automotive, and low connectivity servicing leave opportunity for 5G to step in. Increases in bandwidth necessity and latency reduction also begin to necessitate 5G, especially as discussions around edge compute continue to crop up.

On the AR hardware side, HoloLens 2 comfortably stole the show. It makes many of the expected enhancements over the first-generation product: larger field of view, better wearability, and the addition of eye tracking are highlights. Price is set at US$3,500, so the HoloLens remains comfortably a high end, enterprise device for now. There were a number of partners on display for the product reveal as well, including PTC and ScopeAR.

Eye tracking in HoloLens 2, or any head mounted device, is a significant addition and one that should garner attention. Input methods are still being figured out in the AR/VR space, and eye tracking offers a hands-free, streamlined input method offering. Considering the increasing importance of hands-free experiences for head mounted AR devices, the more options the better. It opens many possibilities across verticals and use cases, such as an enhanced version of head tracking/hover over selection methods. In graphics-intensive applications, foveated rendering—where a greater amount of processing power/resolution is focused at the user’s center of focus—is an option to help improve battery life and decrease heat output. This is less important in AR with small fields of view and lower resolutions on average compared to VR, but there can still be some value in the approach. There’s a greater amount of potential user metrics to extract with gaze tracking as well, such as vision heatmaps and engagement times for specific objects and areas of vision.

A More Complete AR Picture

RECOMMENDATIONS


It’s a combination of improved hardware capability like this, along with related technology improvements like 5G, that propels the market forward. While a use case like streaming immersive content to an AR headset in an autonomous vehicle may not be on the immediate horizon, the groundwork is already being laid to enable that type of high complexity use case. These two factors come together to develop a more holistic marketplace. Hardware without content goes unused, and content without hardware sees no users. Content is being figured out, especially on the enterprise side, and so now it is the turn of supporting technologies to see more involvement. Alongside 5G, things like AI and machine learning, robotics, and cybersecurity continue to mature and develop, which can feed each other and AR.

While hardware innovations may seem more evolutionary than revolutionary, it is the total market that is truly important more often than not. As these improvements roll out, there is a need to revisit potential use cases and market approaches. Applications that were not realistic or even possible before could now be viable. Existing implementations could be missing out on unrealized revenue streams without examining new technology trends. New input methods like eye tracking could enable entirely new use cases. 5G could empower a target worker group that wasn’t served before.

Look for more next generation products from some major names this year as well: Microsoft and Vuzix hit the market early, but updates from RealWear, Epson, etc. are all potentially on the horizon, as is the oft-rumored Apple HMD, whatever form that may take. The past 18 months have allowed ARKit and ARCore to mature, mostly from partners utilizing the tech than from first party investment (although Apple has more to show from a first party standpoint). As promised, this period of time not only has allowed the platforms and capabilities to grow, but also allowed experimentation, research, and development into the capabilities of mobile device AR. The direct synergy between 4G and, soon, 5G with mobile handsets means that the smartphone platform will likely be the first to be able to leverage 5G for AR (and everything else). This again harkens to the need to reexamine use cases and application as time marches on; the market moves quick, and so do opportunities.

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