In the box
1x HoloLens 2 visor
1x Carrying case
1x Overhead strap
1x Microfiber cloth
1x Charger Block
1x USB-C cable
Before you start
The HoloLens 2 is part magnetic. Do not place magnetic sensitive products, like credit cards and magnetic storage media near the HoloLens 2. Otherwise corruption may appear in the data stored on the HoloLens 2
Adjustment wheel - Turning the adjustment wheel counterclockwise extends the headband. Turning the adjustment wheel clockwise tightens the headband.
Power button - Pressing the power button turns the device on. Pressing the power button while the device is on causes it to sleep. To turn the device off, press and hold the power button for 5 seconds or until all 5 LED indicators fade out.
LED indicators - When the device is powered on, the LED indicators display the battery level. Each LED represents roughly 20% of the overall battery level. The battery is fully charged when all 5 LEDs are lit.
USB Type-C charging port - The HoloLens 2 comes with a USB-C cable and an 18W charger. This port may also be used to connect the device to a computer.
Overhead strap - The overhead strap is adjustable and may also be detached.
Brightness buttons - The front brightness button increases display brightness. The other brightness button decreases display brightness.
Volume buttons - The front volume button increases device volume. The other volume button decreases device volume.
Put on the HoloLens 2.
Press behind the HoloLens 2 on the power button to turn on the device.
Follow the steps in the HoloLens 2.
Choose a language your fingers by clicking in the air.
Calibrate HoloLens 2 to your eyes according to the instructions on your HoloLens 2 screen.
Make sure you see all 4 corners on screen. If done, press “next”
Hold your head still and follow the ‘gems’ on screen with only your eyes.
Link with Wi-Fi by choosing the Wi-Fi you wish to connect.
Choose whether the HoloLens 2 is owned by the company or it is owned by yourself. Login to the Microsoft account you would like to use. Create your account here if you haven’t made one yet [Sign Up]
Choose to use “speech recognition” or “don’t use speech recognition.” We recommend using speech recognition for the full experience.
Choose full diagnostic data or basic data to help improve the HoloLens 2. We recommend you to use basic data for privacy reasons.
Tap on the hologram that appears on the palm of your hand to start the Home screen.
You are now ready to use the HoloLens 2. Enjoy your ride!
When the menu is close up
To select something: Tap with your finger in the air and release.
To scroll: Put your finger on the holographic screen en swipe across the content like you would with a normal touchscreen.
To grab the menu: Pinch your thumb and index finger together on the hologram and hold and move the hologram.
Open context menu: Tap with your finger on the hologram in the air and hold.
When the menu is far up
Air ray : The ray that appears when you point at something with your index finger in the holographic world.
Air tap : Select with air ray and pinch your thumb and index finger together to select.
To scroll: Pinch your index and thumb together and drag up and down to scroll.
To grab from far: Point your air ray on the content and make a grab gesture to pull the content to or away from you.
Open context menu: Air tap and hold with your air ray to open the context menu. (copy paste, delete, etc)
Pressing buttons
Make sure you push deep into the buttons (holographic keyboard, etc) with your fingers when typing, otherwise it won’t react.
One hand home button trick
It is possible to open your home menu with one hand.
Stare at the home button on the palm of your hand.
Pinch your index finger and thumb together to open the home menu while staring at your palm.
Follow me function
Press on the icon which says “Follow me” on the right top corner of the application.
The application will now follow you wherever you go.
Resizing Holograms
At the corners of the hologram, a resize handle will appear when you hover over it with your air ray.
Pinch the resize handle and hold it.
Drag to make the window bigger or smaller.
Voice Control
To do this
Open the Start menu
Say this
“Go to start”
To do this
Select
Say this
Say "select" to bring up the gaze cursor. Then, turn your head to position the cursor on the thing you want to select, and say “select” again.
To do this
See available speech
Say this
“What can I say?”
How to download applications from store
Tap on the Home button that appears on the palm of your hand.
Press the Microsoft Store application.
Use the search bar to search the desired application.
