Augmented reality has been a part of science fiction practically since the beginning of the genre, but now it’s making its way into the real world, and Microsoft is one of the companies leading the charge. HoloLens, for those of you who aren’t familiar, is a headset that the company is working on which adds a HUD to real life, essentially. It’s a brilliant idea, and the technology itself is amazing, but there are a few things holding it back. 

Microsoft’s HoloLens is the kind of thing that science fiction has been preparing us for for decades. From the moment I saw it, I knew exactly what I wanted it to do: project a heads-up display around real life, let me play with imaginary toys and sculpt in holograms, produce weird optical illusions with its magical power to rewrite reality. Unsurprisingly, these are expectations that no product in 2015 could possibly live up to. Within carefully managed conditions, HoloLens is one of the most amazing pieces of tech I’ve seen. But for all its potential brilliance, it’s still struggling hard — and failing — to break down the walls between fantasy and reality. I wasn’t able to see HoloLens in January, but from what I can tell, the hardware has gotten some major polishing since then. There are no wires, and no separate computer. The whole thing is now wrapped in a small and light (relatively speaking) pair of goggles, including a set of miniature speakers and a “holographic processing unit” that powers its tracking capabilities.