HoloLens 2 Technical Evaluation as Mixed Reality Guide

Mixed Reality (MR) [19, 20] has developed rapidly in recent years and is used to potentially improve human living environments (such as life-related and entertainment applications) and work efficiency. Microsoft HoloLens [17] has played an essential role in the progress of MR as a state-of-the-art head-mounted device (HMD) from the first generation to the second generation. By incorporating multiple sensors, such as depth and RGB cameras, along with the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), the tracking and sensing accuracy has significantly improved from the previous generation. However, currently, there are no studies evaluating the accuracy of HoloLens 2 sensors, which makes it difficult for researchers to compare the device with others and improve it. In this paper, we systematically evaluate the sensors utilized in the HoloLens 2, including RGB, eye, depth cameras, and microphone array to show the progress compared to the previous HoloLens generation HMD. Based on the evaluation results for most of the available features in the HoloLens 2, we provide discussion and suggestions for future researchers to design applications (such as entertainment [5, 7], education [12, 25, 27] and training [23]) or research works with existing capabilities.