Press “Download”.
When your download is completed, press “Home” button again on the palm of your hand.
Press “All apps” and you will find your application here.
Launch the Settings app and navigate to System > Calibration.
Under Display color calibration, select the Run display color calibration button.
The display color calibration experience will launch and encourage you to make sure your visor is in the correct position.
After you proceed through the instruction dialog boxes, your display will automatically be dimmed to 30% brightness.
TIPS : If you're having trouble seeing the dimmed scene in your environment, you can manually adjust the brightness level of HoloLens 2 using the brightness buttons on the left side of the device.
5. Select buttons 1-6 to instantly try out each color profile, and find one that looks the best to your eyes (this usually means the profile that helps the scene appear most neutral, with the grayscale pattern and skin tones looking as expected.)
6. When you're happy with the selected profile, select the Save & Exit button
7. If you prefer not to make changes, select the Cancel & Exit button and your changes will be reverted.
TIPS : Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind while using the display color calibration setting :-
You can re-run display color calibration from Settings whenever you'd like.
If anyone on the device has previously used the setting to change color profiles, the date/time of the most recent change will be reflected on the Settings page.
When you re-run display color calibration, the color profile that was previously saved will be highlighted and Profile 0 will not appear (as Profile 0 represents the display's original color profile).
If you want to revert to the display's original color profile, you can do so from the Settings page (see how to reset color profile).
If you're unhappy with the custom color profile saved to your HoloLens 2, you can restore the device's original color profile:
Launch the Settings app and navigate to System > Calibration.
Under Display color calibration, select the Reset to default color profile button.
When the dialog box opens, select Restart if you're ready to restart HoloLens 2 and apply your changes.
On the Settings page, the status string that tells you when the color profile was last changed will be out of date until you reload that page of Settings
Workaround : Select another Settings page and then re-select the Calibration page.
If your HoloLens 2 goes to sleep while running display color calibration, it will later resume into the mixed reality home and your display brightness level will still be dimmed.
You may need to try pressing the brightness buttons on the left side of your device up/down a few times before they work as expected.
Localization is not complete for all markets.
The HoloLens 2 display is a combination of waveguides and light projectors. Users look through the waveguides the lenses inside the visor when wearing the headset. The light projectors are inside the enclosure above the brow. HoloLens 2 uses laser light to illuminate the display.
Take the following steps to ensure the highest visual quality of holograms presented in displays:
Increase brightness of the display. Holograms look best when the display is at its brightest level. When wearing the HoloLens, the brightness buttons are on the left side of the visor near your temple.
Bring visor closer to your eyes. Swing the visor down to the closest position to your eyes.
Shift visor down. Try moving the brow pad on your forehead down, which will result in the visor moving down closer to your nose.
Run eye calibration. The display uses your interpupillary distance (IPD) and eye gaze to optimize images on the display. If you don't run eye calibration, the image quality may be made worse. To run eye calibration, go to Settings > System > Calibration > Run eye calibration.
Run display color calibration. On Windows Holographic, version 21H1 and onwards, you can select an alternative color profile for your HoloLens 2 display. This may help colors appear more accurate, especially at lower display brightness levels. Display color calibration can be found in the Settings app, on the System > Calibration page.
Note : Because this setting saves a new color profile to your display firmware, it is a per-device setting (and not unique to each user account).
Why am I unable to take an accurate photograph of my HoloLens 2 display?
The HoloLens 2 display is designed to be viewed by the human eye. The device has an active color correction system that adapts to a user's eyes. Compared to the human eye, cameras see environments differently and below are some factors that may impact any inconsistency between what a camera captures and what a user sees.
Eye position. The HoloLens 2 display is designed specifically for the eye position of the user. The HoloLens 2 employs eye tracking technology to adapt to the user's eye position. A camera that that is mispositioned by a few millimeters can lead to image distortion. Accurate positioning with a camera is difficult and needs to match the exact location and eye relief for which the device is performing color correction.
