The Mixed Reality Platform of Microsoft will no longer be limited to Hololens and Virtual Reality headsets, but will also be made available for smartphones. Microsoft has decided to broaden its virtual reality experience to Android as well as iOS with new apps.
Unlike other Smartphone applications, these apps focus on businesses rather than individuals. The Dynamic 365 Remote Assist application is expected to be available in Android by April. The Dynamic 365 Product Visualize app is also expected to make its first entry to iOS in the same month.
The remote assistant app is designed keeping service engineers in mind and is already available in the HoloLens. This app lets the user share the images they see through the camera, modifying them with AR drawings, sound, and annotations. The modified version can then be used to give instructions, troubleshooting, and guidance, to another party.
The Android version of the Remote assistant app will have the same features as that of HoloLens without the requirement of a $5000 headset.
The Visualize app is another futuristic app which helps in the area of sales. This app helps people to visualize products ranging from small furniture to heavy machinery in the real world. Before buying a product, customers will be able to picture the holo-image of their products in the real world allowing them to know the exact size and shape of the products and the space they occupy.
Currently, only a preview of the Visualize app is being released to iOS and authorities states that a similar Android version will follow depending on the success and demand of the application.
The move of Microsoft expanding its AR platform to mobile phones doesn’t mean that it is retreating from the HoloLens headsets. It just shows that the mobile VR is also important to Microsoft.
The most awaited HoloLens 2 is expected to be released on February 24 this year and will pack a variety of innovative features apart being faster, lighter and providing a better field of view.