HP believes it can add augmented reality to its Elite x3 phone with the use of Microsoft’s HoloLens.
According to HP vice president and general manager of mobility Michael Park, universal Windows applications created for the HoloLens AR headset will work on smartphones, and they could be used on the Elite x3.
Park said that the Elite x3 will not offer AR right away but it will eventually.
For starters, AR is where floating objects are superimposed on real-world scenarios. Park said that AR will change how workers interact with the physical world around them, and help in areas like troubleshooting and medicine.
The challenge for HP will be to figure out how to make its smartphone compatible with AR. The Elite x3 has a powerful Qualcomm graphics processor but it doesn’t have the Kinect-like camera that can be found in AR gadgets like the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro. This type of camera is used for object tracking and gesture recognition.
But, there are still other ways for Elite x3 to have AR. Park said that it could be a head-based unit or arm-based unit merged with the smartphone unit.
With Elite x3 entering the phone market, HP is once again attempting to thread the rugged smartphone industry. HP stopped producing handsets in 2010 after its ill-fated acquisition of Palm.
(Photo Source: windowscentral.com)
