- On this episode of Ask Dan,
we're gonna talk about 120 hertz displays.
What the heck happened to Microsoft Home Hub?
And how would Microsoft actually sell the hololens?
Stay tuned.
(Deep bass music)
How do you think Hololens should be positioned to
consumers by Microsoft?
So, let's talk about Microsoft Halolens.
This was announced a few years ago.
I have one, it cost 3000 dollars.
You probably don't have one because of that reason.
And so the questions is,
what's going on with this thing?
It's not really out there in the market.
People aren't using it.
Some enterprises are
but we don't really know the momentum with it.
It's a really good question.
I don't see Hololens being positioned
to consumers any time soon.
For one, it's just too expensive.
Number two, the material and content just isn't there yet.
So, we have to figure out how that is all gonna work.
Now, Alex Kipman at Microsoft,
who's in charge of Halolens and Home Mixed Reality Program
has talked about a device that you can wear
that switches between opaque and clear lenses.
You can get a mixed reality experience when you wanna
like Halolens but you can also get virtual reality
when you want to do a game or something.
Now, such a device like that doesn't exist right now
but I can guarantee you Microsoft
is actively investigating and researching such technology.
And I think they're waiting for that to come online
before they push this to consumers.
Imagine wearing sunglasses that dynamically switch
between these two mixed reality experiences.
Now, that is the ultimate goal
but obviously we're still a few years from that.
I think though when that does happens,
that's when you're gonna start to see Microsoft push this.
And by that time, the universal windows platform
mixed reality will be in developers' hands
and we'll have a lot more content to be sold.
What the heck happened to Microsoft Home Hub?
Back in December, we wrote an article
detailing Microsoft Home Hub.
It was an ongoing project
where they would create a computer that works
in your kitchen and acts as a family home hub
for Windows 10 PCs.
So, what happened with this idea?
It's still around but we did talk about the time
that you're wanna see pieces of it come on
in Redstone 2, Redstone 3 and Redstone 4.
Maybe into Redstone 5.
It wasn't a huge priority project for them
compared to other things they need to do in Windows 10,
including Element 4 Enterprise.
But we are seeing bits of it come online.
The Cortana Invoke speaker that we recently reviewed
is one example of this.
There's been a lot of work done on Cortana over the summer
to make that Invoke happen.
So things like Spotify integration,
working with your calendar or making a Skype calls
is all a part of that.
So they weren't going to just turn on Home Hub
as one device all of a sudden.
What they're gonna do is bring on little bits
of it online into Windows 10
and that's what you see with the Cortana speaker.
And we expect in 2018
assuming this project is still going on.
You'll see more of it come online
including bits with the start screen,
the lock screen, the different elements there.
Now at the time last December,
we did see internal documentation
referring to Dell and Lenovo devices
that would act as home hubs.
I don't know what the current status of those devices are
but they were tablets
that you could basically hang on the wall
or put into your kitchen
that acted as these sort of centralized computers
for your family.
There's still a lot of features though that need to happen
including shared Microsoft accounts amongst families.
It's always been a big problem here.
Right now with Cortana,
I can ask it to pull up my calendar
but not say someone else in my family.
Until that happens,
Home Hub is not really ready for mainstream.
But expect to see more of this come online
I think in 2018.
Any chance Microsoft will adopt 120 hertz screen
technology for Surface?
So, I like this question a lot.
I'm a huge fan of 120 hertz displays.
Apple is doing this of course with the iPad Pro
in their ProMotion.
HP recently did it with Sure View
which is their privacy screen.
We reviewed that with their Elite book
and that too runs at 120 hertz.
And some other companies are putting this
in your laptops as well.
And I expect fairly soon,
you're gonna hear about a smartphone
that has a 120 hertz display.
But it's not from Microsoft.
So, the question is,
is Microsoft ever gonna do this with Surface?
Well, I believe they will
but not any time soon.
We did just see a refresh of Surface Pro.
We have Surface laptop and now Surface Book too.
And none of those have 120 hertz displays.
I do think this technology will come online though.
There are still some issues
including the expense of the panel itself.
There's also battery life.
It's not free after all.
Now, these problems are being solved by a lot of companies
and it will improve over time.
I think Microsoft is always very conservative
when they adopt new technology,
which is a bit of a shame.
Look at USB Type-C for instance.
For sure, I do think Microsoft will eventually adopt
this technology as well as everybody else.
But I think we're still about another year or two out
before that happens.
And I can't wait until it does.
So, that does it for this episode.
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use hashtag AskDanWindows on Twitter
or go to our Ask Dan forums at Windows Central.
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Take care everybody.
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Okay.
- [Male] Give me an emotion you're trying to say?
- Aye, yeah yeah.