Microsoft started taking pre-orders for the Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition earlier this week. It also released a guide for making apps that will work on the augmented reality headset, and it has yielded a lot of previously unrevealed information on the HoloLens and its app.
Windows Central forum member "NikolausD" went through the guide and posted up a lot of its highlights in a post on our forums. One of the most interesting is the fact that wearers of the HoloLens might be able to see through walls:
"Since the device knows your space even when it can't see all parts of it from your current angle, it can potentially show you - or hint at - real or virtual objects that are behind a wall in another room, behind a closed door, or under a desk, by providing you with an x-ray-vision type of view. That way you could not only hear, but also see a notification going off in another room, or see enemies approaching around the corner in a game."
Another interesting tidbit is that the HoloLens owner will see the entire room as a "Start screen" for opening apps. It begins by the HoloLens scanning a room and its objects:
" Now you can bring up the Start menu by doing the "blooming" hand gesture and select an app. This doesn't open the app yet - it just gives you a little tile or 3D object that serves as a launch point for that app, and you put it anywhere you want in your room. From now on that app sits there permanently, until you move it to another spot or remove it. (Sadly, those tiles don't support live tile functionality at this point). That way you can fill your room, or your entire apartment, with apps, and you can put multiple instances of the same app on different spots within your place - so you can have a video player in your bedroom AND your kitchen. "
Another unrevealed bit of info is that there cannot be any holographic apps that are dark or black in color, as those app will appear to be transparent to the HoloLens user.
Thanks again to NikolausD from our forums for the tip!
