Microsoft Delivers First Major HoloLens Software Update

Microsoft announced today that it has shipped the May 2016 Update for HoloLens, a release it describes as the first major software update for this new platform.

Microsoft also revealed that it is now shipping HoloLens to the second wave of developers who had signed up for the Developer Edition. You may recall that the first wave of devices went out in early April in tandem with Build 2016.

The May 2016 Update for HoloLens includes the following changes:

Multitasking. You can now run multiple—meaning “up to three”—applications at the same time.

Input improvements. You can now connect a normal Bluetooth mouse to your HoloLens, and the HoloLens clicker has been fine-tuned to enable resizing and moving of holograms.

Voice improvements. Microsoft has added some new voice commands. For example, when viewing a hologram, you can say “Face me!” to re-orientate it. You can also say “Bigger” or “Smaller” to resize a hologram, and you can move an app by saying “Hey Cortana, move [app name] here.”

Edge improvements. Microsoft Edge now supports many of your requested (and obvious) feature such as multiple instances of the browser, a custom HoloLens New Tab page, Tab Peek, Open in New Windows, and various power and performance improvements.

Photos improvements. The Photos app now supports the pinning of pictures without any borders or chrome. Your walls will never look the same, Microsoft says. It also now streams videos from OneDrive instead of having to download the entire video before playback.

Easier development. Now, you can now browse, upload, and download files through the Windows Device Portal, and you can access the Documents and Pictures folders, and the local storage for any app you side-loaded or deployed through Visual Studio.

Emulator improvements. Now you can sign-in to the HoloLens emulation with your MSA just like you do with the real device. There’s a new build of the HoloLens Emulator as well, by the way.

Video playback improvements. 2D (or “flat”) apps will now hide the holobar and cursor when you are watching video fullscreen.

Groove Music app. Microsoft’s Groove app is now on HoloLens.

Take screenshots. Now you can take “mixed reality pictures” by pressing Volume Up and Volume Down simultaneously. You can then share these pictures via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Storage sense lets you view remaining and used disk space by the system and apps in the Settings app.

There’s more, and Microsoft also fixed a wide range of issues, so be sure to check out the release notes for more information.