Eye movement. The display adapts to the movement of a user’s eye to adjust colors. What is shown on the display may differ depending if the user is looking at the center, the edge, or the corner of the display. A single image capture could at best only show what the display looks like for the axis that matches an eye gaze direction.
Binocular viewing. The HoloLens 2 display is designed to be viewed with both eyes. The brain adapts to seeing two images and fuses them together. Images of only one display ignore the information from the other display.
Camera exposure time. The exposure time of the camera needs to be an exact multiple of 1/120th of a second. The HoloLens display frame rate is 120 Hz. Due to the way the HoloLens 2 draws images, capturing a single frame is also not enough to match a human's visual experience. At the same time, if the device moves at all—even micromovements—the system reprojects the image on the display to stabilize holograms. Capturing multiple frames while keeping the HoloLens from moving usually requires a laboratory setup.
Camera aperture size. The camera's aperture size must be at least 3 mm to capture an accurate image. Cell phone cameras with small apertures integrate light from a smaller area than the human eye does. The device applies color correction for patterns observed by larger apertures. With small apertures, uniformity patterns are sharper and remain visible despite color corrections applied by the system.
Camera entrance pupil. The entrance pupil of the camera should be at least 3 mm in diameter to capture an accurate image. Otherwise, the camera captures some high frequency patterns not visible to the eye. The position of the entrance pupil both needs to be in front of the camera and positioned at the eye relief distance to avoid introducing aberrations and other variations to the captured image.
Camera position. Cameras that meet the requirements to view the HoloLens 2 display are larger, and it is difficult to position the camera close enough to the HoloLens 2 display to observe the color corrected image. If the camera is in the wrong place, the color correction may negatively impact the capture of the HoloLens 2 display.
Image correction. Typical digital cameras and smartphone cameras apply a tone reproduction curve (TRC) which boosts contrast and color to provide a snappier outcome. When applied to a HoloLens 2 display, this tone curve amplifies non-uniformities.
All said, it is still possible for specialized industrial cameras to capture representative images from the HoloLens 2 display. Unfortunately, smartphone, consumer, and professional cameras will not capture images that match what a user sees on HoloLens 2.
What does eye calibration do to display image quality?
The HoloLens 2 display actively color corrects images based on the position of the user's eyes. Eye calibration provides two important inputs: (1) the user's interpupillary distance (IPD), and (2) the direction each eye is looking. Without eye calibration, the system defaults to a nominal eye position with no eye movement. The difference between active color correction versus no correction depends on the user's physiology themselves. For example, users that have the same IPD as the system default will see fewer color correction improvements. While users that have a much narrower or wider IPD than the system default will see more changes to the display image.
Note, a new feature in Windows Holographic version 20H2 will start automatically detecting eye position.
What improvements are coming that will improve HoloLens 2 image quality?
While we have many investigations underway to improve image quality, the following areas are expected to arrive in upcoming updates:
Automatic Eye Position. This feature will enable the eye calibration procedures to take place in the background. Users will no longer need to run eye calibration for active color correction to work. It will instead just work.
Color Calibration Improvements. This update focuses on color values of darker colors (for example, dark gray). Right now, dimmer colors pick up a red tone. This issue also happens as the entire display is dimmed—the entire display picks up red colors. This issue is a result of too much activity in the red color channel for these darker colors. We've characterized the laser illumination curves at these dimmer colors and are working to offer a user calibration procedure. The result will be more color accuracy across the brightness spectrum. It will not change the appearance of white backgrounds at full brightness. We continue to advise use of dark mode design patterns in apps.
Reading Mode. It is possible for app developers to tradeoff the display field-of-view to achieve higher angular resolution. App developers can override the projection matrix so that content is rendered at the display's drawing resolution. This feature results in 30% reduction in field-of-view and a corresponding increase in angular resolution. Work is underway to introduce this capability to the Mixed Reality Toolkit. When available, reading mode will work on any HoloLens 2 OS—it is not dependent on an OS update.
Operating system updates are delivered automatically. You can also test early releases of software improvement through the insider preview program.