This self-contained, fully untethered holographic computer, the HoloLens, is a see-through combination of holographic lenses that capture data using an array of sensors and uses the power of processing units to understand the real and holographic environment around you. This hands-free device is made up of several sensors, cameras, and lenses put together in a lightweight head mounted device. It can be comfortably fitted over the head and adjusted as per your comfort.

It consists of specialized speakers, placed just above the ear position, which produce a floating surrounding sound. Everything is elegantly fitted and secured inside the HMD. The device produces data every millisecond and the power of processing units will take care of it with the ultimate design and processing powers.

To develop applications, it is essential to understand the...

Cortana is your personal assistant working on your phone, PC, and Tablets running on Windows 10. The HoloLens device running on Windows 10 is no exception; it has support for Cortana.

By default, Cortana is on when you use the device for the very first time. You can start by just saying "Hey Cortana" anytime while using the HoloLens. Be it opening an App, controlling the brightness, taking a picture, or even shutting down or restarting your device, you can always use Cortana's assistance.

You can turn Cortana off or change its settings from Cortana's settings options.

HoloLens shell is the MR world that contrives the immersive experience with holograms and the real world. Whatever we see through the HoloLens appears through the HoloLens shell. At the beginning, the shell launches with the start screen, similar to the one for any system running on Windows 10.

The start screen is the first point of interaction with other holograms. To launch a holographic app, open up the Settings options for HoloLens.

HoloLens start menu

The Start menu of HoloLens consists of basic system information, including time, Wi-Fi connection status, battery status, and many more. All this information is pinned up on the front view along with all other apps, which we can navigate through. It also consists of buttons to capture photos and MR video along with options to invoke.

Till now, we have mentioned Hologram several times. It is evident that these are crucial for HoloLens and Holographic apps, but what is a Hologram?

Holograms are the virtual objects which will be made up with light and sound and blend with the real world to give us an immersive MR experience with both real and virtual worlds. In other words, a Hologram is an object like any other real-world object; the only difference is that it is made up of light rather than matter.

The following figure represent two holographic objects placed on the top of a real-size table and gives the experience of placing a real object on a real surface:

So far, we have learned about the HoloLens device and the holograms in the MR world. HoloLens projects holograms and blend them into the real world to give an immersive experience using both virtual and real objects. What next? Now is the time to explore how to interact with these holograms to feel them as real as your real objects are. What are the different ways to interact with them?

In this section, we will cover the different ways of interacting with the holograms and the application life cycle for holographic applications.

There are basically five ways that you can interact with holograms and HoloLens. Using your Gaze, Gesture, and Voice and with S...

HoloLens Clicker is an accessory that comes along with HoloLens. It connects to the HoloLens using Bluetooth and allows a user to click and scroll with minimal hand motion. You can consider this as a replacement for Air Tap gestures where, instead of using hand gestures, you can use the Clicker. When an object is gazed, you can press the button on the Clicker, which will execute the Air Tap command for the selected object.